Tasmanian Devil Facts

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)Â  is the worlds largest carnivorous marsupial. The animals common name comes from its ferocious feeding behavior. Its scientific name means Harris flesh-lover in honor of naturalist George Harris, who first described the devil in 1807. Fast Facts: Tasmanian Devil Scientific Name: Sarcophilus harrisiiCommon Name: Tasmanian devilBasic Animal Group: MammalSize: 22-26 inch body; 10 inch tailWeight: 13-18 poundsLife Span: 5 yearsDiet: CarnivoreHabitat: Tasmania, AustraliaPopulation: 10,000Conservation Status: Endangered Description The Tasmanian devil resembles a dog-sized rat. It has a large head for its body, which allows it to exert the strongest bite for its size of any carnivorous mammal (strong enough to bite through steel wire). It stores fat in its non-prehensile tail, so a thick tail is a good indicator of the marsupials health. Most devils have black fur with white patches, although 16% are completely black. Devils have excellent senses of hearing and smell, plus they use long whiskers to navigate in the dark. The animals eyes can see moving objects, but probably dont focus clearly. CÃ ©cile Boucher / Getty Images Mature males are larger than females. A males head and body averages 25.7 inches long, with a 10-inch tail and a weight around 18 pounds. Females average 22 inches in length, plus a 9-inch tail, and a weight of 13 pounds. Devils can hold food and other objects using four long forward-facing toes and one side-facing toe on each forefoot. There are four toes with non-retractable claws on each hindfoot. Both male and female Tasmanian devils have a scent gland at the base of the tail used to mark the ground. Habitat and Distribution About 3,000 years ago, the Tasmanian devil disappeared from mainland Australia. Many researchers believe dingoes and human expansion may have eradicated the animal. Today, devils only live on the island of Tasmania, Australia. While the animals occupy all habitats, they prefer dry forests. Diet and Behavior The Tasmanian devil rests in a den or the bush during the day and hunts at night. While devils do not form packs, they are not entirely solitary and will share a range. Tasmanian devils can hunt any animal up to the size of a kangaroo, but they usually eat carrion or take smaller prey, such as wombats or frogs. They also eat vegetation and fruit. Reproduction and Offspring Devils reach sexual maturity and start to breed at two years of age. Mating typically occurs in March. While Tasmanian devils are not territorial in general, females claim and defend dens. Males fight for the right to mate a female and the winner ferociously guards his mate to drive away competition. After a 21-day gestation, a female gives birth to 20-30 young, which are called joeys, pups, or imps. At birth, each joey only weighs from 0.0063 to 0.0085 ounces (size of a grain of rice). The blind, hairless young use their claws to move from the females vagina to her pouch. However, she only has four nipples. Once a joey makes contact with a nipple, it expands and holds the joey inside the pouch. The joey remains attached for 100 days. It leaves the pouch 105 days after birth, looking like a tiny (7.1 ounce) copy of its parents. The young remain within their mothers den for another three months. Tasmanian devils can live up to 7 years under ideal conditions, but their average life expectancy is closer to 5 years. Young Tasmanian devils are small versions of their parents. aaron007 / Getty Images Conservation Status In 2008, the IUCN classified the Tasmanian devils conservation status as endangered. The Tasmanian government has instituted protection programs for the animal, but its population continues to decline. The total population is estimated to be around 10,000 devils. Threats The principal threat to Tasmanian devil survival is devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), which is a contagious cancer devils transmit via bites. DFTD results in tumors that ultimately interfere with an animals ability to eat, leading to death by starvation. Devils also die from cancer that may be related to high levels of flame retardant chemicals in the environment. Road mortality is another significant cause of devil death. Tasmanian devils scavenge roadkill at night and are difficult for motorists to see because of their dark coloring. Tasmanian Devils and Humans At one time, Tasmanian devils were hunted for food. While it is true devils will dig up and eat human and animal corpses, there is no evidence they attack people. While Tasmanian devils can be tamed, their strong odor makes them unsuitable as pets. Tasmanian devils look and sound fierce, but they pose no direct threat to humans. CraigRJD / Getty Images Sources Brown, Oliver. Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) extinction on the Australian mainland in the mid-Holocene: multicausality and ENSO intensification. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 31: 49–57, 2006. doi:10.1080/03115510609506855Groves, C.P. Order Dasyuromorphia. In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 28, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0.Hawkins, C.E.; McCallum, H.; Mooney, N.; Jones, M.; Holdsworth, M. Sarcophilus harrisii. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2008: e.T40540A10331066. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T40540A10331066.enOwen, D. and David Pemberton. Tasmanian Devil: A unique and threatened animal. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen Unwin, 2005. ISBN 978-1-74114-368-3.Siddle, Hannah V.; Kreiss, Alexandre; Eldridge, Mark D. B.; Noonan, Erin; Clarke, Candice J.; Pyecroft, Stephen; Woods, Gregory M.; Belov, Katherine. Transmission of a fat al clonal tumor by biting occurs due to depleted MHC diversity in a threatened carnivorous marsupial. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (41): 16221–16226, 2007. doi:10.1073/pnas.0704580104

The Madonn An Ultimate Symbol Of Power - 1025 Words

The Madonna: An Ultimate Symbol of Power In Rogier van der Weyden’s the Madonna, Mary is portrayed as a powerful but matronly figure. Mary was hand picked by God to carry the savior, Jesus. By doing this, God shows his trust in Mary’s power to overcome the worldly views of conception before marriage. Not only was Mary powerful enough to give birth to Jesus, she was brave enough to take on the daunting task. Mary set an example of the power and internal strength women possess, and Rogier van der Wyden captured that perfectly in his painting the Madonna. In the Madonna, Mary is standing tall and proud while breastfeeding the baby Jesus. Her face shows the glow of a proud mother and confident woman. Mary not only shows power by bringing life into this world, but also by continuing to feed and nurture Jesus. A woman has the gift to bring new life into the world, and to keep that being healthy by feeding them from her own body. This work of art perfectly exemplifies all of the different aspects of what a woman contributes to the human life. Rogier van der Weyden used key details to show the importance of the two figures in this painting. He covered Mary with in a long royal colored sheet that those of great prominence would wear. On top of the royal color clothing, Mary has a crown on her head. He made her long tamed curls a rich and vibrant color that gives the painting life and excitement. As for the baby Jesus, Rogier painted him wrapped in a white cloth as a symbol of his

Sunshine Chapter 5 Free Essays

â€Å"Blood spoor. Your feet will be bleeding again before we are halfway across the open area.† Was there the faintest tremor in his oddly echo-y voice when he said that? â€Å"Mine will not. We will write a custom essay sample on Sunshine Chapter 5 or any similar topic only for you Order Now And Bo’s folk will not be at all happy about our escape, tonight, when they discover it. They will find the trail at once if they have blood spoor to follow.† I laid on a pause of my own. â€Å"Are you telling me that if I had decided to leave you behind, I wouldn’t have made it anyway?† â€Å"I do not know. There might conceivably have been some reason you were able to escape – a faulty lock on the shackle, for example. Bo would have someone’s†¦someone would pay severely for this, but it might end there. That we are both gone will mean that something truly extraordinary has happened. And it almost certainly has something to do with you – as it does, does it not? – and that therefore something important about you was overlooked. And Bo will like that even less than he would have liked the straightforward escape of an ordinary human prisoner. He will order his folk to follow. We must not make it easy for them.† This was the longest speech I had heard from him. It edged out his description of the supersucker he would have become on the blood of Onyx Blaise’s daughter. â€Å"For a ma – a creature who is driven mad by daylight, you are making very good sense.† â€Å"Having an accomplice is†¦reviving. Any hope after no hope. Even in these somewhat daunting circumstances.† Daunting. I liked that too. That was as good as â€Å"clean of live things.† He moved toward me and held out his arms, slowly, as if trying not to scare me. There was a sudden, ghastly rush of adrenaline – my body was having some trouble keeping up with my mind’s mercurial decisions – and I twitched myself sideways like I was moving a puppet. I put one arm round his neck – carefully, so I didn’t stretch the dubiously clotted scab on my breast – and held the water bottle in my other hand. He bent and picked me up more easily than I pick up a tray of cinnamon rolls. It was not going to be a comfortable ride. It was rather like sitting on the stripped frame of a chair that has had all the chair bits taken away – there are just a few nasty pieces of iron railing left, and they start digging railing-shaped holes into you at once. Also, if this was a chair, it was made for some other species to sit in. Vampires do breathe, by the way, but their chests don’t move like humans’. Have you ever lain in the arms of your sweetheart and tried to match your breathing to his, or hers? You do it automatically. Your brain only gets involved if your body is having trouble. Fortunately there was nothing about this situation that was like being in the arms of a sweetheart except that I was leaning against someone’s naked chest. I could no more have breathed with him than I could have ignited gasoline and shot exhaust out my butt because I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car. I also had the weird sensation that he’d been several degrees cooler when he picked me up, and he’d matched his body temperature to mine. Speaking of matching. We left by the door Bo’s gang had brought me through, across the ghostly hall, and out through the front door, which had been conveniently left ajar. What did I know about vampire deliberateness? I could barely recognize my vampire’s breathing as breathing. But I had a notion that he walked not merely without hesitation but very deliberately into the blast of sunshine at the foot of the porch, and turned left, toward the trees on that side. I felt my harness take the strain. If there had been real straps involved, they would have creaked. It was a long way to the edge of the wood. It was perhaps just as well he was carrying me; the heat of the sun seemed to be making me woozy. Heat doesn’t usually trouble me. One of the reasons Charlie had first let me help him with the baking when I was still small was because I was the only one of any of us who could stand the heat of it in the summer, including the rest of the staff. That was when Charlie’s was still fairly small itself, and Charlie was doing most of the cooking, before he opened up the front so we could have tables as well as the counter and the booths along the wall, and before he built my bakery. The bakery now is its own room next to the main kitchen, and there are windows and an outside door and industrial-strength fans, but in July and August pretty much everyone but me has to get out of there and splash water on themselves and have a sit-down. But this was something else. The big curly ripples of power I’d felt when we stood in front of the window seemed bigger and curlier than ever, and were slowing the rest of me down, taking up too much space themselves, squeezing the usual bits of me into corners, till I felt squashed, like someone in a commuter train at six p.m. Even my brain felt compressed. That sense of wearing some kind of harness that had also managed to nail itself into my major organ systems was still there, but I began to feel that it wasn’t so much carrying the burden as holding me together, so that the power ripples knew where the edges – the edges of we – were, and didn’t break anything. I didn’t feel frightened, although I wondered if I should. We reached the edge of the trees at last, and it was better at once in their shadow. I felt more alert, and lighter somehow, although I wouldn’t have described the effect of the ripples as heavy. But that feeling of having all my gaps filled a little too full eased somewhat. I remembered what he’d said about daylight: I feel as if the rays of your sun are prizing me apart. The tree-shadow wasn’t thick or reliable enough to protect us from the sun so the power was still moving through me, but I didn’t feel I was about to overflow, or crack. I thought: okay. I can guard one vampire from the effects of bright direct daylight. I wouldn’t be able to guard two. Not that this was a piece of information I was planning on needing often in the future. â€Å"We’ve crossed their line,† said the vampire. â€Å"The guard ring is behind us.† â€Å"They’ll know we have, won’t they?† â€Å"They’ll know tonight. We – do not pay attention to the daylit world.† â€Å"Will they know where?† â€Å"Perhaps. But I am following the traces from when they brought me here – and, so far, it is the same way they brought you – and without fresh blood they will have trouble deciding what is old and what is new.† â€Å"Uh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This wasn’t a topic I was looking forward to bringing up. â€Å"You know you and I are both, uh, wearing quite a lot of my, uh, blood already. Uh. Crusted. From last night.† â€Å"That matters very little,† said the vampire. â€Å"It is only blood hot from a live body when it touches the earth that leaves a clear sign.† I reminded myself this was good news. He was silent for a while, and then he said, dispassionately as ever, â€Å"I had feared that even if you could, as you claimed, protect my body from the fire as we crossed the open space, that the sun would blind me. This did not happen. I am relieved.† â€Å"Oh, gods,† I said. â€Å"As you say. But as you said earlier, I did not see myself receiving any better offers either. It seemed to me worth even that price against the almost certain likelihood of annihilation at Bo’s hands.† I said, fascinated against my better judgment, â€Å"You thought I could navigate you through the trees somehow?† â€Å"Yes. I would not have been totally helpless. I can – detect the presence of solid objects. But it would not have been easy.† I laughed. It was the first time I had laughed since I had driven out to the lake alone. â€Å"No. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been.† We went on some time then in silence. We had to stop once for me to have another pee. Gods. Vampires didn’t seem to have bodily functions. I squatted behind him, holding one of his legs. While I was on the spot, so to speak, I had a look at his sore ankle. It still looked disgusting but I didn’t think it looked any worse. It occurred to me several times that we were making much better speed than we would have with me walking barefoot. And while the iron-railing effect was pretty painful I have ridden in cars with worse suspension than being carried by a striding vampire. That liquid motion thing they do is no joke, and one-hundred-twenty (give or take) pound burdens don’t dent it either. If the ankle was troubling him it didn’t show. The cut on my breast hurt quite a lot but I had more important things to worry about. He carried me so smoothly that it didn’t crack open anyway. Thankful for small favors. I felt that even our present momentous alliance might have been put under strain if I started bleeding on him again. I was keeping a vague watch on the sun through the trees over the lake, and also, with the power alive and working, I seemed able to sense it in some way other than seeing or feeling the touch of its light, and I knew when noon had come and gone. I had had a drink out of the water bottle a couple of times, and had offered it to my chauffeur, but he said, â€Å"No, thank you, it is not necessary.† He sure was polite after he’d decided not to have you for dinner. It was much farther back to my car than I’d guessed. Thirty miles, probably more. Maybe I still could have made it by myself before sunset, even barefoot. Maybe. But I wouldn’t have made it much farther, and the car wasn’t there. I’d explained where we were going when we had started out. The vampire had said nothing, but then he often said nothing, and he hadn’t disagreed. I had the knife-key in my bra; we’d either find him a nice deep patch of shadow while I did my trick again, or he could keep his hands on my shoulders to maintain the Sun Screen Factor: Absolute Plus. I hadn’t thought a lot beyond that. I guess what I was thinking was that a car equaled normal life. Once I got in my car and stuck the key in the little hole and the ignition caught, everything that had happened would be over like it had never happened, and I could just go back to my life again. I wasn’t thinking clearly, of course, but who would be? I was still alive, and that was pretty amazing under the circumstances. I hadn’t thought about what I would do with the vampire after we got to the car either. As much as had occurred to me was that he could keep one hand on my knee while I drove, or something. Nobody put his hand on my knee except Mel, but just how â€Å"somebody† was a vampire? I didn’t think I could shut even a vampire in the trunk, although the shade in there ought to be pretty total, and I wasn’t sure what the parameters were anyway. I knew that a heavy coat and a broad-brimmed hat weren’t fireproof enough and historians had long ago declared that the famous stories of knights in heavy armor turning out to be vampires weren’t true either, so probably one layer of plastic car wasn’t enough. But then what? Where do you drop off a vampire whom you’ve given a lift? The nearest mausoleum? Ha ha. The whole business of vampires hanging out in graveyards is bogus – vampires don’t want anything to do with dead people, and the people they turn don’t get buried in the first place. But old nursery tales die hard. (So much for Bram Stoker et al., Miss Yablonsky’s point exactly.) So I hadn’t made any contingency plans. When we got to the old cottage I said, â€Å"Okay, here we are,† and the vampire set me down, and I was standing on my own feet, and trying not to step on anything that would make me bleed. He was hovering, however, and it wasn’t only because of the sun; I’m sure he would have picked me up again faster than blood could drip if it had come to that. He had one hand tactfully on my elbow. The light was no more than dappled where we stood. Funny how the claustrophobic regrowth of wilderness scrub can suddenly seem treacherously open and sporadic when you’re thinking in terms of your companion’s fatal allergy to sunlight. I knew where I’d left the car. It was a small cabin and the place you parked was right behind it. â€Å"It’s not here,† I said stupidly. For the first time I felt the ripples of power lurch, as if they might knock me over, as if they might†¦spill over the lip of me somehow, and be lost. I couldn’t risk, no, I wouldn’t risk†¦I turned round and seized him, wrapped my arms around him, as if he were a seawall and could turn back any vagrant tide, contain any unexpected breaker. His arms, hesitantly, slid behind me, and it occurred to me that our prolonged physical contact was probably no more pleasant for him than it was for me, if perhaps for different reasons. I took a few deep breaths, and the ripples steadied. I steadied. He was a good wall. Really very wall-like in some ways. Solid. Immobile. I realized I had my face pressed against what I knew from experience was an ambulatory body†¦that had no heart beating. Funny. And yet there was a buzz of†¦something going on in there. Life, you might call it, for want of a better term. I had never met a wall that buzzed. I let go. He let go, except for one hand on my shoulder. â€Å"Sorry,† I said. â€Å"I thought I was losing it.† â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"If I had lost it, you’d have die – fried, you know,† I said, to see what he would say. â€Å"Yes,† he said. I shook my head. â€Å"My kind does not surprise easily,† he said. â€Å"You surprised me, this morning. I have thus used up my full quota of shock and consternation for some interval.† I stared at him. â€Å"You made a joke.† â€Å"I have heard this kind of thing may happen, to vampires who linger in the company of humans,† he said, looking and sounding particularly vampirish. â€Å"It is not a situation that has provoked much interest. And†¦I am not myself after a day spent in daylight.† I’m not feeling a whole lot like myself either, I thought. I was carefully not thinking about the instinct that had thrown me at him just now. Wouldn’t grabbing a tree have steadied me at least as well? So what if maybe he fried? â€Å"So you are not surprised by the disappearance of my car. That makes one of us.† â€Å"I had thought it unlikely that Bo would allow so obvious a loose end to remain dangling.† â€Å"I’m sorry. Yes. That is – sense. But I don’t know what to do now.† â€Å"We go on,† said the vampire. â€Å"We must be well away from the lake before dark.† I was trying to bring my brain back into balance. Settling the ripples down seemed to have cost me a lot, and my brain didn’t want to produce coherent thoughts. I was also, of course, so far beyond tired that I didn’t dare look in that direction at all. â€Å"The lake?† I said. He paused again, so I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like what followed. â€Å"Vampire senses are different from human in a number of ways. The one that is relevant in this case is that landscape which is all one sort of thing is†¦more penetrable to our awareness to the extent of its homogeneity. It is not the distance that is crucial, but the uniformity. Bo will be able to find us too easily within any of the woods of the lake because they are all the woods of the lake, even without blood spoor to follow. Once we are out of those woods†¦in some ways Bo will have more difficulty in tracing us than a human might.† A tiny piece of good news, if we lived long enough. Okay. The nearest way out of the woods was still the way we had been going – which must have been why the vampire agreed to it in the first place. The woods around the lake spilled into more woods and smaller lakes and some mostly deserted farmland before it came to any more towns. New Arcadia was the only city for some distance, and then there were a lot of smaller towns and villages spreading out from us, eventually themselves getting larger and closer together again till they became another city. But that was a hundred miles away. â€Å"Where are you going?† I said. â€Å"I am going where you are going till sunset,† said the vampire. â€Å"Then you are going where you are going, and I am going where I am going.† I sighed. â€Å"Yes. No. I didn’t mean to pry. Look, it is all very well that we have to get away from the woods, but that means going into at least the outskirts of the town. And while I can keep the sun off you, I can’t make you look human. And let me tell you your skin color is strictly incredible, and you’re not even wearing a shirt. And we don’t have a car.† The vampire took this without a tremor. â€Å"What do you suggest?† â€Å"The only thing I can think of is to plaster ourselves with mud – especially you – stagger a little, and hit town at the tip of the north end, where the druggies hang out. You do look a little like a junkie, or you look a little more like a junkie than you look like anything else. Human. With any luck any junkies that have eyes left to see you with will be so creeped out by how much worse it can get than they realized that nobody will say anything to us.† I paused. â€Å"Then there’s the poor but fairly respectable area, and they won’t like us, but if we keep moving they probably won’t call the suck – the cops. What worries me most is that some bright spark might guess you’re a demon. You manifestly can’t be a vampire because you’re out in daylight. But you aren’t, as I say, at all persuasive as human. You could be a rather dim demon who doesn’t realize how bad your passing for human is  œ and since we have to keep hold of each other someone might think you were kidnapping me – hell. And there’s at least one highway we have to cross too. Double Carthaginian hell. I don’t suppose you know that part of town at all?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"No. I don’t either, much. Well, if they don’t call SOF, we should be able to find the nature preserve my landlady’s house is on the other side of†¦I have no idea how far all of this is though. A ways. We could have gone directly through town in my car.† I looked apprehensively at the sun, which was nearing midafternoon, and there were still a lot of trees between us and pavement. â€Å"Indeed you would not have been best advised to go directly through town in your car, not with me in it with you. Your family will have given the – the identification number to the police.† â€Å"What? License plate. Oh. Oh. I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought of that either.† â€Å"I had not supposed you had brought me all this way to betray me at the last,† he said. No. â€Å"But†¦it’s likely to be well past sunset before we get to my apartment,† I said, trying not to sound desolate. I am not too tired to go on, I was telling myself. Not finding the car is only a setback. It’s not the end of the story. â€Å"I will see you home,† said the vampire courteously, like a nice, well-brought-up boy seeing his date back to her house after dinner at the local pizza place. There was no reason that this should make my eyes fill with tears. I was just tired. â€Å"I didn’t mean – oh – thanks,† I said. I should have wanted him gone as soon as possible. I should have been longing for the sight of the sun touching the horizon – at least once we got out of the trees. But I wasn’t. I was grateful that he was going to see me to my front door. Standing by the cabin and looking at the place my car should have been and wasn’t, I didn’t think I could do it without him. I was glad he hadn’t fried. We went down to the lake in our little connected duo. I had grown sort of used to being carried, and because it was such an odd thing to be doing at all, the crucial, fundamental oddness of our necessary proximity was less noticeable. Walking side by side with my hand tucked under his arm was much odder and more uncomfortable. I also found that it made me feel more lopsided. It was probably only a function of being so tired, but having the power exchange, or whatever it was, only going on through one hand made me feel dizzy. I leaned on him not very voluntarily. The ground here was mostly dirt and moss with a little struggling grass or grasslike weeds, so my bare feet were not in much danger. When we got to the shore I chose the marshiest place I could find – I knew where to look, there was a little inlet just east of the cabin – and made him sit down in it, and then rubbed bog slime and mud all over him, including his hair. He was so skinny my hands went thump thump thump down his ribs. He put up with all of this with perfect stoicism. He put one hand round my ankle – so I would have both hands free – but I told him to use both ankles for balance. My balance. I was a little more artistic about my own ornamentation. I only had to look like someone who might be jiving with this freak in a nonmandatory way. So I rubbed mud into my hair and let it drip down one side of my face and over that shoulder. I primly kept the mud away from the cut on my breast. My mother’s rules of hygiene were very clear about preventing dirt from entering an open wound, and I didn’t have a Band-Aid to hand. It would have had to be several very large Band-Aids anyway. (I hoped mud on the vampire’s injured ankle wasn’t going to cause him any problems: that the clean-of-live-things trick was a general defense.) Besides, the slash was probably good added verisimilitude and we could use all the help we could get. Verisimilitude of what? My lip was still swollen but it had stopped bleeding hours ago, and the metal tang of blood was no longer in my mouth. Hooray. I wanted to feel as little like a vampire as possible. I didn’t like the se nsation that the boundaries were getting a little blurry. I had spent a lot of time sitting by this same inlet with my grandmother. In the fifteen years since then it had changed its course and silted up. When we had sat here you could hear the small pattering stream that had created the inlet, but it was silent now. All I could hear was my own breathing, and the splat of my handiwork. There weren’t even any birds. The vampire insisted, if you could call it insisting, that he would carry me the last stretch of woods to the first streets of the town. Homogeneity, he reminded me, and blood spoor. And I remembered how much faster we went when it was only him walking – and that it was another twelve or fifteen miles to the edge of town – and made no protest. He carried me right up to the crumbling cement of the end of the last street, and let my legs drop down gently on the disintegrating curb. I didn’t have to pretend to lean on him to keep contact; I needed him to keep me upright. I put my arm through his and my hand on his wrist. We bumped gently at shoulder and hip. The power ripples sloshed a little as I adjusted to walking on my own feet again, but there was none of the sudden danger of losing my balance that there had been when I’d discovered the disappearance of my car. In fact the ripples now seemed to be slightly altering their shape and pattern to help me. The dizziness I’d felt when we walked down the inlet subsided. I had just enough sense left to put the now-empty bottle of water in a city litter bin. I don’t ever want to have another journey like those last fifteen or so miles across town. I know I keep going on about how tired I was, but that last exhaustion was like a mortal illness, and I felt I could see my death a few hundred feet down the street ahead of us. I’m a pretty good walker, but I’m talking about normal life: Mel and I might hike fifteen miles around the lake looking for animals and trying to stay out of the way of Supergreens, but we would take all day at it, have several rest stops and a long halt for lunch, and go home tired and pleased with ourselves. We would also be wearing shoes. This was fifteen miles on top of all that had gone before, and I’d been running on empty for a long time already. It wasn’t only my death I was seeing; I was beginning to hallucinate pretty badly. Lots of people get sort of gray, ferny, cobwebby mirages around the edges of their vision when they get overtired – and I’d had them before occasionally when we were shorthanded at the coffeehouse because everyone was sick but Charlie and me, and we were working sixteen-, eighteen-hour days day after day – but this was the first time the ferns and cobwebs had things moving around in them, not to mention the new, full-color palette. It was not an enjoyable experience. I did recognize what was going on, and went on peering through the fringes of my private picture show, and making out which way we should be going out there in the real world. I knew the layout of my city pretty well even if I didn’t know all its details, and even at this final personal frontier I kept my sense of direction. It was, however, just as well that I was so numb I was barely aware of my poor feet. And it was a good thing that blood spoor was no longer an issue. The sun was by now moving quickly toward setting, which should have been a good thing; the pair of us were going to be less grisly-looking in twilight. No one accosted us. We saw a few people, but either they were already totally lit and away and having much better private screenings than mine (which several of them were animatedly discussing with themselves) and couldn’t care less about us, or they took one look and crossed to the other side of whichever street we were on, and kept their eyes averted. I thought of asking the vampire if he was doing anything – if vampires can persuade, can they repel too? – but it was still daylight, if barely, so this didn’t seem likely. Maybe my power-ripples were doing something. Maybe that was part of the adjustment they’d made at the edge of town. Maybe we were just lucky. In the middle of all this I had a fierce implausible longing for my grandmother, who could have explained to me what I was doing – I was sure – and how I was doing it. As I started to slip over some kind of definitive last line, as I began to feel that the power-ripples were soon going to be all there was left of me, that my own personality was weakening, thinning, would blow away like the spidery gray stuff over my eyes, I suddenly, passionately, wanted to know what I was doing. It wasn’t the vampire the people were avoiding, though. It was me. I was the one reeling and mumbling and off my head and probably dangerous. I was fading with the daylight. I had stretched myself too far. I got us to the edge of the park at about the moment that twilight turned into darkness, and he picked me up again without so much as a break in his stride, and plunged under the trees, into the night that was his element. I could feel the power-ripples moving faintly through me even though I no longer needed them for a sun-parasol. I thought, mistily, maybe they’re trying to keep me alive. Nice of them. He must be trying too. Funny sort of thing for a vampire to do†¦ It was all darkness around us, darkness and trees, and the vampire speeding through it. Feebly I murmured, â€Å"I have no idea where we are any more.† â€Å"I do,† he said. â€Å"I can smell your house.† Perhaps I fell asleep. That would explain the dreams: that I was flying, that I was dead, that I was a vampire, that I was standing by the lake with my grandmother, and I had just opened my closed hands, but instead of a flower or a feather or a ring, blood welled up and spilled over the edges of my hands, and welled up and welled up, as if my hands were a fountain. But a fountain of blood. The vampire came to a halt. I blinked my eyes open and saw lights twinkling through a few trees, and made out the shape of my house. My house. We were on the far side of the garden. I could see the pale lavender of the lilacs by Yolande’s sitting-room window. She was the sort of old lady who had a sitting room instead of a living room. And the lights on in it meant she was still awake, although usually she went to bed as early as a person who gets up at four a.m. to go make cinnamon rolls does. I wondered what time it was. The vampire said, â€Å"You will need a key to open your door.† He could leave me here. I could ask him to let me down, and then he could go. I could knock on Yolande’s door, and, once the fright of having a derelict on her doorstep had worn off, after she had recognized me, she would let me in with her spare key. She would be appalled and sympathetic. She would call the coffeehouse and the doctor and the police. She would run me a hot bath and help me into it, and cluck over my wounds. She would not ask me any questions; she would know I was too tired, and she would recognize the signs of shock. She would give me hot sweet tea and orange juice, and human warmth and company and understanding. I couldn’t face her. Slowly I moved, to pull the knife-key out of my bra. The vampire knelt, holding me in his lap. I leaned against him, closed my hands round the small heavy bit of worked metal. I called on the power of daylight. It came from a lifetime away, but it came. I felt something snap, as if my stomach had parted company with my small intestine, or my liver from my spleen; but when I opened my hands again, there was the key to my front door. The vampire picked me up again, gently. He walked round the garden. He went silently up the porch steps, which I could not have done. The steps all creaked and the porch itself creaked worse. He drifted, dark and silent as any shadow, to my door, and, still in his arms, I twisted the key in the lock, turned the handle, pushed the door a tiny way open, and whispered, â€Å"Yes.† He carried me upstairs and through the door at the top and into my front room, and laid me on the sofa. I didn’t hear him stand up or move away, but I heard my refrigerator door open and close, and then he was kneeling beside me again. He slid an arm under my head and shoulders and raised me and stuffed pillows under me till I was half sitting, and said, â€Å"Open your mouth.† He dribbled a little of the milk into my mouth and made sure I could swallow it before he held the carton up steadily for me to drink. He cupped the back of my head with his other hand. What did he think he was, a nurse? I would have asked him but I was too tired. He got most of the carton of milk down me, eased my head back onto the pile of pillows and then started feeding me something in small scraps. After the first few, more of my senses came back from nowhere and I recognized one of my own muffins, left over at the end of that last day at the coffeehouse, several centuries ago. He was tearing off small bits and feeding them to me slowly, so I wouldn’t choke. The muffin was still pretty good but three days old to a baker counts as over. I think he may have fed me a second one, still scrap by scrap. Then he held up the carton of milk again till I finished it. Then he pulled the pillows back out, except for one, and laid me down with my head on it. I don’t remember anything more. I woke up I don’t know how many hours later with the light streaming through the windows. It had finally reached the sofa where I was lying, and touched my face. I couldn’t remember where I was – no I was at home – no, not my old childhood bedroom, this had been my apartment for nearly seven years – then why wasn’t I in my own bed – why did I remember sleeping on a floor – no, that had been a dream – no, a nightmare – don’t think about it – don’t think about it – and at the same time I knew I had overslept and should have been down at the coffeehouse hours ago and Charlie would kill me – no he wouldn’t – why hadn’t one of them called to find out where I was? I tried to sit up and nearly screamed. Every muscle in my body seemed to have seized up, and I didn’t think there was a single nerve end that hadn’t shouted NO when I moved. I ached all over, inside and out. And furthermore I felt†¦I felt as if all my insides, the organs, the organ systems, all that stuff you studied in biology class and promptly forgot again, all those murky, semiknown bits and pieces, no longer had the same relationship to each other that they had before†¦before†¦silly sort of thing to feel, I must be delirious. My mind would keep drifting back – don’t think about it – but how was I to make sense of where I was, at home, sleeping on the sofa, in broad daylight? And so sore I couldn’t move. If – all that – was a nightmare, what had happened to me? I tried to sit up again and eventually succeeded. There was a blanket laid over me, and it fell off, and onto the floor. I was wearing a filthy, stained, dark cranberry-red dress that clung round me at the top and swirled out into yards and yards of hem at my ankles. I was barefoot, and my feet were in shreds, scratched and abraded and bruised and swollen. I had mud all over me (and now all over the sofa and the floor as well) and a long, curved ugly slash across my breast that had obviously bled and then clotted. Its edges ground against each other and throbbed when I tried to move. My lower lip was split and that side of my face felt puffy. I started to shiver uncontrollably. Painfully I picked up the blanket again, and wrapped it round me, and made my way into the bathroom by feeling along the walls, and turned the hot water on in the bath. The hot water was going to hurt, but it was going to be worth it. I poured in about four times as much bubble bath as I usually use, and breathed the sweet lily-of-the-valley-scented steam. Even my lungs hurt, and my breathing seemed funny, there was something about the way I breathed that was different from†¦While I waited for the bath to fill, I groped my way into the kitchen. I ate an apple, because that was the first thing I saw. There was an empty carton of milk on the counter by the sink. I didn’t think about this. I ate another apple. Then I ate a pear. I moved into the light pouring through the kitchen window and let it soak into me while I stood staring out at the garden. In the welcoming, restorative sunlight, trying to keep my mind from thinking anything at all, I felt the tiny, laborious stirri ng of a sense of well-being: the convalescent’s rejoicing at the first hint of a possible return to health. I would have a bath, and then I would call the coffeehouse. I didn’t have to tell anyone anything. I could be too traumatized. I could have forgotten everything. I had forgotten everything. I was forgetting everything right now. My feet and my face and the gash on my breast would stop anyone from pressing me too hard to remember something so obviously terrible. Yolande must be out; otherwise she would have heard the bathwater running, and have come upstairs to find out if I was all right. She would have known that I’ve been missing, that on a normal day I would have been at the coffeehouse hours ago, not up here running bathwater. That I’ve been missing. That I’ve been†¦ I didn’t have to remember or think about anything. I could just stand here and let the sun heal me. I was relieved that Yolande wasn’t here, asking questions, being appalled and sickened. Reminding me by her distress. I was relieved that no one would disturb me till I had finished forgetting. The bath should be full by now. Now that the sunlight had begun to do its work I wanted to be clean. I might have to use every bar of soap I had, and bring the scouring pads in from the kitchen. I was going to burn this dress, wherever it came from. It was nothing I’d have ever chosen. I couldn’t imagine why I was wearing it. When I was completely clean again, and wearing my own clothes, I would call the coffeehouse, tell them I was home again. Home and safe. Safe. As I turned away from the window a square of white lying on the kitchen table caught my eye. It was my notepad, which usually lived beside the phone. On it was written: Good-bye my Sunshine. Constantine How to cite Sunshine Chapter 5, Essay examples

The Pink Notebook free essay sample

â€Å"I want you to stay† Once upon a time not so long ago, I wrote that exact line in our hot pink notebook we share. The we is not important right now but soon it will be. Let me explain, Im an 18 year old girl trying to live her life the best she can but once day this book was bestowed on her, â€Å"Dash Lily’s Book Of Dares†. Ever since I read it, it has become my bible. Lily creates this notebook that she leaves clues in, for someone to figure out and answer. This guy Dash finds the notebook and figures out everything. They go back and forth every other day. Which made me think, if Lily and Dash can do it, why can’t I ? So I said to myself, â€Å" Danielle you will make a notebook like theirs and trade it with someone every other day.† And then I answered myself, â€Å"Self of course im going to, but with whom?† The perfect person came to mind. We will write a custom essay sample on The Pink Notebook or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Eric. Then the next question came up, what to put in the notebook, aha our favorite song, you cant go wrong with that. A month goes by and we are still doing this notebook exchange, and then something happens, Eric says, â€Å"I feel like I’m more like Lily than Dash. You are the only person that makes me smile by just being there.† Maybe this book has something to it, finding someone for you. Lily and Dash find each other so maybe there is some hidden secret to it. But what is it ? You see it has taken me so long to figure it out and one day it hit me like a million lions. The secret is†¦. Courage. You have to have the courage to take a chance. Lily and Dash had so much courage to pass a notebook back and forth with someone they have never met, we could all learn from them.

Israel Foreign Policy Essays (2043 words) - ArabIsraeli Conflict

Israel Foreign Policy Israel is located in the Middle East, along the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. It lies at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. Long and narrow in shape the country is only 290 miles in length and 85 miles in width at its widest point. Israel is a country of immigrants. Since its creation in 1948, the population has increased seven-fold. Today, its over six million inhabitants represent many different cultures and traditions, including Jews from Ethiopia, Morocco, the Soviet Union, Europe and America. Jews from around the world have immigrated to Israel and make up 80% of the Israeli population. The other 20% is made up mostly of Arabs. (Encyclopedia Britannica) On May 14, 1948, immediately following the proclamation of the state of Israel, President Harry S. Truman extended recognition to the new state. This act marked the beginning of a relationship based on common values and characterized by deep friendship, economic support and mutual respect. The similarities between the two countries are notable: both are vibrant democracies anchored in liberal traditions; both began as pioneer societies; and both are still receiving and integrating new immigrants. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, a region dominated by authoritarian and military regimes. In a very unstable region of the world, Israel stands out as the only country with regular, competitive elections, a free press, and free speech. By supporting Israel, the U.S. stays true to its historic national commitment to strengthen fellow democracies. In addition, Israel is a reliable strategic partner in the fight against terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destructio n by rogue regimes; state-sponsored terrorism; the potential disruption of access to Middle East oil; and the spread of Islamic radicalism. The U.S. Israeli partnership has also been cost effective, avoiding the expensive deployment of American troops. No U.S. troops have ever been required to protect Israel, while by comparison America maintains 135,000 troops in Europe and spends nearly $80 billion each year on the defense of Europe.(Country Study, 234) Maintaining Israel's military advantage has proven an efficient way to ensure that American interests will prevail against the forces of terror, authoritarianism, and extremism. Despite constant tensions with Arab neighbors, border disputes, full-out war, terrorist threats, and a yet unresolved Palestinian problem, the U.S. has remained loyal to Israel. America's long-standing commitment allows Israel to negotiate with its former and current adversaries from a position of strength. Israel can take risks for peace only because of un wavering American support; this support has also prodded Israel's Arab neighbors to deal directly with Israel. (JSOURCE) The Clinton administration has played a key role in the Middle East peace process by actively supporting the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel's peace treaty with Jordan, negotiations with Syria and efforts to promote regional cooperation, including an end to the Arab boycott. Pledging to maintain Israel's qualitative edge, it has also committed itself to minimizing the security risks that Israel might incur in its pursuit of peace. Moreover, the United States has recently taken several important measures to back Israel in its war against terrorism. The continuing and deepening amity between Israel and the United States has been defined by various American administrations in terms ranging from the preservation of Israel as a 'basic tenet' of American foreign policy, with emphasis on a 'special relationship' between the two states, to a declaration of an American commitment to Israel. (Country Study, 245) By the early 1980s, Israel was regarded by the United State s as a strategic asset and was designated, in accordance with legislation passed the previous year, as a major non-NATO ally. Congressional backing for Israel is bipartisan. Support for annual military and economic assistance, the peace process and Israel's struggle against terrorism have been hallmarks of Congress' commitment to United States-Israel friendship, as was the passage of legislation (1995) recognizing Jerusalem as the united capital of Israel and calling for the establishment of the United States embassy in Jerusalem by May 1999. The special relationship encompasses mutual economic, political, strategic and diplomatic concerns. Israel currently receives some $3 billion a year in security and economic aid, and bilateral trade

Stakeholders of Tourism in Thailand

Stakeholders of Tourism in Thailand Thailand will achieve Long term social, cultural and environmental development when sustainable tourism development is attained by the stakeholders in tourism industry. This can be realized through reducing or reversing negative impact of unplanned programmes and overdevelopment on tourism sites.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Stakeholders of Tourism in Thailand specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Sustainable development in tourism ensures that present needs are met without compromising the ability of future generations to cater for their needs (Scripun, 2008). This article will examine the steps that stakeholders in tourism industry are taking to ensure that sustainable development is achieved fast to enable all stakeholders to enjoy long term social, environmental, economic and cultural benefits. Traditional mass tourism in Thailand can contribute less to sustainable tourism development. This is because it lacks nece ssary concern for socio-cultural environment. This objective can only be achieved when there is enough goodwill from the local community, the government and other stakeholders towards the initiation of sustainable tourism development. Stakeholders in tourism industry can be divided into five categories that include the policy makers, locals, hospitality employees, owners and investors. Policy makers refer to individuals or state organs who formulate national policies, laws and regulations. A good example of this would be the Tourism Authority of Thailand and government officials. Tourism in Thailand directly impacts on rural-urban migration, social dynamics and does cause some illegal activities such as drug abuse and sex tourism involving minors. Hospitality employees or staffs get affected by tourist demands, compensation laws, policies etc. The final categories of stakeholders who directly interact with tourist are the investors and owners.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Tourism Authority of Thailand or TAT undertook a joint initiative with three other key stakeholders namely Skal Thailand, Pacific Asia Travel Association or PATA and Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand or JFCCT to help establish a plan that will ensure sustainable development of tourism in Thailand (Ranee, 2007). The details of this plan were thoroughly discussed at an interactive forum called â€Å"mapping the Future† that took place last year. The essence of this forum was to find ways of ensuring sustainable tourism development that will meet the needs of tourists, locals and the tourism industry in general. The success of the joint forum is pegged on the level of stakeholder involvement in the implementation of the strategies that were discussed. The practitioners from the industry possess requisite experience that can help solve problems in Th ai travel and tourism industry to ensure positive development and growth in future. The stake holders who took part in â€Å"Mapping the Future† forum resolved to refurbish Thailand’s tourism marketing strategies (Nash, 1998). These included creating a better and stronger brand image for Thailand, managing reputation for the countries tourism, promoting sustainable tourism and promote extensive use of e-marketing and social media. Due to increase in involvement of Chinese tourists in Thai tourism industry, the forum members suggested that TAT should accord the professor from China Tourism Academy Dr. Xu Chen an opportunity to provide crucial address on â€Å"The Role of Chinese Outbound Travelers in the Future of Thai Tourism and the Tourism Satisfaction Index† (Dearden, 1991). Another stakeholder member Mr. Tim Riches, from Asia Pacific of Future Brand was charged with the mandate of handling the Brand Image of Thailand. The issue of e-marketing and Social Medi a was given to Mr. Tiwa York of Omnicom Media Group to handle. The management of reputation was given to Dr David Beirman, a Sydney professor of tourism from the University of Technology. His work was to address issues arising in hospitality and tourism business given his background in crisis and issue management.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Stakeholders of Tourism in Thailand specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More References Dearden, P. (1991) Tourism and Sustainable Development in Northern Thailand. The  Geographical review, 19(20), 5-9. Nash, D. (I998). Tourism as a Form of Imperialism, in V.L. Smith (ed.). The  Geographical Review, 11(13), 12-14. Ranee, T. (2007). The Case for Government Involvement in human Resource  Development: A study of the Thai Hotel Industry. Tourism Management, 9(40), 5-13. Scripun, M., (2008).Total Quality Management and tourism and Hospitality Education.  The Case Study of Thaila nd. 5(9), 7-11

CD 361 - Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CD 361 - - Essay Example Lastly, and for this paper, music have been found to help people to read, concentrate, and remain focused in their studies. This paper will evaluate the claims of various researchers who have studied the impact of music in helping student in learning. There is evidence that show that student perform better when they are educated through music. Research indicate that music education helpstudent to develop foundationalcapability to learn and achieve better understanding of other academic courses. Moreover, music education has shown to increase the development of skills, expertise, and knowledge required in the life success of a person. Therefore, music education an important lesson that thestudent should consider in order to help them develop the require skills to master the art of learning. Moreover, scholars say that music produces a unique pleasure that thehuman being cannot live without in their life. Music education enhances learner’s motor skills. Motor skills help learners can utilize the small and acute muscle in writing, typing, and enhancement of another physical movement that are essential in learning. Moreover, the brain organ responsible for motor and sensory function is developed and improved by music training. Arts Education Partnership argues that students trained in music have better sensory and motor function capability than other students not trained in music. Scientist have found that music learning help student develop capability required in solving complex math problems. Student who has studied music hove been found to perform better in maths than student who has never had music learning in their life(Arts Education Partnership 3).Music learning strengthens part of thebrain that is used in the processing of complex calculations through practicing in themusic. Scholars argue that students who studied music in their middle school perform significantly better to non-music counterparts(Arts Education Partnership 3). This is because

International Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Accounting - Essay Example The objectives of this standard are to give a framework on how to incorporate foreign currency transactions and foreign operations or subsidiaries in the financial statement of the parent company. It also shows how to translate financial statement into presentation currency. The most critical thing in this concept is to determine which exchange rate or rates to use and how to account for the exchange difference in the financial statement. The standard requires the entire initial foreign transaction to be recorded on the bases of the prevailing exchange rate, however, it recognizes the use of average exchange rate to numerous transactions occurring during the year (Doupnik & Perera, 2011). The basis for translation can either be current method or temporal method. Temporal method uses the exchange rate that prevailed when the asset and liabilities were acquired. If the assets are based on historical cost the correct exchange rate to use is also historical. Consequently if liabilities a nd assets are based on current cost the rate to use is also the current one. ... Companies listed in Australia stock exchange reflect the present performance thus, they are the most suitable to influence decision making by stakeholders. With application of IAS 21 it is possible to compare company performance in the two stock exchanges. Companies of the same size in Europe are more profitable than Australian companies simply because exchange rate in ? is higher than â‚ ¬. With financial exchange translation there is either again or a loss in the exchange difference. This component is treated as component of finances in the statement of financial position. Works Cited Books, LLC. (2010). International Accounting Standards:International Financial Reporting Standards, International Public Sector Accounting Standards. Memphis, : Books LLC. Choi, F., & Meek, G. K. (2010). International Accounting. New York: PRENTICE HALL. Doupnik, T., & Perera, H. (2011). International Accounting. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies,Inc.,. Melville, A. (2009). International Financial Re porting. New York: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Previts, G. (2008). Research in Accounting Regulation, Volume 20. Oxford:

Special Interests Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Special Interests - Essay Example On the other hand, they also take note of the legislative process and the bill making process. This enables them to influence the executive, legislature, and judiciary (Wilson, 2009). This has proved significant in the country. Some of the groups have limited following while others enjoys vast membership. This has been the case in United States. This paper seeks to focus on interest groups. An interest group consists of people sharing a goal mostly of influencing the government and lawmakers (American Government, n.d.). The purpose is to offer linkage either to the lawmakers or executive. Such groups further their policies in a different arena. Moreover, such group aims to manipulate public opinion, elections, and public policy (American Government, n.d.). Their focus is to influence the government through various ways. The main ways of influence are through lobbying, donation, financial pledge, and volunteering. These groups do not engage in profit making activities. Moreover, they represent a narrow focus on their intended purposes, and hence they do not represent the general population (Wilson, 2009). Interest groups are myriad in United States today. They also exist in different forms. Some have a vast membership while others only have limited membership. This sometimes depends on available resources. In America, several interest groups exist. Examples of such interest groups include the National Manufacturers Association, AFL-CIO, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Medical Association, American Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Sierra Club, National Council of Churches, Common Cause, Public Citizen, National Governors Association, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Association for the Advancement of Retired Persons (American Government, n.d.). These groups represent the interest of profession, field, or a group of people. These interest groups have attracted serious debates in the United States for time. These debates r evolve the merits and demerits of such groups. There exist a strong relationship between interest groups and political parties. This is seen in various aspects, in the United States. The first most important link is the way in which interest group fund political parties during electioneering period. The contributions are made through the Political Action Committees (PACs). Most of the fund is provided to the congress. This is because most of these groups have interest as to which party has the majority of seats in congress. This helps these groups in ensuring that their policies focus is taken care of in the congress. However, such donations are meant to have a little impact on the political side (Brunell, 2005). This ensure this through provision of support to the incumbent as they require little amount of money to seek reelection. These groups show preference to the party according to their interest. For example, the labor groups prefer the democrats while the corporate side prefe rs the republicans (Hays, 2001). However, PACs provide money across the political divides. Nevertheless, the pattern of donations appears to be skewed towards one side. This happens to either the democrats or republicans. Throughout history, campaign in the United States appears to be a costly affair. This has made it possible for overreliance by the congress on funding from the interest groups. However, they also rely on individual contribution, but contribution from the

Exercise for Balance in the Elderly | Research

Exercise for Balance in the Elderly | Research CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The ageing process is considered as a biological reality, and which cannot be controlled by human being. It is dynamic in nature. The beginning of the old age is about 60 or 65 years and it is equivalent to retirement age. According to the developed countries, old age means at the point when the active contribution is no longer possible (Gorman et al., 2007). As a natural part of aging, physiological and psychological changes can occur and it can affect the lifestyle and health of old age people. Most of the older adults commonly affected by the problems like osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, fractures, diabetes, hypertension, poor vision, hearing impairment, cardiovascular diseases, COPD, poor kidney function, cancers, urinary incontinence, anxiety, depression and balance problems.(Nabili,2010) One of the leading health concerns, in case of elderly is falling and which is related to balance Problems. (Cochrane library).  Balance problems and falls are common, and falls can occur due to impaired balance among elderly .Worldwide, the number of persons over 60 years is growing faster than any other age group. In the middle of the 20th century 14 million people were in the age group of 80 years or older. By, 2050 it will be about 400 million in world wide. Approximately 28-35% of people over the age of 65 fall each year, and this proportion increases to 32-42% for those aged more than 70 years. 40% elderly people living in long term care setting experienced recurrent falls during each year and it is high as compaired to community older adults. Falls may lead to, increased dependence, loss of autonomy, confusion, immobilization and depression. (WHO). According to the centre for control of diseases and prevention (CDC) , one in every 3 adults over the age of 65 falls each year. Walking difficulty and poor balance are common impairments in old age group and which is the high risk for falling. In 2011American geriatric society recommended that all adults aged 65 or older should screen for falls. (Shubert, 2011). Falls can occur in all age groups especially in older adults. The prevalence and incidence of falls more commonly occurs after the age of 65 and (30-60) percentage in annually. As compaired to men, women are more prone to get falls. A study was conducted in Cape Town of South Africa to identify the risk factors of falls. The subjects were selected randomly aged more than 65 years. Total number of samples was 837 from different groups like whites, black Africans and Indians. The study result shows that, incidence of falls was high in women and prevalence of falls was different for different groups. (Kalula, 2010) The risk factors for falls are mainly Gait disturbance, muscle weakness, Dizziness, postural hypotension, visual Impairment, and syncope, use of an assistive device, visual deficit, arthritis, impaired activities of daily living, depression, and cognitive impairment. (WHO, 2006) As age increases, individuals experience decreased strength and balance, which is a risk factor for falls. Balance is the ability to maintain an upright posture during dynamic and static tasks. Maintaining balance requires interactions between central and peripheral factors. (Knerl, 2009) Balance problems are commonly reported by elderly people. Good balance has been associated with independence in daily activities. Deterioration in balance may leads to reduced physical activities and fear of falling. Balance assessments serves several purposes, such as quantitative, description of ability, monitoring subject’s progress overtime and evaluating the effectiveness of intervention.(Sihvonen,2004) For old age people 65 or older, in 2010 the total direct medical cost was 30 billion dollars due to fall injuries and by 2020 it is expected to be about 54.9 billion. Implementation of effective intervention could reduce the health care costs of fall related injuries.(CDC) From the Health Day News, exercise programme means to prevent falls in the seniors, but according to new review it says that exercise programme helps to prevent injuries also. Balance training has been identified as one of the top 10 worldwide in the fitness industry. In 2008 Physical activity guidelines for Americans recommend that balance exercises for 3 days in a week was effective for active and inactive elderly aged more than 65. Gait and balance disorders are common in elderly. As a health care team, physicians or nurses have the responsibility to ask about the previous history of falls. Due to the lack of standardized measures,evidence for the effectiveness of balance training is limited. Yet the exercise and physical therapy are included in effective options for gait and balance. NEED FOR THE STUDY With the exponential growth in older population, exercise is a key target(WHO,2002) and it is a subset of Physical activity that is planned , structural and repetitive and it is considered to be the important rehabilitation programme to improve the functional ability of old age people (Cochrane library). Dr.Nick cavil says that â€Å"A people get older and their bodies decline in function, physical activity helps to slow that decline. In older adults reduced balance is associated with, decreased physical functioning and increase risk of falling. This review analyses the effect of exercise on balance in older adults. (Cochrane editorial unit). In 1960’s an astronaut called John Glenn disqualified from his service, because he experienced balance problems during his working. Then after the rehabilitation programme, at the age of 77, he performed well. As per Indiana University, exercises that speedup swaying that may help to forestall balance problems in later. For the exercise programme safe environment is recommended, for that first step, to acquire sufficient fitness and Self-confidence. Gait balance training is effective, in clinical balance outcomes in elderly. These interventions are probably safe. (Howe, 2011). One in every 3 adults over the age of 65 falls each year . Balance is critical when it comes to avoiding falls at any age. Balance exercise improves strength and flexibility on both sides of the body, not only do they reduce the risk of sips , trips, and falls but also increases the likelihood that seniors will be able to recover balance or reduce the injuries . After 50 years of age , begins to lose 10% of our strength per decade of life , which leads to balance problems. Balance exercise help to reduce the decade of life. (CDC). A study to evaluate the effectiveness of an enhanced balance training programme to improve the mobility of older adults with balance problems. The study was conducted in Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust general hospital; the design adopted for the study was prospective singled blind randomized controlled trial. The subjects participated in the study were 199.The interventional group received balance training programme and control group received physiotherapy. The outcome measures were Berg balance scale,Frenchay Activities Index (FAI), Falls Handicap Inventory (FHI), and European Quality of Life questionnaire were measured regularly at 6,12 and 24 weeks.Both groups showed improvements. (Intervention: 22.5-16.5 seconds, P =.001; control: 20.5-15.8 seconds, P =.054). As by conclusion, the results shows that exercise programmes had an effect on balance among elderly. (Steadman, et.al 2003) Older adults can improve their quality of life by participating in balance exercises. Their by they can improve their mobility and get fit. The researcher says that as age increases, there is a chance of losing muscle mass and strength. Exercise programme helps to improve the postural alignment in sitting and standing position. Many of the older adults, admitted to the hospitals due to decreased balance problem and it results in falls related injuries, so the investigator reveals that exercise programme helps to reduce the falls by improving balance among elderly. According to American journal of epidemiology 30% of community – dwelling seniors /citizens will experiences falls at least once a year due to balance problems. so, as a health care professionals we are responsible to make out the solution. During cinical posting in medical and surgical ward in KMCH, the investigator came across so many persons with fall related injuries due to balance problems, and most of them were in the age group of more than 60.So in order to reduce the rate of falls and to improve the balance the researcher selected the exercise programme as an intervention for elderly people. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Effectiveness of exercise program on balance among elderly in selected old age home at Coimbatore. OBJECTIVES Objectives of the study were to assess the balance score among elderly. determine the effectiveness of exercise programme in improving balance scores. identify the association between the balance scores with selected demographic and clinical variables of elderly people. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS Balance:-Ability of an individual to maintain the line of gravity of a body within the base of support with minimal postural sway during different activities such as bending forward, transfer and closing eyes. Exercise programme:- Systematically planned programme for the old age people to improve the balance, of 5 exercises namely sit to stand, heel to toe walk, one leg stand, sideways walking and step up. Elderly:-Both male and female in the age group of 60-80 years. HYPOTHESIS There is a significant improvement in balance following exercise programme among elderly. ASSUMPTIONS Balance impairments are important risk factor for fall. Balance impairments are higher in elderly people. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK A conceptual frame work in nursing is the backbone, on which the nursing research is built. A theoretical explanation of the phenomenon or problem and serves as the basis for the formulation of research hypothesis. The conceptual framework adopted for this study is wiedenbach’s Theory, (1970) which is established by Ernestinewiedenbach, who was early nursing leader. Wiedenbach focuses on individualizing care for each patient. This is done by assessing the individual needs of each patient, so the nurse knows when to step in and help the patient. Central purpose Central purpose of this study is to improve the balance among elderly people. Prescription The investigator plan the prescription that will fulfil the central purpose (improve the balance among elderly).Thus the investigator, selected the method, exercise programme for elderly people, and which is considered to be the effective measure of improving the balance. Realities Agent investigator Recipient elderly people with decreased balance Goal improvement in balance Means provision of exercise (make them to do) Frame work old age home. Identification This includes identification of balance problems among old age people and also importance of exercises and its effects to improve the balance among elderly. Ministration Provision of exerciseprogramme (balance exercise) for elderly with balance problem. Validation Evaluation of the effectiveness of exercise programme on balance with the use of berg balance scale

Cognitive Development in Infants Essay -- Child Development

This paper is going to carry out a literature review on cognitive development in infants. The paper will review cognitive development in infants at different stages. Effects of early experience on mental development in infants will also be discussed. The research question and the hypothesis of the research will also be given. Keywords: infants, development, experience Cognitive Development in Infants Introduction Advancement made in regard to cognitive neuroscience has enabled a better understanding of the cognitive processes in infants. Studies have indicated that cognitive development in infants starts before they are born. In the eighth week of pregnancy, fetuses have the ability to hear. They become accustomed to their mothers’ voice and voices of close family members, fetuses also have the ability of listening to music. After they are born, millions of neurons interconnect in their brain, which enable them to think and learn. Scientists have established that experiences of infants in terms of touch, sight and perception in the first years of their existence, has the potential of affecting their brain development in the later years (Goswami, 1993, p. 157). This literature review is going to examine cognitive development in infants and how early experiences affects cognitive development. Cognitive Development in Infants Cognitive development is a term used to refer to the process through which infants or children develop language, thinks, gain knowledge, and solve problems. For example, when infants identify colors or differentiate things, they are performing cognitive tasks. Infants normally learn through interactions with objects and people, in addition to their senses. When infants interact with their world and ... ...ackwell handbook of childhood cognitive development. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Goswami, U. (1993). Cognitive development: the learning brain. Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press. Galton Institute. (2001). Perceptual cognitive development. Los Angeles, CA: Galton Institute. Gauvain, M. (2006). The social context of cognitive development. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Nelson, K. (2001). Language in cognitive development: emergence of the mediated mind. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univ. Press. Oakley, L. (2004). Cognitive Development. New York, NY: Routledge. Ruffin, N. J. (2009). Understanding Growth and Development Patterns of Infants. Virginia Cooperative Extension. Retrieved April, 17, 2012 http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/350/350-053/350-053.html Wachs, T. D., & Gruen, G. E. (2006). Early experience and human development. New York, NY: Plenum Pr.

Ozymandias and the Grecian Urn Paper

Even though â€Å"Ozymandias† by Percy Shelley and â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn† by John Keats sound like very different types of poems, they still share some of the same characteristics. In â€Å"Ozymandias,† Shelley tells a story of how a man found a ancient statue of a king, with the words â€Å"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,/ Look on my Works, ye Might, and despair! † The statue was broken into pieces, and the land was bare, with nothing to â€Å"look on† (11).In â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn,† Keats is speaking to an ancient urn and describing the unchanging pictures that are on it. These poems are very different in how their objects interact with the passing of time and in the feelings that they invoke in the reader, but very similar in the romantic characteristics that they represent. â€Å"Ozymandias† and â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn† are very different in how the statue and the urn interact with the passing of time. In â€Å"Ozymandias†, Shelley shows how a manmade object is destroyed in time by nature.Not only is the statue destroyed, but it is also obvious that the town has also been destroyed when Shelley states that, â€Å"Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/ Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare† (12-13). Nature has the ability to destroy everything that a man can make, anything from a simple statue to an entire town. However, â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn† is an entire poem about a manmade object that has withstood the passage of time and anything nature threw its way.Keats states that even â€Å"When old age shall this generation waste/ Thou shalt remain† (46-47). Keats does not even acknowledge the fact that nature could destroy the urn in a split second. Since the urn is a â€Å"Sylvan historian,† it has been around for a while, meaning it has probably been through some version of a natural disaster or at the very least a rough storm, and nature st ill has not chosen to destroy it (3). Shelley’s poem and Keats’s poem also differ in the feelings that they invoke in the reader. â€Å"Ozymandias† has a very off-putting sound to it.Shelley puts words that have negative connotations to them; like when he is describing the king with a â€Å"frown/ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command† (4-5). The poem gives the reader a feeling of loneliness and emptiness by using lines like â€Å"The lone and level sands† and â€Å"boundless and bare† (14, 13). In â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn†, the connotations of the words that Keats uses are completely opposite. Keats even describes the urn as being able to tell â€Å"A flowery tale more sweetly than [their] rhyme† (4).Keats then goes on to state that the melodies â€Å"unheard/ Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on† (11-12). These lines are so light and pretty especially compared to the harshness of Shelley’s poem . Keats describes the beautiful pictures on the urn throughout the rest of the poem, even making a sacrifice sound peaceful. Even though the way the poems’ objects interact with the passing of time and the feelings the poems invoke in the reader differ greatly, the romantic characteristics that both poems symbolize are very similar.Ironically, the opposite parallels of the two poems have a way of representing a romantic mindset. For example, the romantics believed that nature is supposed to teach. In â€Å"Ozymandias†, nature destroys a statue and a town that had arisen from greed and the abuse of power. The king is stated to have a â€Å"sneer of cold command† and a â€Å"heart that fed† his own desires (4,8). The â€Å"trunkless legs of stone† and â€Å"a shattered visage† makes it sound like nature was not very happy with the king’s show of authority (2, 4).In â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn†, the manmade object not being destroy ed by nature can still teach the reader. The urn was not made for power and greed, but to show beauty and love. The urn depicts many scenes of nature and peacefulness. Another similarity that both poems share is that they show the insignificance of something that is supposed to be great, like a king, and the value of something that is supposed to be ordinary, like an urn. Once again, in â€Å"Ozymandias†, the king and his great town are destroyed.This seems like Shelley’s way of rooting for the revolutions, of making a king not so important anymore. After all is said and done, the â€Å"lone and level sands stretch far away† (14). No matter whether one is a king or a peasant, everyone dies, and in the end, being a king does not make you greater than a peasant. In â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn†, Keats glorifies the common urn. He makes the urn, which could have probably been found in many homes, seem special to the reader. Like many romantics, he took an ordi nary item and turned it into an extraordinary one.Shelley’s â€Å"Ozymandias† and Keats’s â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn† differ in the ways that the statue and the urn interact with the passing of time and in the feelings that they invoke in the readers; however, they still ironically share similar romantic characteristics. The poems may not seem very comparable at first, but once the reader considers what each poet is trying to convey, they do not seem so different after all. Again, it is the ironic and opposite parallels that actually add up to express the same beliefs of both poets.

Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Example

Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Example Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine Essay Introduction It is important to understand the cause of the current crisis on the matter, factors that lead to diseases and good health, in addition to the steps that need to be taken by an individual so as to maintain good health. Traditional medicine, also known as conventional medicine, relies on scientific principles, contemporary technologies as well as scientifically proved methodologies for purposes of preventing, diagnosing, and treating adverse medical conditions (Treweek Heller, 2006). Health care professionals within conventional medicine believe that diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria. In conventional medicine, health care professionals must undergo extensive training and meet the standards set by the American Medical Association. By contrast, alternative medicine in its medical approach takes in to account the body and mind, experience and knowledge for diagnosis and treatment. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the national Institutes of health did a survey in May of 2004 and found that 36 percent of adults in America use some form of alternative medicine(Arias, 2004). They argue that conventional methods of treatment focus on diagnostic testing as well as treating with medications, but not on the patient as a whole. So as to gain an understanding on the increasing medical shift towards alternative treatment, it is important to understand what alternative medicine and conventional medicine are. Alternative medicine vs. conventional medicine Alternative medicine employs natural treatment modalities in treatment of diseases. Various alternative treatment approaches including massage, water treatment and herbal remedies were used, and still are used today by the Chinese communities to manage a variety of diseases. Modern alternative treatment techniques are developed based on the ancient treatments (Paquette, 2000). Modern alternative treatment techniques include: acupuncture, homeopathy, spiritual devotions, chiropractic, aromatherapy, psychotherapy, osteopathy, naturopathic, nutrition medicine, in addition to a wide range of other natural remedies (Alters and Schiff, 2010). These therapies have proved to be of much benefit in supporting the normal healing course of the body. Even though there are many modern alternative remedies, with different beliefs, all of them operate under some common principles. One of these principles is that the body has the capacity to heal naturally and maintain stability (Paquette, 2000). The other one is that adverse health conditions can occur as a result of factors emanating from mind, emotions and the body. Alternative medicine, according to Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, (2002), focuses on determining the chief cause of a particular condition, and dealing with the whole person rather that concentrating on symptoms. If a person pays close attention to his/her health he/she can contribute to his/her wellbeing. Alternative medicine holds firmly to the principle that one treatment cannot be used for all people even though they may be suffering from the same condition. Each and every person as per alternative medicine has distinct bodily, mind and spiritual make up (Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, 2002). Health care professionals within conventional medicine believe that diseases are caused by microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses. Medical care professionals in conventional medicine must meet the national set standards concerning education and certification. These professionals constantly update their knowledge through educational programs so as to maintain their professional licenses. Alters and Schiff (2010), asserts that, before any treatment procedure is put into use in conventional medicine, health care professionals in this field must verify that it does not subject human beings to adverse medical side-effects. Numerous studies are conducted using animal and human subjects to determine the effectiveness of a certain treatments. Conventional medicine is recommended when a patient is suffering from a life threatening condition. It focuses on the symptoms which a patient is presenting with. Generally, conventional medicine focuses on dysfunction. Those who prefer conventional medicine to alternative medicine, seek treatment only after they have fallen ill. This is due to the fact that conventional treatment puts very little emphasis on the prevention as compared to treatment (Treweek and Heller, 2006). The major difference between conventional and alternative medicine is that conventional medicine concerns itself with the management of symptoms through scientific modalities and modern technology rather than dealing with the whole person as well as the root cause of an illness. Alternative medicine emphasizes on the prevention of illnesses and aims at treating the whole person in order to strengthen his/her immune system as well as producing a sustainable healing. Conventional medicine uses drugs to treat various illnesses thereby suppressing the body’s natural immunity; alternative medicine employs strategies that assist the body to heal naturally (Goldberg, Trivieri and Anderson, 2002). Conclusion The issue relating to the differences between alternative and conventional medicine can be very highly controversial. Alternative medicine has been employed as treatment in the world for thousands of years. It involves the use of natural treatment techniques in management and prevention of diseases. Alternative treatment techniques including acupuncture, homeopathy, spiritual devotions, chiropractic, aromatherapy, psychotherapy, osteopathy, naturopathic and nutrition medicine among many others are developed based on the ancient treatment techniques. Conventional medicine involves the use of drugs, surgery, and other medical procedures in dealing with various medical conditions. Conventional medicine employs scientific principles, scientifically tested medical procedures as well as modern technologies to diagnose, manage and prevent diseases. Conventional medicine focuses on treatment of various symptoms; alternative medicine concentrates on prevention, determination of the root cause as well as treatment of the whole person. Reference: About 70 percent of older adults use alternative medicine. (2005, April 11). Ascribe Newswire, pp 1-3, 3p. Retrieved July 5, 2010, from Ascribe Newswire database. Alternative Medicine Angel, Alternative Medicine: A Comparison, retrieved on July 2, 2010 from http://altmedangel. com/am. html Alters, S. , Schiff W. , (edn 5), (2010), Essential Concepts for Healthy Living, ISBN 0763789755: Jones Bartlett Learning Arais, D. , (2004, August). Alternative medicines prompts concern. , The Nations Health, 34(6), 6-6. Retrived July 5, 2010, from ephost database. Field, T. , (2009), Traditional Medicine vs. Alternative Medicine, retrieved on July 2, 2010 from asktheinternettherapist. com/archive_traditional_medicine. asp Goldberg, B. , Trivieri, L. , and Anderson, J. , (edn 2), (2002), Alternative medicine: the definitive guide, ISBN 1587611414: Celestial Arts Meines, M. , (1998), Should Alternative Treatment be Integrated into Mainstream Medicine? Nursing Forum, Vol 33 Paquette, M. , (2000), Does Your Assessment Include Alternative Therapies? Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, Vol 36 Treweek, G. , and Heller, T. , (2006), Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, ISBN 0415351618: Routledge.

Define what is meant by the term `learning organisation` Essay Example

Define what is meant by the term `learning organisation` Essay Example Define what is meant by the term `learning organisation` Essay Define what is meant by the term `learning organisation` Essay Define what is meant by the term `learning organisation` . What might help advancement towards this in a wellness or societal attention administration? Introduction The term learning organisation’ has grown out of the construct of womb-to-tomb acquisition. Learning administrations concentrate on the societal mileu in which larning takes topographic point and this implies a more holistic attack to larning which is favorable to Government efforts to advance womb-to-tomb acquisition in all administrations. Griffin ( 2000 ) has identified the larning administration as portion of the scheme of authorities to do womb-to-tomb larning a affair of educational policy. This is apparent in undertakings such as the Higher Education Active Community where the Government made funding available to promote the thought of organizational larning through partnerships between institutes of higher instruction, the voluntary sector and local concerns. Griffin ( 1999 B ) has argued that: The scheme of authoritiess is to make the conditions in which people, households, communities and administrations are most likely to larn for themselves, therefore rid ofing the demand for instruction policy in the traditional sense( Griffin, 1999b:440 ) . Whether or non one agrees with Griffin’s point of position people within a learning administration learn and develop together in ways which may convey benefits to the wider community. The acquisition administration is still a heatedly debated and therefore non easy defined subject, however this paper will get down withadefinition of what is meant by the term learning administration. Then, utilizing an administration called Homestart, it will try to place what might help their advancement towards a more to the full developed larning administration. The Concept of a Learning Administration The thought of the learning administration is developed most clearly in the work of Senge ( 1990 ) . He describes a learning administration as one where: †¦people continually expand their capacity to make the consequences they genuinely desire, where new and expansive forms of thought are nurtured, where corporate aspirations is set free, and where people are continually larning to larn together( Senge, 1990:4 ) . Within a learning administration there is concentration on how administrations gain, usage, and portion cognition and how organizational action and development programs are drawn up on the footing of that cognition. Within a learning administration people should reflect on what they have learned and utilize it to inform their pattern and to help the accomplishment of the ends of their administration. Those people most involved in authorship and learning about larning administrations ( peculiarly those outside of an academic context ) examine forms of behavior in administrations ( Roper and Petit, 2000 ) . The values that lie behind Senge’s ( 1990 ) construct of the acquisition administration are: Valuing different sorts of cognition and acquisition manners and making a learning environment’ so each organizational member can gain his/her full potency. Dialogue and geographic expedition of different positions and experiences to bring forth originative thought. Team work and interrupting down traditional barriers or winkers within organsiations and so release originative potency. Fostering leading potency throughout the administration and cut downing differentiations, such as those between direction and staff, between strategians and implementers, between support and professional staff and so on. ( Roper and Petit, 2000:2 ) . Within a learning administration reflecting on acquisition and incorporating it into pattern should bring forth greater self-knowledge and the willingness to dispute personal premises and stereotypes and therefore to associate better to others. The Learning Organisation in the Voluntary Sector The acquisition administration is a topical topic of argument and the construct is going progressively popular with voluntary administrations. However, the construct is a challenge for the voluntary sector where, as Jones and Henry ( 1994 ) contend bottom up’ acquisition is common pattern. Voluntary administrations ( such as Home Start ) must get down with oppugning their ain organizational construction and request: . . . how we can make organizational constructions which are meaningful to people so they can help, take part and more meaningfully command their ain fate in an unhindered way’( Jones and Hendry 1994:160 ) . Home Start began with an initial undertaking in Leicester more than thirty old ages ago. It is now a national administration consisting some three hundred undertakings. National Office provides a nexus and support for the assorted vicinity voluntary undertakings. Home Start was formed to give aid and advice to female parents with immature kids, peculiarly those who were off from household and friends. Home Start and the Concept of the Learning Organisation Administrations such as Home Start make full the spread for households who have trouble in accessing statutory services ( Oakley et al, 1998 ) . It is non easy to measure whether administrations such as Home Start could be termed learning organisations’ because the charity is composed of many little voluntary groups. However, like many charities Home Start does hold a mission statement and a set of guidelines and runing rules that the assorted groups adhere to and for this ground it might be looked on as holding the capacity to go a learning administration. The pattern of underside up acquisition ( Power et Al, 2002 ) means that Home Start and other administrations take into history user’s positions to mensurate its public presentation and to set up organizational precedences based on user feedback so that users are actively involved instead than as Power et Al ( 2002:4 ) maintaindevelop them.If Home Start truly does seek to avoid developing client’s lives and gi ving them a voice in organizational structuring so the application of Senge’s position that the interrupting down of barriers and the thought of squad work will be indispensable. This means that the voluntaries that Home Start relies on to work with households referred to them will necessitate non merely their ain life experiences but specific preparation in furthering the originative potency of the people with whom they work. Decision Homes Start already values different sorts of larning but if it is to win as a learning administration and to carry through its committedness to the construct of household larning so it will necessitate to be borne in head that among its users there will be a assortment of different acquisition manners. The acquisition environment will therefore necessitate to be flexible plenty to accommodate to these different manners. While other research ( Oakley et al, 1998 ) tends to the position that it is hard to measure what if any benefit and alteration occurs in households who use Home Start’s services, the administration and its users tend to take the position that any positive alteration in users’ fortunes reflects good on the administration. From my ain experience of a short enchantment detecting the work that Home Start does it would look that within the assorted groups at that place needs to be less differentiation between workers and users. Sometimes the voluntary secto r tends to keep the position quo between its professional workers and its voluntaries instead than furthering leading potency. Implementing this sort of teamwork would intend alterations in construction, direction and support issues. This would increase the value of its services within the community ( Powers et al, 2002 ) . I would reason that a decrease in the differentiations between the assorted agents in the voluntary sector and greater engagement of all concerned in the determination devising procedure would increase the likeliness of societal attention undertakings such as Home Start come oning in their purpose to go a learning administration. 1000 words Mentions and Bibliography Griffin, C. ( July, 2000 ) Lifelong acquisition: Policy, Strategy and Culture Working Papers on the Global Colloquium on Supporting Lifelong Learning ( online ) Milton Keynes, UK: Open University hypertext transfer protocol: //www.open.ac.uk/lifelong-learning accessed: 9/9/05 Griffin, C. M. ( 1999b )Lifelong acquisition and public assistance reform. International Journal of Lifelong Education Vol 18 No 6 Nov-Dec 1999 ( 431-452 ) Jones, Alan M. and Chris Hendry ( 1994 ) The larning administration: grownup acquisition and organizational transformation’ ,British Journal of Management5:153–162. Petit, J. , Roper, L. and Eade, D. 2003Development and the Learning OrganisationLondon, Oxfam Academic Oakley, Rajan, and Turner1998. Evaluating parent support initiativesHealth and Social Care in the Community6( 5 ) , 318–330 319 Powers, G. Maury, M. and Maury, S. 2002 Operationalising underside up acquisition in international Nongovernmental organization: Barriers and optionsDevelopment in PracticeVol 12 No. 3-4 1stAugust 2002 p. 272-284 Senge, P. ( 1990) . The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation, New York: Doubleday.