How Scientists Determine Climates of the Past

How Scientists Determine Climates of the Past Paleoenvironmental reconstruction (also known as paleoclimate reconstruction) refers to the results and the investigations undertaken to determine what the climate and vegetation were like at a particular time and place in the past. Climate, including vegetation, temperature, and relative humidity, has varied considerably during the time since the earliest human habitation of planet earth, from both natural and cultural (human-made) causes. Climatologists primarily use paleoenvironmental data to understand how the environment of our world has changed and how modern societies need to prepare for the changes to come. Archaeologists use paleoenvironmental data to help understand the living conditions for the people who lived at an archaeological site. Climatologists benefit from the archaeological studies because they show how humans in the past learned how to adapt or failed to adapt to environmental change, and how they caused environmental changes or made them worse or better by their actions. Using Proxies The data that are collected and interpreted by paleoclimatologists are known as proxies, stand-ins for what cant be directly measured. We cant travel back in time to measure the temperature or humidity of a given day or year or century, and there are no written records of climatic changes that would give us those details older than a couple of hundred years. Instead, paleoclimate researchers rely on biological, chemical, and geological traces of past events that were influenced by the climate. The primary proxies used by climate researchers are plant and animal remains because the type of flora and fauna in a region indicates the climate: think of polar bears and palm trees as indicators of local climates. Identifiable traces of plants and animals range in size from whole trees to microscopic diatoms and chemical signatures. The most useful remains are those that are large enough to be identifiable to species; modern science has been able to identify objects as tiny as pollen grains and spores to plant species. Keys to Past Climates Proxy evidence can be biotic, geomorphic, geochemical, or geophysical; they can record environmental data that range in time from yearly, every ten years, every century, every millennium or even multi-millennia. Events such as tree growth and regional vegetation changes leave traces in soils and peat deposits, glacial ice and moraines, cave formations, and in the bottoms of lakes and oceans. Researchers rely on modern analogs; that is to say, they compare the findings from the past to those found in current climates around the world. However, there are periods in the very ancient past when the climate was completely different from what is currently being experienced on our planet. In general, those situations appear to be the result of climate conditions that had more extreme seasonal differences than any weve experienced today. It is particularly important to recognize that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were lower in the past than those present today, so ecosystems with less  greenhouse gas  in the atmosphere likely behaved differently than they do today. Paleoenvironmental Data Sources There are several types of sources where paleoclimate researchers can find preserved records of past climates. Glaciers and Ice Sheets: Long-term bodies of ice, such as the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, have annual cycles which build new layers of ice each year like tree rings. Layers in the ice vary in texture and color during warmer and cooler parts of the year. Also, glaciers expand with increased precipitation and cooler weather and retract when warmer conditions prevail. Trapped in those layers laid down over thousands of years are dust particles and gases which were created by climatic disturbances such as volcanic eruptions, data which can be retrieved using ice cores.Ocean Bottoms: Sediments are deposited in the bottom of the oceans each year, and lifeforms such as foraminifera, ostracods, and diatoms die and are deposited with them. Those forms respond to ocean temperatures: for example, some are more prevalent during warmer periods.Estuaries and Coastlines: Estuaries preserve information about the height of former sea levels in long sequences of alternating layers of organic p eat when the sea level was low, and inorganic silts when the sea level rose. Lakes: Like oceans and estuaries, lakes also have annual basal deposits called varves. Varves hold a wide variety of organic remains, from entire archaeological sites to pollen grains and insects. They can hold information about environmental pollution such as acid rain, local iron mongering, or run-offs from eroded hills nearby.Caves: Caves are closed systems, where average annual temperatures are maintained year-round and with a high relative humidity. Mineral deposits within caves such as stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstones gradually form in thin layers of calcite, which trap chemical compositions from outside the cave. Caves can thus contain continuous, high-resolution records which can be dated using uranium-series dating.Terrestrial Soils: Soil deposits on land can also be a source of information, trapping animal and plant remains in colluvial deposits at the base of hills or alluvial deposits in valley terraces. Archaeological Studies of Climate Change Archaeologists have been interested in climate research since at least Grahame Clarks 1954 work at Star Carr. Many have worked with climate scientists to figure out the local conditions at the time of occupation. A trend identified by Sandweiss and Kelley (2012) suggests that climate researchers are beginning to turn to the archaeological record to assist with the reconstruction of paleoenvironments. Recent studies described in detail in Sandweiss and Kelley include: The interaction between humans and climatic data to determine the rate and extent of El Nià ±o and the human reaction to it over the last 12,000 years of people living in coastal Peru.Tell Leilan in northern Mesopotamia (Syria) deposits matched to ocean drilling cores in the Arabian Sea identified a previously-unknown volcanic eruption that took place between 2075-1675 BC, which in turn may have led to an abrupt aridification with the abandonment of the tell and may have led to the disintegration of the Akkadian empire.In the Penobscot valley of Maine in the northeastern United States, studies on sites dated to the early-middle Archaic (~9000-5000 years ago), helped establish a chronology of flood events in the region associated with falling or low lake levels.Shetland Island, Scotland, where Neolithic-aged sites are sand-inundated, a situation believed to be an indication of a period of storminess in the North Atlantic. Sources Allison AJ, and Niemi TM. 2010. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Holocene coastal sediments adjacent to archaeological ruins in Aqaba, Jordan. Geoarchaeology 25(5):602-625.Dark P. 2008. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction, methods. In: Pearsall DM, editor. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. New York: Academic Press. p 1787-1790.Edwards KJ, Schofield JE, and Mauquoy D. 2008. High resolution paleoenvironmental and chronological investigations of Norse landnm at Tasiusaq, Eastern Settlement, Greenland. Quaternary Research 69:1–15.Gocke M, Hambach U, Eckmeier E, Schwark L, Zà ¶ller L, Fuchs M, Là ¶scher M, and Wiesenberg GLB. 2014. Introducing an improved multi-proxy approach for paleoenvironmental reconstruction of loess–paleosol archives applied on the Late Pleistocene Nussloch sequence (SW Germany). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 410:300-315.Lee-Thorp J, and Sponheimer M. 2015. Contribution of Stable Light Isotopes to Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction. I n: Henke W, and Tattersall I, editors. Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p 441-464. Lyman RL. 2016. The mutual climatic range technique is (usually) not the area of sympatry technique when reconstructing paleoenvironments based on faunal remains. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 454:75-81.Rhode D, Haizhou M, Madsen DB, Brantingham PJ, Forman SL, and Olsen JW. 2010. Paleoenvironmental and archaeological investigations at Qinghai Lake, western China: Geomorphic and chronometric evidence of lake level history. Quaternary International 218(1–2):29-44.Sandweiss DH, and Kelley AR. 2012. Archaeological Contributions to Climate Change Research: The Archaeological Record as a Paleoclimatic and Paleoenvironmental Archive*. Annual Review of Anthropology 41(1):371-391.Shuman BN. 2013. Paleoclimate reconstruction - Approaches In: Elias SA, and Mock CJ, editors. Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (Second Edition). Amsterdam: Elsevier. p 179-184.

Tick Tock essays

Tick Tock essays A thirty-year-old detective-novelist living in southern California named Tommy Phan is on top if the world. He had just purchased a brand new Corvette and is living his fantasy of living the American dream. On his way home he calls his mother to inform her of his new toy. After feeling guilty about the conversation, because he is living his dream and not living with his family and working at the family business. On his way home he stops at a diner to get something to eat he meets a young blond. After he pays he speeds up in his new car so he can arrive home. When he arrives at his home he notices a small rag doll on his doorstep. Confused, but intrigued he picks up the doll and carried it inside. He proceeded up his stairs to his computer work with the doll still in hand and placed it up against a lamp. After he sits down he studies the doll more carefully and notices a small folded note with a pin holding its place next to the small hand. The note is written in Viennese, no t knowing the language since he was eight, he puts it down and examines the doll and sees two stitched crosses where the eyes should be, one for the nose, one over the heart, and five for the mouth. He leaves the room and when he enters the doll isn't where he left it and there is a message on his computer that had not been there before. It reads " the deadline is dawn ". Scared by the note he tries to find the doll. When he picks it up off the floor and props the doll next to the lamp where it had been before. He starts to work on his books, about a detective named Chippen Wen a charming, brave man who can do anything if he has a gun and his fists. A small pop alarms him and he looks at the doll and notices that the stitching across the heart on the doll was not there. He picks up the doll and places his hand over the heart and can here ticking, almost like a heart beating. Another popping sound and he could see eyes and a mouth. Breaking out ...

Stress and Law Enforcement Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stress and Law Enforcement - Research Proposal Example In particular, police officers have families as well, they go through the same emotional process as other humans do (Goldberger & Breznitz, 1993), and thus, as stress has become one of the most common issues in the current society, police officers are no different, and there have been observations of adverse impact of such on them as well. RESEARCH STATEMENT In this regard, the researcher will focus on the following research statement: â€Å"To identify and analyze the factors of stress and their impact on police officers† PRELIMINARY LITERATURE REVIEW Brief analysis of literature (Constant, 1991) has indicated that stress has become one of the most common issues in human lives these days, and almost every human is now under the varied impact of stress due to various factors (Monat & Lazaruz, 1991). Experts (Franken, 1994) have specified that different levels of stress influence an individual differently; however, studies have indicated evident impact of stress on neurological , as well as psychological functions of individuals. In addition, stress has nowadays not remained a disease but a normal aspect of humans where every individual confronts and reacts to it in a diverse manner. Literature review has identified the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress (Bernard & Krupat, 1994) that has been very imperative in understanding different aspects of stress, and thus, it will be a part of this preliminary literature review. According to this model, stress exists with its three components: â€Å"an external component, an internal component, and the interrelationship between the external and the internal components† (Bernard & Krupat, 1994). Advocates of this model believe that diverse environmental events begins the waves of stress; however, these waves when come in contact with internal component causes a reaction in human body, and the then interrelationship causes different stress levels and diverse impact in individuals (Cannon, 1932). In 1967, psychiatr ists from the University of Washington (Holmes & Rahe, 1967) carried out a study to inquire about the impact of stress on causation of illnesses in humans. For this purpose, approximately five thousand patients participated in the study that enabled the researchers to come to forty-three causes of stress (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). However, experts now believe that the causes have jumped up to more than forty-three due to stressful lives of humans in today’s society. When it comes to law enforcement officers, undoubtedly, they face stressful situations more than any other professionals do due to the very nature of a police officer’s job. It has been observations that law enforcement officers although perform duties according to a schedule like other professions. However, unlike other professions, police officers cannot keep their work aside from their daily routines, and a horde of responsibilities always follows police officers at their homes as well that is one of the maj or causes of higher stress levels in law enforcement officers. One of the major reasons behind higher stress levels is that by becoming a law enforcement officer, the individual not only put his own life in danger but also of his family members and friends that has so far been the most common factors of huge stress levels in

Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program within a Safety Assurance Research Paper

Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program within a Safety Assurance - Research Paper Example In the United States, they called Voluntary Safety Programs. In other words, they are particularly named Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA), Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA), Aviation Safety Action Partnership (ASAP), and Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Programs (VDRP) (Kelloway & Cooper, 2011). The absence of these "voluntary" programs, it would imply that the capacity for a specialist to have a fruitful SMS is restricted in that the reporting society and structure important to help and drive the motors of SMS (Safety Risk Management (SRM) and Safety Assurance (SA)) might not be set up. While these voluntary wellbeing projects are presently basically develop inside the U.s. Air transport industry their development has brought about information sources that, while extremely strong, are not organized to backing the framework wellbeing process that is so imperative for SMS to be fruitful or successful. As of now, the Safety Information being gathered inside the carriers brings about a colossal wellspring of information about the operation and the dangers/perils that are intrinsic inside. The accessibility of this data has become altogether in the previous 10-15 years. This is credited to the enormous endeavors of the business to create, push and secure these projects. The consequence has been an emotional change in mischance and episode anticipation. While it is difficult to demonstrate an immediate connection, the lethal mishap rate decrease in the previous 10 years, and the happenstance of the development and development of the Voluntary Safety Programs cant be released. It was resolved early that the simple some piece of the improvement of these projects was the obtaining of this data (in spite of the fact that any individual who has actualized one of these projects realizes that information securing is not an insignificant interest). What got obvious

The american dream Essay Example for Free

The american dream Essay The American dream, isn’t this what everyone is chasing? Isn’t this why people work so hard and go to extreme lengths just to achieve this â€Å"Dream†? Owning a home, having a family, and basically living care free is the â€Å"dream† that is projected, but is this goal that so many people are told to strive for even obtainable? There is a belief that once this goal is achieve all the troubles will some how fly out the window, but sadly that isn’t true. The American dream itself is nothing easy to gain, and the quest for this dream can tear anybody that isn’t ready apart. Through Jackson’s â€Å"The Residue Years† and Diaz’s â€Å"This Is How You Lose Her†, they were able to show how difficult it is to achieve the â€Å"dream† and how the journey could affect not only the person striving for it but also the people around them. With both of their unique writings styles they are able to let the reader feel connected with the person on a personal level. Champ from â€Å"The Residue Years† and Ramon from â€Å"This Is How You Lose Her† are two characters that are working towards the American dream, but don’t see how everyone around them is affected by their actions. At times chasing a certain dreams can cause a person to neglect the people and situations around them. The odds are already stacked against anyone who is not white, especially when trying to achieve the American dream or should i say White Dream. The problem with a lot of people are they are trying to obtain something that is not for them, for example the American dream is a belief that has been already thought out for everybody, and if this dream isn’t met then a person is considered unsuccessful. Why chase a dream that was only meant for certain people, like Champ said â€Å"You’re right, not everything’s about race. But what if this is? (Jackson 80)†. Champ is trying to reach this goal and keep his family from falling apart while trying to provide for his girlfriend, mothers, and two little brothers by selling the same drugs his mother is hooked on. He wasn’t good enough at basketball to go pro and doesn’t believe furthering his education will give him what he wants. Champ, an African American male, couldn’t play basketball so he sell drugs, fits the stereotype doesn’t it. Ramon on the other hand, a Latino male, been in America for ten years working at a bread factory trying to achieve the American dream with his wife back home and his mistress in the states supporting him. Although Ramon desires a house, but understand that he is already at a disadvantage because of his race, Hes been talking about the house he wants to buy, how hard it is to find one when youre Latino. (Diaz 30). Both characters believe that a house is the answer to their problems and doing everything in their power to get it. This land of opportunity but limits those opportunities to the ones who desire it the most, isn’t that funny? As a reader all you can do is cheer for or hate the decisions these two characters to beat the In this world where there is barely any options or opportunity, at times love is your strength and your weakness. On Both characters journey to the American dream the same people that they have envisioned living the dream with are the same one’s who are holding them back, their loved ones. Ramon and Champ we not trying to prove society wrong, but also the people they loved. Champ feels like he can’t let his family down and he has to do everything in his power to assure that he doesn’t, but as I said for my family for all of us, I cant let this dream defer, wont let it fall apart. (Jackson 281). The same people who Champ is trying to take care of are the ones holding him back, his mother relapsed, his little brother is becoming a problem, and his girlfriend is on his case. Champ also gets robbed at a drug deal gone wrong and even by his so called â€Å"real estate agent†. Champ sees everything he has worked hard for crumbling before his very eyes and it’s all thanks to the family that he wants to save. Ramon on the other hand just wants that house because he believes it’s the gateway to a better life. The woman he is trying to bring into this better life is the same person who doesn’t believe in him, He rubs at his stubble. What if i find the place? You want me to make the decision myself? I dont think it will happen. (Diaz 32). With no one by their sides and their backs against the wall, you just start to feel for these characters. If their loved ones aren’t behind them, then who is? The sad thing about the American dream is not everyone will see it. Ramon hard work paid off, he was able to make his dreams come true, Look, he says holding up the paperwork. Look. He is almost pleading. Im truly happy for him. You did it mi amor. We did it, he says quietly. Now we can begin. Then he puts his head down on the table and cries(Diaz 38). This emotional scene in the book is heartwarming and touching, just to see a hardworking hispanic male have the ability to make his dreams into a reality in American is something that should be applauded. Sadly the same thing can’t be said for Champ. Champ’s hard work and huge heart wasn’t enough,â€Å"He digs into my jeans and lifts the sack into view, my work rocked up and wrapped in clear plastic. They toss up cuffed into their hard back seats and boom the door shut(Jackson 340). Despite everything he tried to do for his family, at the end the person who he was trying to save is the main reason he got arrested. Champ was part a business he didn’t belong in because he wanted the better life for his family, he selling drugs so that he could provide for his loved ones ,not keep the money. Champ may have been a criminal in some peoples eyes but would you label someone who just trying to provide a criminal? Sometimes you make it or you go down trying and sadly, the guy that everyone was counting on couldn’t come through. Through both Jackson’s and Diaz’s works they were able to show how difficult chasing the american dreams can be, and make the reader feel for the characters and what they’re going through; and also how hard times can get when trying to pursuit ones true happiest. After reading both stories the question that was left to be answered is, do the ends justify the means?

Employment Letter :: essays research papers

Employment Letter To Whom It May Concern On the light of your announcement at the AUB careers and placement office I read with interest your Ad for the position of Sr Store Supervisor. I am applying for the position as I believe it offers challenges and responsibilities and as I believe it matches my qualifications and my education on professional basis. I am an undergraduate of the American University of Beirut majoring in Business Administration. I will earn my degree in June 2004 and currently seeking an acceptable position that allows me to develop and explore my skills, furthermore to learn and excel in my position in the right direction.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout my years of education at the American University of Beirut, I have participated in several projects (mainly Strategic Management and Marketing) and I went through the condensed educational environment of AUB which pushed me to work through several teams, moreover, to experience their value and to become an active team player. In addition to that, I learned to apply my theoretical skills into practical functional ideas which contributed in broadening my creativity and developing my analytical, conceptual and organizational skills. I also learned how to manage my time and finish on due dates which enabled me to deal with stressful situations and develop my sense of responsibility. Besides that, the multicultural aspect that represents AUB exposed me to different backgrounds and cultures which entitles me to cope and integrate with a large cultural and educational base especially with my linguistic capabilities(fluent in English, French and Arabic). In addition to that, through my internship assignment and especially throughout my interactions with employees and customers, I’ve been given the opportunity to strengthen my confidence in my interrelation personal skills and my capabilities and to learn more about customer’s behaviors and expectations and new â€Å"group work† issues, which also affected my motivation level. Employment Letter :: essays research papers Employment Letter To Whom It May Concern On the light of your announcement at the AUB careers and placement office I read with interest your Ad for the position of Sr Store Supervisor. I am applying for the position as I believe it offers challenges and responsibilities and as I believe it matches my qualifications and my education on professional basis. I am an undergraduate of the American University of Beirut majoring in Business Administration. I will earn my degree in June 2004 and currently seeking an acceptable position that allows me to develop and explore my skills, furthermore to learn and excel in my position in the right direction.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout my years of education at the American University of Beirut, I have participated in several projects (mainly Strategic Management and Marketing) and I went through the condensed educational environment of AUB which pushed me to work through several teams, moreover, to experience their value and to become an active team player. In addition to that, I learned to apply my theoretical skills into practical functional ideas which contributed in broadening my creativity and developing my analytical, conceptual and organizational skills. I also learned how to manage my time and finish on due dates which enabled me to deal with stressful situations and develop my sense of responsibility. Besides that, the multicultural aspect that represents AUB exposed me to different backgrounds and cultures which entitles me to cope and integrate with a large cultural and educational base especially with my linguistic capabilities(fluent in English, French and Arabic). In addition to that, through my internship assignment and especially throughout my interactions with employees and customers, I’ve been given the opportunity to strengthen my confidence in my interrelation personal skills and my capabilities and to learn more about customer’s behaviors and expectations and new â€Å"group work† issues, which also affected my motivation level.

Gender-Related Issues Essay

Many people think that the difference between gender and sexuality reflect innate differences between men and women. I believed however, that these two concepts are more a creation of society than biology. To begin, I shall discuss the key concepts of sexuality and gender. The failure to define basic terms precisely has created much of the confusion over the concepts of gender and sexuality. Hence, we must establish a clear meaning for each term. From birth until death, human feelings, thoughts, and actions reflect social definitions of the sexes. Children quickly learn that their society defines females and males as different kinds of human beings and, by about the age of three or four, they begin to apply gender standards to themselves (Kohlberg cited in Lengermann & Wallace, 2005). Sociologists define gender as the significance a society attaches to biological categories of female and male which we often refer as sex (Weeks,2006). Thus, sex is a biological distinction that develops prior to birth while gender are the human traits linked by culture to each sex that guides how females and males think about themselves, how they interact with others, and what positions they occupy in society as a whole. Hence, gender is not synonymous with sex; as â€Å"scholars use the word sex to refer to attributes of men and women created by their biological characteristics and gender to refer to the distinctive qualities of men and women (or masculinity and femininity) that are culturally created† (Epstein, 1998). Sexuality on the other hand, covers gender identity, sexual orientation, and actual practices, as well as one’s acceptance of these aspects of one’s personality, which may be more important than their specifics (Beasley, 2005). By gender identity we mean â€Å"an individual’s own feeling of whether she or he is a woman or a man, or a girl or a boy† (Kessler and McKenna, 1998). Sexual orientation is the manner in which people experience sexual arousal and achieve sexual pleasure. For most living things, sexuality is biologically programmed. In humans, however, sexual orientation is bound up in the complex web of cultural attitudes and rules. A well known psychologist, Sigmund Freud (1985) assumed that â€Å"biology is destiny† and that children learn their gender by observing whether they have a penis or a vagina. But modern science has shown that the situation is somewhat more complicated. The development of gender identity occurs during a critical period of every child’s socialization. There is a time before which the child is too young to have a gender identity and after which â€Å"whatever gender identity has developed cannot be changed† (Kessler and McKenna, 2002). Most of the evidence in support of this conclusion comes from studies of children who were assigned to the wrong gender in infancy. In all cases in which adults attempt to change the child’s gender identity after the age of three, â€Å"the individual either retains her/his original gender identity or becomes extremely confused and ambivalent† (Kimmel, 2000). Gender and sexuality guides how females and males think about themselves. It is evident throughout the social world, shaping how we think about ourselves, guiding our interaction with others, and influencing our work and family life (Adams, & Savran, 2002). Gender is at work in our society’s expectations for us as well as our aspirations for ourselves. Different and unequal sex roles have long been a part of Western culture. In the United States and most other western countries, social positions involving leadership, power, decision making, and interacting with the larger world have traditionally gone to men. Positions centering around dependency, family concerns, child care, and self-adornment have traditionally gone to women. Further, these unequal sex roles mean that men and women are expected to behave differently in a number of situations (Lorber, 2000). Gender and sexuality deals not only with difference but also with power. Gender and sexuality affects who makes decisions in families as well as in politics, it shapes patterns of income, and it influences who gains opportunities in the workplace. Like class, race, and ethnicity, therefore, gender and sexuality is a major dimension of social inequality (Lorber, 2000). This inequality, which has historically favored males, is no simple matter of biological differences between the two sexes. Males and females do differ biologically, of course, but these variations are complex and inconsistent. Nevertheless, the deeply rooted cultural notion of male superiority may seem so natural that we assume it is the inevitable consequence of sex itself. Hence, many societies have yet to fully eliminate either distinct sex roles or gender inequality. Thus, as was stated earlier, gender roles, as they exist in the United Kingdom and many other nations, are not just different; they are also unequal. Whether you consider power, income, occupational status, research, and even access to health and quality of health care, men in the United Kingdom are an advantaged group compared to women People may assume that gender and sexuality simply reflects biological differences between females and males. But there is no â€Å"superior sex. † Beyond the primary and secondary sex characteristics, men have more muscle in the arms and shoulders, and the average man can lift more weight than the average woman can. Furthermore, the typical man has greater strength over short periods of time. Yet, women do better than men in some tests of long-term endurance because they can draw on the energy derived from grater body fat. Women also outperform men in life itself as the average life expectancy for males is 72. years, while females can expect to live 79. 0 years (Alsop, Fitzsimons & Lennon, 2002). Moreover, researchers have found that adolescent males exhibit greater mathematical ability, while adolescent females outperform males in verbal skills. But there is no difference in overall intelligence between females and males (Maccoby & Jacklin, 1994; Baker et al. , 1990; Lengermann & Wallace, 2005). When scholars ask why people are treated differently because of their gender or sexuality, biological explanations often come up first. To a causal observer it seems obvious that men are stronger than women and are less tied to the home because they do not bear children. We need only to accept this simple biological truth to understand why societies assign different roles to women (Beasley,1999). Thus, sociologist Desmond Morris (1986) argued that gender and sexuality developed early in human evolution, when apes began hunting. â€Å"The females were busy rearing the young to be able too play major roles in chasing and catching prey,† he wrote. They maintained the home base, where the young were reared and the gains of the hunt shared. Once this division of labor was established, it was maintained throughout human evolution. These biological arguments often anger sociologists, who, as noted earlier, have found that gender and sexuality are culturally conditioned rather than biologically determined. For example, the British sociologist Ann Oakley (1994) contends that attempts to explain gender stratification on the basis of analogies to nonhuman societies are fallacious. Worse still, they are used to justify a view of women in which their confinement to domestic roles is validated by â€Å"an image of Mrs.  Pregnant-or- Nursing Ape, waiting gratefully with a cooking pot in her hand for the return of Mr. Hunting Ape with this spoil. Mr. Hunting Ape then kept the home fires burning,† just as women are expected or encouraged to do today, long after such a division of roles has ceased to be necessary. In a thorough review of both biological and sociological evidence on differences between the sexes, neurophysiologist Ruth Bleier (1994) evaluated research on the question of whether women’s hormones establish brain functions that make them more emotional than men, or more intuitive, or less aggressive, or less skilled at mathematics. Even though many biologists and some sociologists suggest that there are clear differences between the sexes in these traits. Bleier found that â€Å"whatever characteristic is being measured, the range of variation is far greater among males or among females than between the two sexes. † For example, the difference between tennis champion Martina Navratilova and the average woman playing tennis at the country club is much greater than the difference between most male and female tennis players. Biologically, then, females and males have limited differences, with neither sex naturally superior. Nevertheless, the deep-rooted cultural notion of male superiority may seem so natural that we assume it proceeds inevitably from sex itself. But society, much more than biology is at work here, as the global variability of gender attests. Neurophysiologists and other medical researchers often draw sociological conclusions from their findings. They begin by seeking evidence to challenge or support biological hypotheses and end by pointing to such factors as culture, role behavior, and socialization as the most persuasive explanations for gender and sexuality differences. Further, researchers investigating the roots of gender and sexuality were drawn to collective settlements in Israel called kibbutzim. The kibbutz (the singular form) is important for gender and sexuality research because its members historically have embraced social equality, with men and women sharing in both work and decision making. There, people have deliberately organized themselves to give females and males comparable social standing. In the kibbutz, both sexes perform a range of work including child care, building repair, cooking, and cleaning. Boys and girls are raised in the same way and, from the first weeks of life, live in dormitories under the care of specially trained personnel. To members of kibbutzim, then, gender and sexuality is defined as irrelevant to much of everyday life. But here, again, we find reason for caution about completely discounting any biological forces. Some observers note that women in the kibbutzim have resisted spending much of the day away from their own children; more generally, many of these collections have returned to more traditional social roles over the years. But even if this is so-and this research has its critics-the kibbutzim certainly stand as evidence of wide cultural latitude in defining what is feminine and masculine. They also exemplify how, through conscious efforts, a society can pursue sexual equality just as it can encourage the domination of one sex by the other. Hence, sociologists wonder if subtle but persistent biological dispositions may undermine efforts at gender equality (Tiger & Shepher, 2005). Even if this were so, the kibbutzim clearly show that cultures have wide latitude in defining what is feminine and masculine. They also exemplify how, through conscious efforts, a society can promote sexual equality. Another way to determine whether gender and sexuality reflect social constructs or biological givens is to take a global view of how the two sexes interact in many societies. To the extent that gender reflects the biological facts of sex, the human traits defined as feminine and masculine should be the same everywhere; to the extent that gender is cultural, these conceptions should vary (Brod & Kaufman, 2004). The best-known research of this kind is a classic study of gender in three societies of New Guinea by anthropologist Margaret Mead. Trekking high into the mountains of New Guinea, Mead observed men and women of the Arapesh, with remarkably similar attitudes and behavior. Both sexes, she reported, were cooperative and sensitive to others – in short, what our culture would term â€Å"feminine. † Moving south, Mead then studied the Mundugumor, who found females and males to be alike; however, the Mundugumor culture of head hunting and cannibalism stood in striking contrasts to the gentle ways of the Arapesh. Both sexes were typically selfish and aggressive, traits we define as more â€Å"masculine. † Finally, traveling west to observe the Tchambuli, Mead discovered a culture that, like our own, defined females and males differently. Yet the Tchambuli reversed many of our notions of gender, raising females to be dominant and rational, while males were taught to be submissive, emotional, and nurturing toward children. From this comparison , Mead concluded, first , that culture determines the extent to which the sexes differ and, second , what one culture defines as masculine may be considered feminine by the other . Further she noted that societies can exaggerate or minimize social distinctions based on sex. Meads research, therefore, supports the conclusion that gender is a variable creation of society.

Agricultural Tools Essay

Farmers in Medieval times did not have tractors or farm machines as we do today. All that a farmer needed was a horse or ox, a wife and a plough. The mould-board plough was invented after the fall of the Roman empire by Slavic tribes. This complicated device was made out of metal and wood. The design allowed six or more oxen to pull the plough which was used to break up ground, or heavy, clay burdened soils. The second invention was the horse collar. The old horse tackle was useless because an animal could not use its full strength. The new horse collar did allow horses to use their full strength when pulling a plough, or heavy loads. This created a big increase in the horse population, as the horse was more versatile a beast of burden than the ox. In later years people discovered the 3 field system from trial and error. The 3 field system was the system where a field was left fallow for a couple of years, depending on the quality of the soil, while two other fields were planted with crops. Farmers would then rotate fields leaving a different field fallow so that it could rebuild its fertility.

As and Than To Introduce Elliptical Clauses

As and Than To Introduce Elliptical Clauses As and Than To Introduce Elliptical Clauses As and Than To Introduce Elliptical Clauses By Maeve Maddox A reader questions my use of the subject pronoun I to follow the conjunction as in a recent post. I wrote â€Å"not so sanguine as I.† The reader suggests that I should have written â€Å"not so sanguine as me.† When the word as functions as a preposition, it can be followed by me: I went to the costume party as my sister, and she went as me. In the sentence with sanguine, however, as functions as a conjunction. The subject form I is the correct choice because I is the subject of the elliptical clause introduced by as. An â€Å"elliptical clause† has some of its parts understood but not stated. Sometimes the part left out of the elliptical clause is the verb and its complement: You are smarter than I. Expanded meaning: You are smarter than I am smart. George has been teaching June how to golf. Now she is as good as he. Expanded meaning: Now she is as good as he is good. Sometimes the understood part of the clause includes an extension of the verb that contains a prepositional phrase. When that’s the case, an object form may be the correct choice to follow as or than. The choice depends upon the meaning to be understood. These examples from The Chicago Manual of Style illustrate the way pronoun choice alters meaning when than introduces an elliptical clause: My sister looks more like my father than I. Expanded meaning: My sister looks more like my father than I look like my father. My sister looks more like my father than me. Expanded meaning: My sister looks more like my father than she looks like me. When as and than are used to introduce an elliptical clause, the choice of pronoun form is governed by its function in what is understood but not stated in the elliptical clause. Related post: Taller Than He Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund Phrases50 Idioms About Fruits and Vegetables45 Idioms About the Number One

Women in Shakespeares Richard III

Women in Shakespeares Richard III In his play, Richard III, Shakespeare draws on historical facts about several historical women to tell his story. Their emotional reactions reinforce that Richard the villain is the logical conclusion of many years of intrafamily conflict and family politics. The Wars of the Roses were about two branches of the Plantagenet family and a few other closely-related families fighting each other, often to the death. In the Play These women have lost husbands, sons, fathers, or will by the end of the play. Most have been pawns in the marriage game, but nearly all of them who are depicted have had some direct influence on the politics. Margaret (Margaret of Anjou) led armies. Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth Woodville) promoted her own familys fortunes, making her responsible for the enmity she earned. The Duchess of York (Cecily Neville) and her brother (Warwick, the Kingmaker) were angry enough when Elizabeth married Edward that Warwick changed his support to Henry VI, and the Duchess left court and had little contact with her son, Edward, before his death. Anne Nevilles marriages linked her first with the Lancastrian heir apparent and then with a Yorkist heir. Even little Elizabeth (Elizabeth of York) by her very existence holds power: once her brothers, the Princes in the Tower, are dispatched, the king who marries her has locked up a tighter claim on the crown, though Richard has declared Elizabeth Woodvilles marriage to Edward IV invalid and therefore Elizabeth of York illegitimate. Is History More Interesting Than the Play? But the histories of these women are much more interesting than even the stories that Shakespeare tells. Richard III is in many ways a propaganda piece, justifying the takeover by the Tudor/Stuart dynasty, still in power in Shakespeares England, and at the same time pointing out the dangers of fighting among the royal family. So Shakespeare compresses time, attributes motivations, depicts as facts some incidents that are matters of pure speculation, and exaggerates events and characterizations. Anne Neville Probably the most changed life story is that of Anne Neville. In Shakespeares drama she appears at the beginning at the funeral of her father-in-law (and Margaret of Anjous husband), Henry VI, shortly after her own husband, the Prince of Wales, has also been killed in a battle with Edwards forces. That would be the year 1471 in actual history. Historically, Anne marries Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the next year. They had a son, who was alive in 1483 when Edward IV died suddenly an death Shakespeare has follow quickly on Richards seduction of Anne, and has precede, rather than follow, her marriage to him. Richard and Annes son would be too difficult to explain in his changed timeline, so the son disappears in Shakespeares story. Margaret of Anjou Then theres Margaret of Anjous story: historically, she was actually already dead when Edward IV died. She had been imprisoned right after her husband and son were killed, and after that imprisonment was not at the English court to curse anyone. She was actually then ransomed by the King of France; she ended her life in France, in poverty. Cecily Neville The Duchess of York, Cecily Neville, not only wasnt the first to identify Richard as a villain, she probably worked with him to gain the throne. Wheres Margaret Beaufort? Why did Shakespeare leave out a very important woman,  Margaret Beaufort?  Henry VIIs mother spent most of Richard IIIs reign organizing opposition to Richard.  She was under house arrest for much of Richards reign, as a result of an early rebellion.  But perhaps Shakespeare didnt think it politic to remind the audience of the very important role of a woman in bringing the Tudors to power?

Effectiveness of Business Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Effectiveness of Business Communication - Essay Example Planning a business message is the first step in ensuring that the organization’s goals and objectives are achieved. Prior planning prevents failure and, therefore, planning before- hand the intended purpose of the business message is very helpful (Courtland & Thill, 2008). To ensure that one gets the right message across, research has to be done or carried out. This is with the intention of finding out if the organization is capable of carrying out or handling the intended message. If members of the organization agree with the intended message, it is okay to carry on. If the intended message does not augur well with some of the members of the organization, it is important that whoever is in charge goes back to the drawing board to re-evaluate the proposal. When the research is being carried out, the intended audience should have a say in the matter. This is to prevent little or no satisfaction from members of the group after the message has been put across. After the intended message’s information has been analysed and gathered, it is tantamount that it, the information, be organized orderly (Courtland & Thill, 2008). This is so that it may support the intended message completely. The next stage is the writing stage. This is where the information being planned is adapted. It should be adapted to the intended audience with consideration to their needs (Courtland & Thill, 2007). Communicating to the audience in a polite manner is the best way to go about this. Adopting a ‘don’t care’ mentality is not how to go about this because the audience may not be responsive. The message should be written in a manner that suggests or oozes positivity because the intended audience is much connected to the business as much as the person writing the message. It should also be unbiased. This suggests that the language used to communicate the message should not be for a specific group of people rather, should cover everyone in the organization. The use of a good tone when writing the message is also needed. Good tone use in a message could indicate that the writer is appreciative of the audience intended. If the tone comes off as being harsh, the audience mi ght think they are unappreciated and, therefore, may not be as productive as they ought to be (Courtland & Thill, 2007). Feeling appreciated in any job description means that one may consider putting in extra effort just to be acknowledged. This means that the organization may benefit tremendously from the extra and hard work. The words chosen when drafting a business message could also be very helpful in communication. Strong and positive words may help the message have a very strong impact and can come off as being coherent (Courtland & Thill, 2007). Addressing the audience in a manner to suggest that they are slow may take the seriousness out of the message. They may also not take it very lightly to the fact that they are being thought of as being slow. The completion of the message is the third, final stage. This stage involves other

Your values or expectations in life- how do you measure sucess Essay

Your values or expectations in life- how do you measure sucess Happiness fulfillment - Essay Example He was not sure what they did with their money, but he was reasonably sure it at least consisted of all night video gaming, unlimited ice cream and pizza, and a carnival in your backyard. As he progressed through life and my expectations changed he began to define success as social acceptance and respect. As a student one’s concerns are not always directly focused on subsistence, so success became tied to popularity. The most successful people were clearly those who had all the parties, had attractive boyfriends and girlfriends, and sat at the right lunch tables. Today he looks back at this adolescent phase and consider that while his understanding of success was widely shared, he cannot help but feel it was rooted in an illusionary understanding of reality and what is important in life. Today he defines success much differently. Rather than viewing success in terms of other people, he understands success as a matter of personal meaning and social contribution. He think that i t iss important that human beings live their lives with purpose. Too often people are caught seeking acceptance from others and personal wealth as they believe these things constitute success and personal happiness, when in actuality they are a mirage. True success is living life to one’s full potential in ways that contribute to the world in positive ways. For him, this means seeking out and sharing new and interesting ideas, living with a social conscience, and a sense of morality. He iss not a stoic, and he believes life is full of enjoyment, but he believes if we are to achieve a lasting sense of accomplishment it must come from a personally defined sense of meaning and purpose. This is the true definition of success. For him happiness was a complicated issue that he came to understand throughout his life experience. He believes that happiness begins with achieving success. Having defined success, it follows that one must