Dementia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dementia - Research Paper Example Dementia is a condition that affects the nervous system of the individual. It is mainly labeled to be a disease of the old people but it may occur in the younger age groups as well. Dementia mainly presents with loss of memory and the condition deteriorates with time. The functioning of the cerebral hemisphere is affected in this condition and thus the day to day performance of the individual greatly suffers as a result of dementia. Dementia can result owing to many underlying pathologies which include Alzheimer's disease, Huntington’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. There is no definitive cure for this disease but early diagnosis can make a difference. Dementia Dementia is a degenerative neurological disorder. Previously dementia was considered to be a normal part of aging but researches and studies have proved that it is a pathological condition that results from varying illnesses or disorders present in the body.As a number of disorders or factors can be responsible for causing dementia,it is better known as a syndrome rather than a disease.It can also present as a clinical sign or symptom of an underlying disorder.Dementia is sudden or spontaneous in onset and progresses with time and age.The risk of onset of dementia is most likely at the age of 60 and it is seldom seen before this age.The risk of onset increases with the advancement in age. Dementia seriously affects the emotional behavior and social attitude of the victims of this disorder and sometimes it can also be associated with life threatening consequences. It is a pathological condition of the brain which causes impairment of normal mental activity and deterioration of cerebral functions with difficulties in carrying out the routine chores due to regression of certain areas of brain that maintain and regulate the normal functions of life. The individual suffering from dementia faces memory loss and the magnitude of loss is directly related to the severity of the disease. The disease affects the patient's personality and alters the emotional and social behavior. (Cox, 2007; Jacques & Jackson, 2000) Dementia involves gradual deteriorating changes in the brain of an individual which results in the decline of cerebral functions with time. The patient undergoes these changes for quite a long time before presenting with some solid differences in his or her personality. The patient can present with complaints which include deterioration of memory, decreased rate of performance at any type of work, compromised skills, mismanagement of personal or business affairs, uncertain and unreliable attitude, the decline in social activities, varying moods and delirium. The dementia is divided into two types depending on the time of its onset. These two types are pre-senile and senile dementia. The two groups differ as the pre-senile dementia is seen in mostly young patients while senile is in much older individuals. Both the disease processes however, follow the same course of development with very little differences in the signs and symptoms shown by the patients suffering from pre-senile or senile dementia (Boon & Davidson, 2006; Jacques & Jackson, 2000). The causes of dementia vary according to the type. Dementia may either be resulting from vascular pathologies which include disease of the small blood vessels, numerous emboli in the vessels or inflammation of the vessels in the brain. Degenerative or the inherited type of dementia results due to pathologies which include Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Wilson's disease, cortical Lewy body disease and mitochondrial encephalopathies. Dementia may also be associated with cancerous conditions. The tumors may spread from distant sites and lead to dementia or there may be tumors originating with the brain itself for example the primary cerebral tumor. Sarcoidosis and Multiple Sclerosis lead to inflammation and thus they are classified as inflammatory causes of dementia. Trauma can a lso be an underlying cause of dementia and it may be due to

Socio-Economic Consequences of Ecotourism Essay Example for Free

Socio-Economic Consequences of Ecotourism Essay Discuss the environmental and socio-economic consequences of ecotourism. What additional factors need to be considered in establishing ecotourism projects? Ecotourism aims to protect landscapes and wildlife, promoting also financial benefits to the local communities. According to Chaynee (2010), in Malaysia, ecotourism is the second largest source of Gross Domestic Product. It provides job opportunities and stimulates voyagers to show respect for the conservation of the environment. There are numerous positive and negative effects of ecotourism, and as a result, there is the need to apply additional actions to minimize the unbalanced outcomes. This essay will discuss the environmental consequences of ecotourism, such as, the conservation and deterioration of the surrounding areas. Secondly, it will analyse the socio-economic effects; finally the essay will suggest some factors for future ecotourism projects. The implementation of ecotourism has positive environmental consequences. Firstly, ecotourism allows the discovery of new places and the improvement on territory conservation. In her case study, Nikitina (2007) shows that in Russia, ecotourism has been showing off the natural areas, which during the Soviet Period were strictly protected. She also points out that the populations have more appreciation of the nature. What this means is that ecotourism may be seen as an environmental education program. Ecotourists are interested to respect rules and acquire knowledge about nature; consequentially, local communities may look at tourists as a correct model to imitate (Chaynee 2010; Waylen et al. 2009). Furthermore, according to Chaynee (2010), there is a positive impact on the attitude of local people towards conservation of their own culture. Being ecotourists interested to learn, local communities are incited to protect the cultural property value such as rituals, ceremonies, arts and crafts. However, besides protecting natural sites, ecotourism may also be the indirect reason of negative environmental consequences. This view is commonly shared; as Hueter in Jaffe (2009: 1) states, â€Å"There comes a time when you have so much interference through ecotourism that you affect the thing you’re trying to protect†. The reason for this could be that as ecotourism is becoming a phenomenon widely promoted, the large number of ecotourists attracted, may cause a higher rate of pollution and an increased deterioration of the environment. The island of Damas shows how over-crowing of tourists influences the natural behaviour of wildlife; penguins in contact with people may abandon their own natural habitats (Ellenberg in Jeff 2009). In addition, in Tortoguero, the significant amount of rubbish left by tourist harms the habitat of the animals (Meletis in Jeff 2009). Furthermore, according to York (2005), the establishment of tourist accommodations and the need of firewood have caused water contamination and deforestation. In conclusion, environment and wildlife are often victims of the ecotourism activities. Furthermore, ecotourism produces consequences in the socio-economic status of the local community, as the creation of new businesses increases job opportunities and improves the economy. For example, it involves host communities in the tourist industry, such as restaurants, accommodation, and local tours. In addition, in Zapovednik, a natural area in Russia, extra financial helps often occur by visitors for supporting the population (Nikitina 2007). On the other hand, it needs to be underlined that socio-economic consequences can also be negatives. A study to find out the effects of ecotourism on the Masai population claims that â€Å"The Masai have faced eviction from tribal lands, economic dislocation, assaults on traditional values, and environmental degradation† (York 2005: 2). For the local community, forests were the main source of income, allowing them to practice farming and other activities. However, since wildwood has become protected for the landscape conservation or destroyed for lodge constructions, the Masai are unable to use the natural resources for practicing their own businesses. In addition, in these places, industries duplicate traditional homemade products and sell these at a cheaper price; as a result the local economy is compromised (York 2005). Secondly, he believes that the prices of products and services have increased as an economic result of the turnout of a wide number of tourists. Indeed, in the Philippines, many people migrate due to the higher cost of living. Furthermore, a lack of water emerges due to the growing demand, both from the tourist facilities and local families (ibid). In conclusion, the drawbacks for the local people are various. Almost all of the above outcomes, both environmental and socio-economic, may be improved by applying corrective actions when considering future projects. Firstly, according to Libosada (2009) ecotourism should be managed like as a business and seen as a networked industry: tourist agents should work on tour promotions, the host communities provide accommodation, and the government should fix rules within the ecotourism business. In fact, a successful model for the development of ecotourism requires the participation of all of the subjects involved. In addition, by developing an accurate framework become possible resolving the conflict of interest between them, planning the use of resources and also auditing the results during the implementation of the project. Furthermore, in order to avoid some negative effects of mass tourism, Libosada (2009) suggests to identify the physical limits of the local area, in relation to carrying capacity of tourists, and use these limitations to plan future strategies; this is known as the LAC concept. Another example of how minimize the environmental deteriorations is the creation of buffer zones close to the core-protected areas. In these are promoted all the tourist activities in order to attract people and leave the protected sites intact (Nikitina 2007). Finally, in order to prevent the migration of local people, Jaffe (2009) points out that an agreement should ensure that they are employed in the village activities, so that money remains in the economy of the local area. This essay has discussed the wide impact of ecotourism on the environment, and how it may affects the socio-economic status of the communities. The several drawbacks may be minimized with the adoption of an accurate framework as guideline, the creation of buffer zones and the identification of physical limits of the ecotourism hosting areas. These actions may be fundamentals for the establishment of future ecotourism projects. Therefore, co-operation between government, local people and tourist industry is the key tool. If all the potential beneficiaries of the projects work together for the same targets, ecotourism will be more profitable and successful. List of References Chaynee, W. (2010). Benefits of Ecotourism for Local Communities. Available at: http://www.mier.org. [Accessed 22/05/10]. Jaffe, E. (2009). Science News.  © 2009 Science Service, Inc. 170(14). Libosada Jr. C.M. (2009). Ocean Coastal Management, 52, 390–394. Available at: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman. [Accessed 15 Nov 2012]. Nikitina, E (2007) Ecotourism: an Opportunity for Sustainable Development Available at http://www.russianconservation.org [Accessed 19/05/09]. Waylen, K.A., McGowan,P.J.K., Pawi Study Group and Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2009). Ecotourism positively affects awareness and attitudes but not conservation behaviours: a case study at Grande Riviere, Trinidad. Fauna Flora International Oryx. 43(3), 343–351 Available at: http://journals.cambridge.org [Accessed 28/05/10]. York, S. (2005) Eco-Tourism Can Be Both a Boon and a Curse for Indigenous Peoples. Available at: http://commongroundmag.com. [Accessed 16/05/06].

The Ethics of the Salary of Professional Athletes Essay -- Athletes Sp

The Ethics of the Salary of Professional Athletes My claim is that it is unethical for professional athletes to receive the enormous amount of compensation that they do. By Unethical I mean that it is an injustice to the citizens of our hard working country that are out to make a dollar and do it by holding a well respected job. By compensation I mean the ridiculous amounts of money that an athlete makes for playing a particular sport. My value criteria or standards I will use are as follows: 1. A man who does not graduate college may not be as qualified to make the salaries that exist. 2. Ridiculous salaries is setting an example for our youth that just because you can hit a baseball or shoot a basketball or shoot a hockey puck or throw a football that you can make millions of dollars without truly earning it. 3. An athlete who graduates college deserves money based on his collegiate experience. I will argue the point of graduation first and then go into the fact that just because you have a god given talent that doesn’t mea n you should make millions more than others, and finally I will conclude that the college graduate that does make it in the professional sports world deserves money based on experience from College. Now then turning to my first point of being a college graduate. Kobe Bryant one of the NBA’s most prolific scorers and highest paid player never ever went to College. In fact Bryant, from near my hometown in Delaware County bypassed college and made the leap to the NBA. Should he be able to receive the amount of money that he does, and the average college student that graduates and has a degree is not able to obtain a job that pays that kind of base salary. I think not, in fact I feel that the only kind of people that have any business of making the kind of money athletes do are doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers and maybe anyone who actually does attend graduate school. Now those kind of professions have the right of making that type of income due to the fact that they not only have they graduated college but they attended graduate school and have perfected their business and received a degree. Kevin Garnett has the richest contract in all of NBA history, 6 years 126 million dollars and he never ever stepped a foot on one of our great campuses in the United States of America. Please tell me why should Garnett make this money if he never ever ... ...00 dollars. Would there be the same amount of competition and would the sport be as enjoyable for these athletes to play. Not to mention that by going to sporting events we are condoning the payment of these athletes. Now I am a HUGE sports fan as most of you might know. I also am in the sports broadcasting business and I have my own company covering Philadelphia sporting events. That means that I go to games on a press credential and do not line the pockets of the owners and thus the players with my hard earned money. In fact If I was not in the sports broadcasting business, the chance I would attend these games and pay these ludicrous prices that would ultimately lead to these preposterous salaries is highly unlikely. In closing, today I have shown how the amount of money athletes make is unethical to our society. I have given proper examples of criteria that is backed up by proof. I have stated my claim and my case for the subject and have given reasons why I believe athletes salaries are ridiculous. Children of ours should not grow up and think that all they have to do is drink milk to be like Mike or wear Kobe’s shoes to attain his success, rather they must earn it instead.

The Trolley Dodgers

In 1890, the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers professionals’ baseball team joined the National League. Over the following years, the Dodgers would have considerable difficulty competing with the other baseball themes in the New York City area. Those teams, principal among them the New York Yankees, were much better financed and generally stocked with players of higher caliber. In 1958, after nearly seven decades of mostly frustration on and off the baseball field, the Dodgers shocked the sports world by moving to Los Angeles. Walter O’Malley, the flamboyant owner of the Dodgers, saw an opportunity to introduce professional baseball to the rapidly growing population of the West Coast. More important, O’Malley saw an opportunity to make his team more profitable. As an in document to the Dodgers, Los Angeles Country purchased a goat farm located in Chavez Ravine, an area two miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and gave the property to O’Malley for the site of his new baseball stadium. Since moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers have been the envy of the baseball world: â€Å"In everything from profit to stadium maintenance†¦the Dodgers are the prototype of how a franchise should be run. †? During the 1980s and 1990s, the Dodgers reigned as the most profitable franchise in baseball with a pretax profit margin approaching 25 percent in many years. In late 1997, Peter O’Malley, Walter O’Malley’s son and the Dodgers principal owner, sold the franchise for $350 million to media mogul Rupert Murdoch. A spokesman for Murdoch complimented the O’Malley family for the longstanding success of the Dodgers organization. â€Å"The O’Malley’s have set a gold standard for franchise ownership†. ? During an interview before he sold the Dodgers, was seemingly a perfect example of one of those experts he had retained in all functional areas: â€Å"I don’t have to be an expert on taxes, split-fingered fastballs, or labor relations with our ushers. That talent is available. †? Edward Campos, a longtime accountant for the Dodgers, was seemingly a perfect example of one of those experts in the organization. Campos accepted an entry-level position with the Dodgers as a young man. By 1986, after almost two decades with the club, he had worked his way up the employment hierarchy to become the operations payroll chief. After taking charge of the Dodgers’ payroll department, Campos designed and implemented a new payroll system, a system that reportedly only he fully understood. In fact, Campos controlled the system so completely that he personally filled out the weekly payroll cards for each of the four hundred employees of the Dodgers. Campos was known not only for his work ethic but also for his loyalty to the club and its owners: â€Å"The Dodgers trusted him, and when he was on vacation, he even came back and did the payroll. †? Unfortunately, the Dodgers’ trust in Campos was misplaced. Over a period of several years, Campos embezzled several hundred thousand dollars from his employer. According to court records, Campos padded the Dodgers’ payroll by adding fictitious employees to various departments in the organizations. In addition, Campos routinely inflated the number of hours worked by several employees and then split the resulting overpayments fifty-fifty with those individuals. The fraudulent scheme came unraveled when appendicitis struck down Campos, forcing the Dodgers’ controller to temporarily assume his responsibilities. While completing the payroll one week, the controller noticed that several employees, including ushers, security guards, and ticket salespeople, were being paid unusually large amounts. In some cases, employees earning $7 an hour received weekly paychecks approaching $2,000. Following a criminal investigation and the filing of charges against Campos and his cohorts, all the individuals involved in the payroll fraud confessed. A stale court sentenced Campos to eight years in prison and required him to make restitution of approximately $132,000 to the Dodgers. Another of the conspirators also received a prison sentence. The remaining individuals involved in the payroll scheme made restitution and were placed on probation. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. Identify the key audit objectives for a client’s payroll function. Comment on both objectives related to tests of controls and those related to substantive audit procedures. Ans: The key audit objectives for a client’s payroll function are occurrence, completeness, accuracy, pasting and summarization, classification and timing. On the occurrence objective the related test of control could be examining the time cards, personnel files, reviewing organization chart to see if the payroll payments are for exiting work and for existing employee and the substantive test for the occurrence objective is to see if the right amount of payroll is paid to the right employee and were recorded properly. On the completeness objective the test of control could be to see if the existing payroll were recorded and the substantive test is to compare the book and the payroll bank statement and look for the unmatched amount. For the accuracy objective, the test of control is to examine if the right hours and rate are recorded, tax withholding is correct while the substantive test is to test for exact amount by recalculating gross pay and net pay, comparing pay rate with the industry also. For posting and summarization objective, the test of control could be comparing the master files total with general ledgers total and while the substantive test is by footing the payroll journal and tracing postings to the journal ledger and the payroll master file. The test of control for the classification objective is to review charts of accounts while the substantive test is to review the time cards and job ticket. Lastly, for the timing objective, the test of control is to examine procedures and observe if recording is taking place while the substantive test is to compare date on checks. . What internal control weaknesses were evident in the Dodgers’ payroll system? Ans: The internal control weaknesses in the Dodger’s payroll system is that Campos, who is happen to be the operations payroll chief, is the one who designed and also implemented a new payroll system that only him that could fully understand. Also other weaknesses is that there is no independent check a nd performance, there is also no separation of duties, and Dodgers work environment would be a weakness because Campos and others have low work ethic. 3. Identify audit procedures that might have led to the discovery of the fraudulent scheme masterminded by Campos. Ans: Audit procedures that might discover the fraud is by understanding Dodger’s payroll chart because auditors would see if there are no independent check and performance and no separation of duties. Another thing is that to interview employees in the payroll department. Test for nonexistent employee, reconciling the total hours paid in payroll records with that in an independent record of the hours worked and observing employee time in.

Succubus on Top CHAPTER 5

I jerked my head away from him. â€Å"What?† Bastien didn't miss a beat, obviously amused by my reaction. â€Å"You heard me. We're going to break in. I overheard Bill saying the whole family would be out the night after next.† â€Å"And pray tell, how are we going to lead her to scandal through violating her home? By proving to the world that her security system isn't as good as she thought it was?† He laughed. â€Å"No, by rifling through her paperwork and finding some sort of incriminating evidence. Money laundered from the CPFV. Illegal means of carrying out the group's goals. Maybe even love letters from the infamous pool boy. You know there's got to be something.† â€Å"Bastien, this is – â€Å" â€Å"Ingenious?† â€Å"Ridiculous. Even for us.† â€Å"Hardly. Like I said, it's a backup plan. Probably not even necessary, since I suspect she's probably in the shower right now masturbating to fantasies of me.† â€Å"Yeah, she sure looked like it back there,† I said nastily. â€Å"More likely she's sanitizing her pool after my defilement of it. Well, backup or no, you're going to have to do this break-in on your own. â€Å" â€Å"Come on! We'll bein visible. Nothing to lose.† â€Å"That's not the point. The point is I don't do this kind of thing.† â€Å"We're agents of evil. We lead innocents into temptation and suck away their life. How is breaking and entering that much of a leap?† I tightened my lips and shook my head. â€Å"I thought those broadcasts pissed you off. Don't you want to see her fall?† â€Å"Not enough, apparently.† He fixed me with a sharp stare. â€Å"Did you know that the CPFV recently kicked out a woman for leaving her husband? He had been beating her incessantly – sent her to the hospital twice. When she finally got the nerve to walk out on him, Dana condemned her for violating the sanctity of marriage. Said the woman hadn't tried hard enough to make things work.† I groaned. â€Å"Don't tell me this stuff.† â€Å"So are you in or out?† â€Å"You sure are pushy, you know that?† He kissed my cheek and hugged me. â€Å"I learned from the best.† I went to Doug's concert the following night, showing up about halfway through the opening act's set. I found several of the bookstore staff occupying a corner but saw no sign of Seth yet. Part of me regretted the whole separate-arrival mandate, but then I remembered the part in Seth's story where Genevieve had spanked O'Neill. Suddenly I didn't feel so bad anymore. While waiting at the bar for a vodka gimlet, a familiar shape slid up next to me. â€Å"Hey, hey, pretty lady.† I flashed a smile at Doug's bass player, Corey. â€Å"Hey yourself. You guys ready for this? You're in the big time now.† He returned my smile, eyes alight. Intimidating and fierce looking, he wore a lot of black and had piercings everywhere. He was also one of the nicest guys I knew. â€Å"Hell yeah, we are. We were born for this night. This is the night that's going to define our existence! The night that's going to define existence for everyone in this room!† He extended his hands over his head and whooped with delight, emitting something like a cross between Tarzan and a B movie Apache chief. The silvery glitter of those piercings added to his savage persona. He was as exuberant as Doug had been the other day. Maybe more so. As much as I wanted to see the band succeed, there was no telling what true fame would do to them. They'd be bouncing off the walls. Setting things on fire. When I got the gimlet, Corey tugged at my arm. â€Å"Come on. I'll give you a sneak peek backstage. You can say hi to Doug.† I glanced back at the corner, saw no sign of Seth, and followed him. In the dressing room, the rest of the band was in similar form. They all knew me and cheered my arrival, holding up their drinks in a giddy salute. Doug was dressed in a spectacularly gaudy manner, sporting black spandex biker shorts, a Thundercats shirt Seth would have envied, and a sweeping red velour cape. His shoulder-length black hair was tied back in a sleek ponytail. He scooped me up as I entered, hoisting me so that I nearly sat on his shoulder. Min, the group's saxophonist, waved the instrument over his head in barbaric approval at my capture as Doug roared a cry of victory. â€Å"Here she is! Kin-fucking-caid! You ready to rock, babe?† â€Å"I'm ready to dump this drink on your head. Put me down. â€Å" Doug laughed and eased me down to the floor. I stumbled a bit but not from being set down. It was here again. That weird tingling feeling I'd felt with Doug in our office. Only this time, it was stronger. Much stronger. It pulsed around me, almost making me squirm. I peered around stupidly, trying to figure out where it came from, but it was impossible to tell. The sensation was everywhere, an abrasive vibration singing through the air that only I seemed affected by. Wyatt, a redheaded guitarist, grinned at me. â€Å"How much have you been drinking out there? You look a little glazed over. â€Å" â€Å"Starry-eyed's more like it,† said Doug, teasing. â€Å"Not every day a girl can be around this much sexy action, huh?† â€Å"Whatever. I think her sexiness is a little more lethal than ours,† Wyatt said. He gently turned me around. â€Å"You met Alec yet?† The new drummer, presumably. He stepped forward and bowed before me with a flourish, just as goofily wound up as the rest. He was a little younger than they were, a bit lanky, and had fading blue streaks in his blond hair. He seemed only slightly less keyed up. Still clueless about what was making me feel so weird, I attempted to push it out of my mind and offer Alec a normal smile. â€Å"Hi,† I said. â€Å"You sure you want to hang with this group of misfits?† â€Å"I've seen worse.† â€Å"In an asylum?† He laughed and nodded at my drink. â€Å"What are you having?† â€Å"Vodka gimlet.† â€Å"Nice choice,† he said coolly, though I suspected he'd probably never heard of one before. There was a total look of fumbling inexperience about him. â€Å"Order your next one on me. Tell the bartender to put it on my tab.† I worked hard to keep a straight face. He was attempting suave movie-star lines, but they lost some of their effectiveness coming from someone who was barely old enough to drink himself. He probably hoped Wyatt's earlier assessment of my inebriation was accurate. â€Å"Hey,† said Doug, grabbing hold of me. â€Å"Stop flirting with my Groupie Queen. Only when you can snatch the fly with the chopsticks, Grasshopper, can you accumulate the groupies. For now, the student must leave the groupies to the master. â€Å" Doug marched me around the room in a – very bad – mock tango. The jerking motion, combined with that grating buzzing in the air, made me lightheaded. â€Å"Is the rest of the gang out there?† â€Å"Waiting with bated breath,† I promised. I cocked my head at him. â€Å"Shouldn't you be a little more nervous than this?† â€Å"Sure. If I had anything to be nervous about. Which I don't.† I felt just as astonished now as I had at work. Doug knew his own talent, but I'd seen him before shows in the past. While always joking and in a good mood, there had been a nervousness to him before, a private sort of ruminating while he mentally braced himself to put on the best show he could. I knew he'd said the band had hit some sort of peak recently, but the change was dramatic, to say the least. After a few more jokes and sexual innuendoes, I finally left them. Just like that, the discordant feeling disappeared as soon as I cleared the door. It was like breathing fresh air after a sandstorm. Glancing behind me, I stared into the room, trying to find any indication of what had just happened. Nothing revealed itself. The band had forgotten me already. They were laughing at something else, drinking their beer or pop or whatever, and roughhousing in what must have been some male tension-reliever. Puzzled, I walked away. Seth had joined the others when I finally made my way back to the main floor. I felt a smile creeping up on me in spite of my concerns. His hair was as unkempt as ever, and he wore a Thundercats shirt. â€Å"Hey,† I said when I saw him, conscious that everyone was watching us, apparently waiting for me to pull out my handcuffs. â€Å"Hey,† he returned, hands casually in his pockets, posture relaxed and easy like always. â€Å"You know, Doug's wearing a shirt very similar to that.† â€Å"I know. I lent it to him.† We all shared a good laugh over that, and Beth turned to me. â€Å"You saw Doug? Is he ready for this?† â€Å"The question, actually,† I told them with a small frown, â€Å"is ‘Is the world ready for Doug?'† A half hour later, they saw what I meant. Nocturnal Admission burst onto the stage, and suddenly all that pent-up energy and enthusiasm was channeled into their music. Like I'd told Doug, I'd long been a fan of the group. Their style combined hard rock with a bit of ska, and the fusion always hooked me. After centuries filled with repetition, innovation was a treat. They regularly performed with flair and passion, making them as much fun to watch as to listen to. My biased affection for Doug didn't hurt either. Tonight was unbelievable. All of their songs were new; I'd never heard any of them before. And Christ, what songs they were. Amazing. Incredible. Ten times better than the old ones – which I'd hitherto found hard to beat. I wondered when Doug had had time to compose these. He wrote most of their stuff, and I'd last seen them perform about a month and a half ago. He must have had help to write all of those in so short a time. I knew he usually took a while to compose one, refining lyrics over and over. He never treated the process lightly. And the performance itself†¦Well, Doug was always flamboyant; it was his trademark. Tonight, I swear, he never stopped moving. Pure energy in human form. He danced, he sauntered, he did cartwheels. His between-song monologues were hilarious. His singing voice surpassed anything I'd ever heard from him, rich and deep. It resonated in my body. The audience couldn't get enough. They loved him, and I understood why. No one, even the people who worked there, could take their eyes off the stage. Except one. There, along the far edges of the crowd, was a man casually making his way toward the exit. By his stride and apparent lack of interest, he didn't find Nocturnal Admission as compelling as the rest of us. While this was intriguing enough to draw my own gaze from the band, his attire struck me even more strongly. If GQ magazine had been around in the days of Victorian poets, he would have been their cover model. He wore beautifully tailored black slacks paired with a long, black coat, the tails of which almost touched the backs of his knees. Underneath the coat was a gorgeous, billowing white shirt that might have been silk. Whatever it was, it made me want to touch it and see how soft it was. Unlike Horatio, whose demonic wear had simply been out-of-date, this guy had taken the past and made it his own. His own hot historic couture. The kind the modern day â€Å"goth† movement so longed to achieve. He'd opened the first few buttons to reveal smooth, tanned skin. That skin tone paired with the glossy black hair that flowed halfway down his back made me think he must be of Middle Eastern or Indian descent. When he reached the door leading out, he paused and turned toward the stage, watching the band for a few moments. A small, pleased smile played along his lips, and then he was gone. Weird, I thought. I wondered who he was. Prospective agent maybe? Or perhaps just someone who didn't get down to this type of music. He had looked like the kind of guy who owned Chopin's complete works, after all. I considered the man for a few more moments, then turned back toward the stage. The group was taking a momentary reprieve from their new stash and doing a cover of one of my favorite Nine Inch Nails songs. Nothing like hearing Trent Reznor's lyrics paired with a saxophone. â€Å"I can't believe this,† I told Seth later, moving to the back of our group so I could stand near him. Our friends were so hypnotized by what was onstage that Seth and I could actually talk without drawing attention. â€Å"It's†¦unbelievable.† â€Å"That it is,† he agreed. â€Å"I take it this isn't the norm then?† â€Å"No. Absolutely not. But I hope it becomes the norm. Jesus.† We fell silent then, our eyes and ears drawn back to the band. As we watched, however, Seth rested his hand on my back in a friendly, innocent gesture that made me promptly lose interest in the music. And that was saying something. The shirt I wore was hardly a shirt at all. It was a glittering tunic type thing that covered the front of me only, then tied behind my neck and once below my shoulder blades, thus letting his fingers stroke bare, exposed skin. Less than a week ago, I'd been in a hotel room with a guy who'd massaged scented oil all over my body and then gone down on me in a way that left me gasping. And yet, I swear that didn't do as much for me as Seth's fingers on my bare skin did now. The rest of my body jolted to life, suddenly ravenous for more of him. When he trailed his fingertips down to my lower back, I could perfectly discern every place he had touched me and every place he hadn't, as though his fingers left scorch marks in my flesh. Magic fingers. Seductive fingers. My nerves pulsed hungrily, demanding I take action and give them more. When his hand finally came to rest by my tailbone, right at the edge of my jeans, I murmured, â€Å"You can go lower if you want. â€Å" â€Å"No,† he returned. His voice seemed huskier than usual, holding an unfamiliar intensity. But it was laced with wistfulness too. â€Å"I really can't.† The audience whooped and demanded an encore when the show ended, which the band was only too happy to give – multiple times. Talk about stamina. As I watched them wrap up the song and make their bows, an idea suddenly struck me. Excusing myself for the bathroom, I headed back in the direction of the dressing room. Once out of any passerby's eyesight, I turned invisible and slipped back into that room, still perplexed about that burning, crawling sensation. It was gone. Everything felt perfectly normal in the room. Jackets and instrument cases lay in unceremonious heaps on the floor, and empty red plastic cups vied with overflowing ashtrays to cover up other flat surfaces. I paced around slowly, peering in corners, looking for something – anything – that would explain what I had felt. And again, I came up empty-handed. All was quiet and still. No person or creature waited to leap out, though I was pretty sure what I'd felt hadn't come from anything living. Yet, it also hadn't resembled any charm or enchanted object I knew of either. If anything, that tingle had felt like something in the middle: half sentient, half not. But that made no sense. Returning to my friends, I saw them making preparations to leave. None of us could stop talking about the show. We separated and met up again at Doug's place for a post-show party he'd invited us to. I'd been to similar gigs of his but saw more people here than ever before. They packed the place. Alcohol and pot flowed like milk and honey, but I stopped after a couple shots since I had to open at work in the morning. Through the smoky, decadent haze, the band worked the crowd like they'd done this sort of PR all their lives. They talked to everyone, charismatic and outgoing, though never too proud or conceited. As this went on, Seth and I kept a respectable distance from each other in order to maintain the illusion we were nothing but friends. While I still believed that was a good idea, it sort of seemed like rubbing salt into open wounds. Bad enough we couldn't touch each other; now we couldn't talk either. Alec found me at some point, attempting to resume the conversation we'd been having when Doug spirited me away. The drummer handed me a plastic cup. â€Å"This guy over there knows how to make vodka gimlets,† he said happily. I sniffed the cup. It smelled like pure vodka. Probably a cheap kind at that. â€Å"Thanks,† I said, literally keeping it at arm's length. Alec leaned against a nearby wall, propping his elbow against it to create a more enclosed sense of space between us. â€Å"So, did you like the show?† â€Å"Yes. Absolutely. You guys were amazing.† His chest puffed up with pride. â€Å"Thanks. We've been working really hard. We've got some other big shows coming up soon – I hope you'll come see us.† â€Å"I will if I can. I seem to be working a lot lately.† â€Å"Over at that bookstore with Doug? I can't figure that out. Neither of you seem like that type. Especially you. You look like someone with a wild side. Someone who likes to party. â€Å" I kept my smile up and took a step back. â€Å"Sure. Just not on school nights, you know?† Ignoring what I thought were obvious â€Å"back off† signs, he took a step toward me with a smile he probably believed was seductive. His clumsy attempts at flirtation suddenly seemed less endearing. â€Å"Come on,† he laughed. â€Å"Call in sick tomorrow. I know somewhere†¦somewhere we could go if you really wanted to have a good time. A more intense scene than this.† â€Å"No. I can't. Sorry. Um, thanks for the drink, but I've got to go ask Doug†¦uh, something about work. I'll see you around.† Clear disappointment flashed across Alec's face at my rejection, but he didn't push the matter as I made a hasty retreat toward Doug. When I found him, he and I didn't really discuss work, but we hashed out a number of other amusing topics, made more so by his increasing intoxication and the fact that he really did now have an entourage of groupies. It looked like he'd be getting lucky after all. If he was still running on the same energy tonight, he'd probably keep a bunch of them happy. Finally, tired of the scene, I told him good-bye and found Seth on the other side of the room. Not surprisingly, he was by himself and not drinking. He'd been born without the small-talk gene, and I knew for a fact interacting with others at parties made him uncomfortable. I had teased him in the past that he might actually be pleasantly surprised if he just made an attempt at talking to new people. He wouldn't have any of it, however. He seemed fairly entertained by people-watching, eyes twinkling and lips quirked in a half-smile as if he were in on some kind of joke the rest of us didn't know about. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was logging all of this for future novels. â€Å"Hey,† I said. He brightened upon seeing me. The twinkling eyes took on a warm, knowing look. Something inside of me heated and tightened. â€Å"Hey.† â€Å"I'm ready to go. You want to come over to my place?† He deserved it after the way I'd neglected him tonight. â€Å"Sure.† We were discussing who would leave first when I looked across the room and saw Alec handing Casey a drink. She looked like she'd already had more than enough, and Alec was doing the same closing-in maneuver he'd tried on me. â€Å"What's wrong?† asked Seth, seeing my frown. â€Å"That new drummer. Alec. He hit on me earlier, and now he's moving in on Casey. I think he's one of those guys who thinks plying girls with liquor is the only way to get laid.† â€Å"Wait. I thought I was the only guy who knew that secret.† I chastised him with a dry look before turning back to Alec and Casey. â€Å"I don't like it. I don't like him thinking he can do that to women.† â€Å"You don't even know he's thinking that. Besides, look around. Every guy here is trying to get laid. Alcohol is par for the course. Casey's old enough to know that.† â€Å"I'm going to go over there.† Seth gave me a warning glance. â€Å"She won't thank you for playing mother hen.† â€Å"Better she's mad at me than does something stupid.† â€Å"Thetis, don't – â€Å" I'd already left him behind, weaving through the people as I honed in on my target. â€Å"†¦look like someone who likes to party,† Alec was saying as I approached. â€Å"Hey,† I said loudly, sort of wedging my way in between them. They both turned to me in surprise. â€Å"Hi, Georgina. What's up?† â€Å"I'm heading home,† I told her. â€Å"Wondered if you wanted a ride.† Casey smiled, glanced at Alec, then back to me. College-age, Casey was Hawaiian and Filipino, with high cheekbones and sleek black hair. Very pretty. â€Å"Thanks, but I'm gonna stay here for a while.† Alec looked very pleased with himself. I turned back to her. â€Å"Okay, but can I ask you something real quick, Case?† I smiled sweetly at Alec. â€Å"It'll just take a minute.† I steered her away, catching her as she stumbled. Closer inspection revealed she'd been indulging in more than just alcohol. â€Å"Casey,† I told her, once we were out of earshot, â€Å"I don't think you should be hanging around with him. â€Å" â€Å"Why not? He's a nice guy.† â€Å"I don't know about that. He just used the same pick-up lines on me. I think he's trying to get laid.† â€Å"Every guy here is trying to get laid. I know the game.† â€Å"Yeah, but – â€Å" â€Å"Look,† she said, â€Å"I appreciate the big sister thing, but I'm not stupid. I can handle this.† A mischievous look crossed her face. â€Å"Besides, I never would have thought you would be the one preaching sexual caution.† Like I didn't know what that was a reference to. Damn O'Neill's libido. I made a face and attempted a few more logical pleas. She rejected them all, indulgence soon giving way to annoyance. By then, Alec hadn't been able to control himself. He came back over and put a possessive arm around her. She looked up at him adoringly, and I knew a lost cause when I saw one. Seth and I met up back at my place, and he listened with admirable patience while I vented about men preying on women. â€Å"Isn't that what you do though?† We were sitting on my living-room floor, setting up a game of Scrabble. â€Å"I†¦no. It's not the same at all.† â€Å"How so?† He held my eyes for a moment, and I finally looked away. â€Å"It just isn't. Do you want to go first?† He let the matter drop. Another nice thing about being with a non confrontational guy. I quickly discovered playing Scrabble with Seth was like playing Monopoly with Jerome. A losing battle from the first turn. Admittedly, my knowledge of more than two dozen languages gave me a large vocabulary, but I didn't craft or manipulate words on a regular basis. Seth was a master. He could study the board, spend a minute calculating, and then play some word that was not only worth tons of points but interesting too. Maize. Hexagon. Tawdry. Bisque. That last one was just cruel. Meanwhile, I was spelling words like as, lit, ill, and tee. And almost never on high-point spaces. â€Å"Wait,† he said. â€Å"That's not a word.† I looked down to where, in a moment of desperation, I'd played zixic on a triple-word-score space. â€Å"Uh, sure it is.† â€Å"What's it mean?† â€Å"It's sort of like†¦quixotic, but with more†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Bullshit?† I laughed out loud. I'd never heard him swear before. â€Å"More zeal. Hence the z.† â€Å"Uh-huh. Use it in a sentence.† â€Å"Um†¦'You are a zixic writer.'† â€Å"I don't believe this.† â€Å"That you're zixic?† â€Å"That you're trying to cheat at Scrabble.† He leaned back against my couch, shaking his head. â€Å"I mean, I was ready to accept the whole evil thing, but this is kind of extreme. â€Å" â€Å"Hey, it's not cheating. Just because your limited vocabulary doesn't include this word doesn't mean there's anything sinister going on.† â€Å"Care to back that up with a dictionary?† â€Å"Hey,† I said haughtily, â€Å"I don't appreciate your zixistic tone.† â€Å"If you weren't such a zixy woman, I'd be angry.† â€Å"Your zixicism is infuriating.† The game forgotten, we spent the next twenty minutes coming up with as many zix variations as we could. Interestingly, it seemed to function just as well as a suffix as a prefix. I suspected that if Bastien had heard this conversation, I'd be accused of more boring geekiness. Seth and I finally went to bed on the verge of hysterics, both of us still giggling once we were wrapped up in my covers. â€Å"You smell good,† I told him, my face close to his neck. â€Å"What cologne is that?† He stifled a yawn. â€Å"I don't wear cologne. Too strong.† â€Å"You must.† I pressed my face closer. â€Å"Hey, be careful. You're giving me funny ideas.† He had skin and sweat smells unique to him and him alone, deliriously delicious. With that, however, was a faint scent of something else. Almost like apples, but not in a girly, boutique sort of way. It was fleeting and lovely, mingled with musk and soft leather. â€Å"No, it's something. You must. Is it your deodorant?† â€Å"Oh,† he mumbled, yawning again. â€Å"I bet it's this soap Andrea and Terry got me. Came as part of some set.† â€Å"Mmm. It's perfect.† It made me want to eat his neck – among other things. â€Å"You know, you still owe me pancakes. I think I could go for†¦apple cinnamon ones now. â€Å" â€Å"Apple cinnamon? You sure are demanding.† â€Å"It's all right. I think you're man enough for it.† â€Å"Thetis, if I actually believed you had either apples or cinnamon in your kitchen, I'd make them for you right now.† I didn't answer. I was pretty sure I had some year-old Apple Jacks, but that was about it. Seth gave a low laugh at my silence and then kissed my temple. â€Å"I don't know how anyone could think you were Genevieve. I couldn't make up someone like you in a thousand years.† I considered that, not entirely sure if it was a compliment or not. â€Å"How do you come up with your characters then?† He laughed again. â€Å"If I didn't know any better – and I'm sure I do – I'd say that sounds suspiciously like ‘Where do you get your ideas from?'† I blushed in the darkness. When he and I had first met, I'd taken a haughty high ground over that question, making fun of the fans that so often asked him that. â€Å"Hey, it's a totally different question.† I could sense his amusement as he contemplated an answer. Part of the reason he stumbled in conversation sometimes was because he didn't like to blurt things out. He chose his words carefully. â€Å"They come from my head, I guess. The stories too. They live there, screaming to get out. If I didn't write them down, they'd eat me up. Give me less of a grip on the real world than I already have.† â€Å"Not that I'm complaining†¦but, if there's so much inside, do you even need to care about the real world?† â€Å"Well, that's the paradox. The stories are born in my head, but my inner self is fueled by my outer self. Symbiotic relationship of sorts. The stories' ideas wouldn't come if I didn't have experiences to draw on. Jealousy. Love. Lust. Anger. Heartache. All that stuff.† Something pulled inside of me. â€Å"You had your heart broken much?† He paused. â€Å"Of course. Everyone does. Part of life.† â€Å"Tell me her name. I'll kick her ass. I don't want anyone hurting you.† He rested his face against my hair, his tone even and gentle when he spoke. â€Å"You're wondrous and powerful and gifted, but even you can't save me from hurting. No one can do that for anyone. I can make things perfect in the fictions I create, but the real world isn't so kind. That's just how it is. And anyway, for every bad thing in life, there are more good things to tip the balance.† â€Å"Like what?† â€Å"Like little blonde nieces. And royalty checks. And you.† I sighed and relaxed into him. His grip on me shifted into something more comfortable, and in a few minutes he was asleep. Amazing. I lay snuggled with him for a while, but sleep proved more elusive for me this time, as I turned over his words. I thought about someone breaking his heart and wondered if I'd be the next culprit, intentionally or otherwise. When sleep came, I immediately dropped into a steamy dream in which Seth and I were having mad, passionate sex. He'd tied my hands to my bedposts, and naturally, he was huge. Each thrust made my headboard bang against the wall, so much so that my neighbors complained. I woke up with a start, suddenly thinking being so entwined with him wasn't such a great idea. Of course, I was apparently the only one who had a problem with it. Seth slept on peacefully and heavily, like I wasn't even there, no doubt having properly chaste dreams. A paradigm of virtue and resolve. I watched him for a long time, admiring the way the soft lighting fell across his features. The fit muscles of his upper body. Eyelashes I wished I could have had as a mortal. Biting my lip, I resisted the urge to reach out and touch him. It was lust and something else, something that just wanted to be close to him. It scared me. Maybe he wasn't the only one who could walk away from this with a broken heart. I wiggled my own weak self away to the other side of the bed, putting what space I could between us. As I lay there, my back to him, Aubrey jumped up and lay next to my stomach. I stroked her black-speckled white head and sighed. â€Å"They were all wrong, Aub,† I whispered. â€Å"There's at least one guy in this world not trying to get laid.†

Causes and Effects of Industrial Pollution Essays

Causes and Effects of Industrial Pollution Essays Causes and Effects of Industrial Pollution Paper Causes and Effects of Industrial Pollution Paper Essay Topic: Air pollution Cause and Effect Water pollution It is because of this that carbon monoxide is viewed as the least danger to living beings. The largest natural cause of CO is the oxidation of methane in the atmosphere. Methane, CHI, is produced on the surface of earth by the decay of organic matter. (Harrison, 1990) A smaller natural cause is the growth and decay of chlorophyll which is the green pigment in the leaves of plants. Eighty percent of the carbon monoxide that is emitted by humans is by transportation. Because automobiles are the largest source of CO pollution, the highest concentration of this gas is in highly populated/urban areas. The next greatest anthropogenic source is agricultural burning, which accounts for another twelve percent. It has been shown that exposure to high concentrations of carbon monoxide can harm living organisms, but the current concentration in our atmosphere is still low enough so that plants and humans are both at minimal risk. (Harrison, 1990) Hydrocarbons are the second largest category of air pollutants by mass, but they are by far the largest group of pollutants when considering their effect. There are thousands of different hydrocarbon compounds that are comprised solely of hydrogen and carbon. They can be found in a gaseous, liquid or solid states at room temperature. Most hydrocarbons are emitted by the bacterial decomposition of organic material. Methane, CHI, which was mentioned in the formation of carbon monoxide, is the simplest of the hydrocarbons. Petroleum is a complicated mixture of several simple hydrocarbons showing again transportation by motor vehicles is the leading cause of this category being emitted into the air. Their evaporation during the refining of petroleum is also important. (Harpsichord, 1 991) Unlike the previous categories, the hydrocarbons are relatively harmless in their released state. It is in the atmosphere that they undergo chemical reactions and become hazardous. Societal Effects from of Air Pollution People are mostly oblivious to the effects of air pollution. They know its out there and it is a problem but excepting skin cancer, there have been very few deaths with a direct link to air pollution. It is probably because of this that people arent as concerned with air pollution as they should be. Air pollution has always been around, and has actually been on a decline since the sasss (when coal was the major source of energy. It is relatively easy to decrease he amount of pollutants we emit considering each year new laws arise that crack down on the amount of certain substances that can be released into the air, but the harm has already been done, and next to impossible to fix. The ozone layer is the part of the atmosphere that keeps ultraviolet rays from penetrating humans and plants. But because of all the air pollution, various chemicals are slowly destroyin g the ozone layer. Each year the concentration of the ozone decreases by approximately two percent and the ozone layer over the South Pole is already fifty percent of its natural concentration. Ozone depletes (the majority Of which are chlorofluorocarbons Or CUFFS) react with ultraviolet radiation and break down into their component atoms, especially chlorine, bromine and fluoride. These component atoms then go on to steal an oxygen atom from the ozone layer (opposite to the reaction which forms 03), thereby destroying the ozone layer. This loss of protection from UP rays can result in an increase of human skin cancer, damage to various parts of the eyes as well as causing a breakdown of the immune system. (Harpsichord, 1991) With health being such a major issue in our society today, people have become scared by this outbreak of cancer. People know that the ozone layer is slowing depleting and that there is a health risk involved with being in the sun for extended periods of time. But very few people know that there is a connection between this breakdown Of the ozone layer and air pollution. Instead of trying to control pollution emissions they just cut back on their time o utdoors, or wear more sunscreen. Ultraviolet rays can also cause major environmental problems. These rays enter the atmosphere and can kill small aquatic organisms, such as plankton. When these small life forms decompose they release carbon dioxide, CO, another gas which can cause the ozone layer to break down, thus resulting in a continuous cycle. What can we do? Although air pollution has relatively few immediate effects on humans at the present time it is important that we try to reduce the amount of pollutants we emit into the air. As discussed before the biggest cause of air pollution is use of transportation, followed by the combustion of fossil fuels. In the past thirty years many new standards have been passed in the United States which exulted in a dramatic reduction in the gases emitted by automobiles. But even with these new laws air pollution is still on the increase. It is mostly due to the fact that there are more automobiles on the road today. Cars may be more efficient but there are too many of them, which in many ways diminishes their efficiency. One solution to this problem is encouraging people to carpool which would reduce the number of cars on the road and in turn reduce the amount of pollutants. Another solution is to make more laws enforcing more efficient cars. However this would cost car manufactures more money, exulting in more expensive cars which people wouldnt want to buy. So the best solution to reducing the amount of pollutants emitted by automobiles is by encouraging people to carpool. The combustion of fossil fuels is the other leading cause of air pollution. Although the amount of pollutants these factories emit has reduced since the sasss they still release a large quantity of dangerous gases. More standards can be enforced to reduce the emissions of these factories. Nevertheless, as long as we rely on fossil fuels for energy these factories will have to emit some sort of gas. At the moment, nuclear energy appears to be the wave of the future and this type of energy releases a lot less pollutants into the air than the combustion of oil and coal. Although air pollution presents no immediate danger it is important that we try to control the pollutants We emit. Most of the harm has already been done and there are no known ways to fix these problems. It is for this reason that we try our best to help the situation as most as possible. Water Pollution Several different kinds of waste are oxygen consumers. There is a certain concentration of oxygen needed in the worlds oceans to support life. However, when waste is present in the water that is easily broken down by the presence of oxygen, and this lowers the oxygen levels necessary to sustain the natural biota for that water. Radioactive materials escape from ore processing, nuclear power plants and use of nuclear weapons. Just as radioactivity has harmful effects on humans these effects translate to aquatic life and invade water supplies around the world if not properly contained (Singer, 1970) Toxic metals are made up of heavy metals, light metals, and trace metals. Heavy metals have five times the density of water, whereas light metals have less.. Heavy metals are made up of seven basic elements that are found frequently in the Earth in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Trace metals display natural compounds of metal. The latter carry more contaminants than the heavy metals because of their great effects on living organisms. They are transmitted through direct use of mining in ores, in the burning of fossil fuels. The trace elements end up in water systems through atmospheric rain, agricultural run-off, mining wastes and domestic sewage. One the key factors of metal pollution is that they cannot biologically or chemically breakdown in nature. This stability also lets them be carried long distances through air and water. Mercury has shown to be a good example of how contamination of trace metals has severe effects and will be discussed in the next section on effects on society. Synthetic organic pesticides are compounds that include insecticides, fungicides, and other pests that inhibit human conduct. There are chlorophyll acids, archaeopteryxs, cerebrates and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Discussing chlorinated hydrocarbons, the most dominant of these pollutants, is necessary because of their persistence or staying power. They resist breakdown for approximately two years before they disappear. (Singer, 1970 ) Because of the great length of time that is these hydrocarbons can invade areas of the environment they were not meant for and spread into soils, runoffs and water environments. Their toxic effects on living organisms pervade fatty membranes around nerves and disrupt the movement of ions between the fiber. Societal Effects from Water Pollution Societys main concern with water pollution has mostly been realized through our own concern for their drinking water. Contaminants of all kind have been studied for their possible harm on humans, and subsequent coverings led to seeing the effects on other life in water. Water as a carrier of pathogenic organisms that can put health at risk was the primary reason for pollution control. More recently pollution was personalized when Americans saw pictures of seals and other sea life drowning in oil slick from spills, with drastic consequences. Water birds Can often be So covered in Oil slick that they can no longer fly and feathers lose their insulation properties in cool water temperatures. Many surrounding plant life on the shoreline are also coated and vegetation rates decrease. Photosynthesis of plants is also effected below the water, where light intensity is decreased by 90%, ;o meters below the surface because of oil flushing. Long-term affects, although still being studied, are based on the chemical messaging that is adversely effected by oil compounds in the water. Similarly they also might be involved and enter in the marine food chain. (Sager, 1976) These facts helped increase awareness, Inform the public and change policy on oil tanker practices. In this same manner, EDT, decades after its discoverer Paul Mueller won the Nobel Prize for chemistry because of its insecticidal repertories, was shown causing severe damage in water life systems. Nevertheless an abundance of pesticides of all kinds are still used in many areas and often are hard to contain in specific areas. As for metals, Mercury has wrought the largest scare to humans as its toxic effects from our actions have had repercussions. Mercury is used is three major ways by human processing electrical apparatus, color-alkali industry, and paint. Humans are exposed to mercury through production of other elements, the burning of coal, and the accelerated weathering of rocks and soils. Although there are efferent compounds of mercury effecting different aspects of body processes, there are also central breakdowns. Toxic action occurs through the binding of sulfur molecules in enzymes and cell walls that inhibit normal activity and depending on amount paralyzes or kills. All damage in permanent. Humans greatest risk is through food poisoning. This was shown in the Intimate disease where 44 people died and more were paralyzed because of eating contaminated shellfish and other fish. (Sager, 1976) Because of the biological amplification of mercury in aquatic life and in unmans, the methyl mercury wastes from a shoreline plastics factory increased the mercury amount in the fish in great amounts.

The RAP music culture essays

The RAP music culture essays Rap music as a musical form began among the youth of the south bronx, New York in the mid 1970's. Artists such as Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash were some of the early pioneers of this art form. Through thier performances at night clubs and promotion of the music, rap began to become ever more popular throughout the remaining years of the 1970's. The first commercial success of the rap song "Rappers Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang in 1979 helped bring rap music into the national spotlight. The 1980s saw the continued success of rap music with many artists such as Run DMC (who had the first rap album to go gold in 1984), L.L. Cool J and the Fat Boys. Today rap music still continues to be an important aspect of african-american music. When rap music first came about in america it was seen as a form of entertainment for youths in black inner city neighborhoods. Hanging out with friends and rapping or listening to others rap kept black youths out of trouble in the dangerous neighborhoods in which they lived. So basically the dominant culture did not have a type of music that filled the needs of these black youths so they decided to create a new style of thier own. Rap music originaly emerged as a way for the black youths to express thier everyday lifes and struggles. Rap is now seen as a subculture that, includes a large number of middle to upper class white youths who have grown to support and appreciate rap music. Many youth in america today are considered part of this culture because they share a common interest for a type of music that combines catchy beats with rhythmic music and thoughtful lyrics. Rap lyrics are about the problems rappers have seen such as poverty, crime, violence, racism, poor living conditions, drug abuse, alcoholism and prostitution. These are serious problems that many within the rap culture believe are being ignored by mainstream america. Those within the rap culture know ...

Make Your Essay Flow Using Transitions

Make Your Essay Flow Using Transitions Your written report, whether it is a creative, three-paragraph essay, or an extensive research paper, must be organized in a way that presents a satisfying experience for the reader. Sometimes it just seems impossible to make a paper flow- but that generally happens because your paragraphs aren’t arranged in the best possible order. Two essential ingredients for a great-reading paper are logical order and smart transitions. Create Flow With Better Paragraph Order The first step toward creating flow is making sure your paragraphs are put together in a logical order. Many times, the first draft of a report or essay is a little choppy and out of sequence. The good news about writing an essay of any length is that you can use cut and paste to rearrange your paragraphs. At first, this might sound terrifying: when you finish a draft of an essay it feels much like you have given birth- and cutting and pasting sounds scary. Don’t worry. You can simply  use a practice version of your paper to experiment with. Once you have finished a draft of your paper, save it and name it. Then make a second version by copying the entire first draft and pasting it into a new document. Now that you have a draft to experiment with, print it out and read it over. Do the paragraphs and topics flow in a logical order? If not, assign each paragraph a number and write the number in the margin. Don’t be at all surprised if you find that a paragraph on page three looks like it could work better on page one.Once you’ve numbered all the paragraphs, start cutting and pasting them in your document until they match your numbering system.Now, re-read your essay. If the order works better, you can go back and insert transition sentences between paragraphs.Finally, re-read both versions of your paper and confirm that your new version sounds better than the original. Create Flow With Transition Words Transition sentences (and words) are necessary for making connections between the claims, views, and statements you make in your writing. Transitions can involve a few words or a few sentences. If you can imagine your report as a quilt made up of many squares, you could think of your transition statements as the stitches that connect the squares. Red stitches might make your quilt ugly, while white stitching would give it flow. For some types of writing, transitions can contain just a few simple words. Words like also, furthermore, and yet, can be used to connect one idea to another. I had to walk two miles each morning to get to school. Yet, the distance was not something I considered a burden.I enjoyed walking to school when my friend Rhonda walked with me and talked about her travels.   For more sophisticated essays, you’ll need a few sentences to make your paragraphs flow. While the research was conducted at a university in Colorado, there is no evidence that altitude was considered to be a factor  ...A similar exercise was carried out in the mountain state of West Virginia, where similar extremes of altitude exist. You will find that its easy to come up with effective transitions once your paragraphs are arranged in the most logical order.

Analysis and Recommendation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis and Recommendation - Case Study Example Some of these technological projects include the use of automated sales system, automated payment system and modern social relation management. 1. There should be a centralized information technology system that ensures that individual sales personals and stores do not keep different information. This recommendation would have to start with the networking of the information technology systems that exists in individual stores. 2. In order to increase the trust of customers for the future sustainability of the company, customers need to be brought closer to the company. It is therefore recommended that the company develops an effective customer relationship management plan that will be focused on the use of new media to attract existing and new customers closer to the company. 3. As SUH is about to change its sales trend and pattern from purchase to rentals, it is highly recommended that all staff on the sales support department be taken through a comprehensive in-service training that will bring the staff up to date with the new trend to take off. The absence of such a training process will affect the work output of staff for the new changes in a negative way because they will not be very much abreast with the new system. The technology solution that will be suggested for the improvement of customer relationship management in the company is the use of customer social network. This is a very simple but highly powerful technological tool and system that can be used to improvement the customer relationship that exists between a company and its customers. Sight must not be lost of the fact that customers are the lifeline to every company and that the survival of every company depends largely on customers. For this reason, any programs that put customers first must highly be appreciated. Customer social network makes use of the new

Choose your favourite decade in make up and hair and explain why Essay

Choose your favourite decade in make up and hair and explain why - Essay Example or Miss. Coming out of the confusion of the seventies with its disco and punk rock, the eighties became increasingly concerned with symbols of power and business. This was encouraged by the privatization of industries and the de-regulation of the stock market introduced as a part of Thatcherism. As a result, the prevailing attitude regarding the economy became one of every man for himself. Electronics were gaining in popularity in many areas of life – synthesizers and keyboards in music, the introduction of the music video and digital animation, computers in the workplace and video games from the arcade becoming available in the home. New innovations in technology including the ‘nuclear age’, innovations in hair gel and mousse and increased use of personal technology made the science fiction shows on television seem possible just around the corner. All of these elements combined together to create a vibrant and outspoken era in hair, fashion and makeup that thrill s me with its energy and innovative symbolism. One of the major influences on 80s fashions was the designer Vivienne Westwood, who developed her talents in the thick of the 1960s and 1970s rock and roll movement in Britain. Her fashions exemplify the sexual freedom and aggressive stance of female expression emerging in the women’s movements that rocked the world at this time. Through her early designs, Westwood discovered that â€Å"there was a dramatic potential in the clothes themselves that could be heightened: laden with associations, biker gear links sexuality, violence and death, in a twentieth century archetype† (Savage, 2001: 28). She began a new line of clothes that were based on these ideas by adding metal studs, chicken bones, chains, zippers and other gear to the clothing she made. Doing this, Westwood became the mother of the punk rock fashions (Savage, 2001: 28). These designs included a heavy use of the corset as a fetish object, frequently making it in leather,

Commercial Contract Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Commercial Contract - Case Study Example (Atiyah Chapter 1). c.) Acceptance: When two parties willingly agree to the terms and conditions of a contract, then the requirements of acceptance can be claimed to have been met. Thus, the moment Stamatelly showed written acceptance of the laptop at the offered price, the first part of the contract can be said to have begun. Even if Yusuf did not show the initial direct signs of accepting, his action of replying to the e-mail to clarify the offered price is an advanced stage of acceptance to sell the laptop. (Atiyah Chapter 1). d.) Acquiescence: This is defined as the contracting parties actions and inactions as long as the initial acceptance stage had been satisfied. The issue of time is also important at this stage, as a seller who makes an offer at certain terms and conditions and receives offers at the same, needs to seal the deal without any further delay. In the above case study, Yusuf first made the laptop offer at $200. Stamatelly replied with an earlier lower price of $120. However Yusuf was adamant and fixed the offer at $200, which Stamatelly acquiesced to without further condition. (Atiyah Chapter 1). In the end Yusuf sold the laptop to another party at $180 which was much less than what Stamatelly wanted to offer. Yusuf also changed conditions for the sale at later stage to include time that the offer will be available. Even though he set the final settlement time of before noon the next day, he had sold the laptop the previous evening. This, coupled with the last minute change of price will be a potential legal suit for breach of business contract. (Atiyah Chapter 1). An analysis of the objective theory of this contract. In citing the Wilson Court Ltd. P'ship v. Tony Maroni's, Inc., 952 P.2d 590, 594 (Wash. 1998) (citing U.S. Life Credit Life Ins. Co. v. Williams, 919 P.2d 594, 597 (Wash. 1996), a contract is objective its manifestation is considered over its unseen subjective intentions of the contracting parties. Thus in the case study, Yusuf exhibited outward manifestation of assent when he clarified that the price would remain at $200. Thereafter, Stamatelly expressed mutual consent on these terms. At no one time was there any dispute about the condition of the product of contract which is the laptop. (Atiyah Chapter 2 - 4): (Stephen Waddams Chapter 1-3) It is also right to hold that both parties expressed outward manifestation of assent. Yusuf did so by the exclusive advertisement about the Laptop make, condition and price and even gave out his telephone numbers and e-mail for authenticity of the advertisement. Stamatelly also did so by writing to accept the offer in terms and condition by e-mail. The e-mail platform in this case study can be held as the outward manifestation whether direct or indirect. This is following the City of Everett v. Estate of Sumstad, 631 P.2d 366, 367 (Wash. 1981). (Atiyah Chapter 2 - 4): (Stephen Waddams Chapter 1-3) Possible Legal Redress. Stamatelly can rightly seek legal redress. She can aver that Yusuf was in breach of commercial contract especially at the acquiescence stage. She can cite the issue of time that was first introduced at a later stage

Middle Eastern Studies Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Middle Eastern Studies - Term Paper Example Others include the nationalization of assets previously owned by foreigners or ‘enemies of state’ and foreign aid. Collectively, such revenue streams are economically referred to as â€Å"rent†; similarly, states that are primarily dependent on such revenue streams are referred to as â€Å"rentier states† (Gelvin 247). Infamously, such states are referred to â€Å"allocation states† coined from the fact that the states’ distribution of rent generated in the aforementioned manner favors particular clients or projects. Each state in the Middle East-more or less- relies on rent income. In the period between 1980 and 1988, a third of Egypt’s government revenue was derived from rent. Over the same period, it also benefited substantially from aid from the United States amounting to about $2 billion annually (Gelvin 247). The involvement of Western powers in the oil wealth of the Middle East has entrenched historical backgrounds. More specific ally, their participation was ‘cemented’ through the establishment of agreements or concessions that saw the emergence of strong consortia that have firm hold-unto now-within the oil industry (Fawcett and Giacomo 15). Oil companies would come together to undertake large contracts which exceeded the capacity of any single firm. Such contracts –perhaps uncharacteristically so-extended between sixty and seventy-five years and granted these consortia exclusive rights to exploit, produce, refine, transport and market the oil. Over the past half century, the most dominant consortium in the oil industry has been that of the â€Å"seven sisters† consisting of Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf Texaco and British Petroleum (Gelvin 249). However, the blatant imbalance in the distribution of the benefits from oil exploitation as to the host nations propelled the formation of an association that would better represent the concerns of oil producers. Furthermore the threat of diminished returns arising from a fall in demand and subsequent slashing of prices by the consuming West-as was the case during the recession of the 1960s- had to be effectively dealt with. The formation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1970 significantly increased this power and with it oil prices rose by 380 percent. Oil wealth therefore shifted from the industrialized and importing Western states to the producing Middle East (Gelvin 250). The Middle East has seen the staging of two major games. Firstly, and which has recently surfaced with revolutionary effects, that of citizens and governments; usually on opposing ends and rarely in cooperation (Richards and Waterbury 1). The recent revolutions in Middle Eastern states-dubbed the Arab Spring-such as Libya, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Greece have born evidence to this play. In this game, the motive and desire for the advancement of prosperity and national development has seen the ousting of lo ng-serving governments. In Egypt, specifically, it has seen a transition in which the ousted government and long-serving officials additionally face criminal proceedings. The political space internally is highly uncertain with the much anticipated calls for free and fair elections pitted against the influence of the interim Egyptian military council. Secondly, another battle is underway intersecting the region’

Risk and vulnerability Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Risk and vulnerability - Article Example At any rate, I try to change my passwords frequently, at least once a month. I try to use a unique password (a combination of numbers and letters, both uppercase and lowercase letters). It makes access difficult but not impossible against a determined hacker. I also keep duplicate files in separate storage just in case data is corrupted or infected with a virus. Buying the branded anti-virus software is also a good step towards protection (Gutwirth, 2009). If the data were compromised, I will try to retrieve my duplicate files stored somewhere else and avoid the same mistakes. 2. Assessing current vulnerabilities – any digital file or data is always subjected to risks no matter what one does to protect it. The best one can do is to mitigate or minimize these risks by doing some simple things like always backing up important data (to another on-line account or storing it in another device), changing my passwords often, being alert to possible intrusions, buying the latest updated data protection software, and always logging out properly whenever I use any of my digital computer accounts. Additionally, I take good care of my hardware devices such as not spilling liquids on them, shutting them down properly after each session, and try not using these devices for long periods to avoid over-heating. It is helpful to be alert to any phising attempts like MITM (or man-in-the-middle impersonators) and be security conscious

Middle Eastern Studies Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Middle Eastern Studies - Term Paper Example Others include the nationalization of assets previously owned by foreigners or ‘enemies of state’ and foreign aid. Collectively, such revenue streams are economically referred to as â€Å"rent†; similarly, states that are primarily dependent on such revenue streams are referred to as â€Å"rentier states† (Gelvin 247). Infamously, such states are referred to â€Å"allocation states† coined from the fact that the states’ distribution of rent generated in the aforementioned manner favors particular clients or projects. Each state in the Middle East-more or less- relies on rent income. In the period between 1980 and 1988, a third of Egypt’s government revenue was derived from rent. Over the same period, it also benefited substantially from aid from the United States amounting to about $2 billion annually (Gelvin 247). The involvement of Western powers in the oil wealth of the Middle East has entrenched historical backgrounds. More specific ally, their participation was ‘cemented’ through the establishment of agreements or concessions that saw the emergence of strong consortia that have firm hold-unto now-within the oil industry (Fawcett and Giacomo 15). Oil companies would come together to undertake large contracts which exceeded the capacity of any single firm. Such contracts –perhaps uncharacteristically so-extended between sixty and seventy-five years and granted these consortia exclusive rights to exploit, produce, refine, transport and market the oil. Over the past half century, the most dominant consortium in the oil industry has been that of the â€Å"seven sisters† consisting of Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf Texaco and British Petroleum (Gelvin 249). However, the blatant imbalance in the distribution of the benefits from oil exploitation as to the host nations propelled the formation of an association that would better represent the concerns of oil producers. Furthermore the threat of diminished returns arising from a fall in demand and subsequent slashing of prices by the consuming West-as was the case during the recession of the 1960s- had to be effectively dealt with. The formation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1970 significantly increased this power and with it oil prices rose by 380 percent. Oil wealth therefore shifted from the industrialized and importing Western states to the producing Middle East (Gelvin 250). The Middle East has seen the staging of two major games. Firstly, and which has recently surfaced with revolutionary effects, that of citizens and governments; usually on opposing ends and rarely in cooperation (Richards and Waterbury 1). The recent revolutions in Middle Eastern states-dubbed the Arab Spring-such as Libya, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Greece have born evidence to this play. In this game, the motive and desire for the advancement of prosperity and national development has seen the ousting of lo ng-serving governments. In Egypt, specifically, it has seen a transition in which the ousted government and long-serving officials additionally face criminal proceedings. The political space internally is highly uncertain with the much anticipated calls for free and fair elections pitted against the influence of the interim Egyptian military council. Secondly, another battle is underway intersecting the region’

Climate change and its effect on animals in the chesapeake bay Essay

Climate change and its effect on animals in the chesapeake bay - Essay Example Drastic weather patterns have led to rising of sea level causing submergence of wetlands in the estuary. This affects the wetland organisms that are not used to submerged ecosystems. The unpredictable weather patterns are likely to destabilize wetland habitat leading to extinction of some animal species. High variations in salinity as a result of increased rainfall, long periods of draught and unpredictable storm is also a factor that is likely to contribute to degradation of the ecosystem and extinction of animal species (Abel, 26). Increased precipitation as a result of climate change has led to high sediment deposits in the bay, which bring in high quantities of nitrogen and phosphorous that are the limiting nutrients for the growth of algae and other aquatic organisms. Further more, overland flow from neighboring farms and towns leads to deposition of chemical contaminants in the water that leads to the death of aquatic organisms. High sedimentation has raised the water bed leading increased submergence of the land surrounding the bay (Cerco et al. 632). Climate change has also led to temperature fluctuations and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere creating conditions that are necessary for the growth of dinoflagellates, which are algae that are harmful to zooplankton and fish. Some of the fish feed directly on the algae while others ingest the harmful algae through feeding on the zooplankton that are higher on the food chain. Moreover, temperature fluctuations increase the possibility of hypoxia. This is a situation whereby dissolved oxygen levels fall below the minimum that is necessary to support animal life. Increased temperatures in the bay have favored warm water species thereby making it hard for the cold water species to survive (Boesch et al. 112). Increased temperatures in the bay water have led to the decline of eelgrass which is a significant hideout of blue crabs in their post larval and molting

Personal Experience Essay Example for Free

Personal Experience Essay Life is full of adventures and experiences. The key to living well is making these experiences as meaningful as possible. I went through a very significant experience, which was actually more of a risk, about two years ago. I was 15 years old and I had to decide whether I would stay in my hometown or move to Monterrey, Mexico. As in every dilemma faced, there are pros and cons that will try to sway you. Time wouldn’t stop and the day of my decision was getting closer and closer; the less time I had to decide, the more confused and undecided I became. All I could do was imagine myself living the future in my hometown or in Monterrey. But, why was I put into this situation? Should I have stayed where I was born and where I’d lived my whole life or would the best thing be to move to an entirely new city? My family once consisted of my mom, my dad, two older brothers, and me. Unfortunately, my dad passed away in December of 2007 when I was twelve years old. Monterrey is a city characterized by having many foreign students because of the highly recognized university, Tec de Monterrey (ITESM). Both of my brothers decided to study there. This left a lonely house with only a widowed mother and a teenage girl. That was the moment I realized we needed to do something, having me make the decision of my life with the pressure of time. I was born and raised in Matamoros, Mexico, which is a border town with Brownsville, Texas. Having my student passport, I studied there my whole life. I had many friends living in both Matamoros and Bro wnsville. This was a major factor on my decision because I didn’t want to leave them and, in Monterrey, I didn’t know anyone. The thing was that in Matamoros, every corner of my house, every street, and every part of the city would only remind me of my dad who was already in Heaven. To me, this was a kind of torture. I had to either leave my friends and start a new life, or stay there with everyone’s support, but constantly having to deal with the suffering of not being able to let go of my dad because of my surroundings. I knew moving to Monterrey was a very good idea, but like everything, it had its negative views as well. It would be a good thing to move because my mom and I would now live with my brothers and we would all be united like we were before. This new beginning would help us overcome the death of my dad. The bad part was that, as I was about to enter high school, moving to Monterrey without knowing anyone would be very difficult. I had always studied in the USA, so attending a school in Mexico would probably lower my grades and make things more complicated. It was all about taking the r isk. Decision time was near. After I analyzed everything, I understood that the best thing I could was to move to Monterrey with my mom. This was a very significant experience because it really impacted me. The first semester was very hard as I felt all alone. As soon as I began making friends, however I realized I couldn’t have made a better decision. People in Monterrey are very humble and caring. They taught me many things, enabling me to become a better person with better feelings. These friends were the ones who pulled me closer to God when I most needed Him. There was no better feeling than getting home and seeing my brothers living with me again. My family was once again united, and I am very grateful for all of this. View as multi-pages

Acting And Facial Expression In Animation

Acting And Facial Expression In Animation Our body never stop moving, no matter we are sitting, taking a rest or sleeping, our body and face keep doing different actions even it is small and unobtrusive. We have many different actions in our daily life. We can obtain different messages in these actions. For example humans feelings, characters, health, signal from others or even read peoples mind. There is so much information covert in acting and facial expression, but what about in animation? Animation started with no dialog and sound. To define animation, it imitates everything move in reality word, it can also create some things does not exist and even impossible by your imagination. To create a good animation, you need to study everything which can move no matter it is organic or inorganic. Also the speed of different objects: Speed up, slow down and the rhythm. That is the basic animation sense. Aim This study is concerned with a communication that beyond dialog in animation Acting and Facial Expression. Acting means all action, body language and facial expression. Animators always use them to present characters personality and the story in animation. The reason I choose acting and facial expression is because it is an international language in communication. Animation is always present with dialog, especially in long animation. Sometimes, facial expression and some small actions can express more messages to the audience and to deliver it faster than dialog. Without dialog, audience will focus on characters action and facial expression, it provides audience with more imagination and better in accordance with the animation significance. I will not say acting and facial expression can replace dialog, but I am going to prove that they are the better tools to communicate with audience in animation. Research Method The topic is closely related with my area of practice 3D animation. It is useful for me to produce and learn animation. From the research in this study, I can obtain more knowledge in human anatomy and the meaning and message in different action. These can support me to produce a more professional animation and improve my animation skills. I am going to research different animations, movies, television commercial which without dialog, to disassemble their script, characters acting and camera design, especially with the reference Tom and Jerry. In the other hand, I will compare them with some movies and animations which with dialog, for example: Ted, Mr. Bean and Pixars animations. Also I will research books about body language, facial expression and animation theory to support my study. Structure In my dissertation, I am going to divide it into five parts. After introduction, it is a chapter about acting in animation. I will start to define what are acting and body language first, to establish a basic knowledge with them. Second I will find out the relationship between acting and characters, storytelling and music. It is a very important part to research how acting affects these elements in animation. Third I will find out how animators animate inorganic things, how can acting gives them life and personality. Finally, I will have a case study of Tom and Jerry to research the relationship of acting and dialog, also compare their impact. In the next chapter facial expression in animation, I will research what is facial expression and how it talks. There are more than thousands facial expression we have, but what do they means? Can they show our minds? Besides, I will find out the relationship between facial expression and characters and storytelling. In chapter four communication beyond dialog, after studying acting and facial expression. I am going to find out what the impacts of dialog in communication are and compare it with acting and facial expression. Then I will prove how acting and facial expression give imaginations and demonstrate how they communicate with audience. Finally, I will find out in animation, are acting and facial expression an aid, strengthen or a necessary elements? And the final chapter is a summary. 2. Acting and Facial Expression 2.1. Acting and body language We express ourselves, communicate to others, show others our minds and ideas through action. Also, we always try to obtain and understand different meanings or messages through other peoples action, even our pets and other animals. Acting means all actions created by living things, a strong action can communicate a lot. To research actions, I start to study the nature of actions and I find out there are five basic actions we have since we are born inborn actions, discovered actions, absorbed actions, trained actions and mixed actions. When we are a baby, we already have our instinctive actions. A baby knows how to smile and suckle mothers breast to get food, even they never saw them before. These are inborn actions. Discovered actions mean we discover them from ourselves through our experience and our environment. People cross their arms or legs in the world, it helps us to keep warm, take a rest or protect ourselves. There is also an example of discovered actions sex. Absorbed actions are the actions we learn and copy from others. In a society, we want to get into a group no matter we are studying or working. We try to imitate their actions and the words they use. For trained actions, we need to practice and teach by the others, like swimming, dancing and cycling. Finally, mixed actions are special, we push further and mix the actions we learnt by discovering and studying new things. When we communicate to others, dialog is not the only way. Actions show our background, character and our inner thoughts. We can deliver messages to others, it is a body language. Body language is the earliest language we know, everyone know how to use it. We cry to draw our parents attention when we are a baby. We use body language everyday even sometimes we did not realize them. Following different peoples research, we can now discover many secret of our body and how they talks. For examples our body angles, body shift and when we touch ourselves. There are too many body languages and I cannot cover them all, but I am going to find them out in different animations and movies, see how those animators use them to create their characters and story. 2.2. Facial expression Acting means all body languages and facial expressions. Besides the research on acting, I want to analysis facial expression individually, because it is a main tool to communicate beside body language. We have come to know the face so well because it is so important to us; in fact, it is the center of our entire emotional life. From birth to death, the face links us to friends, to family, to everyone meaningful to us. (Gary Faigin, 1990s). Facial expression is the motion of our face muscles under the skin. There are many emotions we have and we always express them by different movement of our facial features. We less expressed our emotion by only use one facial features, it always comes up with mix. Do facial expressions universally recognizable? By Paul Ekman, he researched that there are six categories of facial expression are certain universal: sadness, anger, joy, fear, disgust and surprise. We can find these faces every day on the people we meet, but how much can we tell from our face? 2.3. How facial expression talks? This research will not cover all categories of facial expression, but I will analysis some of them which appear in animation and our daily life. On our face, eyes and mouth are the facial features that have the most movable range. Other than ears and nose, sometimes they can convey emotions individually. As the research of eyes, our eyes movement and angles have different messages in them, different angles show our feelings and thinking. Combine with our eyebrows, they can have so many changes. When we communicate to others, like we speak with our friends, colleagues or even in an interview, eye contacts become a very important tool. With our words, a firm eye contact can display our confidence, fascination, serious and respect. Opposite, hesitancy and unstable eyes will show that we are nervous and inattentive. It has the same effect when we listen to others. We will also use our eyes to give signal to others. For example: in a situation which we cannot speak or in a basketball game, eyes used to show our feelings or to direct others. In animation, we can only obtain messages from the image, we do not understanding the environment sometimes. Characters eyes will become the director for the audience in this moment. Certainly, eyes are the tool to show characters status like tired. Mouth is a special feature, besides eat and speak, it is the best facial feature to present joy. We can find joy or sadness for peoples mouth easily, but what else? When we feel nervous, uncomfortable and scare, we always tighten up our lips, it can let us relieve some of our pressure. And when we feel disgust, we will distort our lips, but everyone has different shape in this, it is always appear in comedy. Apart from that, a sinister smile is always a good characteristic for creating a bad character. After research on our facial features, I go on to find out more relationship of facial expression and animation. 3. Acting and Facial Expression in Animation 3.1. Acting with characters, storytelling and music In an animation, we receive messages from different elements such as characters, storytelling and music, but what are their relationships with acting. With the characters outlook, we can obtain much information of him, her or it- age, sex, work, power and physique. These are the basic information, but acting can gives more or makes different. For example: characters personality, attitude, status, ability and experience. Acting also shows the forces of gravity of the world in the story through characters movement. I found a short animation as examples One more beer! to show how acting and body language influence characters. In One more beer, it is a very short animation and only has one character, one scene and one camera. In the beginning, a man that looks big, boorish and strong sits down in the bar. He gives a fierce face and asks for something. We notice that he is a fierce man and want a big cup of beer immediately, but the bartender gives him a small cup and pink colours beer. The fierce man gets angry, the bartender gives him a small umbrella and put it in the beer. At that time, the fierce man change to a naive man and drinks that small beer like a child. A big man and a small pink beer form a big contrast. Audience got cheated from his outlook in the beginning, thought that he must reject that small beer. However, he loves that. All of these are depend on acting. Dont just do something, story is the difference between animating a character walking across the room, and having it walk the last mile to the electric chair. The story context will affect the way a character moves, acts and talks. (Nancy Beiman, Animated Performance, Page 4). Undoubtedly, acting and story influence each other in every animation. It delivers messages to audience. Sometimes a small action can leave thread or cheat audience. Also, acting can shows characters feelings, emotion and the relationship between characters. To research storytelling and acting, I found an animation Defective Detective. It does not have dialog, but it is good at storytelling. The main characters of this animation are a detective and an old woman. The detective is a hero of the city, but he is trouble in a case with a butcher. One night, he finds something wrong on his upstairs. He thinks that is the butcher, and the butcher is hurting the old woman. He clamps up and wants to shot down the butcher, but finally it is just his misunderstanding. The animation shows the situation of the detective and the old woman parallel, they have not seen each other until the end. The old women are just cooking tomato soups, but the detective thinks that the butcher are killing her, it is all come from his fantasy only. The animator use 2D animation to express his fantasy, we can find that the detective are stupid and impulsive. The most interesting and meaningful part I think is the end and I want to explain those small actions in detail. In the end, they drink the soup together, but someone scream from outside again. The detective stands up and pick up his gun to show he wants to help. However the old woman uses the spoon hit his hand and point to the chair, these actions mean she told him to sit down and do not get misunderstanding anymore. He sits down immediately and shake his hand and drink a spoon of soup, to show her do not worry and he will listen to her. In the final shot, he takes a look of outside, it shows that he still confusing. This time he is right, there are many crimes happening in the building. It is very meaningful in just these few seconds, the animator is good at acting and storytelling. Other than characters and storytelling, the relationship of acting and music is more special. Acting always follows the rhythm of the music, especially in animations which do not have dialog. Acting can strengthen and bring out the feelings of the music, and music can also strengthen characters emotion and acting. Both of them can be the lead. The most famous example is Fantasia from Disney. In Fantasia, there are seven animations in this film and this film created three relationships of music and animation. First kind, it use music to tells a define story. Second kind, it is no specific plot but just follow the rhythm and create the image. Third kind, to create an animation that exists for the music. The most famous part of Fantasia is The Sorcerers Apprentice. It only uses the original music for the animation, no any sound effects and dialog. It is just like a visual music concert. 3.2. Facial expression with characters and storytelling Facial expression is an important element to help a character to create its personality and express their emotions. For me, a character which has the richest facial expression and most impressive, he must be Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson. He is not an animation character, but he is a really special performer which good at impress on acting. In 2002, Mr. Bean came up with an animated television series. It is based on the live action series of the same name and it is a minority example. Why Mr. Bean can success? I am going to find out some reasons with it. Mr. Bean is a comedy written and starring by Rowan Atkinson. Rowan Atkinson created Mr. Bean and described him as A child in a grown mans body. Bean less speaks, he always uses his body languages and facial expressions to convey himself. Sometimes he will speak something people do not understand, but within his voice tone and acting we can find out what he tries to present. He spends a lot of time with his best friend Teddy (A bear toy) and he helps Teddy to act. In both live action and animated series, Mr. Bean is a story around Beans daily life and some interesting incident. To describe Rowan Atkinsons face, he has big, clear and significant facial features. Also, combine with his changeable facial expressions, it impress on audience mind. In Mr. Bean animation, animators keep Beans characteristics and style. They even enlarge his facial features and exaggerate his acting. It shows that acting and facial expressions are identity of Mr. Bean. In the same time, that is one of a big r eason why Mr. Bean success. To research on the relationship between facial expression and storytelling, I found a special example Kuleshov Effect. It is a montage film editing effect and discovered by Lev Kuleshov which is a Russian filmmaker. It is an experiment to create reaction with editing, Lev Kuleshov wants to test if a face with no expression and fill in different objects or environment, what will audience think? He made a short movie with six shots. Also, he found three shots with different environment and put the same shot with one actor in front of them. The actors name is Ivan Mozzhukhin, he actually looking at nothing, he does not know what will they edit to when they are shooting at him. He did not express any emotion and that is what Lev Kuleshov wants, we cannot see any emotion on Ivan Mozzhukhin by only watching his face. Audience can only base on the environment along to infer his emotion. The viewers will think that the actor has different reactions and emotions, but actually they come from our own minds. We will admire the actors acting and do not realize it is affected by the scene. So does it mean facial expression is not important? Just the opposite, in Kuleshov Effect, audience will obtain different emotions of the actor only by their experience and imaginations. This effect just right to tell us where are the source of message that received by audience. Within facial expression and storytelling, audience can receive the messages exactly from the creator and understand the inter-relationships between characters. 4. Animation Comedy You get to be an impish God. You get to reform the world. You get to take the piss out of it. You turn it upside down, inside out. You bug out eyes. You put moustaches on Mona Lisas. You change the world and have for a brief moment a bit of control over it. At least you get to humiliate it for a moment, and thats what all cartoonists get their kicks from! (Paul Wells, interview in February 1995) Paul Wells described how to create a comedy. In creating comedy, we can become a naughty god and change the world to whatever we want. Comedy is a tool for people to relax and release their pressure from a custumal world. We must break and challenge the rules. After the initial study of Mr. Bean, I go on to research on animation comedy. I want to know more about how acting and facial expression influences animation comedy. 4.1. Case study Tom and Jerry Tom and Jerry is a famous animation start from 1940s, every chapter is short but expressing a story individually. It is just a story start from a cat and a mouse, but why can it success and enduring to show? With the research in last part, I start to analysis Tom and Jerry. Cats chasing mouse, everyone knows it, because it is the natural instinct of cats. It is a good and simple design in characters and story. However in Tom and Jerry, people always want Jerry wins and he does in the story. I think the reason is because their personality and relationships, it express from their acting. Tom is an arrogance cat and to be opinionated, he always thinks that he is the one. Jerry is cunning, but it is stems from the need for self-preservation, He is a kind mouse and always saves others who Tom is bullying. Tom always thinks he is the clever one and bully others, Jerry always takes him down because he is the real clever one. We will love to see this because to take down someone who is arrogance and to be opinionated is funny, as we want to do that in our reality society. Sometimes they are enemy, sometimes they are friend when they are facing difficulty or having the same enemy. We love to see that too. Storytelling is a big reason that why Tom and Jerry success. They have many reasons to fight in every chapter, not just about cats chasing mouse. Sometimes it is because Tom is hungry, the order from Toms master, revenge, misunderstanding, they want the same thing, enjoy to torture others or the third person get involved. Tom and Jerry less using dialog, it will be only used in they must need it to express or describe story to audience. Acting becomes the only way to communicate with audience. The master of Tom is a character who always have dialog, it is always used by the third person or radio too, Tom and Jerry almost do not talk. We can always find many exaggerated and violent acting in Tom and Jerry. Everything around the environment can be their weapons: tables, chairs, dishes, planks sometimes they even use guns, bombs and poisons. These become the way to attract audience and make them laugh, also the signature of Tom and Jerry. Music is an important character in Tom and Jerry too, it is always used to strengthen acting and deliver their emotions. Music can increase the atmosphere of comedy with the big contrast, for example: a classic music and an obtuse cat. In some case, Tom and Jerrys body will become a music instrument and play music with their acting. You can also find some chapters which are base on music to create their story. All of these are the basic analysis of Tom and Jerry. I also want to describe some examples which are impressive and creative to see how it has good use of acting. In Puss and Boats, Tom is a mariner. The story starts from Toms ship laying down their commodity. There is a big box of cheeses with a gap. In this time, Jerry is sleeping, but the smell of cheese becomes a hand and flies to find him. The hand removes Jerry from the bed and opens his eye, but Jerry is still sleeping and the picture in his eyeball shows he is eating a cheese. It shows Jerry is eating a cheese in his dream, and it is a special skill by using facial expression. Then, the hand wakes him up and shows him where are the cheese. When Jerry gets ready to get it, the hand stop him and point to somewhere because Tom is nearing there to protect those commodity. The acting of the hand is not just expressing the smell of cheese, it is only use useful to Jerry and only he can see this, because mice love cheese. The hand shows the natural of mouse, to find cheese and be careful with cats. The animator use a hand to present the relationship of cheese, mouse and cat, not just shows Je rry smell cheese and wake up. It is creative and well use on acting with character and storytelling. In a short section of Mice Follies, Tom is chasing Jerry and his friend in a small indoor skating rink. When Tom try to stop and catch them, he keeping slipping in the same place because of the ice. He keeps increasing his speed to move but still cannot move on. Coordinate with his acting, is a fast beat drums hit. With this situation, it created a very funny image. That is more effective by only using acting to present. It is a common comedy skill we can always find in Tom and Jerry. To describe other example of music in Tom and Jerry, I found The Cat Concerto. In this chapter, Tom is a pianist. He woke up Jerry when he was playing piano in a concert. Then they start to fight. The story is totally following the music to develop. In the whole animation, they never stop playing the piano while they are fighting. Even Tom gets hurt or stop to play, Jerry will keep playing to keep the concerto go on. Every part of the piano becomes their battlefield. Every time the music starts rapidly, they will have a strong conflict. It is a really accurate story design, the animator use music to imagine the story. Even a shears become a music instrument, Jerry want to cut Toms finger when he is playing piano. However, Tom hides it, the sounds of shears merges with the music. Finally, Jerry plays the piano from its inside to try to push Tom to follow it. Tom exhausts all his effort to follow, but his formal dress is totally rotten. In the end, Jerry wears a formal dress to curtain call. That presented a cat chasing mouse story with a very interesting and creative way. At the same time, it is a good example how acting cooperate To summarize, Tom and Jerry is an impressive and successful animation which use acting and the elements of animation effectively. It is a good example to shows us the importance of acting in animation. 5. Communication beyond dialog 5.1. Dialog in communication Actions speak louder than words, When we communicate only 7 per cent of the communication depends on verbal communication and the rest goes towards the non verbal communication. Of the 93 per cent- 38 percent is for voice modulation and 55 per cent is for body language.(ProfessorÂÂ  M. S. Rao, Soft Skills Enhancing Employability: Connecting Campus with Corporate, Page14). 6. Conclusions