Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Ethical Dilemmas of Genetic Testing for Huntingtons...

The Ethical Dilemmas of Genetic Testing for Huntingtons Disease INTRODUCTION Huntingtons Disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder (Walker, 2007 and Harmon, 2007). The gene that causes the disease is located on the fourth chromosome and causes an abnormal number of repeats in the patients genetic code (Harmon, 2007). Huntingtons Disease can have devastating effects on patients quality of life. The first symptoms of HD generally start between the ages of 30 and 45 and patients are typically asymptomatic prior to this time (Terrenoire, 1992 and Walker, 2007). However, the disease progresses with subtle changes in motor control, personality, and cognition. Patients eventually develop distinct†¦show more content†¦However, confidentiality rights also protect the patients health information and right to privacy. Another issue that arises concerns the confidentiality of HD diagnoses with relation to insurance companies. Many patients fear that they will be denied or will no longer be able to afford i nsurance coverage if the insurance company learns that they will one day have HD (Ethical issues of genetic diagnosis, 2007). Insurance companies may also begin to mandate that genetically-related individuals undergo predictive genetic testing for HD if one family member develops the disease (Ethical issues of genetic diagnosis, 2007). Another ethical debate reigns in the choice for HD patients to have children and in prenatal screening for HD. Since HD is generally not diagnosed until later in life, many patients have children before their HD diagnosis (Ethical issues of genetic diagnosis, 2007). The children of one parent with HD have a 50% chance of developing the disease themselves. However, if a patient tests positive for the gene that causes Huntingtons disease before having children, conflicts could arise between partners about whether or not to even have children (Ethical issues of genetic diagnosis, 2007 and Tassicker, Savulescu, Skene, Marshall, Fitzgerald Delatycki, 2003). The predictive genetic test for HD can also be performed before a baby is born. IfShow MoreRelatedCase Analysis: Danville Airlines1259 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Danville Airlines has created an ethical and legal dilemma by not being accurate, precise and clear on how they are doing medical testing, causing undue stress and potentially career-ending circumstances for David Reiger, one of their best pilots. What Danville did was illegal and unethical due to negligence. David Reiger has every right to sue them to continue flying, and the medical evidence suggests that the Huntingtons disease gene can be dormant for decades before being activeRead MoreGene Presents Moral And Ethical Dilemmas Essay1659 Words   |  7 PagesHuntington s chorea, commonly referred to as Huntington’s disease is an utterly devastating diagnosis for not only the patient affected directly with the disease but also for their biological children. Huntington’s disease is an inherited genetic disorder which causes the death of brain cells resulting in physical and mental abnormalities that worsen over time until certain death. As if that were not bad enough, the off spring of Huntington’s disease affected patients have a 50% chance of inheritingRead More Ethical Dilemmas of Genetic Prenatal Screening Essay679 Words   |  3 Pagesis about the genetic structuring of our offspring. I ask myself, will we able to choose the physical features our child? If so, do we as a society think this will be an ethical practice? Perhaps, scientifically, this might be entirely possible, but law will most likely restrict it. An article written by Frederic Golden helped me draw some understanding on this hot topic. Golden commences his article with a brief story of a mother and father who have been through prenatal testing. They testedRead MoreThe Disadvantages of Genetic Testing on Children Discussed in Dena Davis Book Genetic Dilemmas2357 Words   |  10 Pagesof her book Genetic Dilemmas, Dena Davis asserts that it is unethical for parents to subject their children to genetic testing for the markers of adult-onset genetic diseases because it places an unfair constraint on a child’s right to an open future. It both removes the child’s ability to choose whether to be tested as an adult and has the potential to negatively alter the overall trajectory of their lives. While the current consensus amongst medical professionals is that such testing should beRead MoreThe Pros and Cons of Genetic Testing2082 Words   |  9 Pagessaid, genetic testing is now available to essentially anyone. While genetic testing may put us a great advantage scientifically, it could also be a set-back . Genetic testing is really helpful in medical circumstances but in situations where a person just wants to know what their genes say about them, it can cause unnecessary stress on a family and give families information they are not able to accept or interpret. A new and growing trend in the medical field right now is genetic testing. TestingRead MoreWhat Is Genetic Sequencing?2598 Words   |  11 PagesWhat is Genetic Sequencing? â€Å"If you could skip to the last chapter in your book of life would you read it†? This is a common question asked to most people while they are growing up. Everyone always viewed this question in a figurative sense and it made them ponder their future. However, with genomic sequencing this question has become a real dilemma for doctors in the health profession. Imagine that a sick baby enters into your office and you screen their genetic code for kidney disease in the processRead MoreGenetic Testing and Screening Essay1868 Words   |  8 Pagesscience and biotechnology are raising many ethical and moral dilemmas for everyone. No one will be left unaffected. Everyone will have to make a decision and take a stand on these issues. I will discuss advancements of genetic screening and testing. The first step to any ethical problem is to understand the topic. It is difficult to formulate accurate ideas without knowledge about the topic, so first I will provide a little backgrou nd information on genetic screening. I will then point out some ofRead MoreEssay on Analytical Summaries4643 Words   |  19 Pagesparticular genetic disease. The first article contains references to all three types of evidence discussed in this chapter. Compare the language used to depict direct experimentation, after-the-fact evidence, and values questions. Article 1 Predictive Probes by Jerry E. Bishop Several years ago, Nancy Wexler’s mother died of Huntington’s disease, a hereditary and always-fatal affliction that strikes in midlife. Since then, Ms. Wexler, the 38-year-old president of the Hereditary Diseases FoundationRead MoreAssisted Reproduction - 12056 Words   |  9 PagesA married couple wishes to have a child; however, the 32 year old mother knows that she is a carrier for Huntingtons disease (HD). HD is a genetic disorder that begins showing signs at anywhere from 35-45 years of age. Its symptoms begin with slow loss of muscle control and end in loss of speech, large muscle spasms, disorientation and emotional outbursts. After 15-20 years of symptoms HD ends in death. HD is a dominant disorder which means that her child will have a 50% chance of contracting theRead MorePros And Cons Of Genetic Engineering1662 Words   |  7 PagesGenetic engineering is the process whereby new DNA is added or existing DNA is altered in an organism s genome. This may invol ve changing one base pair (A-T or C-G) or deleting entire sections of DNA or adding additional copies of a gene. This results in creating new traits that were not previously present in the organism’s genome. This is done to selectively breed desired traits or to create plants with increased resistance to pesticides and increased tolerance to herbicides. For example insulin

Monday, December 16, 2019

My Super Power Free Essays

Super Power is an extra ordinary power that is God’s gift to a person. Super power is a special power that some special people have; it is rare to find people with super power. Everyone wants super power like laser eyes,, flying power, fire breathing power, a power by which people can make electricity pass through him but he wont get affected, a person may have a strong skull, freezing power, supper strength, strength of being invisible, being a fairy, magic power, etc. We will write a custom essay sample on My Super Power or any similar topic only for you Order Now Even I want super powers, I want such a power with which I can see the death, I wish I could see any signs by which I could understand that there is going to be an accident or some how if any person is going to die. I had a dream of having this power when I first saw a movie named ‘The Eye’. This is a horror film, in which a girl who lived in a small town who had not much power or believers except her mother. She ha this super power, people thought she was a witch and thought she used to kill the people as she could tell who was about to die, so she suicides. But before she died she predicted a big accident which will occur on the way to the city. She died but her spirit was still there, on the other hand there was a girl named Sydney who lived in the city, who lost her eye sight when she was 5 years old. The girl chooses Sydney to fulfill her last wish, to stop the accident and save the people. And at the and she did save the people†¦ From the movie I’ve learned one thing the people who have power or believers doesn’t want to do any thing from their hearts, they just know to tell people that they can do many things, but in reality they don’t do anything but, people who wants to do something doesn’t have the power. If I had this super power, I don’t think anyone would believe me that if I was telling the truth or I will be trying to save them, they may also take me as a witch too. But I still want to help them; I want to save all the damages and all the people. If I had this super power, I know o couldn’t save or help anyone but, I can tell from my heart that I would try my best to save them. How to cite My Super Power, Papers

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Columbus Was No Hero free essay sample

Columbus Was No Hero History textbooks and stories passed down generation have always seemed to portray Christopher Columbus, the daring European explorer, as a man of heroic qualities and benevolent intentions. No American History textbook is complete without the heartwarming story of an ambitions sailor born to a poor Venetian carpenter who thought outside of the box, discovered the Americas, and at the same time, changed the world forever. However concrete evidence and undeniable fact shows us otherwise. Christopher Columbus was an opportunist, in the sense that he would go wrought any meaner possible to attain wealth. As for what deems him a hero in the public eye, his discovery and his legacy; it is arguable whether he was indeed the first European to land on the Americas and, due to his apparent character flaws, the main long lasting global affect his conquest seems to have had is the introduction of a master white race in the Americas, stemmed from slavery made necessary by genocide he incited in the Caribbean, which has led to deep rooted racism in the new world. We will write a custom essay sample on Columbus Was No Hero or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page No hero would bring this upon a nation. To no extent was Christopher Columbus a hero. In elementary school children learn about the man who went against society to say the world was not flat and that it was indeed spherical, but Christopher Columbus was no radical. In truth, few people on both sides of the Atlantic believed in 1492 that the world was flat. Most Europeans and Native Americans knew the worlds to be round. (Lone, 56) Nor was he the first European to have traveled west to the new world. There is now sufficient evidence to assume that Norse tribes had actually reached Greenland and Canada far before any Spanish hip set sail towards the Americas. Columbus sure learned of Greenland and probably also of North America if he visited Iceland in 1477 as he claimed to have done. (Lone, 49) Therefore Columbus was not a forward thinker but more an opportunist. The Spanish Inquisition of the early sasss significantly weakened the Spanish Empire. There was nothing to lose in sending Columbus with three ships though uncharted waters. He set out to find his own wealth i n new lands and when he returned with a taste of the richness of the new world; birds, precious metals, Indians, caused quite a stir in Seville. (Lone, 61) Therefore Columbus was not a heroic intellect and what followed with his next voyages further exposed his true villainous nature. In 1495 Michele De Cone wrote about accompanying

Saturday, November 30, 2019

School Excuse Letter for Hindu Holiday Diwali Essay Example

School Excuse Letter for Hindu Holiday Diwali Essay October 10, 2012 To Whom It May Concern: November 13 14 mark this year’s Diwali and New Year’s Celebrations for the Hindu community. Diwali is the largest celebrated holiday for the Hindu community and is an important part of our culture and religious beliefs. Diwali, the festival of lights, marks the last year of the Hindu calendar and signifies the triumph of good over evil. It is a time of celebration with family and friends, and is a time to reflect on the past year and see how we can improve in the New Year. The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) is a socio? spiritual organization promoting harmony between families and diverse communities while maintaining the spirituality of the individual. BAPS has been serving North America in the areas of child and youth development, family unity, preservation of cultural heritage, humanitarian services and, above all, spirituality. For its universal work, the global organization of BAPS has received many national and international awards and an affiliation with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Every year we celebrate this joyous Diwali Occasion here at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (Hindu Temple) in Lilburn, GA. The members of our religious community and our guests will participate in special religious ceremonies conducted according to the Hindu scriptures and celebrate this time with their families and friends. We will write a custom essay sample on School Excuse Letter for Hindu Holiday Diwali specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on School Excuse Letter for Hindu Holiday Diwali specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on School Excuse Letter for Hindu Holiday Diwali specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Hence, we sincerely request and appeal your esteemed institution to kindly excuse the student invited to participate in this important religious holiday on the aforementioned dates. We understand that it will be the responsibility of the student to make arrangements to obtain any assignments or exercises that will be missed due to attending this event. We thank you for your cooperation and consideration. Sincerely, Mitesh J. Patel Director of Community Outreach

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying This movie was based on the novel, â€Å"Flight†, written by Ernest J. Gaines. This movie takes place in St. Paul, Louisiana in the 1948. This movie is about a young black man being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this movie a young man by the name of Clarence Jefferson, got in the car with his friends not knowing they had plans on robbing a liquor store. So they go in the store and his friends pull out their guns on the store clerk, but to their surprise the clerk pulled out a gun of his own and they began shooting. Once the shooting had commence Clarence was the only man left standing, and now he was faced with a decision; take the money from the register, run or call for help; he decided to take the money, as he was taking the money a few townsmen walked in, because of the gun shots, and caught him taking the money. He was arrested and sentenced to death and also labeled as a HOG. So his mother and grandmother hired Mr. Wiggins, the town teacher, to go and c onvince Clarence he is a man not a hog. There were a couple of other problems involving Mr. Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins was in conflict with the Pastor and also his girlfriend (Mr. Wiggins). The Pastor was upset because Mr. Wiggins refused to teach Clarence about God , because felt as if God was letting him die ,so why teach him about God. He and his girlfriend had conflict because Mr. Wiggins wanted to leave town and run away from his, instead of facing them like a man. Mr. Wiggins was convinced to teach Clarence. Each day, every session Mr. Wiggins learned something new about Clarence and what he though, do to the journal entries Clarence wrote and what they discussed. In his last journal entry Clarence wrote, â€Å"A HOG walks on FOUR hooves and a man walks on TWO feet†, symbolizing that he was confident he was a man and not a HOG. Although Clarence Jefferson was sent into a everlasting sleep, he went to rest with dignity and as a man; ... Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson Before Dying This movie was based on the novel, â€Å"Flight†, written by Ernest J. Gaines. This movie takes place in St. Paul, Louisiana in the 1948. This movie is about a young black man being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this movie a young man by the name of Clarence Jefferson, got in the car with his friends not knowing they had plans on robbing a liquor store. So they go in the store and his friends pull out their guns on the store clerk, but to their surprise the clerk pulled out a gun of his own and they began shooting. Once the shooting had commence Clarence was the only man left standing, and now he was faced with a decision; take the money from the register, run or call for help; he decided to take the money, as he was taking the money a few townsmen walked in, because of the gun shots, and caught him taking the money. He was arrested and sentenced to death and also labeled as a HOG. So his mother and grandmother hired Mr. Wiggins, the town teacher, to go and convince Clarence he is a man not a hog. There were a couple of other problems involving Mr. Wiggins. Mr. Wiggins was in conflict with the Pastor and also his girlfriend (Mr. Wiggins). The Pastor was upset because Mr. Wiggins refused to teach Clarence about God , because felt as if God was letting him die ,so why teach him about God. He and his girlfriend had conflict because Mr. Wiggins wanted to leave town and run away from his, instead of facing them like a man. Mr. Wiggins was convinced to teach Clarence. Each day, every session Mr. Wiggins learned something new about Clarence and what he though, do to the journal entries Clarence wrote and what they discussed. In his last journal entry Clarence wrote, â€Å"A HOG walks on FOUR hooves and a man walks on TWO feet†, symbolizing that he was confident he was a man and not a HOG. Although Clarence Jefferson was sent into a everlasting sleep, he went to rest with dignity and as a man; ... Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying A Lesson Before Dying, is a complex novel about life’s various lessons. It was written by a Louisiana native, Ernest J. Gaines and published in 1993. The story takes place in the Pre-Civil Rights South in the fictionous rural town of Bayonne, Louisiana. The major focus of story lies between Jefferson and Grant Wiggins. Grant, a schoolteacher chosen to help Jefferson become a man. Jefferson is a young man wrongfully accused of killing a white man and is sentenced to death. Gaines takes the reader through the journey of a man’s quest to help another man to become a man. I will show various ways Gaines help the reader to realize the real â€Å"lesson† to be learned. Gaines begins his novel with Jefferson’s trial, verdict and sentencing, but doesn’t provide specific names of any of those involved. By doing so Gaines is able to focus the reader’s full attention on the narrator’s thoughts and the main character, Jefferson. If Gaines had give n details about the other characters involved the reader would not have been able to focus his full energy on the importance of the things said during the trial and the effects these things had on Jefferson and the other characters. At this point it is important for the reader to take in and digest all the cruel things Jefferson’s attorney says about him. His attorney refers to him as â€Å"a boy†, â€Å"a fool†, â€Å"a cornered animal†, and â€Å" a hog†. Jefferson accepts and internalizes this degrading image of himself. From this the reader will understand why Miss Emma’s insistence that her godson die like a man is such a powerful issue. Gaines presentation of the information helps the reader to better accept the events that are to follow the trial. Gaines narrates the novel through the voice of Grant Wiggins. Grant is a black teacher at the local plantation school. The novel opens with the statement, â€Å"I was not there, yet I was t here.† In this statement the reader enters the mind of Gr... Free Essays on A Lesson Before Dying In the Novel â€Å"A lesson Before Dying† by Earnest Gaines, the characters Grant Wiggins and Jefferson are put abruptly into a position of being male role models inside of their community. Grant is put into this position because of his receiving his education, while Jefferson is put into this position in a sense of martyrdom as he is facing execution. During the passages of this book, there is symbolism which attempts to conclude that Grant and Jefferson are heroes of their community. The song â€Å"You are My Sunshine† in the novel â€Å"A Lesson before Dying† by Earnest Gaines, is symbolic of the hope the community has in Jefferson. During which the song is played in the background on page 224, Grant is attempting to get Jefferson to listen to Reverend Jefferson when Jefferson replies â€Å"Me, Mr. Wiggins. Me. Me to take the cross. Your cross, Nanna’s cross, my own cross. Me, Mr. Wiggins. This old stumbling nigger. Y’all axe a lot, Mr. Wiggins.† This quote illustrates to the almost Jesus like position that Jefferson is in by caring the burden of the community. This quote is connected to the hypothesis because Jefferson is basically the hope of the community by caring the burden of standing up to the whites in their community by dying as a man, instead of the hog that the Defense attorney made him out to be. Jefferson then replies to Grant, on page 224, â€Å"Now y’all want me to be better than ever’body else. H ow, Mr. Wiggins?† This second quote also illustrates how Jefferson is the hope of the community. This quote is connected to the hypothesis because, before Jefferson’s death sentence, he worked in the field and thought he would be no more than that, and now Grant and the rest of the community expects him to be more than what he was. In the passage on page 224 and from the quotes in this paragraph, Jefferson is struggling with the thought of being a martyr for the community and proving that he is a man and is better than ...

Friday, November 22, 2019

How To Grow Your Blog Traffic By 1,044% In 1 Year

How To Grow Your Blog Traffic By 1,044% In 1 Year My blogs traffic grew 10 times larger in less than a year. I want to show you how to have the same success. When I became the content director for LDS.net, one of my companys long-time underused sites generated about 65,000 hits a month. Within less than a year, the site generates more than 700,000 hits a month. Generating a traffic revolution for your blog has never been easy, but it is doable. We grew by integrating into our process every step of the way. The Best Advice On How To Grow Your #BlogTraffic By 1,044% In 1 Year1. Find Your Audience When we talk about website growth, we are talking about people. We wanted more people to take time out of their day to read our posts. You do, too. When we spend so much time looking at bounce rates, session numbers, and growth trajectories, it’s easy to lose track of the humans at the heart of our work. When we talk about website growth, we are talking about people. #marketingIf you want those numbers to increase, you can’t afford to look past the people. Fittingly, Google Analytics can actually be the easiest place to learn about the people on your site. Google Analytics will help you identify six attributes of your readers: Age Gender Location Acquisition Site Interests Technology Use those tools to see which of these attributes go together most often to create sketches of the kind of reader on your site. For example, we identified a 59-year-old female from Cedar City, Utah, who clicked on one of our links from Facebook on her two generation old iPhone. She’s family focused. We found all that information on Google Analytics. It started sounding like a well-rounded  person who we could actually get to know. You can probably imagine this woman in your head. After that, we used  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s 8-step process  for developing a reader persona to flesh out this womans story. Give your persona a name. We did this three times to match our most common types of readers. Every week, my team and I read through each of the personas to ask how well were meeting their needs. For each article we release, we make sure its written to one of our readers. As we grew, we wrote new potential reader personas, then attempted to attract them to the site. When it worked, we added the personas permanently. Our growth occurred from attracting more of our current audience and by adding additional audiences. Writing personas during this time allowed us to personalize our growing audience. Writing personas will help you personalize and grow your audience. #marketing2. Plan Your Content I’ve worked with around forty writers in the two years since our site first launched. And most writers seem to have one major personality trait in common: We thrive under deadlines. Writers thrive under deadlines. #writingWriters often make the perfect the enemy of the good, and without a method to help, we will dawdle around trying to write a masterpiece. solves this problem. We plan our content by targeting our primary persona and the content type that we want to write. We use six primary content types on our site: Listicle How to Feature Ultimate guide QA Infographic We create new articles directly onto the calendar and start with the title that identifies our persona and content type. For example, â€Å"Stephanie Torres-QA† Once you know your reader persona and content type, youll know what to write.The topic comes next. Often, once we know our reader and content type, we know exactly what that kind of reader will want. This helps you get the best ideas with the least amount of time brainstorming. If you don’t immediately know what article topic you want, move on to the title. has a fantastic list of the most successful blog title structures. Pro Tip: As you see great blog titles online, add them to your own list. If you need more ideas, it’s time to brainstorm. Everyone on my team is able to generate ideas by using at least one of ’s four brainstorming ideas. The beauty of this method is that as soon as you have an idea, it’s already on a calendar ticking down. Recommended Reading:  9 Types Of Blog Posts That Are Proven To Boost Traffic 3. Title Your Articles If you didn’t use one of ’s title structures, then you need to nail down a title before you start. Certain titles work better because they promote a type of content your reader wants. Ask yourself this: What does my reader want to know? Start with a successful title, and then quality content will follow. There is no better headline analyzer available than s. I know because LDS.net looked everywhere for one. Take your time using the tool. It can be tempting to start with one title, and play only with variations of that. We brainstorm at least ten title variations and then run them through the headline analyzer. Since the headline analyzer keeps track of your previous titles, we can  easily choose those that perform best and try many variations of those until we have winning title that will perform well. One of our early successes was the article, â€Å"Mormon Jokes That Will Make You Smile.† We began with a number of article titles we thought would sound good. Titles like: The 29 Funniest Mormon Jokes 29 Hilarious Mormon Memes You Need to See These Mormon Memes LDS Memes That Will Have you Rolling in Laughter 29 Mormon Jokes to See Right Now 29 Images to Make You Smile We were able to see immediately which of those title structures had potential and which didn’t. The advantage of having so many initial ideas is that you can mix and match to find combinations that work. And even though we didn’t know the final number of jokes we would use, we didn’t hesitate to use a placeholder number in the headline analyzer. Eventually, we tried the final title which scored an impressive 87. Unsurprisingly, it was the biggest hit we’d had on the site to that point. 4. Use A  Task Template About one week after we started using , I wrote to ask them if there was a way to create a task template. There wasn’t, but they promised they would integrate it soon. Today we use task templates on every article we publish. The advantage of task templates is that as soon as we have an article idea, everyone who will need to work on that article instantly has tasks on their to-do list to ensure that the article is out on time. As an editor, this is a huge organizational burden taken off my desk. No longer do I need to bother writers with regular emails; instead, I can just check in on any overdue items. Here is our 6-Step editorial process: Step 1: Content Quality This editorial step covers tone, research accuracy, and writing problems such as using cliches, and clarity. There are plenty of tips on the blog to help you perfect your content quality: Tone: How To Write For Your Intended Audience How To Build Your Brand With Humor So Youll Feel Like A Human Research: This Is The Marketing Research Process That Will Take Your Content To The Next Level Writing: 150+ Blog Ideas That Will Absolutely Kill Writers Block These Lazy Writing Mistakes May Be Turning Off Your Readers Step 2: Organization We make sure that the introduction and call to action are written according to our best practices, and ensure that presentation is as simple as possible. Recommended Reading: How To Write Irresistible Blog Post Introductions Thatll Keep Your Readers Reading How To Write A Call To Action In A Template With 6 Examples Step 3: Readability We understand that web content gets scanned, so we want to make sure that our images, headlines, and captions do a good job of keeping our readers engaged. Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Guide To Using Color Psychology In Marketing + Free Color Schemes How To Write Headlines That Drive Traffic, Shares, And Search Results 21 Social Media Engagement Tactics That Will Grow Your Audience Step 4: Proofreading On our team, we make sure a person besides the writer and editor proofreads the writing to ensure that we don’t get stuck in a  trap of reading what we thought we wrote. Recommended Reading: What To Do When You Dont Have A Proofreader Step 5: Search Engine Optimization We integrate our keyword  while ensuring our tags and meta descriptions are up to par. Recommended Reading: How To Make An SEO Content Strategy That Will Improve Your #1-3 Results By 248% An SEO Driven Approach To Content Marketing: The Complete Guide How To Boost Traffic With 27 Important SEO Tips Step 6: Visual Design This step covers integrating images into the article, as well as preparing a featured image and social media images. Recommended Reading: Should You Use Stock Or Free Images For Blog Posts? How To Attract An Audience With The Best Blog Photography Tips (+128 Free Images) 5 Super Easy Ways To Create Images For Your Blog Posts How To Make The Best Blog Graphics (For Non-Designers) We use three different task templates that slightly alter these six steps depending on the type of content we are publishing. Infographics are seen multiple times by our design director, for example, while ultimate guides require an earlier start. If you work by yourself, or on a smaller team, task templates can be a great way to reflect your own personal process. I set a task template on the articles that I write so I wont forget to complete an outline, conduct interviews, or do proofreading. 5. Send to Social Media Once you have a valuable piece of content, it’s time to find an audience. Before using , less than one-third of one percent of our traffic came from social because promoting content regularly took too much time. Today, more than  fifty percent of our traffic comes from social. One-click social sharing from our calendar has saved us so much time, we now personalize posts to best take advantage of each social network. also makes resharing content a breeze. We always intended to reshare content, but a week later, you’re often on to the next post. Being able to plan out three month’s worth of shares at one time has allowed us to maximize each article’s content. Plus you can use the task template to remind people on your team to share the article!No matter how much success you have with web #content, you can always do better.6. Keep Improving Perhaps the most important thing we do is that we always try to improve. The blog  consistently has useful and thought-provoking content. We always pass around the blog posts with our team and make changes based on the advice we read. No matter how much success you have with web content, you could be doing better. And in this industry, best practices change all the time. It’s essential to stay connected with industry leaders so that you avoid falling behind. For example, soon after we released our Mormon Jokes article, published a blog post about how to grow your email list. We used this advice to start our own email list, reshared the article over email, and generated a 10%  bump in traffic. By integrating into every step of my publication process, my site grew by leaps and bounds. What products have you found success with? How have you integrated them into your site’s workflow?

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Amplifier Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Amplifier - Coursework Example Therefore, practical amplifiers will have finite distortion and minimal noise with which they will invariably add to the said signal (Bishop 98). An exception is given to the cases where the amplifier is a transducer, which means that the amplifier shifts the types of signals from one point to another. Types of Amplifiers The mainstay of any electronic circuit will certainly be the amplifier (Bishop 18). Classification of amplifiers is broad, but the best way in which amplifiers can be classified is in relation to the input and output of each amplifier. In order for the amplifier to have some gain, it means that the scale of the input and output signal to the amplifier will have some degree of variation. The definition of it can be summarized as the quotient of three aspects, i.e., the power, the current and also the voltage. Furthermore, the gain will also be in terms of the output or the input signals of either the voltage or the power in any amplifier (Satyam and Ramkumar 32). In cases where the gain is undefined, it implies that the input and the output signals in an amplifier are almost the same in terms of unit signals; thus, in most cases a good example will be the decibel which has the same format described. This is not the case on a usual basis as there are other cases of amplifiers that do not follow this procedure like the transconductance amplifier. For the gain to occur in an amplifier, many dynamics will have to be given special attention. These dynamics that will have to be put into consideration as an amplifier will include aspects such as the power source for the amplifier, the impedance on load in relation to the said amplifier and also the amount of the voltage going through the amplifier (Bishop 33). Some other amplifiers that cover all these aspects will have the impedance meant specifically for the transfer of power within the amplifier. Driven by the desire to have a high quality result, amplifiers will have their impedance used together as output and input signals in the amplifier. Most researches indicate that the best way to effectively use an amplifier will be having the input and output circuits placed in a linear manner. This will enable the amplifier to have a constant gain while it is being in use. York asserts that the inconsistency of the gain in an amplifier will imply that the resultant signal is always altered, thus meaning that the resultant effect will be very poor quality (56). This sometimes is not the case in other amplifiers that find the variation and the inconsistency of the signals very useful. The most common types of amplifiers are the electronic ones, and with electronic amplifiers there are different and unique types underlying the common electronic amplifiers. Case in point are the electrical amplifiers that can be found in the household appliances such as the vacuum cleaner, and also in other home appliances such as stereo and television systems. In order to get different types of amplifi ers that use the electronic circuit, below are a few examples. Power Amplifier When it comes to power amplifiers, there have been different descriptions with each of the description having relevance to the way that a power amplifier can be used, or the purpose of the usage. In one instance, the amount of energy is the most crucial aspect in the power amplifier as it will be the determining factor when it comes to the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

MANAGING OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

MANAGING OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION - Essay Example Afterward, this report has discussed the ways that Mark Lucas can adopt in order to satisfy his customers. This report has also discussed the options of data marts and data warehouse. Data warehouse is decision support system that organizations use to build effective decisions. This report has also suggested the supplier relationship management techniques that Mark Lucas can adopt to improve his business performance. This report has also suggested that the sharing of information among business customers, suppliers and working staff would benefit the organization. Introduction This report will present the answers of five different questions. The answers of these questions will be based on Zara case. First answer comprises the discussion on business areas which can help Mark Lucas reduce the business expenditures. The next answer outlines the steps that Mark Lucas should take to maintain the quality of services. After that this report will discuss the role of data warehouse in a busine ss. At the present, the majority of business use data warehouse for effective decision making. This report will also suggest the type of supplier relationship Mark Lucas should adopt in order to improve his business performance. Information is a very important asset of business. This report will discuss the sharing process of this information among different business operations. Discussion Question Number 1: The emergence of latest tools and technologies is modernizing the shape of the world in which we are living. At the present, latest information technology based systems are offering a lot of facilities and services for the business management. In this scenario, the establishment of new technology based systems has offered a lot of easiness and facilities to the businesses in the form of better customer support and supply chain management. Additionally, the modern information technology based systems are based on automated customer response systems that can deal with customersâ⠂¬â„¢ requests seven days a week and 24 hours a day. In short, modern technology has not only changed people’s view of the world but also opened new horizons for the business corporations (Turban et al., 2005) and (Ray, 2004). In scenario of Zara Corporation, Mark Lucas has decided to establish a new business arrangement that will be based on an online business store. This new business store will help the corporation carry out business operations effectively. However, the new online business store will be for Organic Food Company. In this way, customers will be able to interact with business directly using this web based arrangement. Additionally, this online business store will work as a customer relationship management system that will offer web based business management. In addition, this new web based business store will be helpful to Zara Corporation in reducing their business expenditure. For instance, Zara Corporation will be able to reduce cost associated with physica l business management. Additionally, they would have possible cost reduction due to lower human resource requirements and they would need to find out a special region for opening a business shop. In addition, Zara Corporation can also reduce expenditures by avoiding store management issues. In this scenario, they can make use of their web based business store for marketing purpose to reduce business expendit

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Fat Chance Essay Example for Free

Fat Chance Essay Introduction to the use of computer-based statistical software packages and applications in the analysis and interpretation of the data. Topics include both descriptive statistics and inference methods. Software packages include EXCEL, Minitab, SAS and R. Prerequisite: MATH1107 OR MATH3332 OR ECON2300 OR STAT3125. (Kennesaw State University Undergraduate Catalog). Required Text All reading material is available free on our D2L website in the Resources folder. The manuals are the Basic Concepts Manual, Excel Manual, SPSS Manual, Minitab Manual, SAS Manual and R Manual. We will also be using the Supplemental Text written by Dr. Daniel Yanosky. It will be advantageous to use a flash drive in this class. It is not required, but highly advised to use one. 1 Learning Outcomes Students will receive instruction in the four major data analysis software packages listed above. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to use each of these packages to: ? Function as an informed user and critical consumer of statistics able to answer questions in an intelligent, informed, and insightful manner and pose intelligent questions concerning data, data analysis, and software use. ? Obtain and correctly  interpret the measures of central tendency and dispersion of a data set. ? Generate and correctly interpret a variety of graphics for both univariate and multivariate analyses. ? Generate random numbers and use them to perform Simple Random Sampling. ? Generate and correctly interpret confidence intervals. ? Represent themselves as proficient in each of these packages in a job interview or professional environment. Moreover, students will be able to do the following irrespective of computer software: ? ? ? ? ? Identify types of statistical variables. Differentiate the roles of explanatory and response variables. State a proper research hypothesis. Choose an appropriate statistical analysis for a given situation. Summarize and communicate analysis results through a professional document. Course Website Materials We will be using D2L exclusively for this course. Quizzes, assignments, the textbook, additional readings,videos and other materials are posted there. Students are expected to check their D2L email account on a daily basis. In order to understand fully the organization of the course and how to navigate the website, the student should read all documents and watch all videos in the Start Here learning module. Communication The preferred method of communication is through the D2L e-mail. The instructor will answer all e-mails as soon as possible. This should be within 24 hours during the week and by Monday morning for weekends. There may be exceptions. 2 Grading Policy Each students final course grade will be determined based on their performance on the following: Class Component Quizzes (7) Homework 1 Homework 2 Final Project Percentage of Final Grade 10% 25% 30% 35% Letter Grade A B C D F Percentile Grade 90% 100% 80% 89% 70% 79% 60% 69% Below 60% Quizzes Required Readings. Completion of required readings will be assessed through timed online quizzes on D2L. Students are provided study guides to be completed while reading. These should be completed and available when taking the quizzes. Students are not allowed to collaborate on the quizzes. However, because they are online, they are essentially open book, open note quizzes. Use your quiz study guides. A total of seven (7) quizzes will be administered. With the exception of the syllabus quiz, each student will have two attempts with 15 minutes to complete the quiz (10 questions). If you have completed the study guide, it will be easy to score well on these quizzes. For the syllabus quiz, each student will have 30 minutes and two attempts. You will be required to use the Respondus LockDown Browser when taking all quizzes. Instructions on how to download this browser will appear the first time that you take a quiz. Homework Assignments Two (2) homework assignments are scheduled for the semester. Timely completion of all homework assignments is required. Homework must be submitted via D2L by midnight on the due date specified in the course schedule in order to receive full credit. Homework may be submitted up to 1 day late with a penalty of 15 points. After that time, no homework will be accepted. Students are encouraged to work together in groups and discuss problems and their answers for homework assignments ONLY. Nonetheless, all work submitted to the instructor must be an authentic product of each individual student. In other words, if you collaborate with someone else on an assignment, it is best to work together at first, but then separate and write your final product on your 3 own. Please ask questions if this expectation is not clear. Homework assignments may be checked on TurnItIn. Ensure that your final product is your original work. If evidence arises that a student has submitted someone elses work as their own or has committed some other academic violation of the University Code of Conduct, the instructor reserves the right to apply any academic penalty up to and including a failing grade (i. e. , â€Å"F) for the class. In any case, the student will be referred to the University Judiciary Program for formal documentation and/or charges. The charges and penalty decided by the University Judiciary Program may be different and/or more severe than that of the instructor. Final Project The final project will be performed using SAS. A complete data analysis will be performed and a professional report prepared. There will be no collaboration on this project. Final Projects will not be accepted after the due date. Further information concerning the final project is posted in the Drop Box on D2L. Attendance You are allowed to miss two days without penalty. Upon the third absence, you will lose one (1) letter grade†¦NO EXCEPTIONS. Attendance will be recorded twice during each class. It is your responsibility to sign the attendance record when you enter the room. Because it is disruptive and distracting to the other students for you to arrive late or leave early, repeated incidences will need to be addressed. If you are more than 15 minutes late, you will be marked absent. You may not leave early unless you have discussed the reason with me before class. There is no distinction made between excused and unexcused absences: A student is either in attendance or not. Please do not bring excuses to class. A student who misses a class is responsible for all material missed. This class will only meet 8 times; therefore, attendance is important to your success in the class. It is essential that you are in class on time with the computer booted up, the materials that you need for class downloaded from D2L and signed on to Citrix (when appropriate). If you are late, you will be behind. I will be opening the classroom between 7:45 and 8:00 so that you can be in class and prepared by 8:00. The class will not slow down or wait for late arrivals. The material that we cover in class is not the material covered in the videos. You are responsible for both elements of the class. 4 Technology ? Students must have access to the course website and be able to download appropriate materials from that site. If you are having problems with access, try a different browser. Also, make sure that you have the most recent version of Java installed on your computer. ? Students are expected to use the software applications via the KSU Citrix server in order to complete homework and other assignments. The website is https://science-citrix2. kennesaw. edu/Citrix/XenApp/auth/login. aspx ? The Excel Manual covers Excel 2010. We will only use 2010 in class, If you do not have 2010 or 2007, you will need to use a school computer or the Excel program offered on the Citrix server. There is little to no difference in Excel 2007 and Excel 2010. The same instructions will work for both. ? Students will need a media player installed on their computers. If you don’t have one, you can download one free on the internet. Some websites where you may obtain these are listed below: VLC http://www. videolan. org/vlc/ KSU KSU has free software downloads for students. Visit the website and see what is available for you. https://apps. kennesaw. edu/portal/prod/app_uni_sso/login. asp ? If you use a Mac, you will find that some of the functionalities of Excel are not the same, or may not work. If this happens to you, use Citrix, find a friend with a PC or use one of the school computers. This is not an excuse for your homework product to be inferior or late. If you have technology problems, o Call the IT help desk, 770-499-3555 or visit the walk-in STS Helpdesk, BB475. o For D2L, call 866-588-5293. o For Citrix, fill out a ticket using the link on the log-in page. If you do not get a response within 24 hours, let me know and I will check with them for you. ? 5 Classroom Policies Procedures 1. The instructor holds the following expectations for all students. (a) Show respect for other class members at all times. (b) Uphold the University Code of Conduct. (c)Participate in class activities in such a way as to maximize learning opportunities for yourself and others. (d) Arrive to class on time and prepared This includes both academic preparation (i. e. , having completed required readings and watched the assigned videos, being prepared to discuss topics and otherwise participate in class activities when appropriate) 2. The students name, â€Å"STAT 3010. 01, the date, and the assignment type and number (e. g. , â€Å"HW3) should appear at the top right hand corner of the TITLE page of all products submitted to the instructor for evaluation. 3. Ringing cell phones will NOT be tolerated in class. If you elect to bring your cell phone to class, SILENCE it and put it away (out of sight). Texting, etc. in class will result in the student being requested to turn the phone off. All cell phones will be placed in backpacks, out of sight, for the duration of the class. 4. Talking to other students during the lecture will result in your being asked to leave the classroom. 5. At the end of class, log off of the program you are using, log off of Citrix and log off of the computer (Do not turn it off. ), carefully lower the screen and push your chair in. Suggestions for Academic Success The class is purposefully designed so that if you do the following, you will succeed: 1. Read, take notes and study the required reading. 2. Complete the study guides and use them when taking the D2L quizzes. 3. Watch the assigned videos and come to class prepared to perform related activities and to answer questions about the videos. 4. Attend class. 5. Participate actively in class. 6 6. Practice what we have learned in class each day. 7. Work on the associated homework while referencing the reading, your notes, the videos and optionally working with your classmates. Be sure to follow the homework instructions and guidelines specified in Part 1 of the 3010 Supplemental Text. Use the posted sample papers, when available, on D2L as models for your work. Use the rubric. 8. Submit all work on time through D2L. 9. Watch the videos and use the associated teaching notes, when they are available. The videos cover different material than we cover in class. 10. Do not procrastinate! WITHDRAWAL FROM THE UNIVERSITY OR FROM INDIVIDUAL COURSES AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Summer Term, 2013. Withdrawal Students who find that they cannot continue in college for the entire semester after being enrolled, because of illness or any other reason, need to complete an online form. To completely or partially withdraw from classes at KSU, a student must withdraw online at www. kennesaw. edu, under Owl Express, Student Services. The date the withdrawal is submitted online will be considered the official KSU withdrawal date which will be used in the calculation of any tuition refund or refund to Federal student aid and/or HOPE scholarship programs. It is advisable to print the final page of the withdrawal for your records. Withdrawals submitted online prior to midnight on the last day to withdraw without academic penalty will receive a â€Å"W† grade. Withdrawals after midnight will receive a â€Å"WF†. Failure to complete the online withdrawal process will produce no withdrawal from classes. Call the Registrar’s Office at 770-423-6200 during business hours if assistance is needed. Students may, by means of the same online withdrawal and with the approval of the university Dean, withdraw from individual courses while retaining other courses on their schedules. This option may be exercised up until June 28th,2013. This is the date to withdraw without academic penalty for Summer Term, 2013 classes. Failure to withdraw by the date above will mean that the student has elected to receive the final grade(s) earned in the course(s). The only exception to those withdrawal regulations will be for those instances that involve unusual and fully documented circumstances 7. Academic Integrity Every KSU student is responsible for upholding the provisions of the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, as published in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the Universitys policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University materials, misrepresentation/falsification of University records or academic work, malicious removal, retention, or destruction of library materials, malicious/intentional misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the established procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either an informal resolution by a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conducts minimal one semester suspension requirement. Final Notes ? ? This syllabus is subject to change at the sole discretion of the instructor. Any changes will be announced class-wide in a timely manner. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities act, qualified students with a disability may be entitled to reasonable accommodations. It is the students responsibility to disclose to the teacher any approved accommodations she/he may have before the end of the first week of class, or within a week of any change of status during the semester. .You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the disAbled Student Support Services office, located in the Student Center room 267, and obtain a list of approved accommodations. IMPORTANT: I am available to help you when you need help. Simply email me and set up a time to meet with me. WARNING! Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not create a crisis on mine. Make sure that you plan and work ahead so that there will be time to ask the questions and for me to respond. ? 8 Additional Information Writing professionally is a major part of this class. It is important to be able to communicate your statistical findings. Incorrect grammar and misspelled words can and will cause a reduction in points on your homework. If you know that this is a problem, the following resources are available: The Writing Center (for all students) http://www. kennesaw. edu/writingcenter/ ESL Study Tutorial Center (International students) The ESL Study Tutorial Center (University College, Department of University Studies) will be open in the fall Monday through Thursday from 9 AM to 5 PM. At the ESL Study Center, we offer the following services and programs for international students: tutoring in writing, reading, and pronunciation; general education academic advising and registration assistance; the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency entrance examination; and the Conversation Partners Program, which matches international students with native English-speaking faculty, staff, and students in an exchange of languages and cultures. The ESL Study Center is located in Library Room 442. Please tell your colleagues and the international students in your classes about the ESL Study and Tutorial Center. For further information, please contact David Schmidt at [emailprotected] edu or 770-423-6377. 9 The syllabus and/or schedule is subject to change at the sole discretion of the instructor. Any changes in the syllabus or the schedule will be announced in class and via e-mail. It is important that you check your e-mail daily. You will not receive grades for Homework if you have not returned this form. Course Syllabus Review Statement and Signature Form. I have carefully read the syllabus for STAT 3010/01, Spring Semester 2013, and have had the opportunity to ask the instructor any questions I may have about it. I understand it contents, including the course requirements and grading policy. _____________________________________________ Print Name _______________________________ Signature _________________________ Date Acknowledgment and Acceptance of Academic Integrity Statement In any academic community, certain standards and ethical behavior are required to ensure the unhindered pursuit of knowledge and the free exchange of ideas. Academic honesty means that you respect the right of other individuals to express their views and opinions, and that you, as a student, not engage in plagiarism, cheating, illegal access, misuse or destruction of college property, or falsification of college records or academic work. As a member of the Kennesaw State University academic community you are expected to adhere to these ethical standards. You are expected to read, understand and follow the code of conduct as outlined in the KSU graduate and undergraduate catalogs. You need to be aware that if you are found guilty of violating these standards you will be subject to certain penalties as outlined in the college judiciary procedures. These penalties include permanent expulsion from KSU. Read the Academic Integrity Statement and then sign and date in the space below. You are required to abide by these ethical standards while you are a student at KSU. Your signature indicates that you understand the ethical standards expected of you in this academic community, and that you understand the consequences of violating these standards. ___________________________________ Print Name ___________________________________ Signature 10 _________________________ Date STAT 3010/01 Tentative Schedule This schedule is subject to change at the sole discretion of the instructor. Any changes will be announced in class and an e-mail will be sent on D2L. The information in grey is the portion of the class to be covered online each week. It can be done at your convenience, although it is listed on Tuesday. The time spent watching the videos is no more than 2. 5 hours, in most cases. This is the day that you would have spent in class. If you do not complete the tasks for the online day, you will not be prepared for the next inclass day. The readings and quizzes are homework. Reading is an important part of being prepared for this class. The quizzes are over the reading. There are study guides posted. If you fill these out as you read, you will find that most of the quiz questions are on the study guide. There are also teaching notes posted for the Excel and Minitab videos. It is highly advised that you use the notes as you are watching the videos. All work is to be submitted through D2L. All quizzes are taken on D2L. The quizzes will close at 8:00 AM on the date listed and will not be reopened. You have two attempts. This will cover the event that your internet freezes during one of your attempts. Because this is an applied class, there are no tests in this class; but as you can see, there is a lot of reading and work to be done. Your homework assignments should be treated with the same level of seriousness as a test would be. You may work in study groups; however, the work you turn in should be your original product. Homework papers will be randomly selected to be submitted to Turnitin to check for plagiarism. When watching the R videos, use the student R Lessons and type in the code to use in class. If you have not done this prior to class, you will not be able to participate in class. We will be using the code that you create while watching the videos to complete tasks in class. When watching the SAS videos, use the student SAS Lessons and type in the code to use in class. If you have not done this prior to class, you will not be able to participate in class. We will be using the code that you create while watching the videos to complete tasks in class. Final Note: There are basic statistics review videos and videos explaining interpretation of graphics/tables on D2L in the Resources module. 11 LEARNING MODULE 1: EXCEL COVERAGE The days in white are days in class and the days in gray are the online days. Class Date Class Coverage Videos Coverage Homework/Assignments All Quizzes are due at 8 am on the morning listed. Quiz 0 is over the syllabus. Quizzes 1 – 6 are over your reading assignments. If you complete the study guide as you read and use it to take the quiz. , you should do well on these. Due today: Read the Basic Concepts Manual (use the Quiz 1 study guide) Supplemental Text Ch. 1,2 4 Take Quiz 0 and Quiz 1. These quizzes are due at 8:00 AM on Monday, June th 11 due to add/drop) 1 Thurs. Introduction to class/Syllabus 05/30 Review of basic statistics Statistics Videos are available in the Resources Learning Module. If there is a concept that you don’t understand or want to review further, refer to these videos. Introduction to Excel Formatting Tables Using Microsoft Equation Data Analysis Tab Descriptive Statistics Histograms Frequency Tables The If Statement Stratified Analysis Pie Charts Bar Charts Contingency Tables More Contingency Tables Stacked Bar Charts 100% Stacked Bar Charts Random Number Generation and Sampling Confidence Intervals Sample Size 2 Tues. 06/04 Excel Video 1. 0 (13:50 min) Excel Video 1. 1 (7:34 min) Excel Video 1. 2 (7:34 min) Excel Video 1. 3 (10:. 29 min) Excel Video 1. 4 (12:36 min) Excel Video 1. 5 (8:30 min) Excel Video 2. 1 (9:50 min) Excel Video 3. 1 (9:01 min) Excel Video 3. 2 (3:36 min) Excel Video 3. 3 (4:53 min) Excel Video 3. 4 (8:08 min) Excel Video 3. 4B () Excel Video 3. 5 (4:35 min) Excel Video 4. 1. (5:56 min) Excel Video 4. 2 (9:22 min) Excel Video 4. 3 (2:48 min) 3 Thurs. Basic Statistics Review 06/06 Discuss homework expectations and how to make an A in the class. Due today: Read the Excel Manual (use the Quiz 2 study guide) Supplemental Text Parts 3 5 8:00 AM Quiz 0 (syllabus/schedule quiz) Quiz 1 (Excel quiz) Quiz 2 (R quiz) 12 LEARNING MODULE 2: R The days in white are days in class and the days in gray are the online days. Class 4 Date Tues. 06/11 Class Coverage R Video 1 (3:07 min) Video Coverage Downloading Installing R Launching R R Basics R as Calculator Manually Entering Data in R Opening Working With Script Importing Data R Help Pages Saving the Work Space Loading a Previously Saved Workspace Variable Naming Convention the attach() function Subsetting Data Importing Data Subsetting Measures of Central Tendency Frequency Tables. Homework/Assignments All homework/assignments should be completed by the data on which they appear. R Video 2 Work on Homework 1, due at midnight on Saturday, June 15th. R Video 3 (8:10 min) R Video 4 (15:40 min) R Video 5. 1 (12:37 min) R Video 5. 2 (7:13 min) R Video 5. 3 (11:09) 5 Thurs. 06/13 Questions on Excel Introduction to R R Activity Due today: Read R Manual (use the study guide) 8:00 AM Quiz 3 (over the R reading) Bring Code from Videos 2,3, 4 and 5 to class. Saturday 06/15 Homework 1 is due at midnight. If you have problems with the submission, e-mail the document to me immediately. The box will close at midnight. It will be reopened the morning of 6/16 for late submissions. It will close to all submissions at midnight on 6/16. 13 LEARNING MODULE 2: R continued Class 6 Date Tues. 6/18 Class Coverage Video Coverage Homework/Assignments R Video 6 (11:34 min) R Video 7 (13:35 min) R Video 8 (21:05 min) R Video 9 (21:06 min) R Video 10 Measures of Dispersion Visualization of Univariate Data Visualization of Multivariate Data Random Number Generation and SRS Confidence Intervals Due today: Read the Minitab Manual 7 Thurs. 6/20 R Activity R Lab Day (Use Quiz 4 Study Guide) Supplemental Text Parts 6 7 8:00 AM: Quiz 4 (Minitab) LEARNING MODULE 2: Minitab The days in white are days in class and the days in gray are the online days. Class 8 Date Tues. 6/25 Videos for this week are continued on page 15 (SAS) Class Coverage Minitab Video 1 ( 9:59 min) Mintab Video 2 (6:28 min). Minitab Video 3 (2:13min) Minitab Video 4 (7:23 min) Minitab Video 5 (2:25 min) Minitab Video 6 (3:24 min) Minitab Video 7 (5:53 min) Minitab Video 8 (2:44 min) Minitab Video 9 (8:36 min) Minitab Video 10 (4:27 min) Minitab Video 11 (4:03 min) Minitab Video 12 (2:49 min) Minitab Video 13 (6:06 min) Minitab Video 14 (7:37 min) Minitab Video 15 (4:28 min) Videos Data Management Descriptive Statistics Recoding Variables Stratified Analysis Frequency Tables Categorizing Quantitative Variables Pie Charts Ordering Ordinal Variables Bar Charts Boxplots Histograms Scatterplots Contingency Tables Random Number Generation Confidence Intervals. Homework/Assignments Work on Homework 2 14 LEARNING MODULE 3: SAS SQL The days in white are days in class and the days in gray are the online days. Class 8 Cont’d 9 Date 6/25 Thurs. 6/27 Class Coverage SAS Video 0 (7:35 min) SAS Video 1 (19:35 min) SAS Video 2 (12:47) Introduction to SAS Libraries Practice using the code that you received in Videos 0-2. Video Coverage Introduction to SAS SAS Libraries Importing Data Note: Have the code from Videos 1 2 ready to use in class today. Homework/Assignments Due Today: Read The SAS Manual (Use Quiz 5 Study Guide) Quiz 5 (SAS) 8:00 AM 10 Fri. 6/28 Tues. 7/2 Last Day To Withdraw Without Penalty SAS Video 3 (19:17 min) SAS Video 4 (15:34 min) SAS Video 5 (8:24 min) SAS Video 6 (13:32 min) SAS Video 7 (4:16 min) SAS Video 8 (10:21 min) SAS Video 9 (9:49 min) SAS Video 10 (7:07) No Class Today Descriptive Statistics Stratified Analysis Frequency Tables Formatting Contingency Tables Pie Charts Bar Charts Stacked Bar Charts, 100% Stacked Bar Charts Histograms, Grouped Histograms Boxplots, Side-by-side boxplots. Reminder: Homework 2 is due at midnight tonight. 11 Thurs. 7/04 Select your dataset for the final project. You will find the information for data selection in the Data Selection document on D2L. Only one person may use each dataset. They will be assigned first come/first served. Please email me your first three choices in order. You will receive a confirmation from me by email. 15 12 Tues. 7/09 SAS Video 11 (14:24 min) SAS Video 12 (7:52 min) 13 Thurs. 7/11. SAS Video 13 (11:46 min) SAS Video 14 (15:13 min) Practice activities using the Note: Have the code from Videos 1 – 14 code you received in ready to use in class today. Videos 1 – 14. Random Samples Confidence Intervals Stratified Confidence Intervals Exporting Data Sampling Confidence Intervals Due Today: Read SAS Prep Guide Little SAS Book (Use Quiz 6 Study Guide) Quiz 6 ( SAS Prep Guide Little SAS Book) 8:00 AM: 14 Tues. 7/16 SAS V 15 SQL V 1 (18:17 min) SQL V 2 (29:01 min) Macros Introduction to SQL SAS SQL. Your data set for the final project should be submitted for approval by today. After this date, there will be a five point deduction from your project grade. Work on your Final Project 15 Thurs. 7/18 Tues. 7/23 Tues. 7/23 SAS Lab Day Extra Lab Day 8:00AM – 10:45AM Bring your final project to class to work on. Bring all code that you have collected in this unit. Attendance is required unless you have turned in your Final Project. I will be available in our classroom to give last minute help with your project. Your final project is due today at midnight. No Late Submissions Will Be Accepted.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

For the Sisterhood Essay -- Women Feminist Feminism Papers

For the Sisterhood The female praying mantis is notorious in the animal kingdom for her mating habits. It has been observed that occasionally, the female will bite off the head of her mate during copulation. Among the many reasons for this cannibalistic behavior is that the head is an inhibitory center during sexual intercourse. Removing the head increases the drive of the male. As I sat in lecture listening to my Animal Behavior professor elaborate on the peculiar yet fascinating mating habits of the female praying mantis, I saw my male classmates around me squirm in their seats obviously disturbed by what they were hearing. Some of the girls in the room tittered nervously. I could not help smiling. Now there is a woman after my own heart. I often ask myself what I consider an ideal woman. In my mind, an ideal woman is independent, ambitious, self-sufficient. She has no fear of reaching for what may seem unattainable. Instead, she thrives on the challenge. Looking around, I see there are plenty of women who fit that mold. The US government has more high ranking women in office today than it has had at any other time in history. Compared to even just ten years ago, women are a visible force in the corporate world. The times have yielded us highly accomplished and highly successful women professors, writers, policewomen, musicians, doctors, lawyers. The list goes on and on. However, even with all the progress that has been made for women in the past few decades, there is undeniably a glass ceiling for women. Gender division of labor exists. Despite these progressive times, society still imposes expectations on women in all aspects of life, and women have not yet completely broken out ... ...ling will shatter. Women will scatter and fearlessly run rampant throughout the previously predominantly male society. We will not bite off the heads of our male counterparts like the female praying mantis. We are, after all, not insects. We will simply push men aside and assume those roles which we women are best suited for in today’s world. Women will take a stronger hold of their position in relationships, and this will be generally accepted. Men and women will work side by side in professional settings for equal pay and for equal amounts of respect. Old stereotypes of women will disintegrate because historically traditional roles are exactly that – historical and traditional. Such changes will take time. Schools of thought cannot be altered overnight. However, until that day comes, we will continue to persevere and fight for our place in this world.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Friedman vs Keynes

Friedman vs. Keynes I. INTRO . II. Milton Friedman A. Historical Background B. View of Economy a. Early Views b. Later Views C. Influence on Policy Makers a. Richard Nixon b. Ronald Reagan III. John Maynard Keynes A. Historical Background B. View of Economy a. Trade b. Unemployment C. Influence on Policy Makers a. Prime Minister David Lloyd George b. Frank D. Roosevelt IV. Conclusion Friedman vs. Keynes The discipline of macroeconomics deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national economy as a whole.Macroeconomists seek to understand the determinants of aggregate trends in an economy with particular focus on national income, unemployment, inflation, investment, and international trade. Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes, who was both great economists, embraced the different challenges of the world by imposing their own philosophies. Although both Friedman and Keynes have some similarities, strong disagreements about the monetary arena set them apart. These tw o gentlemen traveled different paths of economics their whole life to establish ground rules for the government to follow.The first son of a working class Jewish family, Milton Friedman was born in New York City in the early 1900’s. Milton graduated high school before his 16th birthday and received a scholarship to Rutgers University where he began a specialization in mathematics. Milton’s interest in economics was influenced by two economics professors during his undergraduate studies during the time of the Great Depression (Friedman, 2005). He was convinced that the study of economics could help solve ongoing economic difficulties. Milton graduated with a double major of economics and mathematics.Milton has been credited as being the most influential economist of the second half on the twentieth century. Though originally a follower of the theories of John Maynard Keynes, Friedman later revoked the ideas of central control after witnessing the effects and moved towar ds advocating free markets. Friedman’s views of monetary policy, taxation, privatization, deregulation influenced the presidential term of Ronald Reagan in the United States during the 1980’s and Margaret Thatcher in Britain. Friedman served on the committee of economic advisors for President Richard Nixon and was at times nsuccessful at convincing Nixon to accept his advice (Stein, 2006). In addition to the influence on world leaders, Friedman’s impact on economy is also evident in his contribution to the payroll withholding tax system. This system was put in place to counteract tax evasion and tax avoidance either by domestic or international taxpayers. Milton Friedman also advocated for a voluntary military and against a draft. Friedman’s approach to economy and government developed into a laissez-faire view. He defended capitalism and criticized the ideas of the New Deal. John Maynard Keynes was born in Cambridge, England in 1883.John’s father was a registrar at the University of Cambridge and an economist while John’s mother was one of the first female graduates of the University of Cambridge, and later the mayor of Cambridge. John Maynard Keynes began his studies in mathematics and the classics at King’s College of Cambridge (Reich, 1999). Keynes was strongly influenced by Alfred Marshall to change his academic interests to politics and economics. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies Keynes became a civil servant in India for a spell and later returned to Cambridge to teach economics.As World War I ensued Keynes returned to government employment and studied relations with war allies. Keynes acted as an economic advisor to Prime Minister David Lloyd George (Reich, 1999). Keynes is best known for his work and theories of prolonged unemployment. In his 1936 publication Keynes’s General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money Keynes explores the competitive capitalist economy that could move th e economy toward a state of full employment based on a government sponsored policy.One could argue that geography, upbringing, and the social era that each economist was at during his professional peak as contributing factors to their differences. Friedman’s ideals appear to be rooted in rules while Keynes believed that policy should be carried out by superior elite. While Friedman believed that the interest is a real phenomenon is determined by the supply of and demand for loaned funds, Keynes would argue against. Keynes would pose that the interest rate is a monetary phenomenon and is determined by the supply of demand for money.There are obvious differences between Friedman and Keynes, yet there are some underlying similarities in their work. Both of these economists were great advocates of their ideas; both saw the great depression as a crisis due to lack of demand; both wrote in favor of floating exchange rates; and both were on the side of freedom in the great ideologic al struggle of the 20th century. In addition, both economists believed that capitalism should be preserved and that there were financial policies that could support a reasonable rate of growth (Stein, 2006).Based on the research that I have conducted I tend to lean towards agreeing with Friedman, though I do not reject all of the concepts presented by Keynes. Friedman’s approach to an unbalanced economy is realistic to what is seen in today’s economy. In following Friedman’s suit, I suspect that the aggregate economic state of the United States today, specifically increasing gas prices and high unemployment, as a result of significant world events. James/ECO-202 Reference Friedman, M. (2005).Milton Friedman Autobiography; The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1976. Retrieved October 20, 2007, from http://nobelprize. org/nobel_prizes/ economics/laureates/1976/friedman-autobio. html Reich, R. B. (1999, March 29). John Maynard K eynes His radical idea that governments should spend money they don’t have may have saved capitalism [Electronic Version]. Time. Stein, B. (2006, November 27). Milton Friedman, freedom fighter. Retrieved October 20, 2007, from http://www. time. com/time

Saturday, November 9, 2019

The Blue Sword CHAPTER ONE

She scowled at her glass of orange juice. To think that she had been delighted when she first arrived here – was it only three months ago? – with the prospect of fresh orange juice every day. But she had been eager to be delighted; this was to be her home, and she wanted badly to like it, to be grateful for it – to behave well, to make her brother proud of her and Sir Charles and Lady Amelia pleased with their generosity. Lady Amelia had explained that the orchards only a few days south and west of here were the finest in the country, and many of the oranges she had seen at Home, before she came out here, had probably come from those same orchards. It was hard to believe in orange groves as she looked out the window, across the flat deserty plain beyond the Residency, unbroken by anything more vigorous than a few patches of harsh grass and stunted sand-colored bushes until it disappeared at the feet of the black and copper-brown mountains. But there was fresh orange juice every day. She was the first down to the table every morning, and was gently teased by Lady Amelia and Sir Charles about her healthy young appetite; but it wasn't hunger that drove her out of bed so early. Since her days were empty of purpose, she could not sleep when night came, and by dawn each morning she was more than ready for the maid to enter her room, push back the curtains from the tall windows, and hand her a cup of tea. She was often out of bed when the woman arrived, and dressed, sitting at her window, for her bedroom window faced the same direction as the breakfast room, staring at the mountains. The servants thought kindly of her, as she gave them little extra work; but a lady who rose and dressed herself so early, and without assistance, was certainly a little eccentric. They knew of her impoverished background; that explained a great deal; but she was in a fine house now, and her host and hostess were only too willing to give her anything she might want, as they had no children of their own. She might try a little harder to adapt to so pleasant an existence. She did try. She knew what the thoughts behind the looks the servants gave her were; she had dealt with servants before. But she was adapting to her new life as best as her energetic spirit could. She might have screamed, and hammered on the walls with her fists, or jumped over the low windowsill in her room, clambered to the ground by the ivy trellis (special ivy, bred to withstand the desert heat, carefully watered by Sir Charles' gardener every day), and run off toward the mountains; but she was trying her best to be good. So she was merely first to the breakfast table. Sir Charles and Lady Amelia were all that was kind to her, and she was fond of them after a few weeks in their company. They had, indeed, been far more than kind. When her father died a year ago, Richard, a very junior military adjutant, had laid the difficulty of an unmarried sister and an entailed estate before Sir Charles, and begged for advice. (She heard all this, to her acute embarrassment, from Richard, who wanted to be sure she understood how much she had to be grateful for.) He and his wife had said that they would be happy to offer her a home with them, and Richard, too relieved to think hard about the propriety of such a godsend, had written to her and said, Come out. He had not specifically said, Mind your manners, but she understood that too. She hadn't any choice. She had known, because her father had told her five years ago when her mother died, that she would have no inheritance; what money there was was tied up very strictly for the eldest son. â€Å"Not that Dickie will mistreat you,† their father had said, with the ghost of a smile, â€Å"but I feel that, with your temperament, you had best have as long as possible a warning to resign yourself to it. You'll like being dependent on your brother even less, I fancy, than you like being dependent on me.† He tapped his fingers on his desk. The thought that lay silent between them did not need to be spoken aloud: that it was not likely she would marry. She was proud, and if she had not been, her parents would have been proud for her. And there is little market for penniless bluebloods of no particular beauty – especially when the blueness of the blood is suspected to have been diluted by a questionable great-grandmother on the mother's side. What the questionableness exactly consisted of, Harry was not sure. With the self-centeredness of childhood she had not thought to ask; and later, after she had realized that she did not care for society nor society for her, she had no desire to ask. The shipboard journey east on the Cecilia had been long but uneventful. She had found her sea legs almost at once, and had made friends with a middle-aged lady, also traveling alone, who asked no personal questions, and loaned her novels freely to her young companion, and discussed them with her upon their return. She had let her own mind go numb, and had read the novels, and sat in the sun, and strolled the decks, and not thought about the past or the future. They docked at Stzara without mishap, and she found the earth heaved under her strangely when she first set foot ashore. Richard had been granted a month's leave to meet her and escort her north to her new home. He looked younger than she had expected; he had gone overseas three years ago, and had not been Home again since. He was affectionate to her at their reunion, but wary; they seemed to have little in common any more. I shouldn't be surprised, she thought; it's been a long time since we played together every day, before Dickie was sent off to school. I'm an encumbrance now, and he has his career to think of. But it would be nice to be friends, she thought wistfully. When she pressed him to give her some idea of what she could expect of her new life, he shrugged and said: â€Å"You'll see. The people are like Home, you know. You needn't have much to do with the natives. There are the servants, of course, but they are all right. Don't worry about it.† And he looked at her with so worried a face that she didn't know whether to laugh or to shake him. She said, â€Å"I wish you would tell me what is worrying you.† Variations of this conversation occurred several times during the first days of their journey together. At this point there would be a long silence. Finally, as if he could bear it no more, he burst out: â€Å"You won't be able to go on as you did at home, you know.† â€Å"But what do you mean?† She hadn't thought much about native servants, or her position, yet; and obviously Richard knew her well enough of old to guess that now. She had written him letters, several each year, since he had gone overseas, but he had rarely answered. She had not minded very much, although she had thought occasionally, as when his six hastily scrawled lines at Christmas arrived, that it would have been pleasant if he were a better correspondent; but it hadn't troubled her. It troubled her now, for she felt that she was facing a stranger – a stranger who perhaps knew too much about her and her accustomed way of life. She blinked at him, and tried to rearrange her thoughts. She was excited, but she was frightened too, and Richard was all she had. The memory of their father's funeral, and she the only family member standing beside the minister, and of the small handful of servants and tenants whom she had known all her life and who were far away from her now, was still raw and recent. She didn't want to think about her new life; she wanted time to ease into it gradually. She wanted to pretend that she was a tourist. â€Å"Dickie – Dick, what do you mean?† Richard must have seen the homesick bewilderment on her face. He looked back at her unhappily. â€Å"Oh – er – it's not your house, you know.† â€Å"Of course I know that!† she exclaimed. â€Å"I appreciate what the Greenoughs are doing for you and for me by – by taking me in.† And she added carefully: â€Å"You explained all that to me in your letter.† He nodded. â€Å"Do you think I don't know how to behave myself?† she said at last, goaded, and was rewarded by another long silence while she felt the blood rising in her face. â€Å"It's not that I don't think you know how,† he said at last. She flinched, and he began: â€Å"An – â€Å" â€Å"Harry,† she said firmly. â€Å"It's still Harry.† He looked at her with dismay, and she realized that she was confirming his fears about her, but she wasn't going to yield about that of all things. The realization that she would insist on being called Harry seemed to silence him, because he did not try to reason with her further, but withdrew into his corner seat and stared out the window. She could tell by his voice that he did not want to hurt her, but that he was truly apprehensive. She and Richard had been wild animals together as small children; but when Dickie had been packed off to school, their mother had dragged her into the house, mostly by the ears or the nape of the neck, and begun the long difficult process of reforming her into something resembling a young lady. â€Å"I suppose I should have started years ago,† she told her sulky daughter; â€Å"but you were having such a good time, and I knew Dickie would be sent away soon. I thought it hardly fair that your lessons should start sooner.† This lifted the cloud a little from her daughter's brow, so she added with a smile, â€Å"And, besides, I've always liked riding horses and climbing trees and falling into ponds better myself.† After such an open avowal of sympathy from the enemy, lessons could never be quite awful; on the other hand, they were not perhaps as thorough as they might have been. On particularly beautiful days they often packed a lunch and rode out together, mother and daughter, to inspire themselves – the mother said – with a little fresh air; but the books as often as not stayed in the saddlebags all day. The daughter learned to love books, particularly adventure novels where the hero rode a beautiful horse and ran all the villains through w ith his silver sword, but her embroidery was never above passable; and she only learned to dance after her mother pointed out that such grace and balance as she might learn on the dance floor would doubtless stand her in good stead in the saddle. She learned the housekeeping necessary in an old ramshackle country house well enough to take over the management of theirs successfully during her mother's last illness; and the first horrible months after her mother's death were made easier by the fact that she had something to do. As the first pain of loss wore away, she realized also that she liked being useful. In the shock five years later of her father's death, and with the knowledge that she must leave her home, and leave it in the indifferent hands of a business manager, it had occurred to her to be relieved that the little eastern station at the farthest-flung border of the Homelander empire where Richard had been posted, and where she was about to join him, was as small and isolated as it was. Her mother had escorted her to such small parties and various social occasions as their country neighborhood might offer, and while she knew she had â€Å"conducted herself creditably† she had not enjoyed herself. For one thing, she was simply too big: taller than all the women, taller than most of the men. Harry could get nothing more useful out of her brother about his private misgivings as the small rickety train carried them north. So she began to ask general questions – a tourist's questions – about her new country; and then she had better luck. Richard began visibly to thaw, for he recognized the sincerity of her interest, and told her quite cheerfully that the town at the end of their journey, where Sir Charles and Lady Amelia awaited them, was the only town of any size at all within three days of it. â€Å"There's a wireless station out in the middle of nowhere where the train stops – it exists only for the train to have someplace to stop – and that's all.† The town's name was Istan, after the natives' Ihistan, which was deemed too hard to pronounce. Beyond Istan was a scattering of small depressed cottages in carefully irrigated fields where a tough local tassel-headed grain called korf was grown. Istan had been a small village before the Home landers came, where the farmers and herders and nomads from the surrounding country came to market every fortnight and a few pot-menders and rug-weavers kept shops. The Homelanders used it as an outpost, and expanded it, although the native marketplace remained at its center; and built a fort at the eastern edge of it, which was named the General Leonard Ernest Mundy. Istan had lately become a place of some importance in the governmental network the Homelanders had laid over the country they had conquered eighty years before. It was still an isolated spot, and no one went there who didn't have to; for it was at the edge of the great northern desert of the peninsular continent the Homelanders called Daria. But thirteen years ago the Aeel Mines had been discovered in the Ramid Mountains to the northwest, and in the last eight years the Mines had been officially declared the most profitable discovery on the entire Darian continent, and that was saying a great deal. The profits on oranges alone paid the wages of half the civil servants in the Province. â€Å"The Mines are awful to get to, though; the Ramids are very nasty going. Istan is on the only feasible route to the Mines, and is the last town large enough to re-supply any caravan or company going that way or coming back out again. That's why we got the railroad, finally. Before that we were the only reason anyone would want to come so far, and our attractions are limited. But the Mines are the big thing now. They may even figure out a way to dig a road through the Ramids. I wish them luck.† Istan also remained tactically important, for while south of it the boundary to Homelander territory swung rapidly east, the Homelanders failed to push it back any nearer the mountains of the north and east. The natives, perhaps from learning to cope with the desert to survive at all, had proved to be a tougher breed than their southern cousins. Some of this Harry had read at Home when she had first heard of Richard's posting three years before. But she felt the reality of it now, with the western wind blowing down on her from the rich Aeel Mines, and the odd greenish-bronze tint in the sky, and the brilliant red of the sunsets. She saw the dull brown uniforms of the Homelander soldiers stationed here, with the red stripe vertically drawn over the left breast that indicated they served in the Darian province of the Homelander sovereignty. There were more soldiers, the farther they traveled. â€Å"It's still a sore point that Istan is the eastern frontier; we can't seem to bear the idea that the border doesn't run straight, north to south, because we would like it to. They keep threatening to mount new offensives, but Colonel Dedham – he's in charge of the old Mundy – says that they won't do it. And who wants to own a lot of desert anyway? It's the farmland in the south – and the Mines – that make it worthwhile to be here.† She encouraged him to talk about Her Majesty's Government of the Royal Province of Daria, and if she did not listen as closely as she might to the descriptions of the ranks and duties of the civil servants Richard had the most contact with, she arrived at Istan at last with some small idea of how Homelanders in general were expected to respond to Daria. And she had seen korf with her own eyes, and a band of the wandering tinkers known as dilbadi, and the changing color of the earth underfoot, from the southern red to central brown to northern yellow-grey. She knew a broad-leafed ilpin tree from the blue evergreen torthuk, and when Lady Amelia met her with a corsage of the little rosy-pink pimchie flowers, she greeted them by name. Lady Amelia was a small round woman with big hazel eyes and curly grey hair and the wistful look of the fading beauty. Her husband, Sir Charles, was as tall as Richard and much broader; he must ride sixteen stone, Harry thought dispassionately as she shook his hand. He had a red face and white hair and a magnificent mustache, and if his blue eyes were a little shallow, there were laugh lines generously around them, and his smile was warm. She felt as if they had looked forward to her coming, and she relaxed a little; there was none of the loftiness she was expecting toward a poor relation – someone else's poor relation at that. Sir Charles during the first evening gave her a complete history of Daria, its past, its conquest by the Homelanders, its present, and its likely future, but most of it she was too tired to follow. Lady Amelia's occasional quick comments, when her husband stopped to draw breath, about Harry's present comfort were much more welcome, although she tried no t to show it. But midway through the evening, as Sir Charles was gesturing with his liqueur glass and even Richard was looking a bit glassy-eyed, Lady Amelia caught her new charge's eye for a long moment. A look of patience and affection passed between them; and Harry thought that perhaps all would be well, and she went up to bed in good spirits. For the first few days in Istan she unpacked, and looked around her, and only saw the newness of everything. But the Homelanders of Istan were a small but thriving community, and she was the latest addition to a society which looked forward to, and welcomed, and cross-examined, and talked about, its additions. She had always suffered from a vague restlessness, a longing for adventure that she told herself severely was the result of reading too many novels when she was a small child. As she grew up, and particularly after her mother died, she had learned to ignore that restlessness. She had nearly forgotten about it, till now. She wondered sometimes if her brother felt that impatience of spirit too, if something like it had had anything to do with his ending up at a small Border station, however tactically important, although his prospects, when he graduated from university, had suggested something better. This was one of the many things she did not ask him. Another question she did not ask was if he ever missed Home. She set down her empty orange-juice glass, and sighed. They'd missed the orange groves, coming north from Stzara, where her ship put her ashore. She picked up her fork from its shining white, neatly folded linen napkin, and turned it so that the sunlight that had glittered through her orange juice now caught in tiny star-bursts across its tines. Don't fidget, she told herself. This morning she was to go riding with the two Misses Peterson, Cassie and Elizabeth. They were near her own age, and the admitted beauties of the station; the entire 4th Cavalry, stationed at the General Mundy, were in love with them. But they were also cheerful and open-hearted, and she was fond of them. She had never much cared for beauty, although she was aware that she lacked it and that her position might have been a little easier if she had not. They would return from their ride by midmorning, because the sun would be growing too hot for anyone to brave it for pleasure. She planned to ask Lady Amelia if they might all come back here for lunch. She already knew what the answer would be: â€Å"Why, of course! We are always delighted to see them. I am so pleased, my dear, that you should be so clever as to attach the two most charming girls we have here to be your particular friends.† Harry caught herself playing with her fork again, and laid it down emphatically. This evening there was to be another dance. Richard had promised to escort her; she had to acknowledge that, however little they found to say to one another now, he was very good about escorting her to parties, and dancing with her – which meant that there was at least one man present whom she did not tower over. Her gratitude was not at all dimmed by the suspicion that he was nursing a secret passion for Cassie, nor by the thought, not even a real suspi cion, that he might not want himself made a fool of by his sister's unpopularity. No, his kindness was real; he loved her, she thought, in his silent and anxious way. Perhaps simply being a very junior military adjutant with an unmarried sister suddenly thrust on one's hands inevitably made one a bit of a prig. It never occurred to her to speculate whether any of the young men in their shining regimentals that Dickie painstakingly introduced her to, and who then painstakingly asked her to dance, presented themselves from any motive outside a willingness to do their friend Crewe a favor by standing up with his oversized sister. It would have surprised her very much to learn of her two or three admirers, who so far resisted the prevailing atmosphere of the barracks as to incline to an altar less populated than that of either Miss Peterson. â€Å"But she's just like her brother,† one of them complained to his best friend, who listened with a friend's patience, although he was himself incapable of seeing the charms of any woman other than Beth Peterson. â€Å"So damned polite. Oh, she's nice enough, you know. I don't suppose she actually dislikes me,† he continued, a bit uncertainly. â€Å"But I'm not at all sure she even recognizes me from one day to the next, so it hardly count s.† â€Å"Well,† said the friend good-humoredly, â€Å"Dick remembers you well enough.† The admirer threw a boot at his friend – the one he hadn't polished yet. â€Å"You know what I mean.† â€Å"I know what you mean,† agreed the friend. â€Å"A cold fish.† The admirer looked up from the boot-blacking angrily and the friend held up the extra boot like a shield. â€Å"Dick's stiff with honor. I daresay his sister's like that. You just don't know her well enough yet.† â€Å"Balls, dinner parties,† moaned the admirer. â€Å"You know what they're like; it could take years.† The friend in silent sympathy (thinking of Beth) tossed the boot back, and he began moodily to black it. The object of his affections, had she known of this conversation, would have agreed with him on the subject of balls and dinner parties. In fact, she would have added the rider that she wasn't sure it could be done at all, getting to know someone at any succession of such parties, however prolonged. And the friend was right about Dick Crewe's powerful sense of honor. He knew well enough that at least two of his friends were falling in love with his sister; but it never crossed his mind to say anything about them to her. He could not compromise the privileged knowledge of friendship in such a way. And Dick's sister, oblivious to the fact that she had won herself a place in the station hierarchy, chafed and fidgeted. Lady Amelia arrived at the breakfast table next. They had just settled the question of Cassie and Beth coming to lunch – in almost the precise words anticipated – when the door to Sir Charles' study, across the hall from the breakfast room, opened; and Sir Charles and his secretary, Mr. Mortimer, entered to breakfast. The two women looked at them in surprise; they had the unmistakable air of men who have been awake several hours, working hard on nothing more than a cup or two of the dark heavy local coffee, and who will rush through their meal now to get back to whatever they have been doing. Neither of them looked very happy about their prospects. â€Å"My dear,† said Lady Amelia. â€Å"Whatever is wrong?† Sir Charles ran a hand through his white hair, accepted a plate of eggs with his other hand, and sat down. He shook his head. Philip Mortimer glanced at his employer but said nothing. â€Å"Richard's not here yet,† said Sir Charles, as if his absence explained everything. â€Å"Richard – ?† said Lady Amelia faintly. â€Å"Yes. And Colonel Dedham. I'm sorry, my dear,† he said, a few mouthfuls of eggs seeming to restore him. â€Å"The message came quite out of the blue, in the middle of the night,† he explained through his metaphors as well as his mouthful. â€Å"Jack – Colonel Dedham – has been out, trying to find out what he can, and I told him to come to breakfast and tell us what he's learned. With Richard – that boy knows how to talk to people. Blast them. Blast him. He'll be here in a few hours.† His wife stared at him in complete bewilderment, and his young guest averted her eyes when he looked at her, as it was not her place to stare. He laid down his fork and laughed. â€Å"Melly, your face is a study. Young Harry here is going to be a fine ambassador's wife someday, though: look at that poker face! You really shouldn't look so much like your brother; it makes you too easy to read for those of us who know him. Just now you're thinking: Is the old man gone at last? Humor him till we're sure; if he calms down a bit, perhaps we'll get some sense out of him even now.† Harry grinned back at him, untroubled by his teasing, and he reached across the table, braving candlesticks and an artistically arranged bowl of fruit, to tap her cheek with his fingers. â€Å"A general's wife, on second thought. You'd be wasted on the diplomatic corps; we're all such dry paper-shufflers.† He speared a piece of toast with his fork, and Lady Amelia, whose manners with her own family were as punctilious as if she dined with royalty, looked away. Sir Charles piled marmalade on his toast till it began to ooze off the edges, added one more dollop for good measure, and ate it all in three gulps. â€Å"Melly, I know I've told you about the difficulties we're having in the North, on this side of the mountains with our lot, and on the far side with whatever it is they breed over there – a very queer bunch, from all we can gather – and it's all begun to escalate, this last year, at an alarming speed. Harry, Dick's told you something of this?† She nodded. â€Å"You may or may not know that our real hold over Daria ends just about where this station stands, although technically – on paper – Homeland rule extends right to the foot of those mountains north and east of here – the Ossanders, which run out from the Ramids, and then that far eastern range you see over the sand, where none of us has ever been †¦ those mountains are the only bits of the old kingdom of Damar still under native rule. There used to be quite a lot of fighting along this border – say, forty years ago. Since then their king – oh yes, there's a king – more or less ignores us, and we more or less ignore him. But odd things – call them odd things; Jack will tell you what he thinks they are – still happen on that plain, our no-man's-land. So we have the 4th Cavalry here with us. â€Å"Nothing too odd has happened since the current king took the throne around ten years ago, we think – they don't bother to keep us up to date on such things – but it never does to be careless. Um.† He frowned and, while frowning, ate another piece of toast. â€Å"Everything has been quiet for – oh, at least fifteen years. Nearly as long as I've been here, and that's a long time. Ask Jack, though, for stories of what it was like up and down the northern half of this border before that. He has plenty of them.† He stood up from the table, and went across the room to the row of windows. He lifted the curtain farther back as he looked out across the desert, as if breadth of view might assist clarity of thought. It was obvious his mind was not on the explanation he was giving; and for all his assumed cheerfulness, he was deeply worried. â€Å"Damn! †¦ Excuse me. Where is Jack? I expected he would have at least sent young Richard on ahead before now.† He spoke as if to himself, or perhaps to Philip Mortimer, who made soothing noises, poured a cup of tea, and took it to Sir Charles where he stood squinting into the morning sunlight. â€Å"Trouble?† said Lady Amelia gently. â€Å"More trouble?† Sir Charles dropped the curtain and turned around. â€Å"Yes! More trouble.† He looked down at his hands, realized he was holding a cup of tea in one of them, and took a swallow from it with the air of a man who does what is expected of him. â€Å"There may be war with the North. Jack thinks so. I'm not sure, but – I don't like the rumors. We must secure the passes through the mountains – particularly Ritger's Gap, which gives anybody coming through it almost a direct line to Istan, and then of course to the whole Province. It may only be some tribal uproar – but it could be war, as real as it was eighty years ago. There aren't many of the old Damarians left – the Hillfolk – but we've been forced to have a pretty healthy respect for them. And if King Corlath decides to throw his chances in with the Northerners – â€Å" There was a clatter in the street below. Sir Charles' head snapped around. â€Å"There they are at last,† he said, and bolted for the front door and threw it open himself, under the scandalized eye of the butler who had emerged from his inner sanctum just too late. â€Å"Come in! I've been in high fidgets for the last hour, wondering what's become of you. Have you found out anything that might be of use to us? I have been trying to explain to the ladies what our problem is.† â€Å"Would you care for breakfast?† Lady Amelia asked without haste, and with her usual placid courtesy. â€Å"Charles may be trying to explain, but so far he has not succeeded.† In response to her gesture, a maid laid two more places at the table. With a jingling of spurs the two newcomers entered, apologized for their dirt, and were delighted to accept some breakfast. Richard dropped a perfunctory kiss on his sister's cheek on his way to the eggs and ham. After a few minutes of tea-pouring and butter-passing, while Sir Charles strode up and down the room with barely suppressed impatience, it was Lady Amelia who spoke first. â€Å"We will leave you to your business, which I can see is very important, and we won't pester you with demands for explanations. But would you answer just one question?† Colonel Dedham said, â€Å"Of course, Melly. What is it?† â€Å"What is it that has suddenly thrown you into this turmoil? Some unexpected visitor, I gather, from what Charles said?† Dedham stared at her. â€Å"He didn't tell you – ? Good God. It's Corlath himself. He's coming. He never comes near here, you know – none of the real Hillfolk do if they can help it. At best, if we want badly enough to talk to him, we can catch one of his men as they pass through the foothills northeast of here. Sometimes.† â€Å"You see,† broke in Sir Charles, â€Å"it makes us hope that perhaps he wishes to cooperate with us – not the Northerners. Jack, did you find out anything?† Dedham shrugged. â€Å"Not really. Nothing that we didn't already know – that his coming here is unprecedented, to say the least – and that it is in fact him. Nobody had any better guesses than ours about why, suddenly, he decided to do so.† â€Å"But your guess would be – † prompted Sir Charles. Dedham shrugged again, and looked wry. â€Å"You know already what my guess would be. You just like to hear me making an ass of myself. But I believe in the, um, curious things that happen out there – † he waved the sugar spoon – â€Å"and I believe that Corlath must have had some sort of sign, to go to the length of approaching us.† A silence fell; Harry could see that everyone else in the room was uncomfortable. â€Å"Sign?† she said tentatively. Dedham glanced up with his quick smile. â€Å"You haven't been here long enough to have heard any of the queer stories about the old rulers of Damar?† â€Å"No,† she said. â€Å"Well, they were sorcerers – or so the story goes. Magicians. They could call the lightning down on the heads of their enemies, that sort of thing – useful stuff for founding an empire.† Sir Charles snorted. â€Å"No, you're quite right; all we had was matchlocks and enthusiasm. Even magic wanes, I suppose. But I don't think it's waned quite away yet; there's some still living in those mountains out there. Corlath can trace his bloodlines back to Aerin and Tor, who ruled Damar in its golden age – with or without magic, depending on which version you prefer.† â€Å"If they weren't legends themselves,† put in Sir Charles. â€Å"Yes. But I believe they were real,† said Jack Dedham. â€Å"I even believe they wielded something we prosaic Homelanders would call magic.† Harry stared at him, fascinated, and his smile broadened. â€Å"I'm quite used to being taken for a fool about this. It's doubtless part of the reason why I'm still a colonel, and still at the General Mundy. But there are a number of us old soldiers whose memories go back to the Daria of thirty, forty years ago who say the same thing.† â€Å"Oh, magic,† said Sir Charles disgustedly, but there was a trace of uneasiness in his voice as well. â€Å"Have you ever seen lightning come to heel like a dog?† Dedham through his politeness looked a little stubborn. â€Å"No. I haven't. But it's true enough at least that the men who have gone up against Corlath's father and grandfather were plagued by the most astonishing bad luck. And you know the Queen and Council back Home would give their eyeteeth to push our border back the way we've been saying we would for the last eighty years.† â€Å"Bad luck?† said Lady Amelia. â€Å"I've heard the stories, of course – some of the old ballads are very beautiful. But – what sort of bad luck?† Dedham smiled again. â€Å"I admit it does begin to sound foolish when one tries to explain it. But things like rifles – or matchlocks – misfiring, or blowing up; not just a few, but many – yourself, and your neighbor, and his neighbor. And their neighbors. A cavalry charge just as it reaches full stretch, the horses begin to trip and fall down as if they've forgotten how to gallop – all of them. Men mistake their orders. Supply wagons lose their wheels. Half a company all suddenly get grit in their eyes simultaneously and can't see where they're going – or where to shoot. The sort of little things that always happen, but carried far beyond probability. Men get superstitious about such things, however much they scoff at elves and witches and so on. And it's pretty appalling to see your cavalry crumple up like they're all drunk, while these madmen with nothing but swords and axes and bits of leather armor are coming down on you from every direction – and nobody seems to be firing at them from your side. I assure you I've seen it.† Richard shifted in his chair. â€Å"And Corlath – â€Å" â€Å"Yes, Corlath,† the colonel continued, sounding still as unruffled as when he thanked Lady Amelia for his cup of tea, while Sir Charles' face was getting redder and redder and he whuffled through his mustache. It was hard not to believe Dedham; his voice was too level, and it rang with sincerity. â€Å"They say that in Corlath the old kings have come again. You know he's begun to reunite some of the outlying tribes – the ones that don't seem to owe anyone any particular allegiance, and who live by a sort of equal-handed brigandry on anyone within easy reach.† â€Å"Yes, I know,† said Sir Charles. â€Å"Then you may also have heard some of the other sort of stories they've begun to tell about him. I imagine he can call lightning to heel if he feels like it.† â€Å"This is the man who's coming here today?† said Lady Amelia; and even she now sounded a little startled. â€Å"Yes, Amelia, I'm afraid so.† â€Å"If he's so blasted clever,† muttered Sir Charles, â€Å"what does he want with us?† Dedham laughed. â€Å"Come now, Charles. Don't be sulky. I don't suppose even a magician can make half a million Northerners disappear like raindrops in the ocean. We certainly need him to keep the passes through his mountains closed. And it may be that he has decided that he needs us – to mop up the leaks, perhaps.† Lady Amelia stood up, and Harry reluctantly followed her. â€Å"We will leave you to discuss it. Is there – is there anything I could do, could arrange? I'm afraid I know very little about entertaining native – chieftains. Do you suppose he will want lunch?† She spread her hands and looked around the table. Harry suppressed a smile at the thought of proper little Lady Amelia offering sandwiches, with the crusts neatly trimmed off, and lemonade to this barbarian king. What would he look like? She thought: I've never even seen any of the Freemen, the Hillfolk. All the natives at the station, even the merchants from away, look subdued and †¦ a little wary. â€Å"Oh, bosh,† said Sir Charles. â€Å"I wish I knew what he wanted – lunch or anything else. Part of what makes all this so complicated is that we know the Free Hillfolk have a very complicated code of honor – but we know almost nothing about what it consists of.† â€Å"Almost,† murmured Dedham. â€Å"We could offend them mortally and not even know it. I don't know if Corlath is coming alone, or with a select band of his thousand best men, all armed to the teeth and carrying lightning bolts in their back pockets.† â€Å"Now, Charles,† Dedham said. â€Å"We've invited him here – â€Å" † – because the fort is not built for receiving guests of honor,† Dedham said easily as Sir Charles paused. â€Å"And,† Sir Charles added plaintively, â€Å"it doesn't look quite so warlike here.† Dedham laughed. â€Å"But four o'clock in the morning,† Sir Charles said. â€Å"I think we should be thankful that it occurred to him to give us any warning at all. I don't believe it's the sort of thing he's accustomed to having to think of.† The colonel stood up, and Richard promptly took his place behind him. Sir Charles was still pacing about the room, cup in hand, as the ladies prepared to leave. â€Å"My apologies for spoiling your morning to no purpose,† said Colonel Dedham. â€Å"I daresay he will arrive sometime and we will deal with him, but I don't think you need put yourselves out. His message said merely that he desired an audience with the Homelander District Commissioner – not quite his phrase, but that's the idea – and the general in command of the fort. He'll have to make do with me, though; we don't rate a general. The Hill-kings don't go in much for gold plate and red velvet anyway – I think. I hope this is a business meeting.† â€Å"I hope so too,† murmured Sir Charles to his teacup. â€Å"And – at the moment – we can't do much more than wait and see,† said the colonel. â€Å"Have some more of this excellent tea, Charles. What's in your cup must be quite cold by now.†