Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Commodore Isaac Hull in the War of 1812

Commodore Isaac Hull in the War of 1812 Conceived March 9, 1773, in Derby, CT, Isaac Hull was the child of Joseph Hull who later partook in the American Revolution. In the course of the battling, Joseph filled in as a gunnery lieutenant and was caught in 1776 after the Battle of Fort Washington. Detained in HMS Jersey, he was traded two years after the fact and expected order of a little flotilla on Long Island Sound.â Following the finish of the contention, he entered the vendor exchange cruising toward the West Indies just as whaling.â It was through these undertakings that Isaac Hull previously encountered the sea.â Young when his dad kicked the bucket, Hull was embraced by his uncle, William Hull. Likewise a veteran of the American Revolution, he would gain shame for giving up Detroit in 1812.â Though William wished his nephew to acquire an advanced degree, the more youthful Hull wanted to come back to the ocean and, at age fourteen, turned into a lodge kid on a trader vessel. After five years, in 1793, Hull earned his first order captaining a dealer transport in the West Indies trade.â In 1798, he searched out and got a lieutenants commission in the recently re-shaped US Navy.â Serving on board the frigate USS Constitution (44 weapons), Hull earned the regard of Commodores Samuel Nicholson and Silas Talbot.â Engaged in the Quasi-War with France, the US Navy searched out French vessels in the Caribbean and Atlantic.â On May 11, 1799, Hull drove a separation of Constitutions mariners and marines in holding onto the French privateer Sandwich close Puerto Plata, Santo Domingo. Bringing the sloop Sally into Puerto Plata, he and his men caught the boat just as a shore battery protecting the harbor.â Spiking the firearms, Hull left with the privateer as a prize. With the finish of the contention with France, another one before long developed with the Barbary privateers in North Africa.â Barbary Wars Assuming responsibility for the brig USS Argus (18) in 1803, Hull joined Commodore Edward Prebles unit which was working against Tripoli.â Promoted to ace commandant the next year, he stayed in the Mediterranean.â In 1805, Hull directed Argus, USS Hornet (10), and USS Nautilus (12) in supporting US Marine Corps First Lieutenant Presley OBannon during the Battle of Derna.â Returning to Washington, DC a year later, Hull got an advancement to captain.â The following five years saw him administer the development of gunboats just as order the frigates USS Chesapeake (36) and USS President (44).â In June 1810, Hull was named skipper of Constitution and came back to his previous ship.â After having the frigates base cleaned, he withdrew for a journey in European waters.â Returning in February 1812, Constitution was in the Chesapeake Bay four months after the fact when news showed up that the War of 1812 had started.   â USS Constitution Leaving the Chesapeake, Hull directed north with the objective of rendezvousing with a unit that Commodore John Rodgers was amassing. While off the bank of New Jersey on July 17, Constitution was spotted by a gathering of British warships that included HMS Africa (64) and the frigates HMS Aeolus (32), HMS Belvidera (36), HMS Guerriere (38), and HMS Shannon (38). Followed and sought after for more than two days in light breezes, Hull utilized an assortment of strategies, including wetting down the sails and kedge grapples, to escape.â Reaching Boston, Constitution rapidly resupplied before leaving on Aug. 2. Moving upper east, Hull caught three British galleons and acquired insight that a British frigate was working toward the south. Cruising to catch, Constitution experienced Guerriere on Aug. 19. Holding his fire as the frigates approached, Hull held up until the two boats were just 25 yards separated. For 30 minutes Constitution and Guerriere traded broadsides until Hull shut on the enemys starboard shaft and toppled the British vessels mizzen pole. Turning, Constitution raked Guerriere, clearing its decks with fire. As the fight proceeded, the two frigates impacted multiple times, however all endeavors to load up were turned around by decided black powder gun discharge from each boats marine separation. During the third crash, Constitution got ensnared in Guerrieres bowsprit. As the two frigates isolated, the bowsprit snapped, jolting the gear and prompting Guerrieres front and fundamental poles falling. Unfit to move or clear a path, Dacres, who had been injured in the commitment, met with his officials and chose to strike Guerrieres hues to forestall a further death toll. During the battling, a large number of Guerrieres gun balls apparently bounced off Constitutions thick sides driving it to gain the moniker Old Ironsides. Frame endeavored to bring Guerriere into Boston, however the frigate, which had endured serious harm in the fight, started to sink the following day and he requested it decimated after the British injured were moved to his boat. Coming back to Boston, Hull and his team were hailed as heroes.â Leaving the boat in September, Hull surrendered order to Captain William Bainbridge.â Later Career Venturing out south to Washington, Hull initially got requests to expect order of the Boston Navy Yard and afterward the Portsmouth Navy Yard.â Returning to New England, he held the post at Portsmouth for the rest of the War of 1812. Quickly sitting down on the Board of Navy Commissioners in Washington starting in 1815, Hull at that point took order of the Boston Navy Yard.â Returning to the ocean in 1824, he managed the Pacific Squadron for a long time and flew his commodores flag from USS United States (44). After finishing this obligation, Hull directed the Washington Navy Yard from 1829 to 1835.â Taking leave after this task, he continued deployment ready and in 1838 got order of the Mediterranean Squadron with the boat of the line USS Ohio (64) as his lead. Finishing up his time abroad in 1841, Hull came back to the United States and because of sick wellbeing and progressively propelled age (68) chosen to resign. Dwelling in Philadelphia with his better half Anna Hart (m. 1813), he passed on two years after the fact on February 13, 1843. Structures remains were covered in the citys Laurel Hill Cemetery.â Since his demise, the US Navy has named five vessels in his honor.â Sources: Memoirs in Naval History: Isaac HullHeritage History: Isaac Hull

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Loss of my Grandfather Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Loss of my Grandfather - Essay Example This conversation focuses on that the demise of the creator's granddad implied a disorder in their family framework. Since adolescence, granddad used to reveal to them that their more distant family was an enthusiastic unit that could be fortified by adoration and solidarity. Likewise, granddad had been prompting the whole family against seclusion and conceit whereby individuals could get things done for individual or individual addition. Not long after the demise of granddad, family gatherings were not, at this point held as the binding together factor existed no more. For instance, the creator's uncle moved, auntie moved to her work spot to the city and my family settled on remaining on our grandfather’s ranch where they live with our grandma.   From this paper obviously granddad was a senior in their neighborhood church, and besides, we used to go to his congregation. He constructed our otherworldliness as far as engaging in sorted out religion, participating in differe nt church services, going to chapel each Sunday and in any event, doing evangelism on ends of the week. When he kicked the bucket, there was sluggishness on Sunday as they go to chapel at whatever point they have an inclination that, they no longer take an interest in chapel services like they used to and they totally disregarded book of scriptures considers or in any event, supplicating all together. The otherworldliness of their family was unfavorably influenced to the degree that they no longer give tithes like they used to do as a family.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Argument Essay Housemaids Impacts On The Society Of The UAE Essay

Argument Essay Housemaids Impacts On The Society Of The UAE Essay Argument Essay: Housemaids Impacts On The Society Of The UAE â€" Essay Example > Housemaids Impact on the Society of the UAEIntroductionThe discovery of oil in the UAE in the recent years has resulted to tremendous growth and development within the region. It has made UAE undergo enormous changes in different areas of economic development. The traditional life style of women as housekeepers and child bearing has disappeared. This is because the position of Emirati females has become strong. According to Ehrenreich and Arlie (2003) mmodern women go to colleges and have learned and acquired knowledge essential in the attainment of employment in both government and private sectors. As a consequence, the need for nannies and housemaids has increased in the UAE society as women no longer stay at home to take care of children and perform other household chores. Regardless of the fact that nannies and housemaids assist UAE’s women in upbringing children and performing other house duties, it has led to several problems and challenges for the family, children and the society as a whole. Whilst it is impractical for parents to spend all time with their kids, it is vital for them to understand that when they leave these children with housemaids and nannies for so long, they are co-parenting with these helpers. Even when parents are present at home, overworking usually make them have limited attention, energy and time for their children. This is viewed as a form of child neglect which has turned out to be pandemic in the UAE society. The presence of nannies and housemaids in the UAE has necessitated the government to establish a nanny or maid visa to enable them reside in the Emirati (Roumani, 2005). Effects of Housemaids and nannies in the UAE societyEstablishmentHousemaid and nannies have led to establishment agencies and recruit childcare givers and nannies. The majestic nannies is a Middle East based agency that offers online services direct from its offices in Abu Dhabi and its novel 2011 London office. Majestic nannies agency specializes i n recruitment of highly experience and qualified childcare professionals. The services of this agency are unique as it has dual offices which enable it to help both nannies and families in superior ways. Whilst utilizing modern technology in the recruitment processes, the agency is able to maintain personal touch and ensure every placement id tailored to the needs of the family. As a professional company, Majestic Nannies is committed to safety of children and follows the federation of recruitment and employment services’ code of practice. Majestic Nannies (2010) observe that the recruitment is through and each candidate is interviewed and references verifies. There is also an inclusion of the criminal background check to ensure that the recruited nannies are of good conduct (Pearce, 2003). Another organization involved in the recruitment of housemaids and nannies is the Nannies Dubai. This organization is an authorized domestic department of Gulf human resource solutions FZE th at provides specialized HR services to both companies and individuals throughout the United Arab Emirates. Dubai Nannies focuses on the recruitment of English speaking live-in nannies, caregiver nurses and governesses in the household of expat s working and living in UAE. Dubai Nannies team is devoted to offering families with quality candidates who they will be capable to incorporate into their homes. According to Pearce (2003), Dubai Nannies agency provides a huge selection of foreign professionals who have undergone careful screening to make sure that they meet the needs of the client. The agency’s professional consultant speaks with the clients so as to understand their personal needs and to tailor the agency’s approach to assisting clients find a high calibre nanny. The agency views the selection procedure a vital step in solving the domestic service needs of the clients.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

How to Overcome College Student Homesickness

Being homesick in college is more common than most students want to admit. With these 5 tips, however, dealing with it can be a little easier. Call home. This may sound like common sense, but it can really help. The key factor, however, is not to call home all of the time. Dont call more than once a day, and keep the conversation positive. But if you miss your friends, family, boyfriend, or girlfriend, giving them a call can sometimes help ease the heartache. Go visit home -- once. Visiting home can be a great way to recharge yourself and get some of that TLC (not to mention home cooking) that you need. But going home too often can frequently make homesickness worse. Let yourself go home when you need it, but make sure it doesnt turn into an every-weekend occurrence. Go out with your college friends. Sometimes, a night out with your college friends can do wonders for homesickness. It can take your mind off of things back home, can help you relax and have a good time, and can reinforce relationships that will make your school feel like home sometime soon. Call a friend from back home. Chances are that your group of friends spread out as each of you went to different colleges. And chances are that your group of friends is missing each other. Give a friend from home a call and catch up for a little while. It may do wonders for your homesickness to just touch base for a quick phone call. Get out of your room. Its incredibly easy to hide in your room in college. But doing so prevents you from meeting new people, trying new things, and experiencing college life in general. You didnt go to school to hide in your room, right? Make sure to spend large chunks of your time out of your room -- even if its just at a campus coffee shop, the quad, or the library -- and get your mind on other things. You never know what might happen, but you do know that it wont happen if youre alone in your room all the time.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The Homeland Security Act Of 2002 - 1333 Words

THE HOMELAND SECURITY ACT The Homeland Security Act of 2002 Signed into law in 2002 by President George W. Bush, the Homeland Security Act established the Department of Homeland Security to prevent terrorist attacks, minimize any damage to the nation’s citizens, and reduce the country’s vulnerability to terrorism. In response to 9/11, the government, as well as the airline industry, has gone through many changes. As of result of 9/11, the airline industry lost a total of $7.7 billion. This paper reviews the reasons behind the making of the Homeland Security Act, the effects of 9/11 on the airline industry and the government, the purpose of the Homeland Security Act, and the aftermath of the Homeland Security Act. Reasons behind the†¦show more content†¦In addition, according to authorities, these hijackers killed the pilots before the airliners hit their targets. Two of the planes aimed at New York City hit the World Trade Center, with one of them hitting the South Tower, and the other, hitting the North Tower. The World Trade Center was THE HOMELAND SECURITY ACT considered by many a symbol of the United States. The third airliner hit its target which included the Pentagon (the headquarters of the Department of Defense and a symbol of the U.S. Military). The fourth plane (United Airlines Flight 93) was aimed at Washington, D.C., but failed to reach its target. The passengers figured out the intentions of the hijackers and quickly took action. As a result, the aircraft crashed on a field in Pennsylvania. Afterwards, the government and the FAA ordered all aircraft to land on airports nearby and ordered flights coming from outside the United States to be turned back. In response to 9/11, former President George W. Bush and the government started to work quickly for a response to these attacks and its aftermath. Former President George W. Bush knew that this would be a huge turning point in his presidency. He gave a speech urging the U.S. citizens to stay calm and told the people that the government would respond effecti vely and rapidly. Many citizens were now paranoid of flying on an aircraft due to the fact that these hijackings were easily carried out. In addition, businesses pulled their employees from flying on

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Phaedra vs Hippolytus Free Essays

Euripides vs. Dassin The classic Greek legend of Phaedra probes the tragic consequences that occur when a woman becomes sexually obsessed with her stepson. In Phaedra (1962) director Jules Dassin presents Phaedra as a woman overwhelmed by passions she cannot control. We will write a custom essay sample on Phaedra vs Hippolytus or any similar topic only for you Order Now This follows the interpretation of Phaedra developed by Euripides, who broke with older versions in which Phaedra was an evil sensualist seeking to corrupt her innocent stepson. Dassin adds political punch to the film by exploring the luxurious lives enjoyed by elite shipping families. Where as Hippolytus takes place in Troezen, a city in the northeastern Peloponnese. In the Hippolytus, Phaedras husband is serving a year of voluntary exile for murdering the Pallantids. Where as in Phaedra, he is a very wealthy and free man. A majority of Hippolytus revolves around the goddess Aphrodite. Where as in Phaedra there is no gods or goddess’s. Euripides’ play Hippolytus was written in 428 B. C. , and ever since it has been regarded as one of the great classical works. In his treatment of the Phaedra myth, Euripides presents Phaedra in a state of mental anguish and exhaustion brought about by her love for Hippolytus, which she strives to conceal. Euripides frames the events of the human characters with the presence of the gods Aphrodite and Artemis. Euripides’ Athenian audience was therefore provided with prior knowledge about Phaedra’s guilty secret, for her ‘passion’ is described as being imposed by the god Aphrodite. Euripides portrays Aphrodite as a terrifying and vindictive deity, unlike the voluptuous woman often depicted in visual art. Her opening monologue conveys an imperious attitude, and she sees the world and its people as her domain. Because Aphrodite is the goddess of love, her perception of the world seems reasonable, since her power extends to the everyday lives of the mortals over whom she rules. This is not, however, the benign emotion that today we might associate with the word â€Å"love. † Rather, Euripides depicts erotic love as a consuming and destructive force. As Aphrodite states, those who fail to accord the proper respect to her will face obliteration. The terrifying power of love is essential to understanding Aphrodite’s anger at Hippolytus and the development of the play. Aphrodite directs her fury at Hippolytus because he refuses to worship her. He is, as he explains in Scene I, not interested in erotic love and consequently reveres the goddess of love â€Å"from a long way off. † He instead remains chaste and worships Artemis exclusively. This, of course, infuriates Aphrodite who vows to punish him for his blasphemy. Because he will not honor erotic love, she decides that its power will destroy him, thereby proving her supremacy over humanity to all those who hear of Hippolytus’ destruction. Her vehicle for punishing him is Phaedra, his stepmother, who thus becomes a victim of love. Phaedra’s position in the play as the agent through whom Aphrodite exacts her revenge creates an ethical problem. According to Aphrodite’s scheme, Phaedra must die, but unlike Hippolytus, she has not committed any offenses against the goddess of love. Phaedra therefore becomes a victim of love’s power, a pawn bewitched into loving her stepson who then commits suicide out of shame. Yet as Aphrodite explains, â€Å"Her suffering does not weight in the scale so much that I should let my enemies go untouched. Reconciling Aphrodite’s need for revenge and Phaedra’s innocence is an interpretive challenge of the play, and Euripides does not provide an easy answer. Out of this tension arises a central conflict of the play, specifically concerning the relationship between men and gods during the period in which Euripides wrote. This relationship seems tenuous at best and bears little resemblance to modern perspectives on religion. As such, an essential question to consider is what responsibilities gods had to people and people to gods. Euripides’s tragedy offers a few insights into this relationship. As evidenced by Aphrodite’s reaction to Hippolytus’ exclusive devotion to Artemis, humans were to worship all of the gods. This relationship, however, does not seem reciprocal. Rather, Aphrodite’s manipulation of Phaedra indicates that the gods had few obligations to humans. Free from the burdens of protecting men, the gods used men as their playthings while humans had to worship the gods to placate them and avoid incurring their wrath. Dassin’s Phaedra is the forty-something, second wife of shipping magnate Thanos Kyrilis, who wishes to reconcile with his estranged son Alexis, an art student living in London. The athletic and handsome Thanos is a cunning businessman involved in international commerce, but he is likable and adores his wife. He gives Phaedra expensive gifts and names his new prize ship in her honor. Phaedra is not ignored or abused by an unattractive or deceitful husband. Dassin adds political punch to the film by exploring the luxurious lives enjoyed by elite shipping families. This is not done in a heavy-handed manner. The lavish villas, yachts, and fashionable attire of the super rich are simply allowed to speak for themselves without any editorial grumbling by Greek commoners. Dassin takes a further jab at the Greek shippers by setting up marital relationships between his characters that parallel real-life marriages involving the Onassis and Niarchos shipping clans. The tragedy takes form when Thanos cajoles a reluctant Phaedra to deliver a message to Alexis in London that his father wants his twenty-four-year-old son to be at his side. From their first encounter, Phaedra and Alexis engage in a playful flirtation inappropriate to their relationship. Alexis invites Phaedra to meet his â€Å"girl,† which turns out to be a pricey sports car in a dealership window. Their empathy, however, leads to Alexis meeting with his father in Paris. When business needs require Thanos to leave for New York City, Phaedra, persuades Alexis to remain. The supposedly mounting passion between Mercouri and Perkins lacks chemistry. All the sexual energy comes from the sultry Phaedra and her attraction to the bland Alexis is inexplicable. Nor is Dassin’s camera effective in addressing this sexual void. The film’s big sex scene is an unimaginative sequence of blurred shots of the embracing couple punctuated by shots of a rain storm at the window, a blazing fireplace, and glowing candles. After living together in Paris for more than a week, Alexis asks Phaedra to declare her love openly and return with him to London. Phaedra, however, feels compelled to rejoin her husband on the island of Hydra. Fearful of her lack of self control, she tells Alexis, â€Å"Don’t come. † Greece brings no respite to Phaedra’s emotions. Although still yearning for Alexis, she is tormented by her sense of shame and deceit. Her only confidant is Anna (Olympia Papoudaka), her aging personal maid, who is distraught by Phaedra’s anguish. Anna’s emotions have homoerotic aspects that feel far more genuine than the emotions Alexis has projected. The women take siestas together, but their sexual intimacy remains limited to the adoring Anna’s caresses. Thanos informs Alexis that the car he so admires is waiting for him in Hydra. Alexis demands to know what Phaedra desires him to do. The increasingly unstable Phaedra reverses what she had said earlier and implores Alexis to come as soon as possible, but her plans go awry when Alexis hews ever closer to his father while becoming ever more wary of her. The sexual dynamics intensify when Ercy, Alexis’s beautiful second cousin, a woman his own age, falls in love with him. Thanos and his circle are delighted at the prospect of a marriage that would further unite the shipping families. A now sullen and possessive Phaedra stands between Alexis and all that is â€Å"normal. Alexis reacts by playing the role of a carefree party boy at the local seaside tavern. He goes off with the first available woman, an act designed to cool Ercy’s ardor and belittle Phaedra. The film reaches its climax when the luxury ship named Phaedra, seen launched in the film’s opening scenes, sinks, killing most of its crew. Phaedra, obsessed by her own agenda, arrives at Thanos’s offices in the midst of the crisis. Ir onically clad in white, she pushes her way through black-clad women anxious to know the fate of their men. Oblivious to the grief around her, Phaedra-in-white reveals her secret love to Thanos. An enraged Thanos manages to restrain himself from striking her, but beats Alexis viciously, ordering him, as he did Phaedra, to leave his sight forever. The blood-soaked Alexis returns to the family villa for a last embrace of his â€Å"girl. † Phaedra appears at the garage door and tells him they can now live openly as lovers; he replies that he wishes Phaedra dead. The rejected Phaedra returns to the main house where she takes an overdose of sleeping pills while the now frenzied Alexis, listening to music by Bach, drives his â€Å"girl† over a cliff. How to cite Phaedra vs Hippolytus, Papers

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Importance of soft skills for real estate - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Importance of soft skills for real estate. Answer: Introduction Business communication is about sharing information between people inside and outside the organisation. For a business person, communication is an important aspect and the individuals must know their strengths and weaknesses of communication. Business communications are various, face-to-face communication, listening, telephonic conversation and emails (Thatcher Eva, 2017). This study helps will assist me to identify two of my communication issues. In the initial sections, five diagnostic tools have been explained identifying two major issues of communication. In the following section, a literature review is done to underpin the concept in theoretical perspective. In the final section, an action plan is given to improve my communication issue. Diagnosis and reflection Five diagnostic tools Workplace communication is important as it provides the organisation to run effectively and have productivity. The employees can communicate efficiently in right way that can increase the employees morale. Five diagnostic tools in communication are: Soft-skills test Verbal communication test Non-verbal communication test Self-perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) test Confidence level during presentation test Soft-skills test In each types of job requirement, soft skill is required and it impacts on the success of the employees. In management or leadership role, employees need soft skills to lead the subordinate in the workplace. In working within the team, soft-skills help the employees to communicate effectively to achieve the objectives. As stated by Ganguly (2017), soft skills can be defined as the combination of social, people and communication skills that shape the traits, career attributes, attitudes and social intelligence quotients that enable the employees within the workplace to navigate the environment. This soft-skills test has 16 statements and the users have to answer it according to the choice. For each of the statement, people have to colour the button that described them. When people are finished with this test, they can calculate the test. Verbal communication test Effective verbal communication is dependent on various factors and it cannot be isolated from the interpersonal communication skills. Verbal communication in workplace is also associated to non-verbal communication, clarification and listening skills. In verbal communication in workplace, employees must follow clarity of speech, being polite and remain calm while communicating verbally. In opening up the communication when starting interpersonal encounters, people need to show the encouragement and show warmth and openness (Adsnan et al., 2017). In Verbal communication tool questionnaire, there are 20 questions for self assessment. In this questionnaire, there is Likert scale (1-7) and participants of the test need to choose among the seven points. Non-verbal communication test Non-verbal communication is associated with body-language of the employees and human communication is associated with 90% of the non-verbal communication. In communication process, human beings use facial expression and eyes contact to make the listeners understanding of what the opposite person is trying to convey (Kanpp, Vangelisti Caughlin, 2014). While communicating face-to-face, body gesture is important to make the words clearer. In communication, if verbal communication is the heart of communication, non-verbal communication is surely the soul of it. In non-verbal self assessment test, there are 8 questions in MCQ types. Participants of the test need to answer the preferred choice and the score will be generated after the test gets over. Self-perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) test People have different ability to communicate in a situation and in better way than others. In workplace, employees have to communicate effectively showing the of communication in critical situation. SPCC communication test illuminates the competency of the people in variety of communication context. This test generates self-report that can measure the competence of the participants of the test. There are twelve questions in this test and participants of the test have to give them numbers from 0 to100 based on the communication competency. In order to compute the sub-score, the participants need to add the percentage for the items indicated and they need to divide the total. Confidence level during presentation test Presenting own views in front of others during a meeting or in a conference is not easy. The people need to be confident, relaxed and they should perform well to impact on the audience. Delivering the presentation is part of the business and efficient leaders can do this efficiently (Shockley-Zalabak, 2014). It is associated with tonal quality, voice graph, throwing speech and process to interact with the listeners. Employees can learn to deliver the presentation in front of others by learning some of the skills. There are 14 statements containing in this test and participants have to choose according to their preference. Participants can colour the preference that suitably describes. In each answering, numbers will be generated through it. When, the participants finished, they can calculate the total. Findings of the tools Soft-skills test Soft-skills test had 16 questions and this test assisted me to make out my understanding to manage the people at workplace. This test is important for me as through this I could understand the job at managerial level. This test score ranges from 16-80 and my score was 56. This means that I recognise the working process well with fellow employees in the workplace. This communication flow is very important and I always try to work in collaborative process rather than single-handedly. It also shows that collaborative process of working may not avoid my needs and I believe that there is room for improvement from my side. During the time of stress and pressure, I cannot work properly and I need to make a plan for myself so that the communication may come out from natural basis. Verbal communication test Verbal communication test assumes the level at which I can depend on my fellow workers for performing task effectively. Verbal communication is very important to perform a task within a team and this test can show me how I am prepared to perform within a team in the workplace. This tests score ranges from 20-over 110. There are four slabs in the result and each slabs describes the potentially of the participants of the test. I fell into the category of 81-100 as I score 94. This score signifies that I am perfectly at ease in the workplace to build the interpersonal relationship within the team. I have already possessed the communication skills that are necessary for verbal communication and I have to refine the skills to enrich this for responses. Non-verbal communication test Non-verbal communication test is important to show my body gesture and positive feeling when I communicate with others. After conducting the test, I got the score between 35 and 40 pts and it shows that I am an excellent communicator in non-verbal communication. According to me face is the most expressive part of the body and in face-to-face interaction, my hands and upper-body movement are important. It is not correct that crossing the arm over the chest as it is the sign of boredom and defiance. Self-perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) test SPCC test shows the different characteristics of the human beings and the individuals need to calculate each of the factors. These factors of characteristics are meeting, public, dyad, group, stranger, acquaintance and friend. I calculated each of the factors and I scored 85 in public speaking. In addition, my scores in meeting (75), Group (83.3), Dyad (90), Stranger (73.3), Acquaintance (86) and Friend (90) show that I have medium competency in communicating self-perception. Higher level of competency shows that self-perceived communication is strong; however, my self-perceived communication is medium. Confidence level during presentation test There were 14 statements to answer the test in understanding the presentation skills. Presentation is an important aspect in business communication field as business meetings are conducted using presentation. This tests result ranges from 14-70 and I scored 55. This result shows that I have excellent presentation capability. My presentation skills are interesting and audience love my presentation. I am eloquent and my presentation leaves an impact to the audience. I always take time to prepare my presentation before I present it to the audiences. Two communication issues From the above test, I found out that I have issue in communicating soft skills. I don't have this ability to be respectful and diplomatic even when there are disagreements. I cannot keep calm when someone continuously blaming me without any reason. This skill is required to maintain good professional tone even if the individuals are frustrated. Emotional intelligence should be good enough to cope up with the situation. Moreover, I found out that I have problem regarding the interpersonal communication. I have issues in understanding misinterpreted body language and thinking about the message. Interruption during the communication is problematic for me as I likely to remember the whole conversation in interpersonal communication. I face emotional barriers in interpersonal communication as I face lack of attention and different perception. Reflect on two recent professional interactions In my previous workplace, I had to manage clients and sales. Last month, I had to handle one such client and the client was arrogant. During the conversation with the client I faced the issue of lack of soft skills in communication. Managing people is not an easy and being diplomatic in all types of conversations is not also possible. This client was continuously behaving rude with me and I broke my calmness. I also started shouting to him breaking the organisational composure. In another situation, in my previous workplace, I had to work within a team. Our team leader was good and he tried always to make a solid bonding among all team members. In a project, we had to work as a team to submit the work within deadline. Our team leader was absent for two days. During that period, I faced that I could not communicate with my team members proactively. I was facing interpersonal communication issue as I lack the assertiveness. Literature review Two issues in communication Soft skills communication Soft skills in communication are encompassed to social skills and people skills with their social intelligence, characters traits and emotional intelligence. In other words of McQuail Windahl (2015), soft skills are related to people's managing skills to navigate the communication in a workplace environment. Soft skills are necessary for workplace to perform well in the workplace to achieve the goals of the organisation. In the workplace, people face the issue of negative feedback from fellow workers and people are insincere to give positive feedback also. Managers and leaders in the workplace need soft skills of managing the employees and they need to take appropriate way to communicate with employees. As suggested by Liu Fraustino (2014), preparation when communicating anything is very important. Soft skills are associated to the team working, critical observation to employees, conflict resolution and adaptability. Interpersonal communication As opined by Jensen (2014), interpersonal communication can be defined as the process to exchange people's information, meaning through non-verbal and verbal messages and feelings. Interpersonal communication is done through mainly face-to-face communication and in the workplace, interpersonal communication is very important as people exchange their thoughts beliefs, feelings, attitudes and thoughts. In interpersonal communication, people are unconscious about the motive of communication from others' perspective. Hybels (2014) mentioned that individuals face the issue in encoding the motive correctly. In addition, employees in the workplace face the issue of inaccurate interpersonal perception as receivers can face issue to understand the message and it creates a hindrance. Emotion is regarded as one such interpersonal element of communication and both parties' emotion need to match. Theoretical perspective of communication Mechanistic: In this perspective of communication, the transformation of a message is done from one party to another. The first party is termed as the sender and another party is termed receiver. Psychological: In this communication, the transformation of a message is not just the communication between sender and receiver. It is considered as a flow of feelings that shares between recipients and senders (Fussel Kreuz, 2014). Social: Social communication happens when interpersonal communication between receiver and senders conducts properly. In social communication, content is mainly important to communicate. Systematic: In this communication, the message of communication is being prepared by many individuals through their own set of perspectives. Each of the individuals interprets their perspective in their own way. Models of communication Schramms Model This communication model was conceptualised by Wilbur Schramm in the year 1954 and stated that communication is a two-way process. Both senders and receivers are responsible to receive and send the message. The message needs to send after encoding, therefore, the sender of the message is called as Encoder. The encoded message needs to decode through the receiver, therefore, the receiver is called Decoder (Petersons Khalimzoda, 2016). There are different components of this model and sender is the individual who sends the communication and this individual can be called transmitter as well. The encoder is the individual who converts the communication to be sent and decoder gets the message. The decoder converts the language of the message to a basic understanding. The role of the interpreter is significant as the individual tries to make out and analyse the message. Interpreter and receiver is the same person. Encoding assumes to be a critical part of beginning the procedure of communi cation and converting the message into information is difficult (McQuail Windahl, 2015). Schramms model shows how the message is transferred to a group when interpersonal communication happens and this model runs communication as a never-ending process. Berlos model of communication Shannon Weaver's Model is the backbone of David Berlo's model of communication. Berlo described some factors that affect the person's components in the communication that makes the communication more efficient. Four components of the communication are the sender (S), the message (M), channel (C) and receiver (R). According to Patton et al., (2017), the sender sends the message to receiver and factors like attitude, knowledge, communication skills and social systems are responsible to decode the message for the receiver. The message is the content or substance that is sent to the receiver. This message can be in any form, audio, voice, video, media or test. Key elements of the message are related to the content, code, structure and treatment. Moreover, the channel is important when the message is sent and technical machines can also be used to send the message. The five senses of human beings (hearing, seeing, smelling, touching and tasting) can also affect the communication. The rece iver is the individual who gets the message at the end and all the factors of communication must be sync so that the receiver gets the right message. If the sender and receiver do not have the same mentality, the message won't create the same effect. On the other side, as argued by Berger (2014), Berlo's model does not have a concept of feedback and it is a linear model and it does not have two-way communication. Interpersonal behaviour theory Triandis theory of interpersonal behaviour Behaviour in any condition is partly the function o intention and partly it is the response. Couldry Hepp (2013), mentioned situational constraint is there that manages the communication and behaviour. The intention of human beings is influenced mainly by effective factors of rational deliberation and social factors. One cannot be fully autonomous in the workplace and the employee has to communicate and behave according to the workplace norm and culture. Interpersonal behaviour is influenced by moral beliefs and it can impact on emotional derives and similar cognitive limitations of the human beings. In the workplace, social factors are associated with the roles, culture and self-concept. In addition, emotional responses in the workplace are associated with the rational-instrumental investigation of the situation and consequences of the emotional responses (De Vitto, 2015). In decision-making condition in difficult situation, the brain provides the instinctive behavioural reaction f or situations. In critical situation, as stated by Hybels (2014), attitudes are shaped by evaluation of outcomes and beliefs about results, whereas habits of the human beings are affected by frequency of past behaviour. Action plan My action plan for betterment of communication is set for 6 months (24 weeks), within this period; I will try to achieve my desired outcomes. Short courses to improve communication In Australia, crash-courses on communication can be done within 1 or 2 months time length. I would like to do courses on Dealing with People (2 months) and on assertiveness (1 month). I am also interested to do a course on Effective People Management course (3 months) and it will give me benefit to improve my soft-skills. These short courses will eventually develop my interpersonal communication and soft-skills that would be an effective help for me to handle people at workplace in future. Moreover, in future, I want to continue post-graduate course on Masters in Communication from Australia based university and this course helps the professional people to develop understanding on communication. This course generally follows 20-week Professional Portfolio to develop professional skills. Reading plan I would like to make a reading plan for myself to gain confidence and motivation. Reading proper books can help me to build communication. Each night, before going to bed, I would be reading a few pages of the books to enrich me with knowledge. I want to read books on self-help and it will boost me with confidence and sharpen me in communication. Active listening 101: How to turn down your volume to turn up your communication skill written by Emilia Hardman and The Power of communication skills to build trust, inspire loyalty and lead effectively written by Helio Fred Garcia. In addition, my reading list contains Active Listening: Improve Your by Michael H. Hopes and The Power of Self-Confidence by Brian Tracy. Maintaining personal journal Personal journal helps to keeping account of daily activities and it also assists to monitor the progress. In understanding the progress, I would like to keep a personal journal to write down my achievement of weekly activities. Keeping journal will consequently increase my IQ and it enhances the mindfulness. Maintaining personal journal will help me to achieve the objectives and provide a mental support for enhancing emotional intelligence as well. Identification of mentor Having a mentor is always helpful to pinpoint my fault in each activity. Mentor can provide solution for my error. In improving the communication, I want to take help from Harris Pointing, who was my private tutor during my high school life. He was a great motivator and he had a pleasing personality. He is a well-read man. Harris Pointing used to take special classes on motivation. He did PhD in Communicative English and he has experience of taking self-motivation classes for 10 years. He has his YouTube page as well where he uploads the motivational and communication related videos. I am going to join his 4 months training courses to come round my barriers of communication. Timeline of action plan Activities Week 1 Week 4 Week 8 Week 12 Week 16 Week 24 Maintaining personal journal ? Start reading books ? Doing short communication crash-courses ? Take training under a mentor ? Start implementing in this personal and professional life ? Search on communication course on Post graduation ? Table1: Gantt chart (Source: Self-developed) Conclusion This reflective analysis helped to understand the communication barriers of me and theoretical perspective of the communication issues. Five diagnostic tools helped me to analyse the five different aspects of communication of me. I have identified soft skills issue and interpersonal communication issue. In literature review section, theoretical perspective of communication and its issues have been explained. I tried to amalgamate practical issue of communication with existing theories and models. I have also prepared an action plan for communication improvement. Through this action plan, I am hopeful that I could improve my communication to engage the people in the workplace. Reference List Adnan, Y. M., Daud, M. N., Alias, A., Razali, M. N. (2017). Importance of soft skills for graduates in the real estate programmes in Malaysia.Journal of Surveying, Construction and Property,3(2), 23-26 Berger, J. (2014). Word of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions for future research.Journal of Consumer Psychology,24(4), 586-607. Couldry, N., Hepp, A. (2013). Conceptualizing mediatization: Contexts, traditions, arguments.Communication Theory,23(3), 191-202. DeVito, J. A. (2015).The interpersonal communication book. Sydney: Pearson. Fussell, S. R., Kreuz, R. J. (2014).Social and cognitive approaches to interpersonal communication. London: Psychology Press. Ganguly, S. (2017). Action Research to Improve the Communication Skills of Undergraduate Students.IUP Journal of Soft Skills,11(3), 62-71. Hybels, S. (2014).Communicating effectively. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Jensen, K.B., (2016). Practical theories: Concepts, conceptions and conceptualizations of communication.Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication,7(2), 143-156. Knapp, M. L., Vangelisti, A. L., Caughlin, J. P. (2014).Interpersonal communication human relationships. Sydney: Pearson Higher Ed. Liu, B. F., Fraustino, J. D. (2014). Beyond image repair: Suggestions for crisis communication theory development.Public Relations Review,40(3), 543-546. McQuail, D., Windahl, S. (2015).Communication models for the study of mass communications. Abingdon: Routledge. Patton, L. J., Tidwell, J. D., Falder-Saeed, K. L., Young, V. B., Lewis, B. D., Binder, J. F. (2017). Ensuring safe transfer of pediatric patients: A quality improvement project to standardize handoff communication.Journal of Pediatric Nursing,34, 44-52. Petersons, A., Khalimzoda, I. (2016). Communication models and common basis for multicultural communication in latvia. InProceedings of the International Scientific Conference. 423, 433. Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2014).Fundamentals of organizational communication. Sydney: Pearson. Stead, B. A. (2013). Berlo's communication process model as applied to the behavioral theories of Maslow, Herzberg, and McGregor.Academy of Management journal,15(3), 389-394. Thatcher, B., Evia, C. (2017).Outsourcing Technical Communication: Issues, Policies and Practices. Abingdon: Routledge.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Lord Of The Flies Literature Critique Essay free essay sample

, Research Paper Throughout Chapters six, seven, and eight, Golding concentrating on Simon for being alone, and different from the other male childs. He depicts Simon as a black sheep in which the other male child # 8217 ; s disfavor. One such illustration is that the other male child # 8217 ; s are ever doing merriment of him, and despite that, Simon neer retaliates with returning verbal onslaughts. One large difference in Simon from the other male child # 8217 ; s, is that Simon does non fear the animal. Simon knows that animal is the immorality within, but Simon is pure. Simon is besides about saintly, for case, when Simon fed the small kids, this is a saintly gesture. This besides shows that Simon is the lone 1 who isn # 8217 ; Ts concerned with merely him, but he cares for the well being of the others excessively. Another illustration of Simon # 8217 ; s pureness is when the Lord of the Flies tempts him. We will write a custom essay sample on Lord Of The Flies Literature Critique Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He falls unconsciously to avoid the persuasion and enticement of immorality. Simon is the obvious fulcrum in the good and bad spectrum. On one terminal ballad Ralph, and on the other terminal lay Jack. One thing that Golding does is making Simon as a Christ-like figure. Simon is the purest of all the male childs. Simon does non follow orders, nor does he give them. He will non perpetrate Acts of the Apostless of force, nor will he diss the male childs who insult him. Golding is invariably giving Simon more and more Christ-like features and traits. From the pureness of his bosom, to the Lord of the Files trying to allure him. Another thing Golding does frequently, is use the literary tool of symbolism. Almost all of the of import facets of the book involve symbolism. Simon symbolizes a Christ-like figure. The Lord of the Flies symbolizes the Satan. When Simon fell unconscious, that represented the forfeits that had to be made in order to get the better of immorality. The last major symbolism was Ralph and Simon mounting the stones, in which Simon finished foremost. That was to demo that although Ralph has leading and power, Simon is the 1 who should be taking. He has the pureness an d the bosom to make it. Another literary tool used by Golding is apposition. Golding juxtaposes good and evil, Satan and Christ, life and decease, world and dreams, Heaven and Hell, and so on. The intent of this was to demo that the things that need to be done in order to last must be accomplished through the antonym. For case, The male child # 8217 ; s redemption ( heaven ) lies in the custodies of the fire ( snake pit ) that will signal a deliverance ship. Another case is the Lord of the Flies ( Satan ) speaking and alluring Simon ( Christ ) , like what happened in the desert in which Christ was stuck in for 40 yearss. Golding intentionally composes Simon as a Christ-like figure, but more significantly juxtaposes the pure good of Simon following to many signifiers of Evil. Among those evil signifiers lay fire, enticement, autarchy, killing, verbal blasting, animals, and Satan. The chief immorality signifiers nevertheless lay in the fire, the bossy regulation, and the animal. First, the fire: The fire acts as a redemption from the evil island, freedom. To accomplish freedom, one must utilize the prisoner of war ers of evil. The fire represents not only physical salvation, but also mental salvation for Simon as well. Simon must mentally overcome the fire’s salvation. He cannot be tempted by evil he must use his purity in order to obtain complete salvation. If Simon did fall to the dark forces of evil, he would surely be off the island or would he? He would live the remainder of his life pondering over what would have happened if he stuck with good. He fell for evil and because of it he never achieved mental salvation, his mind would forever live on the island. The next major evil is the autocratic rule imposed on by Ralph and Jack. They represent the very rulers who sent Christ to the hill to be crucified. They wanted complete control over the people and their beliefs, as do Jack and Ralph. They will send Simon to his grave, perhaps not on a cross, but they will send Simon to his final grave. Unfortunately, the good versus evil battles which are fought, will usually be won by bad in the beginning, and hopefully fall in the end. In history, Christ was killed when he was the good. Hitler killed the Jews, when Hitler was the evil one. Ralph and jack will kill Simon, when he is the good one. Through out history, it shows that in order for the bad to make themselves look good, they must destroy those who are really good. The last evil form I will focus on is the beast. The reason why Simon is never afraid of the beast, but the others are, is because, Simon is the beast. The beast is not really evil; he is viewed as evil. The beast is really the good, Simon, the purist of all. To the bad, the good is bad; thus Simon is viewed as the beast. Not a flying animal, or a huge squid, but the pure white heart of a human being is the real beast in the eyes of the evil. Not all the boys are evil, but if they follow the autocratic ways of Ralph or Jack, they have been corrupted by evil. In a sense, what are viewed as far as the beast, are complete opposites. The beast, which i s viewed as bad, is in fact good. The bad now fears the good, where as usually the good fear the bad. It is one big paradox with good and evil. Why are the bad so fearsome of the beast which is good, since there is an overwhelming amount of the bad, opposed to just one pure good character? Perhaps evil knows, and has always known that good will prevail over evil, despite circumstances. I feel that evil fear the good beast only because it poses a threat to the autocratic rule of the evil island. In my opinion, Lord of the Flies creates a new Ying yang, one of all black (evil) and only one small dot of white (good). The black represents all the evil on the island, and the small white dot symbolizes Simon, the one small bit of pure white good. Despite the temptations and overwhelming amount of evil to good, the small bit of good will never give up. Good fights and lives until it is destroyed, but will never surrender over to the dark side. If the world should ever become this Ying yang , what will happen when the good is swallowed by the evil?

Friday, March 6, 2020

Loss of Freedom Through Apathy essays

Loss of Freedom Through Apathy essays We do have freedom in this country but we simply choose to ignore it. We live in a democracy, the most just kind of government, where the people hold supreme power. It is an institution that is a culmination of revolutions, wars, philosophies and heroes. It is the greatest and proudest government in the world. One reason for this is that Americans have a right that citizens of Iraq and China and North Korea only dreamed they could have. It took one of the greatest military epics in history for our Founding Fathers to receive this right. It took the marching of thousands for women to achieve this right. It took 400 years of abuse for blacks too finally win this right. It is the highest and purest form of freedom of speech and as Americans it is our single most powerful instrument of self government. It is the American vote and in this Presidential election it is a right 250 million chose to ignore. This year I had the great opportunity to volunteer my services to the Democratic party. I was excited to work for the Democrats because it was my first ever experience involved with the election. For 17 years I stood as a common bystander to this great American tradition. Volunteering my hours made me feel like I was a part of something important. Mostly my work consisted of random polling. I would call people up between the hours of 7 and 9:00 P.M. and ask them a few questions about the election. With every call I hoped for the best, but it seemed that I was calling people at the time they were most irritable. Most would simply hang up, leaving with a polite "Oh, I'm not interested." Others acted militantly to my calling, slamming the phone in disgust. It startled and in a way disheartened me, the way many of the people I polled seemed totally apathetic to the political world around us. To me, spending a minute answering questions about the future of politics did not seem like to o much to ask at all. Yet ...

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Assignment - Discussion Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

- Discussion - Assignment Example Apple’s product can be marketed to a single general audience, yet Apple still targets specific segments. In targeting the parents of small children, Apple has found probably some of the most willing buyers of their product. This segment has more money, more interest in the utility of the product, and may even buy more than one. Demonstrating the applications on the iPad and their positive influence for children as a learning tool is an excellent strategy that targets that market—these parents want a toy that also provides educational value. Finally, the product positioning of the iPad, for this segment, stresses how it is revolutionary among modern computer technology as well as learning software. Alone, use of computers and software is not a new idea—but Apple shows that the iPad as a whole is entirely new. Overall, we see that this is a case of differentiated marketing, and this specific article talks about Apple’s appeal to a certain segment by making their product appear youthful, educational, revolutionary, and completely

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Entrepreneurship Unit 5 - Global Entrepreneurship Research Paper

Entrepreneurship Unit 5 - Global Entrepreneurship - Research Paper Example In the case under consideration, for a business looking for a capital investment from third parties to expand the business into a full time entity it is necessary to develop a coherent and practical business plan. This section provides details of the product or service that a business provides and market that it intends to target. It must point out exactly the reason why the business will have a competitive advantage over the competitors (Finch, 2006). This part includes successful endeavors that the business has gone through so far. This might include contracts (if any) placed for development of products and services, marketing campaigns, office and production plant location (Betkoski & Lynne, 2000). The decision taken in the course of business implementation is what leads to the success of the business. A business plan entails all the resources applied in the business and further gauges the consequences of this resource utilization. This helps the entrepreneur make practical and real decisions and goals. If planning lacks, it will certainly leave no room for success (Betkoski & Lynne, 2000). It will rather leave a business in a state where proper decision making and actions plan will not be possible and thus, may cause the business to become unsuccessful. The business plan when prepared with the elements listed above, will give the entire organization the required workforce, goals and direction. It will serve as a roadmap to follow in helping the business strive through the thick and thin (Griffin, Ronald, & Frederick, 2005). A business plan is a compulsory and a well laid, multi faceted picture of the business, with multiple purposes as follows: A business plan as discussed above is a well maintained document which helps entrepreneurs develop practical and achievable goals in order for the company to operate effectively. A well prepared business plan can also give insight to the future performance of

Sunday, January 26, 2020

The Blackburn Report | Analysis

The Blackburn Report | Analysis 1. Introduction The tragic death of thirteen year old Aliyah Ismail, caused by a methadone overdose in 1999, created waves of anguish through the United Kingdom. The resultant media uproar, the revelations about her life in care and descent into prostitution, and the specially commissioned report by social care worker and legal activist Maddie Blackburn, laid bare the heartbreak and misery of abused and distraught British children who live and grow up in care, away from their natural parents. The incident led to widespread distress, intense soul searching and a resolve by the British people to take better care of their young. Even today, seven years down the line, late evening visits to King’s Cross station and Camden Town, the sleazy centres of London’s grim underbelly where Aliyah lived out the last days of her short life, throw up sights of young waifs, barely into their teens, propositioning customers or melting into the shadows. Some progress has been made but much still needs to be done. Maddie Blackburn’s report on the incident was prepared on the express instructions of the Harrow local authorities, the body that functioned as Aliyah’s â€Å"corporate parents†[1], and had complete responsibility for giving her parental care. Her study focussed on Aliyah’s distressing life under the supervision of the UK’s programme for children in care and was largely an indictment of the functioning of the social care system. Soon after, Liz Davies of the London Metropolitan University carried out a serious case review of Aliyah’s case. It is the objective of this assignment to study the Blackburn report, in conjunction with other governmental and independent findings, and analyse the causal factors behind the still grim circumstances in which children in care live in the UK. The assignment covers the role of committed social workers, the essentiality of partnering between various agencies, and the individual and collective commitment need ed by citizens as well as corporate and governmental institutions to bring about a sea change in the situation. British society has to do a better job of looking after its brood. 2. Commentary The Blackburn report, in its entirety, covers the ten agencies involved in Aliyah’s care including the police, the probation services, the local health authority and the council. While it makes 18 recommendations, the gist of the report can be distilled into four main messages. These are as follows. The need for child care agencies to listen to childrens allegations of abuse and to improve staffs hearing and listening skills The need for closer inter-agency working on cases The creation of suitable strategies for managing older children who are beyond the control of their parents, such as secure accommodation, particularly for girls over 12 The urgent need for a way of analysing all information on a child in care so there is a clear plan on how they should be looked after.[2] Sixty one thousand young children, living in care in the UK are evidence of the likelihood of history repeating itself, of the chances of new Aliyahs emerging from the doors of foster care homes and children’s institutions. A stable home environment, free of elements like discord, abject poverty, and physical, mental or substance abuse, is particularly important for the development of children. It provides security and delineates boundaries within which young people can grow and flourish. The majority of children placed in care come from environments of poverty, domestic violence and substance abuse. They are far more likely to have mental disorders and behavioural problems compared to children raised in normal private homes. Aliyah, for example, came from a broken and extremely poor background. Her father had left home when she was a baby and her mother suffered from long term mental illnesses. [3] The following excerpt provides some disturbing facts about the extent of emoti onal disorders that exists in children living under the care of local authorities. A study of the prevalence of mental disorders in children aged 5 to 10 who were looked after by local authorities showed that they were five times more likely to have a mental health problem than children in private households. Eleven per cent had emotional disorders (compared to 3 per cent of children in private households/with their own family), 36 per cent had a conduct disorder (compared to 5 per cent), and 11 per cent had a hyperkinetic disorder (compared to 2 per cent).[4] These disquieting facts largely explain the enormous challenges faced by local authorities and social care workers in taking care of the children placed in care. Parents know the terrible anguish and feelings of helplessness that overtake families when children go astray and get involved in violence or substance abuse. The problems faced by the most committed of foster care families and institutions in looking after children with scarred psyches and histories of intense trauma become easy to imagine. Grave concern has been voiced about the high rate of psychiatric disorders among children in the care system. This concern is based on observations of children who have been looked after and accommodated for a considerable length of time. McCann and colleagues, for example, looked at the prevalence of mental illness in adolescents who had been in care on average for 2.9years. Little is known, however, about the mental health of children at the time they enter local authority care.[5] Children who come into care have to necessarily live either with foster parents or in children’s homes. They are mostly too young to recognise their feelings, let alone express them, and need urgent and competent psychiatric care. While these children need expert treatment for mental disorders as well as supportive, comfortable and safe home environments, the current situation is often unable to provide them with either. A number of social research studies have pointed to the very significant need for making available good psychiatric care and commented on the gap that exists between actual and desired conditions. Mentally disturbed children need coordinated help from a number of quarters including counsellors, teachers and social workers. The childcare mechanism needs to be truly multidisciplinary to be effective. This is not easy, especially when three vital requirements, funding, people and infrastructure, are scarce. Efforts to provide help obviously become disjointed and ad hoc, even if they do not lack sincerity and compassion. A multidisciplinary team, comprising of social counsellors, paediatricians and psychologists, analysed the condition of available psychiatric help in 1999 and concluded that the level of assistance available for children in care had significant shortcomings. These findings show a worrying gap in mental healthcare provision. The study shows that a considerable proportion of young children have a serious psychiatric disorder at the time they enter local authority care but are not being referred for psychological help. We believe that these findings strongly indicate the need for early intervention policies to help this vulnerable group. Furthermore, the complex needs of these children can only be assessed effectively through multidisciplinary discussion and strategic planning. [6] It is surprising that the Blackburn report did not discuss the absence of medical facilities, especially in the area of mental health, available for children in care. Instead of focussing on this major deficit, stress was given to the fact that Aliyah was not sent to secure accommodation faster. The inability of the childcare mechanism to give her proper psychological attention and the consequent lack of awareness about her condition are possibly the causal factors behind her numerous shifts from home to institution to another set of foster parents, i.e, until she decided to exit and start fending for herself. In this situation it becomes difficult to accept the Blackburn finding on the failure of social workers to listen carefully to children’s allegations about physical and mental abuse, without considering the situation in totality. The failure of the staff to understand the true extent of her disturbed mental condition was probably symptomatic of the broad malfunctioning o f the system rather than the fault of individual workers. The lack of basic concern for children comes through starkly when even committed activists like Blackburn feel it more important to lock up truants in secure accommodation to prevent them from causing self harm rather than to treat them for their mental disorders. There are a number of questions that need to answering on this issue. What is the methodology by which the authorities in charge of secure accommodation prevent children from harming themselves? How are they treated for mental disorders and what is the success rate of such treatment? Are these children effectively straitjacketed? Should this happen to disturbed children? The true status could have possibly been easier to study if Maddie Blackburn had analysed and detailed the medical attention given to Aliyah during her period in care. Lack of funds and shortage of trained personnel are often cited to be the main reasons that lead to inadequate medical attention for children in care. â€Å"There are fewer than 200 whole-time equivalent posts in the NHS in the UK, and child psychotherapists are not available in many areas.† [7] This shortage evidences itself at times when child psychotherapists are called upon to tend to children in care. Right across the country, children’s psychiatric units are being forced to close, or are under threat of closure. A third of children’s units in England are affected. The reasons for the trend appear to be financial pressures on primary care trusts and a move to secure more beds for adolescents. Park Hospital, Oxford which provides paediatric inpatient care, will offer only day care from around 1 April. The service is no longer taking new inpatient referrals but is honoring its current patients. [8] While this grim circumstance is undoubtedly distressing for all children with mental problems, the situation becomes much, much worse for children in care. This is because firstly, these children show much greater incidence of mental disorders than those from private homes and secondly, they do not have access to families and support systems that can provide expert private medical help, especially in situations where help from the NHS is not adequate. Apart from expert psychiatric help, children with backgrounds of broken homes, domestic violence and substance abuse also need safe, secure, comfortable and caring environments to recover from their past traumas and enter normal life successfully. It becomes the duty of the childcare system to ensure that children grow up in an atmosphere of continuity and security and that they do not need to move often between different homes or institutions â€Å"The prevalence of mental health problems tends to decrease with the length of time in a placement, suggesting, not surprisingly, that stability and continuity of care is a significant factor in a childs mental health.†[9] The true facts are again alarmingly different. Aliyah Ismail was moved 68 times between relatives, foster homes and institutions in the few years that she remained in care. Apparently, about 230 staff and ten agencies dealt with her during her short period in care. The total lack of continuity and the constant exp osure to scores of families and social workers must have created extreme insecurities in her mind. Media reports have speculated on Aliyah having told social workers about being sexually abused by her family members.[10] This, at first sight, appears to be rather improbable. The very fact that Aliyah was moved between numerous homes, agencies and social care workers would have made it impossible for her to trust individual workers and discuss her traumas and nightmares with them. Resentment at the way her life was going would have surely prevented her from opening up, other than in passing, and led to such conversations being overlooked. It thus becomes quite difficult to accept, in spite of intense media discussion and conjecture, that some of the social workers could have ben guilty of nonchalance, bordering on neglect. The problem, then, as well as now, lies with the system, rather than with individuals. Children are still shifted from place to place and placed under the care of different social workers. Part of the problem is that there can be too many people in children’s lives. Too often, there is not any one person making things happen. Children need a consistent person, not to replace their own family, but to act as their one good ‘parent in care’. Instead, many have three or more placements a year and a lot of changes of social worker â€Å"I don’t know who my social worker is at the minute, it would be nice to have a permanent one.† â€Å"You get to know one then they leave [11] Aliyah had five changes in 1998 alone. It is quite unsurprising that some children like her, young boys and girls with deeply troubled backgrounds and histories of neglect, poverty, domestic violence and substance abuse, could resort to instant fixes, to the use of narcotics, alcohol and drugs. In addition to the problems created by the constant movement of these children, independent reports suggest that conditions inside children’s homes have very serious shortcomings. It is estimated that a third of the inmates of these homes are subjected to sexual abuse and are looked after by unqualified staff despite their having complicated emotional and behavioural problems. They are also subjected to corporal punishment, made to go without food and water and locked alone in dark rooms.[12] While the absence of resources and the lack of staff are infrastructural issues that can be understood, it is impossible to either comprehend or tolerate such behaviour. Resorting to drugs and viol ent behaviour and the development of suicidal tendencies become easily understandable in such circumstances. Theft, larceny or prostitution by drug users obviously becomes consequential and is aggravated in an environment where it is difficult to give individualised attention to the children and teenagers; that too in their periods of vulnerability and when they are in need of parental support. The issue of drug abuse, alcoholism and child prostitution needs immediate and forceful action. Coordinated work between the local authorities, the police, social workers and administrators of children’s homes should, in the first instance, ensure that the supply of drugs, inhalants and alcoholic substances to children’s institutions is totally restricted. The restriction of these harmful substances needs to be implemented with the full support of the medical, particularly psychiatric support system so that they can step in with counselling and treatment in case of withdrawal sy mptoms and adverse reactions. The Blackburn report suggested that enough was not done to fast track Aliyah’s transfer to secure accommodation, the routine thing to do in case apprehensions arise regarding a child’s propensity to cause self harm. What is of relevance here is the capability of people who work in child care to judge whether Aliyah had reached a stage where she could cause harm to herself. Such judgements need to come from people who are experts in behavioural practices or at the very least from people who have received training on the subject. It is very doubtful whether Aliyah, who was shifted from home to institution every two months, was put under observation for behavioural aberrations or for detection of any signs of abnormality. While it is not the purpose of this analysis to exonerate workers who may have truly been negligent and uncaring, the childcare system simply did not have the checks required to detect such lapses early enough to take corrective action. The role of the media is important in shaping public perception; in fact, much of the information for this assignment has also come from media reports. Its power has been recognized for several years, especially in the UK, where it has been able to cause paradigm shifts in public opinion and changed the course of events. The problem occurs when media is used voluntarily or involuntarily in such a manner that the truth ends up bent, exaggerated and different from reality. In Aliyah’s case extensive media reporting, while providing detailed information, resulted in shaping negative public perceptions of the role and ability of social workers. The role of social workers and agencies came to be questioned, and essentially noble and selfless work was looked at with doubt if not with suspicion. This attitude ends up in doing more harm than good because adverse publicity reduces interest, hurts funding and restrains volunteers from coming forward, affecting, in turn, the ability of a humane society to parent children placed in adverse social and economic situations. When a child is placed in care the local authority becomes, as per the green paper issued by the department of education and skills, the â€Å"corporate parent†, in other words the authorities assume the responsibilities of a natural parent. In fact the obligations of corporate parents are even more onerous because of the high incidence of traumatised and disturbed backgrounds of the children under their care. The duties of a corporate parent, like that of all corporations, is carried out through various bodies, departments, agencies, institutions and individuals like the police, the medical services, local councillors, schools, social workers, independent visitors, the authorities who run children’s homes and foster parents. These agencies and individuals need to work in tandem with each other and with a fuller understanding of the obligations of a parent. Their duties include providing children with physical nourishment, good clothing, education, counselling, medical care, stability, continuity and constant support. â€Å"Like any good parent the local authority should put the needs of children first. This means that every councillor, every Director of Children’s Services, every social worker or teacher should demand no less for children in care than they would for their own children†[13] The need for appropriate and efficient collaborating, planning and management is of extreme importance if multi agency operating is to be successful. The childcare system is plagued with a number of problems that include lack of funds, shortage of skilled and trained workers and possibly even a lack of simple systematic working. Aliyah was able to slip through the care net and enter prostitution only because her name appeared in three different forms in the records of the local authorities. The confusion was due to a combination of her frequent movements, improper tracking by the local authorities and wrong recording. Corporate and natural parenting differs widely in one aspect, i.e., delegation. While no natural parent would even begin to consider delegation in child rearing, other than when children need to go to carefully selected and frequently visited boarding schools, corporate parenting works through institutions. These institutions work with the help of employed, or otherwise remunerated, people and rear children with whom there has never been any umbilical contact. In these circumstances a difference in the levels of commitment between humans and that of artificial systems is inescapable, however high be the dedication of individual social workers, counsellors and teachers. The much higher level of concern and care in natural parenting, caused by love and a fierce sense of protectiveness for one’s own, can be offset only through a combination of efficiently designed systems, collaborative agency working and caring front liners. Social care workers, authorities of children’s homes and foster parents must have compassion, love and sympathy for their wards. It would not be a bad idea for the local authorities in charge of childcare to see the efforts of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in many Indian cities. The nuns open their doors and hearts to every waif who comes their way and take full responsibility for the children under their care, until they are adopted or enter earning life. Their lack of resource is made up by abundance of love and genuine compassion. Very possibly some of the practices used by them could come in handy for implementation in the UK. 3. Conclusion Taking care of other people’s children is not an easy thing to do. Particularly so when issues like drug addiction, alcohol abuse, mental disturbance, runaways and child prostitution enter the picture and transform already arduous tasks into virtual nightmares. It is truly a difficult situation. These problems however do not diminish the responsibilities of the state or the childcare system to look after the thousands of unfortunate children who come into care. It remains a primary responsibility of local authorities to provide lives of dignity to children who have got a terrible deal from life, deprived of the comfort, security, love and compassion that are their indisputable rights. The number of children in care in the UK is pegged at 61,000, one for every thousand citizens. This is hardly a large number and it is the moral responsibility, not only of the local authorities and the agencies and individuals associated with the childcare system but of all normal citizens and corporations to ensure that they are provided with the privileges and dignity available to others. Lack of funding cannot be accepted, in any way whatsoever, to be a valid reason for the existing inadequacies in the childcare system; certainly not in a country with one of the highest per capita incomes a nd standards of living in the world. This message needs to be driven home strongly to every British citizen and corporation. It is their job to contribute, to make up the small deficits in money that can make all the difference to thousands of young lives. Apart from money, one of the most effective ways to deal with these children is to increase the rate of adoption. Around five to six thousand children are adopted every year in the UK. This is just not enough to make any significant difference to the children in care. Other than adoption, the children need to be looked after mentally and physically. They need to be educated and readied to enter adult life on equal terms with children from normal families. Even though the task is difficult it is not unfeasible. The introduction of better systems and coordination, greater involvement of experts with psychological and psychiatric expertise, base attitudes of compassion and goodwill, constant training and inputs for staff, a carefully drawn rehabilitation plan for each child, continuous monitoring, and necessary route changes along the way should lead to very significant changes in the levels of care. Along with these issues the local authorities need to have the strength of purpose to p urge the system of its ugly elements. Issues like corporal punishment, abuse of children and usage of drugs need to be dealt with immediately and rooted out totally. This is not a difficult task, certainly not where the total numbers involved are not more than 60,000, the capacity of one medium sized cricket stadium. The country just cannot afford to have many more Aliyah Ismails. And people need to realise this. Bibliography Children and young people and mental health, 2007, Mind fact sheet, Retrieved January 18, 2007 from www.mind.org.uk/Information/Factsheets/Children/Children+and+Young+People+and+Mental+Health.htm Your rights, your say, 2006, Care matters Green Paper, Retrieved January 18 2007 from www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/Green Paper.pdf Brindle, D, 1999, Drug death girl shuttled among carers, the Guardian, Retrieved January 18, 3007 from www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,201042,00.html Payne, S, 1999, Its not too late to prosecute those who used and abused sad Aliyah, Evening Standard, Retrieved January 18, 2007 from www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_19990817/ai_n11905733 GDimigen, CDel Priore, SButler, SEvans, LFerguson, and MSwan, 1999, Psychiatric disorder among children at time of entering local authority care: questionnaire survey, BMJ, Retrieved January 19, 2007 from bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/319/7211/675 Wahab, A, 2007, Psychiatric inpatient care for children is being cut back across the country, Young minds magazine 81, Retrieved January 19, 2007 from www.youngminds.org.uk/magazine/81/inpatient.php UK Children abandoned by the system, 1999, BBC Online News, Retrieved January 19, 2007 from news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/478613.stm [1] Your rights, your say, 2006, Care matters Green Paper, Retrieved January 18 2007 from www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/Green Paper.pdf [2] Brindle, D, 1999, Drug death girl shuttled among carers, the Guardian, Retrieved January 18, 3007 from www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,201042,00.html [3] Payne, S, 1999, Its not too late to prosecute those who used and abused sad Aliyah, Evening Standard, Retrieved January 18, 2007 from www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_19990817/ai_n11905733 [4] Children and young people and mental health, 2007, Mind fact sheet, Retrieved January 18, 2007 from www.mind.org.uk/Information/Factsheets/Children/Children+and+Young+People+and+Mental+Health.htm [5] GDimigen, CDel Priore, SButler, SEvans, LFerguson, and MSwan, 1999, Psychiatric disorder among children at time of entering local authority care: questionnaire survey, BMJ, Retrieved January 19, 2007 from bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/319/7211/675 [6] GDimigen, CDel Priore, SButler, SEvans, LFerguson, and MSwan, 1999 [7] Children and young people and mental health, 2007, Mind fact sheet [8] Wahab, A, 2007, Psychiatric inpatient care for children is being cut back across the country, Young minds magazine 81, Retrieved January 19, 2007 from www.youngminds.org.uk/magazine/81/inpatient.php [9] Children and young people and mental health, 2007, Mind fact sheet [10] UK Children abandoned by the system, 1999, BBC Online News, Retrieved January 19, 2007 from news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/478613.stm [11] Your rights, your say, 2006, Care matters Green Paper [12] Children and young people and mental health, 2007, Mind fact sheet [13] Your rights, your say, 2006, Care matters Green Paper

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Geologic History of Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon Red Rock Canyon is presently located 5 miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is 197,000 acres within the Mojave Desert. The canyon is one of several in the state with the name Red Rock, this one is located on the east side of Spring Mountain, the flat land rises to a great colorful escarpment, formed along a fault zone (the Keystone Thrust) with several peaks over 8,000 feet, and including huge cliffs and ravines composed of bands of gray Paleozoic carbonates, white and red Jurassic sandstone, all heavily eroded. The wide empty plains beneath the hills are studded with Joshua trees and other plants typical of the Mojave Desert, contributing to a most impressive spectacle. Red rock canyon has a fairly complex geologic history. The now national conservation area was at the bottom of a deep ocean basin and the western coast of North America was in present day Utah. Around 542 million years ago, Paleozoic, the area was under a deep ocean. Thick deposits of sediment, about 9,000ft, were lithified. This lithified sediment eventually formed limestone and other similar carbonate rocks. Preservation of marine invertebrate fossils provides evidence for a marine setting for the Paleozoic. Starting around 250 million years ago, the Mesozoic era, the earths crust rose due to tectonic shifts. This forced water out of the area leaving behind rock formations of salt and gypsum, this lead to the exposure of the former sea bed causing the rock to oxidize to the now characteristic red-orange color. The Paleozoic carbonates are dominantly gray in color and only red-orange locally. These pre-existing carbonate deposits were dissolved and oxidized due to sea level drop and sub aerial exposure, creating an unconformable surface (unconformity). The seabed rose slowly somewhere around 225 million years ago, causing streams to enter shallow waters, depositing mud and sand. This later became shale and marine sandstones of the Triassic Moenkopi formation. During Triassic time, the changing landscape trapped several large bodies of water. These meandering streams deposited mud, gravel and other debris like logs. In some cases minerals replaced the organics changing them into petrified wood. These are some of the few fossils found at the foot of the cliffs. These terrestrial deposits make up the Triassic Chinle Formation. Around 180 million years ago the sea levels had dropped leaving the area completely arid similar to the Sahara desert, a large desert with shifting red sands and huge dune fields. Winds shifted the dunes and leveled older ones leaving angled lines in the sand referred to as cross-beds. These in turn were buried by other sediments and eventually cemented into sandstone by iron oxide and calcium carbonate. The sandstone is locally known as Aztec sandstone; it is very hard and forms the prominent cliffs of the Red Rock escarpment. The Aztec equivalent is known as the Navajo Sandstone, which crops out in many of the Utah National Parks, so the migrating sand sea was laterally extensive. The most significant feature of Red Rock Canyon is the Keystone Thrust Fault, a reverse fault with a shallow dip. A thrust fault is a fracture in the earth's crust, resulting in a compressing force driving one crustal plate over the top of another. This results in older rock lying on top of younger. The Keystone Thrust is part of a large system of thrust faults that extends north into Canada. The dark grey Cambrian Limestone of the Bonanza King Formation was moved sideways and above Aztec Sandstone from the Jurassic era. Placing in essence older stone over younger, opposite of what we know to usually happen in geologic time and from the laws of superposition. This thrust fault was most active during the long Sevier Orogeny, a mountain building event, about 70 million years ago. This tectonic activity from the west pushed upper crust eastward; the movement on the Sevier fold-thrust was nearly 100 kilometers. Geologist believe 65 million years ago, during the Larimide Orogeny, that two of the earth's crustal plates collided with such force that part of one plate was shoved up and over younger sandstones. This thrust contact is clearly defined by the sharp contrast between the grey limestones and the red sandstones. The southern Nevada section of the fold and thrust belt was not affected by Larimide deformation just Sevier Orogeny. Like the Larimide, the Sevier Orogeny was also due to collision of earth’s crustal plates at the subduction zone at the western US margin. The stress and strain associated with this collision caused low-angle thrusting further inland, which is embodied by the Rocky Mountain topography that we see today. The reason Nevada is the most mountainous state is because the continental crust was stretched almost 100% in Tertiary time. Southern NV was affected by this extension, as shown by Fig 1 with the thrusts that are split by the strike-slip faults. The thrust faults were emplaced in Late Jurassic to early Tertiary time. Then, during the Miocene, right lateral movement on the LVVSZ split all of the pre-existing thrusts. So, if that is the case, then the rocks that you see at Red Rocks are the same as seen in the VALLEY OF FIRE. However, there are Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks that crop out in the Valley of Fire that don’t exist or are buried and not exposed in Red Rock Canyon. Valley Of fire is located 55 miles Northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada east of Overton. It encompasses 46,000 acres and is Nevada’s oldest state park. The geologic history of this park follows the same time line are Red rock. With only a few differences, the white and red Jurassic sandstone and limestone’s from the Paleozoic era. These are the same sequence of rock units as exposed in Red Rocks The Muddy Mountain thrust of the Valley Of Fire is equivalent to the Keystone thrust in Red Rocks, which brings Cambrian Bonanza King over the Jurassic Aztec. The Willow Tank Thrust is the easternmost thrust, which brings Jurassic Aztec over the Cretaceous Willow Tank Formation (thrust is shown in fig 2). Cretaceous rocks in the Valley of Fire (these rocks were deposited in a foreland basin in front of the thrust belt and thus were preserved due to subsequent burial). The Willow Tank Formation, ~101-98 Ma, dates from a fossil fern and radiometric ages from ash beds, conglomerates, mudstones, ash beds, sandstones in this unit. Which are interpreted to have been deposited in a low-lying floodplain and lake environments. White Member Sandstones and conglomerates are interpreted to be deposited in braided stream and alluvial fan environments, 95-96 Ma, age dates from ash beds. The white color is attributed to the uplift and erosion of the Jurassic Aztec sandstone on the Willow Tank thrust. So this unit is derived from the erosion of that frontal thrust Red Member. Also, sandstones and conglomerates have been interpreted to be deposited in braided stream and alluvial fan environments, ~93 Ma, age date from one ash bed the red color is due to erosion of older units (Triassic-Paleozoic) on the Willow Tank Thrust. Overton Conglomerate Member is dominantly carbonates with subordinate sandstone interpreted to be mainly braided stream deposits which the age not known. The Tertiary units that crop out in the Valley of Fire are basin-fill deposits. While extension was happening (Basin and Range), many valleys were formed and housed river, lake and alluvial fan depositional environments. So the Tertiary Horse Spring and Muddy Creek Formations are basin-fill deposits. The climate in the present day area contributes to the preservation of the outcrops of sandstone. With mild winters I ranging from 0 to 75 degrees and summers exceeding 120 degrees, the arid landscape only has weathering from wind to deal with. The rainfall rarely exceeds 4inches a year. Some of the interesting and peculiar shaped out crops include the Atlatl (at’-lat-l) Rock which is named for an ancient Indian spear that is depicted in many petro glyphs or rock art. There are many of these petro glyphs through out the Valley Of Fire and Red Rock Canyon. Atlatl Rock is located  near the west entrance of the park. It has some outstanding examples of petro glyphs. In order to see it you must climb up a stairway which is about 40 feet high. The petro glyphs at Atlatl Rock are out in the open, visible to passers by, about 40 to 60 feet above the ground. The main panel is a relatively flat surface which faces exactly east. This was verified by taking compass readings from several vantage points. Atlatl Rock shows a set of images which appear to tell some kind of story. There are many interpretations of these images. Some of the interpretations are controversial. No one will ever really know what any petro glyph that was made in prehistoric times means. Through the means of ethnographic analogy, anthropologists try to interpret the possible meanings of these images. Atlatl Rock is intriguing because it contains images that we seem to know the meaning of because they look familiar. The images we think we know are mixed in with images that we can only guess at. The Beehives are so named for their resemblance to beehives. This effect is caused by erosion, mostly wind, or Aeolian processes. Aeolian erosion has two main processes, deflation and abrasion. Nearby is evidence of the process of deflation where sand is removed by wind and transported across the desert forming sand dunes and abrading rock surfaces along the way. Although Aeolian abrasion is not often as significant as the abrasion process in streams or along shores, it is significant over long periods of time. The results are sculpted rocks with unusual shapes due to the in situ erosion. In a fluvial environment erosion results in rounded shapes as rocks are tumbled end over end. The wind based abrasion pits, polishes, facets and shapes the exposed rock surfaces in as many ways as the wind can blow. As the sand is ultimately deposited in dunes somewhere, it takes on the shapes of ripples and waves like sand under flowing water. As the sand piles up, dunes get larger. As the wind continues to blow, the dunes migrate in the direct that it does. The shifting winds and the continuing deposition of sand creates an effect called cross bedding. This is caused by the sand being blown down the slip face or leeward side of the dune. Over time the dunes that were created in this area became fossilized. Geologic process have reveal these fossilized dune fields and exposed them to erosion. At the Beehives we see the process repeat and reveal itself. The wind blown sand abrades the softer rock first articulating the layers of sand originally deposited hundreds of millions of years ago as the courser, leeward deposit remains. One of the most well known is the Seven Sisters, seven free standing rocks all in a single row. The Seven Sisters are called that because of the unusual results of Aeolian erosion on the bright red sandstone. This type of erosion is common in deserts. In the Valley of Fire wind erosion creates nature’s sculptures in numbers. Everywhere are examples of the winds action on the soft red sandstone. As the wind abrades the rocks disarticulating them one grain at a time it leaves its mark on the stone. Each grain freed from its place joins in with the wind to free more of its cohorts. The horde finally rests in dunes and then moves and shifts as the wind pushes it. Over millions of years, what was once a ridge or a mountain, has been reduced by the relentless action of the winter, water, heat and cold, to relatively slender stone pillars. Sometimes they stand together. The Seven Sister's do not actually resemble people in anything but an imagined sense. They are icons sculpted out of red sandstone by nature. They represent the struggle of all forms, animate and stationary against the forces of time and nature. A petro glyph is a mark made into a stone surface by humans to represent some object. This is contrasted to what is often referred to as rock painting, which is a design or image painted or drawn on to the surface of the rock. Those are called pictographs. Petro glyphs images are pecked, scratched or ground into the surface of the rock. In some areas the authors used a hammer stone and a pebble as a chisel. In Southwestern deserts, petro glyphs are found on canyon walls, rocks, on cliff sides where time and weather and the unique chemistry of the rock, adds a color to the rock surface. This coating usually consists of iron and manganese dioxides mixed with other things such as the by products lichens. This is called a ‘desert varnish' or patina. With a patina or varnish the rock surfaces often appear shiny or wet. Sometimes images are also cut into a surface that is not discolored. Some images on are on high, flat canyon walls or steep rock faces sometimes as far from the ground as a dozens of meters. Works Cited 1)†GEOLOGY. † Red Rock Canyon. 30 Apr. 2009 . 2)†Red Rock Canyon Geology. † Prodigy's Personal Web Pages. 30 Apr. 2009 . 3)†Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area -. † Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 30 Apr. 2009 . 4)†Thrust Fault. † About Geology – The Complete Guide to Geology. 30 Apr. 2009 . 5)†Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. † Desert Biomes by DesertUSA. 30 Apr. 2009 . Interview Kelsey McNamara, grad student at Montana State University, May 2, 2009 via Email