The Censors, by Luisa Valenzuela Essay -- Satire, Symbols, Analysis

â€Å"The Censors† by Luisa Valenzuela The short story â€Å"The Censors† by Luisa Valenzuela is set in Argentina during the dictatorship of Jorge Videla who reigned from 1976 to 1983. Juan, the protagonist of the text, starts the story by writing a letter to his old friend, Mariana, at her new residence in Paris. He had received Mariana’s new address from a confidential source and was too excited to think of his actions before writing and sending the letter. Later, Juan’s â€Å"mind [was] off his job during the day and [he couldn’t] sleep at night,† thinking of the letter (Valenzuela 966). He believes the contents to be innocent and irreproachable, but the censors of the Argentine government â€Å"examine, sniff, feel, and read between the lines of each and every letter† (Valenzuela 966) for the signs of uprising among the people. He then thinks of the censorship offices and the extremely few letters that are actually sent. He ponders the months or years that a single letter cou ld take to be delivered and all that time â€Å"the freedom, maybe even life, of both the sender and receiver [are] in jeopardy† (Valenzuela 966). Juan is troubled for Mariana’s well being. He knows that the â€Å"Censor’s Secret Command operates all over the world [and] there’s nothing to stop them from going [to the] obscure Paris neighborhood [and] kidnapping Mariana† (Valenzuela 966). Soon he decides his course of action is to join the Post Office’s Censorship Division and retrieve his letter to save Mariana. Juan was hired immediately as there was a great demand for censors and no one â€Å"bothered to check on his references† (Valenzuela 966). He was content to be working; all he could do to retrieve his letter was being done. Even when he was sent to Section K where envelopes were ... ...ack to destroy Juan. Since he didn’t find the letter to be important, he acted carelessly and discarded it and was â€Å"one more victim of his devotion to his work† (Valenzuela 968). Although many people would not go as far as to essentially commit suicide through the government, Valenzuela is making the point that secrets are dangerous. At the same time, Valenzuela is showing the average person can always be corrupted and caught up in their government if said government is corrupt. The most innocent person will always be tainted and destroyed by an iniquitous government. Through Juan’s letter and actions, Valenzuela depicts the satirical theme of how anyone can be corrupted by a perverted government. Works Cited Valenzuela, Luisa. â€Å"The Censors.† Elements of Literature: World Literature. Trans. David Unger. Austin, Texas: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2006. Print.

Studt guide :: essays research papers

Unit #4- Study Guide, Chapter #3 Answer the following questions, IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Of course, this is an â€Å"open book† assignment. 1. Everyone who lives in the United States lives in the same society and, also lives in the same culture. These concepts refer to different aspects of the United States. Using the United States as an example, explain the differences between the concepts of â€Å"society† and â€Å"culture.† Society sets boundaries for our lives. The United States has set out laws that we must abide by and follow. The United States is not different from other countries because of our social status, roles, groups, social institutions, and everyone's surrounding areas has established beliefs or values. Our cultures are ver different because of our languages, mannerisms, values, norms and religion. It is difficult for a foreigner to come to the United States and learn new mannerisms, norms, and a new language. A foreigner now has to adapt to a custom he sees totally different from what might have been normal to him back at his native country. 2. Explain the differences between innovations, discoveries, inventions and diffusion. Give examples of each of these concepts in order to clarify the differences between them. There are all different but somewhat similar. One can't really work without the other in life. Innovations are ways to achieve a certain goal. An example is money. Drug dealers use illegitimate ways to achieve this goal. In the long run they will discover that they reap what they sow. Meaning that they might end up in jail and arrested. Discoveries are a new way of seeking reality as a second process for change. Inventions are combinations of existing elements and materials to form new ones. People invent new drugs for the sick or some people combine drugs just to get a fix or high. The diffusion is that later on in their lives it will affect them greatly or other people might learn for them. 3. Although it would seem that symbolic interactionists would be more interested in language than the proponents of structural functionalism and conflict theory, each of the perspectives has an interest in this important cultural component. Explain why language is important to symbolic interactionists and elaborate on the interest that the other two perspectives would have in language. Language is a system of symbols that can be strung together for the purpose of communicating abstract thought.

How to build a computer Essay

Every fully functioning computer is made of the same basic components and here I’ll walk through the basic hardware you’ll need for your first build. There are several components a computer. However, it’s important to first understand what each component does. The processor (CPU) is like the brain of a computer, the thing that carries out the tasks you give it. Better CPUs can perform more tasks at once, and perform them faster. Not everyone takes full advantage of their processor’s full speed, so the high-end processers are only really needed if you’re performing intensive things like gaming or video editing. It’s also one of the most expensive parts of a computer, so if you aren’t doing these types of things, you don’t need to buy the latest and greatest. Another expensive part is the motherboard connects all the other components to each other, and is the physical base that you build everything else onto. It contains a lot of your machine’s core features, like the number of USB ports, the number of expansion cards you can put in (like video, sound, and Wi-Fi), and also determines how big your computer will be. The motherboard you buy will depend on the type of user you are. The case holds all of your computer’s parts together. For the most part, a case is less about features that affect how your computer runs and more about features that affect you and your home. Still, it’s an important consideration that is dependent on your other choices, so you might want to think about everything before buying one. Make sure the case buy will hold motherboard. RAM, or Random Access Memory, is like your computer’s short-term memory. It stores data your computer needs quick access to help your programs run faster, and help you run more programs at one time. That basically means the more you want to do at once the more RAM you’ll need. The graphics card, or GPU, is a processor designed to handle graphics. It’s what you hook your monitor up to, and it’s what draws your desktop and your windows on the screen. Some motherboards come with a GPU already integrated, which is enough to manage your desktop, but not enough for watching high definition video or playing games. Your hard drives are what store all of your data, ranging from your operating system to your documents, music, and movies. If the RAM is your computer’s short-term memory, your hard drive is the long-term memory. It stores the things you want to keep around for a while. An optical drive, more commonly known as a CD or DVD drive is what you’ll use to read CDs, DVDs, and even Blu-Ray discs. Not everyone needs an optical drive in his/her computer, but you’ll need one to install anything from a disc. The final major component you’ll need is the power supply. This does just as the name implies, it powers the computer. Depending on what you plan on using the computer for will determine the â€Å"size† of power supply you’ll need. Just as I said with picking the case, wait to pick this out until you figure out how much power you’ll need. Now that I’ve told you about all the components that make up a computer it’s time to start deciding which to use. While deciding make sure you read everything because you’ll need to make sure everything is compatible. Now that you’ve bought all your components, it’s time for the moment of truth: You’re ready to actually put together the machine. Assembling your computer can seem daunting, but it’s actually pretty easy. Here’s what you need to do. To start, open up your case’s box, take out the case, and open it up. Usually this involves unscrewing a few thumb screws on the back of your case and sliding the side panels off. Take a good look around your case and get acquainted; note where the hard drive bays are, where your CD drive will go, whether the power supply mounts on the top or the bottom, and so on. There should also be a bag of screws inside your case; grab that now and set it aside because we’ll need it in a few minutes. Open up your motherboard box and take out the I/O shield, which is the metal plate that protects the ports on the back of your motherboard. You should see a rectangular space in the back of your case where this should go. Snap it into place. This takes quite a bit of force, so make sure all four sides are snapped in securely. Next, pull out your motherboard and line up the ports on the back with the I/O shield. You should see that the holes on your motherboard line up with screw holes on the bottom of your case. There are probably more holes on your case than there are on your motherboard, so note which ones these are, and grab your motherboard standoffs from your bag of screws (they have a male screw end on one side, and a female screw hole on the other side). Screw the standoffs into those holes, and set your motherboard on top of them. Screw your motherboard screws into the standoffs so the motherboard is snugly mounted. Open up your processor’s box and gently take it out. Your processor is one of the more breakable parts, so this is one step in which you’ll want to be careful. Find the corner of your processor that has a gold arrow on it, and then look at your motherboard’s processor socket for a similar arrowed corner. Line these two arrows up; this is the direction your processor will go into the socket. Lift up the lever on the processor socket and put your processor in (Intel motherboards might also have a cover you have to lift up first). Pull the lever down to lock it into place. Again, do this gently—it shouldn’t require any feats of strength on your part, so if it isn’t falling into place easily, something’s wrong. Take it out and try re-setting it, make sure your two arrows are lined up, and of course, double check that your motherboard and processor are of the same socket type. Once your processor’s in, grab the cooler that came with your processor (remember, if you got an OEM processor you have to buy a cooler separately). It should already have some silver thermal paste on the bottom. If not, you’ll need to pick some up from the computer store and put a very thin line on your processor. Installing RAM is very simple. Find the RAM sockets on your motherboard, and pull the two clips on the side down. Line up the notch in your RAM stick with the notch in the socket, and press the RAM down into place. This might take a bit of pressure, so don’t worry about being overly gentle. The clips should snap back into place when the RAM is fully in the socket. For your video card (or any other PCI expansion card), find the topmost slot that fits your card and match that up with its plate on the back of the case. Remove that plate and slide the PCI card’s bracket in its place. The card should then be sitting on top of the socket, and all you need to do is press down to lock it into place. Then screw the bracket onto the case. Every case is a little bit different in how they install hard drives. Generally, there are two methods: on some cases, you have to pull out a hard drive tray, put the drive in, screw it in securely, and then slide the tray back in. Other motherboards just require you to slide the bare drive into the bay and then screw it in snug after the fact. Check your case’s manual for more detailed instructions on this case. The optical drive should be pretty self-explanatory. Just pull out the plastic cover on one of your 5. 25†³ drive bays and slide in your optical drive. Screw it into place if necessary. Once everything else is in, it’s time to install your power supply and plug everything in. (Note that if your case came with a power supply, you can skip this step, as it’ll already be installed). It should be pretty obvious where your power supply goes, as there will be a big rectangular hole on the back of your case. Some power supplies mount on the top, while some sit on the bottom of the case. Generally, they mount with the fan facing away from the edge of the case, unless that case has enough space in between the power supply mount and the end of the case to allow for airflow. Now that you have built your computer it’s time to plug it in and power it. From here it’s time to install an operating system (OS). There are several OS to pick from. The more common are Microsoft Windows and Linux. Each OS installs differently and each user has their own preference. Once you pick an OS read the instructions provided to install it. Now that you have installed the OS you now have a fully functioning computer that you’ve built.

Sports Event in School

Sport events in our school Sports are very important in everyone’s life as they give pleasure, health, discipline, happiness, self-control and sporting spirit. Sports can learn students’ physical co-ordination and social lessons about winning and losing. There is a well-known proverb â€Å"All works and no play make Jack a dull boy†. It is full of wisdom. After the day’s work in class, students need some healthy recreation to refresh their minds. Education without sports is really incomplete. So, sports are important in every school for clever and healthy students.They are several kinds of sports some are outdoor and some are indoor. In our school, the schoolboys play football, volleyball, basketball, table -tennis, chess, and so on. The school playground is no less important than the school lessons. It is on the playground that we learn to face defeat with a smiling face. So, the school playground helps the students to fight the battle of life like brave soldiers and heroes. Our school has two playgrounds to play football and two for playing basketball. There will be tournaments to play football in every Grade from Grade-4 to Grade-11.There is an each team in every section and so if there are six sections in Grade-9, there will be six teams and a tournament is held until there are two teams to pay the final match. All schoolboys look active and alert with their team track-suit. There are also tournaments to play each sport. Teachers in charge will take care of their pupils in playground during tournament. They give them fresh limes and purified drinking water. The red-cross schoolboys and teachers are ready to help the injured players. The Headmaster will give the prize to the winners and the champion team who gets the first prize will take a group photograph.In January, there are interschool sports competitions that include track and field sports such as running, jumping and throwing events. The running events are sprints, middle d istance races, long distance races, hurdle and relay races. The jumping events are high jump and pole vault. The throwing events are short put, discus and javelin. Team sports can be played by two teams. A team has been organized with some players. They must have team-spirit and they fight the rival team collectively. Thus team sports make one less selfish. They know the value of team work and playing together makes them friendlier.A player must have stamina and be patient. He must not easily down-hearted. If the players of one team become excited, they may lose their chance. The carelessness of one may make the team defeated. So, players are inspired team-spirit by playing team sports. A true sportsman never thinks of winning the sports by hook or by crook. He never wins victory by foul play and we know that â€Å"Honesty is the best policy†. So team sports are essential to health, happiness, progress and unity. We gain a lot of benefits from playing sport events and student s should take part in these sport events.

Decision-Making Approaches Essay

There are many decision-making approaches and they all depend on the situation that the decision maker(s) is in. In the second case where there are infection cases in a certain hospital, the duty of the administration is to make a decision that makes sure the problem subsides. One of the main approaches that the management can use in such a case is the vision-led approach. The vision of a company is one of the best tools to show what the organization stands for. The vision also shows the core values of the hospital. If one of the nurses does not act according to the core values of the organization, they ought to take action. This approach involves the administration calling the nurses and pointing out the issues. The organization then relays the mission, vision and core values of the hospital and acts according to what they stipulate (Jones & Beck, 1996). The second approach is the consensus-led decision approach. In this method, the stakeholders, management and nurses sit down and look for ways to come up with solutions. In this kind of approach, every person has a chance to propose solutions and they all take votes to choose the most viable one. Explain why this decision is better made by a group rather than by an individual. A decision is best made by a group than an individual because the group raises issues that the individuals may not have known. The group also feels involved and they make sure that they implement the proposed solution. This approach makes sure that there is a collaboration from all the members of the hospital. In this style of decision-making, the nurses and workers also get to know the gravity of the situation and they are involved. The workers also give information on what is happening in the departments. Discuss the  advantages and disadvantages of the group decision-making process for this scenario. Consensus or collaborative decision-making has many advantages and they are the reason why it is the best approach in this scenario (Chong & Benli, 2005). A consensus group is a stronger than a group of one because it is committed to finding concrete solutions. When people come together with one mission, they do better than an individual. In a consensus group, the hospital has more information, ideas and suggestions. Some of the ideas are viable and they are ideas that people can follow and live with. A group comes up with creative solutions. For example, in this scenario, the administration may have the idea of getting rid of some nurses while there may be better ideas like increasing cleanliness and sanitation. Consensus is amicable and it makes people like they are part of a team. When people feel valuable and part of a group, they make sure that they work hard to fulfill the things that the group set put to do. This decision-making approach is applicable to many types of situations (Yearwood & Stranieri, 2012). In conclusion, the disadvantage of consensus is that it takes a lot of time. If a person or group is trying to make a hasty decision, this is not the best approach because it involves gathering everybody, listening to opinions and then voting for the best decisions. If there are two great ideas, it takes time to decide what the better ideas is. This method does not work for large numbers of people. There is the likelihood of many people disagreeing with the decision. References Chong, P., & Benli, Ãâ€". (2005). Consensus in team decision making involving resource allocation. Management Decision, 43(9), 1147-1160. Doi: 10.1108/00251740510626245 Jones, R., & Beck, S. (1996). Decision-making in nursing. Albany: Delmar Publishers. Yearwood, J., & Stranieri, A. (2012). Approaches for community decision-making and collective reasoning. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Beta Blocker in Case of Heart Failure Essay

Introduction : Beta-blockers, also known as beta antagonists, beta-adrenergic blocking agents, or beta-adrenergic antagonists, are drugs that are prescribed to treat several different types of conditions, including hypertension (high blood pressure), angina, some abnormal heart rhythms, heart attack (myocardial infarction), anxiety, migraine, glaucoma, and overactive thyroid symptoms. Beta-blockers block the action of the sympathetic nervous system of the heart, thus reducing stress on the heart. The sympathetic nervous system activates the â€Å"fight or flight† response. It is part of the autonomic nervous system. Beta-blockers block beta-adrenergic substances, such as apinephrine (adrenaline) in the autonomic nervous system (involuntary nervous system). They slow down the heart beat, decrease the force of the contractions of the heart muscles, and reduce blood vessel contraction in the heart, brain, as well as the rest of the body. Generic Names:| Carvedilol / Metoprolol / Atenolol / Bisprolol / Propranolol / Timolol| Brand Names:| Coreg / Lopressor, Toprol XL / Tenormin / Zebeta / Inderal / Blocadren| How it is given:| Oral (tablet or capsule), intravenous (IV)| Indications : Doctors may prescribe beta-blockers for patients with tachycardias (rapid heart rates). They help patients with angina by lowering the amount of oxygen the heart muscles require. Angina pectoris occurs when the heart requires more oxygen than it is getting. Beta-blockers can help hypertensive patients because their effects on blood vessels lower blood pressure. Patients with hereditary tremors as well as those who suffer from migraines may benefit from taking beta-blockers. In other words, beta-blockers are known as beta- adrenoreceptor blocking agents and are used to treat: Commonly * Angina * Heart failure * High blood pressure (hypertension) * Irregular heart beat (atrial fibrillation) * Myocardial infarction (heart attack)   less commonly * Prevention of migraine * Thyrotoxicosis (overactive thyroid) * Anxiety * Tremor * Glaucoma (as eye drops) ————————————————- The first clinically useful beta adrenergic receptor antagonist was called Propranolol. It was invented by Sir James W. Black (born 1924), a Scottish doctor and pharmacologist. Sir James also synthesized Cimetidine (for the treatment of heartburn and peptic ulcers) and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988. Propranolol revolutionized the medical management of angina pectoris – it is considered as one of the major contributions to clinical medicine and pharmacology of the 20th century. Mechanism of work : The use of beta blockers in heart failure is primarily associated with the medication’s effect on heart rate. The medication, by way of the sympathetic nervous system, decreases the patient’s heart rate, preventing the heart from having to work harder because of the condition. This effect was not considered desirable for heart failure patients when the medication was first studied, however. A lowered heart rate has the risk of worsening heart failure symptoms, but as research continued, beta blockers proved to have benefits that outweighed this risk. The exact etiology of the case of heart failure is of importance when a doctor is deciding whether to use beta blockers. A case that is present because of impaired ventricular filling, in contrast to a case caused by impaired ventricular emptying, seems to respond better to beta blockers in heart failure. In addition to their sympathetic action on heart muscle, beta blockers in heart failure influence the kidney’s renin/angiotensin system. Beta blocking medications cause the secretion of the hormone, renin, to decrease. As renin decreases, a cascade of events transpires that decrease the heart’s demand for oxygen. The cascade lowers extracellular fluid volume and increases the blood’s ability to hold and carry oxygen to body tissues. Beta blocker treatment can be supplemented, and is supplemented in most cases, with diuretics and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors that enhance this effect. Patients who have significant dyspnea — shortness of breath — while they remain at rest are among those who may not be candidates for treatment with beta blockers. Having severe dyspnea can increase the risks that are associated with beta blocker treatment. Some patients are considered hemodynamically unstable if their blood does not carry oxygen well, even under normal circumstances; these patients may not be good candidates for treatment either. Heart problems – for a patient with heart problems beta-blockers can reduce the workload for the heart; so that it does not have to work so hard to supply all parts of the body with oxygen-rich blood. For people with angina, heart failure, or after a heart attack, reducing the heart’s workload is crucial. Drugs Used in case of Heart Failure : * Propranolol * Metoprolol tartrate (Lopressor) and metoprolol succinate (Toprol XL)| * | * Carvedilol (Coreg)| * | * Bucindolol (Bextra)| * | * Bisoprolol (Zebeta)| * | Side Effects : The most common side effects are: * Cold feet * Cold hands * Diarrhea * Fatigue * Nausea * Very slow heartbeat The following less common side effects are also possible: * Sleeping difficulties and disturbances * Bad dreams (nightmares) * Erectile dysfunction (male inability to achieve or sustain an erection during sex) References : Myo clinic www.Hearthealthywomen.com http://www.wisegeek.com

Difference Between Behaviourism and Cognitism

When the Cognitive Revolution overturned Behaviorism as the dominant paradigm of learning, many people believed cognitivism to be radically different than behaviorism as it tried to explain many of the characteristics of learning that behaviorism failed to account for. For example, behaviorism emphasized only the change in outward behavior, which they defined as learning. Behaviorism declares the mechanistic and deterministic views of the law of effect, classical and operant conditioning, and ultimately the explanation of learning due purely to biological factors.Behaviorism considers factors such as reinforcement history and maturation levels in affecting the ability it learn, and emphasizes maintaining learned behavior through repeated reviews of expectations and schedules of reinforcement. Cognitivism, on the other hand, defines learning more broadly to include a change in thinking, beliefs, attitudes, and values. It emphasizes the role of the mind as a schematic network and recog nizes the importance of prior knowledge in making new connections.Ultimately, learning is compared to a computer model of processing information, which includes many processes that cannot be seen or measured. Cognitivism focuses on the role of memory in storing and retrieving knowledge. Transfer is seen as being the goal of acquiring knowledge so that people can apply that knowledge in new domains. Also, Cognitivism recognizes the influence of motivation on learning in encouraging people to learn things to a greater degree.Cognitivism accounts for more complex forms of thinking and learning. Although these two theories have many significant differences, they also have some similarities. Although I feel the cognitive psychology went a lot further in explaining the nature of learning, it does not completely escape the criticisms of behaviorism as far as mechanism and determinism. According to Williams, even though the cognitive revolution tried to remedy the mechanistic and determinis tic aspects of behaviorism, it did not succeed.Both behaviorism and cognitivism are mechanistic and deterministic. In both behaviorism and cognitivism, people are seen as mechanical machines that react according to circumstance and behavior can be predicted based on either a Stimulus-Response or according to the information inputted into the computer machine. They are both missing significant factors of learning as far as accounting for learning in social contexts.They also both have aspects of a â€Å"black box† in them that does not completely explain how or why the learning occurs. For behaviorism, the â€Å"black box† is the explanation between stimulus and response. In Cognitivism, it is how the central executive works, or what controls the working memory. Williams pointed out that theories just create homunculi that are like little men in our brains controlling what’s going on, but never really explaining anything more for us.