Ethics In Group Counseling Essay Example for Free

Ethics In Group Counseling Essay Abstract This essay provides information about ethics, as defined and regulated in the practice of counseling or therapy sessions. Furthermore, this essay looks closely at the intricacies of ethical issues in counseling and group therapies and how these compare to the ethical issues in individual therapies. It also touches on the importance of co-leadership in group therapies and the dynamics of the relationship between the leader and the co-leader. This essay also covers in great detail, the reasons why therapists prefer to conduct group therapies over individual therapies and vice versa. Ethics in Group Counseling Ethics – Defined Ethics has various meanings. Many counselors see ethics as a code of conduct or a set of moral values. Some counselors emphasize the legal principles and ramifications of certain behavior during counseling sessions, while others put a high priority on the cultural norms or societal standards brought forth within the counseling practice (Hill, 2004).Code of conduct and set of moral values go hand in hand (Hill, 2004). These are guidelines of the â€Å"do’s and don’ts† in counseling. Just as God has given us guidelines for effective and joyful leading through the ten commandments Exodus 20:1-20 (New International Version) and the examples of Christ in the New Testament, along with the epistles and letters of apostles and disciples like Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, so should the majority of the professional groups or sub-groups such as the counseling industry also have moral codes of conducts, procedures and laws. These behavioral conduct principles are geare d towards counselors for high efficiency and success rates in therapy sessions (Hill, 2004). They help maintain the integrity of the counselor which helps maintain the trust between the therapist and the patient. There are inconsistencies and discrepancies with these moral values or code of conducts (Jennings et al., 2005).Many professionals put precedence over  rules and regulations, just as many Christians can be overly zealous with God’s commands that they miss out in creating and maintaining meaningful relationships. Many counselors can also miss out on the strengths of relationships as they focus on just the foundational moral values they bring into their professions (Jennings et al., 2005) In other words, it is not merely enough to go by the â€Å"codes† in one’s profession. These codes can be too broad. One’s beliefs, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, justice and sound mind should also be a direct and large part in the ethical behavior of a counselor. Each profession, including the counseling profession must create a balance or equi librium for such rules. Legal principles, on the other hand, are governing standards that are defined to create safety nets around the counselor and around the client. Legal principles not only define the boundaries between the client and the counselor, they also define the legal consequences if such boundaries are neglected or abused (Hill, 2004). Legal principles for psychological counseling include the stringent process of handling complaints from clients. As in any law-governing body or group, complaints must be handled efficiently and efficiencies depend on the protocols and guidelines constituted by specific bodies such as the American Psychological Association or the APA. Legal principles also include the issuance and the renewal of counseling or social work licenses. Each state has a governing body that overlooks the issuance and the renewals of licenses, as well as the insurance procedures including liability claims for counseling professionals Cultural norms or societal standards are highly regulated principles set forth by a certain group within a profession. For instance, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs regulate the principles and procedures within the counseling profession. The principles set forth are guidance procedures that keep the professionals professional, and the clients protected. Such accrediting bodies or regulatory agencies also set forth educational and professional backgrounds for counselors to adhere to or live by. In other words, counseling groups require their professionals to attain certain amount of education, training and experience to ensure that their professionals are skilled and prepared to counsel clients from various diversities and cultural and emotional backgrounds (Hill, 2004). The counselor’s competence is a priority. The main  issue, when it comes to competence, is the fact that the counselor has built ample set of skills, through education and experience, in order to effectively, successfully and ethically counsel others relationally (Jennings et al., 2005) After all, psychologists are professionals who use most of their time observing human behavior and experiences and interpreting these into progressive theorie s that can benefit others mentally and emotionally in their physical, social and environmental relationships. The professional must know how to deal with people and this includes listening, suggesting, advising and creating plans for individuals. These plans can highly affect the individuals’ self-esteem and progress. Ethical issues in social work group settings are challenging (Gumpert Black, 2006). It’s far more complex than what the general public knows about. One of the ethical standards is that the group leader must have ample amount of experience in different types of group settings; must have a very extensive perspective; and must be equipped to face the obstacles and complexities that rise more commonly in group settings (Gumpert Black, 2006). Therapists must be able to overcome conflicts and tackle crises (Amato, Blase, Paley, 2000). Therefore, the therapist must be skilled in screening potential group members (Amato et al., 2000, p. 12) Conflicts are inevitable in any group setting because individuals are made up of different personalities, educational and socio-economic backgrounds and mental, physical and emotional capabilities. Ethical issues are important because they help the therapists understand their clients and embrace the diversity at hand. Spiritual background should also be considered because ethical issues also take into consideration the spiritual backgrounds, values and beliefs of the individuals. Ethical Issues Unique to Group Settings Some of the ethical issues in professional group counseling include the highly confidential nature of group sessions and the challenges counselors have in refraining members from communicating with each other outside the group settings. As simple as these guidelines sound, it is difficult for the counselor to ensure these principles. After all human beings are relational beings. (Gumpert Black, 2006). We are all inclined to create relationships as we understand ourselves and each other. These relationships have defined boundaries. In group counseling, one of the most important boundaries to  remember is to refrain from sharing private or confidential information gathered in the group outside the group. Additionally, the demand for confidentiality in the counseling profession is one that can be neglected and can inevitably cause detrimental effects not just for the group but for individual as well (Gumpert Black, 2006). With this confidentiality at hand, the trust issues are at stake and one that should be monitored closely and on a regular basis. The consequences of violating the confidentiality clause in any group therapy must be introduced and must constantly be re-visited on a regular basis. It is that important. Communication with other members of the group also propels another problem in ethics amongst counseling professionals. It creates a breach of contract among the group members (Gumpert Black, 2006). Once this breach of contract is violated, the professionalism and the integrity of the counseling group is in a dangerous and delicate stage and one that can keep the group from progressing and the individual members from succeeding in their therapy goals. One of the ethical issues in group counseling is of control, or the lack thereof. According to Haeseler, group therapists have lesser amount of control over what happens in group counseling sessions compared to individual therapy sessions (Amato, Blase, Paley, 2000). Haesler has conducted both group and individual art therapies. She concluded that although group sessions can encourage member interactions, certain members can affect other members in a negative way (Amato et al., 2000). Not only are human beings relational beings, we are also influential beings. We strive to persuade others as much as we strive to encourage one another. In group therapies, this need to influence others can be too strong that it creates a sense of peer pressure. (Amato et al., 2000) Although not all peer pressures are bad (because we can pressure others into doing what is morally correct) it is one that should be highly monitored in the groups. Every member of the group should be comfortable to freely state their feelings, thoughts and ideas and not be pressured or be influenced by other members to do or say what doesn’t come sincerely from our hearts. (Amato et al., 2000) Choosing Group Therapy over Individual Therapy Group therapies are as important as individual therapies. Many therapists  choose to conduct group therapies because in groups, members tend to feel a sense of equality (Banks, 2005) with other members, as opposed to having one authority (the counselor) and one individual (client or subject). Additionally, some people actually thrive better in groups because they like to share with others and may not feel very comfortable with having to talk to just one person. Group therapies can be the better therapy for people who dislike being by themselves. Group therapies also encourage respect for others (Banks, 2005). Since members are required to actively participate in the group, they are also required to respect other members with their opinions; multi-cultural diversities and various personalities. They are required to allow others to share their experiences with the other members. Members who have learned to adapt to listening to others and learning from them can get better results in their emotional and social levels. Group therapies are also preferred by leaders because of the exhilarating aspect of being more vigilant with members (Banks, 2005) when it comes to conflicts or negative outlooks of certain members. Therefore, group leaders have a stronger sense of keeping things more imaginative and livelier. There is nothing complacent and dull with a group because there are always different dynamics that the leader can face from one moment to the next. Group therapies can keep counselors on their toes, watching out for that dominant talker, or the negative influence in the group. They also try to find more ways for the groups to be more exciting and challenging through different exercises. Interpersonal learning also has a natural way of allowing members to reflect on a topic of issue, based on experiences of other members. Reflections can create thought-provoking questions that invite members to work even harder in probing how they feel or how they see things from another member’s background and experience. Group therapies can create the perfect environment for observation on how we can each impact the lives of others. The members of the group can witness right away the effects of good communication and right attitudes and perceptions in real time within real relationships (Vandenberghe, 2009). There are no hypothetical discussions in group therapies. There are always experiential discussions and narratives in groups. This dynamic is ideal for learning by observation. The more opportunities are given to members for observation and feedback; for sharing and relating, the more progress the group can have as a whole. As the group  progresses as a whole, each individual member can also progress in his or her own level and within his or her own sets of goals. Choosing Individual Therapy Over Group Therapy It is important to look at both sides of therapy. Many therapists prefer group therapies over individual therapies, and vice versa. Therapists who embrace individual therapies believe that group therapies reduce the sense of individualism for the patients (Piper, 2007). In other words, the patient is more likely to be influenced by other members of the group, regarding feedback and participation, rather than be encouraged to be themselves. Sharing is an essential part of therapy and some members are just not adapted to sharing how they feel with others. Therefore, the trust level also diminishes. With one on one therapy, the trust level can be gained in each session, and sometimes almost instantaneously. Many therapists also claim that group therapies are more likely to expose the therapists to personal attacks or criticisms (Piper, 2007). In other words, the observations of other members on how the therapist reacts to another member can create different perceptions of favoritism, in clusion or lack thereof, and can lead other members compelled to attack or even rebuke the therapist. This of course, can take the group therapy to another level which can keep other members from progressing. For many therapists, group therapies are more difficult to plan for or to organize (Piper, 2007). There are more challenges to face. These include the logistics of the group sessions: assembling members as well as generating referrals to keep up or maintain the groups (Piper, 2007). The therapist must be diligent in screening his or potential group members; must take into consideration the different personalities of the members and must highly prioritize the goals set forth in each session. These goals must be aligned to the goals that the members have in joining a group. A mismatch in the goals can create a disaster for all members involved, not to mention misunderstandings and conflicts. Conducting group therapies also requires more training and experience that only a few therapists are equipped with. The therapist must possess leadership and group communications skills and ex perience. Supplemental skills of forming, maintaining and ending a group must also be present, as well as working stage skills such as keeping the focus, creating dyads, and  handling negative members should also be taken into consideration (Jacobs, Masson, Harvill, 2009). This is where co-leadership can come into play. Before conducting groups, counselors must be experienced in co-leadership. The experience can give them better ways of handling conflicts and prepare them in communicating with the members as a whole. Finally, it is always difficult to avoid the subject of â€Å"budget† even in counseling therapies. Many therapists prefer individual therapies because group therapies are still not considered as a common treatment (Piper, 2007) and therefore, many healthcare management systems do not consider them as an essential in the overall well-being of the patient. With the reduction of health care benefits by the health care management companies, the acceptance of group therapy as part of a rigorous treatment plan is still in its minimal level and many group therapy claims are continuously being denied (Piper, 2007). Conclusion Being able to counsel others as a group is a rewarding and fulfilling experience. A good group counselor must be experienced in both group and individual counseling therapies, and must know his or her strengths as well as his or her weaknesses. Most importantly, a good group therapy leader must be well-informed about the ethical practices, issues and limitations of his or her profession. Having an extensive education, well-balanced experience and background, self-awareness and broad knowledge of the ethical issues of group counseling, along with passion to make a difference and good and sound wisdom can help a group therapist succeed and therefore make a tremendous difference in people’s lives. References Amato, L., Blase, C., Paley, S. (2000). Ethics. American Journal of Art Therapy, 39, 12. Banks, R. (2005). Solution-Focused Group Therapy. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 16, 17-21. Freeman, S. J., Engels, D. W., Altekruse, M. (2004). Foundations for Ethical Standards and Codes: The Role of Moral Philosophy and Theory in Ethics. Counseling Values, 48, 163-173. Gumpert, J., Black, P. N. (2006). Ethical Issues in Group Work: What are They? How Are They Managed?. Social Work with Groups, 29, 61-74. Hill, A. L. (2004). Ethical Analysis in Counseling: A Case for Narrative Ethics, Moral Visions and Virtue Ethics. Counseling Values, 48, 131-148. Jacobs, E. E., Masson, R. L., Harvill, R. L. (2009). Group Counseling Strategies and Skills (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Jennings, L., Sovereign, A., Bottorff, N., Mussell, N., Pederson, M., Vye, C. (2005). Nine Ethical Values of Master Therapists. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 27, 32-47. Luke, M., Hackney, H. (2007). Group Coleadership: A Critical Review. Counselor Education Supervision, 46, 280-293. Piper, W. E. (2007). Underutilization of Short-term Group Therapy: Enigmatic or Understandable?. Psychotherapy Research, 18, 127-138. Urofsky, R. I., Engels, D. W. (2003). Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, and Counseling Ethics: Not an Abstraction. Counseling Values, 47, 118. Vandenberghe, L. (2009). A Functional Analytic approach to Group Psychotherapy. Behavioral Analyst Today, 10, 71-82.

Brexit: Causes and the Future of Britain

Brexit: Causes and the Future of Britain Abstract A referendum was held on June 23rd 2016, to decide whether the United Kingdom (UK) should leave or remain as a part of the European Union (EU). This vote is commonly referred to as Brexit merging words Britain and Exit. The 4 nations of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) voted to leave the EU. This paper explores the reasons for the Brexit, its global implications, the current situation and what lies ahead. Keywords:   Referendum, United Kingdom, Brexit, European Union. On June 23rd 2016, a referendum was held to decide whether the UK should leave or remain as a part of the EU, also known as Brexit. The 4 nations of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) participated in the referendum with leave winning by 51.9% to 48.1%, with almost 30 million people voting (Hunt A. & Wheeler B., 2017). To understand the reasons for the referendum and why the UK voted to leave the EU, a brief history of the relationship between the UK with the EU is studied. The reasons to vote for and against Brexit as also analyzed, along with its global consequences. Finally, the current situation and how much of the Brexit has been implemented is discussed. European Union and its History with the United Kingdom After the end of the Second World War, the European nations wanted to end the frequent and costly wars between neighbors. In 1957, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), or ‘Common Market’. (European Union, n. d., para 2). EEC was formed with the goal of economic cooperation between the European nations. The 1960s improved the economy of the EEC members as they started trading without charging custom duties when they traded with each other. On January 1 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the EEC. Greece became the 10th nation in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal five years later. In 1986, Single European Act was signed, with the intent of allowing free flow of trade across EU borders, creating the ‘Single Market’. (European Union, n. d., para 5). The Maastricht Treaty in 1993 established the European Union (EU), of which the EEC was a main component. The EU was formed with the goal of unifying Europe’s nations under one united foreign policy, common citizenship rights, trade rights and a single currency, called euro. (Pruitt S., 2016). Although the UK became a part of the EU in 1973, the relationship between the UK and the EU has been a turbulent one. The UK applied first applied for EEC membership in 1963. But France’s President Charles de Gaulle vetoed its application, on the worry that English would replace French as the main language of the community. But in 1973, UK was finally allowed into EEC under Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath. (The Telegraph, 2016). But within two years, UK was on the verge on leaving the EEC. In 1975, UK voted on the referendum to whether stay or leave the EEC. 67 percent voted to remain in the EEC. Tension again began in 1984, when UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted to reduce British payments to the EEC budget. At that time, the UK was the third poorest country of the EEC, but was paying a lot more to the budget due to its lack of farms. At that time, farm subsidies made up 70 percent of total expenditure. The UK, due to its relatively few farms, got a very small share of the farm subsidies. Margaret Thatcher with her tough talks managed to reduce Britain’s contribution to the EEC from more than 20 percent to about 12 percent. The UK also had issues with the EU regarding France’s ban of British beef during â€Å"mad cow† disease outbreak in the late 90’s, to the decision to allow British chocolates to be sold to rest of Europe in 2000, after a 27-year long dispute. Decision to vote for Brexit In 2011, David Cameron became the first UK prime minister to veto a EU treaty. This was done to protect London’s financial sector and stop a levy on banks. In 2013, he made a speech where he outlined the challenges faced by EU and committed to renegotiate UK’s membership with the EU. At the same time, a lot of support began among British people for the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which held a hard stance with the EU. An ongoing migrant crisis and an economic unrest in the Eurozone increased anti-Europe sentiments. With the increasing support for the UKIP, David Cameron made a pledge in 2013 that if the Conservatives were in power after the 2015 election, there will be an in/out referendum. (Wright O. & Cooper C., 2016) . After coming to power after the election, Cameron promised the vote by end of 2017. He continued his renegotiation with the EU and had managed to make new deals for Britain, which he said was a strong basis to back a Remain vote. To remove the EU vote from holding headlines in the political agenda, David Cameron set an early referendum date of 23rd June, 2016. Reasons for and against Brexit After the decision for the referendum date was taken, a lot of polarizing took place for both sides of the vote-leave or remain. Campaigns for both leave and remain had contrasting opinions of the issues at large. Views for both leave and remain campaign regarding the important issues are discussed below. Main issues of Brexit A lot of arguments for the leave campaign was based on the fact of economic freedom of the UK from the EU, control of UK border from the migrant crisis and trade deals. Arguments of remain was that the vision of the leave campaign lacked convincing detail. (Buttonwood, 2016). Economic Issues The leave campaign had the view that the UK’s links with the EU meant that it cannot make individual trade links with emerging markets like China or India. Leaving the EU would allow UK to diversify its trade deals. However, the remain campaign pointed the fact the 44 percent of UK’s export goes to the other EU countries. Leaving the free-trade agreement of the EU would hurt UK’s economy and leaving EU would be counterproductive. Remain also argued that leaving the EU will hurt the banking industry in UK as trading advantages of being inside the EU helps the banks make profit. The leave campaign rubbished those fears and believed that London would remain a financial capital outside of EU, and banks would still want to be based in UK due to low tax rates. Immigration and Jobs People for the leave campaign had the view that the UK cannot control their border as long they remained a part of EU. EU gives freedom of movement to other EU citizens and an automatic right to live in the UK. (Smith-Riley B., 2016). The immigration crisis also triggered very polarized views. EU had the belief that aiding the refugees was a moral obligation. (Mauldin J., 2016). But people who wanted UK to leave EU had the viewpoint that immigration was a national issue and each country should have their own say on whom they want to enter their country. Remain campaign were of the view that leaving would not solve the migration crisis, but simply shift border control from France to the UK. Regarding jobs, nearly 2.5 million people are employed in UK due to EU trade, which gives freedom of movement for EU citizens. The remain campaign held the view that closing the borders would result in loss of some of those jobs, raising unemployment in the country. Also, businesses may invest less in the UK as they may have to pay high taxes for import and export, outside of â€Å"free trade†. The leave campaign was of the view that the job loss claims were exaggerated. In fact, jobs may flourish in the UK if they can provide better incentives to new businesses like low corporation tax. Defense and Sovereignty Issues People for the leave campaign had the belief that the UK may have to contribute to a EU army to fight against terrorism and other threats. Such a contribution would take away funds and independence from UK’s own military. Remain campaign argued that countries working together would give the best chance to the EU to counter terrorism threats from ISIS and other countries which wants to undermine the EU. Many people who supported the notion of leaving the EU believed that multinational organizations take away control from the individual nations. There was growing mistrust between the countries, coupled with a simultaneous rise in nationalism. There were calls for further economic integration after the euro crisis, which was opposed by the euro sceptics. Remain campaign argued that in this age of globalization, countries must have common economic goals to sustain a healthy economy benefiting everyone. They argued that it is better to remain a part of EU and help change the rules from inside, rather than leave it altogether and have no say in any new decision makings. What happened on June 23rd 2016? How did UK vote? On June 23rd 2016, over 33 million people of the UK countries of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland cast their vote to either leave or remain in the EU. Leave won by 51.9% to 48.1%. But the voting pattern was different in the 4 countries. While England and Wales voted to leave the EU, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted remain. But the overall vote count had leave have more votes than remain. A breakdown of the vote for leave and remain for the individual countries is given below. Figure 1. Voting pattern for Brexit of the 4 UK countries- in percentages (Hunt A. & Wheeler B., 2017) There was a political fallout as the immediate result to vote for Brexit. Scotland, who had decided to vote to remain in the EU, were forced to leave as the UK voted as a whole. Scotland wanted to go for another referendum to vote and decide whether to remain as a part of the UK, or gain independence and apply to the EU as an independent nation. Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the remain campaign, announced to resign from his position. Theresa May was appointed as the new Prime Minister of UK on 13th July 2016. From the beginning, she was firm in her decision that no attempts should be made by UK to remain as a part of EU or to rejoin it after Brexit. On the other hand, Eurosceptic leaders celebrated as they strongly wanted to withdraw from European Union, or diminish the scope of EU’s legislative influence. There was a political uproar throughout the whole country because people plunged into the phase of uncertainty that could not only affect the global political situation, but also could impact the world economy. Economic & Global impact European single market is a trade bloc, that enables free trade between 28 countries (including UK) that come under the European union. This single market not only enables easy navigation of goods and services between the member countries, and easement of several trading barriers, but also boosts economic growth, helps in effective governance of trade practices, and improves the overall standard of living in the member countries. Brexit will not only hinder smooth trade practices but will also affect the financial markets. Currency Turbulence â€Å"Just a day after Brexit, it had been seen that pound fell sharply against euro. On June 24th, the pound fell to a 31 year low against the dollar.† (Allen K. and Monaghan A., 2016). Sterling also fell against euro. This weaker status of pound against euro brought tension among holidaymakers, tourists, and exporters because pound could then fetch lesser returns and made trading more competitive. Tourists from UK couldn’t travel Europe as comfortably like before as they got lesser money’s worth after Brexit. Reduced Trade The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, popularly known as OECD, which is an association for developed nations, has stated that Brexit would bring a â€Å"major negative shock† in UK. France, Germany and Italy are the stronger members of European Union. They are also key trading allies of UK. But now due to Brexit there will be reduction of trade with these countries due to stringent regulatory policies and lesser labor mobility. UK cannot easily access the European single market. By 2020, GDP would be over 3 percent smaller than otherwise in the U.K.† (Rafal Kierzenkowski et. al., 2016) Domino Effect UK has been the first state to withdraw membership from EU. Since no other state has withdrawn the membership from EU, this could frame a pattern or design that will enable the other member states to increase their momentum of membership withdrawal from EU. In fact, after Britain’s exit from EU, Alternative for Germany (AfD) chairman Bjorn Hocke said I know the German people want to be free of EU slavery.† On the other hand, there can be a different outlook towards exit. â€Å"For instance, Scotland might leave the U.K. to become a stand-alone nation within the EU (like the Republic of Ireland).†Ã‚  (Geewax M., 2016). In a nutshell, Brexit will keep bringing rippling effect that will not only bring disruption in political front or obstruction in the flow of labor, capital and commerce; but will also increase Euroscepticism among the present member states of EU. Brexit’s influence on various industries Housing and commercial property The unreliability and unpredictability of the market after the referendum’s result came out, freaked out the Investors, which also affected the commercial property sector. Estate agents were more affected than house builders. As per Anthony Codling, an analyst at Jefferies, housing sector would be comparatively less affected because government helped the first-time buyers with financial aids. In fact, demand for houses would be vigorous but the cost of construction would keep rising. Building shares kept declining and the most affected housebuilders were Taylor Wimpy, Barkley and Baratt. In FTSE 100, they lost more than 4% in addition to their land securities. (Inman P. and Farrell S., 2016) Retail Retail sector was badly hit, which was already going through a lot of pressure. In fact, before the voting results were even declared, an atmosphere of uncertainty was creeping up. The shopping habits of majority of consumers took a different path. They stopped spending on things that do not come under necessary products. For example, the fashion sales declined drastically and saw the biggest drop in their sales for seven years. As most of the fashion retailers purchase their raw materials from Asia and pay them in dollars, they have been affected more due to the drop in the value of pound.   But some companies have benefitted as well. We know that deflation is the situation in which the supply of money in an economy gets diminished. During this time the purchasing power of money is greater. So, Brexit would help to bring relief to Britain’s supermarkets, which couldn’t earn their desired revenues in last two years due to the deflationary environment. Also, FTSE 100 index is currently at 7343.08 compared to 6338.10 on the day of referendum. This index basically depicted many companies which earned in dollars and not in pounds in UK. Hence, when there was a decline in the value of the pound compared to dollar, their returns multiplied. Telecom â€Å"Vodafone’s announcement that it could  move its headquarters out of the UK  brought one of the most striking impacts of the referendum on corporate Britain.†Ã‚  (Rhiannon B. et. al., 2016).    Since EU has a pivotal role in regulating the telecom sector, Brexit has already put forward many questions against Britain’s own telecom industry. A Spanish telecom company called Telefonica also began their assessment and evaluation of their UK based subsidiary company named O2. An attempt was made to sell O2 to Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison, but that unfortunately got hindered due to concern over competition. Later in October 2016, Telefonica has also renounced their plan of listing O2 in the London Stock Exchange due to the tumult created by Brexit. Also, there could have been rise in the momentum of Vodafone’s merger with the company called Liberty Global, which had taken over British cable group Virgin Media in 2013 to branch out into Europe’s cable market. But due to the turmoil created by Brexit, the valuation of Virgin Media had significantly dropped. Insurance Insurance companies had to mandatorily comply with Solvency II directive of European Union Law. This rule aims in harmonizing EU insurance regulation. Solvency II consists of three pillars, viz., pillar 1, pillar 2 and pillar 3. Pillar 1 states the quantitative requirements and resources that insurance companies need to maintain for meeting the liabilities. Pillar 2 deals with risk management structure, which helps to foresee risk against which capital must be held. Pillar 3 deals with transparency and disclosure of risk and meeting the capital requirements. Lord Turnbull, the former civil service head who served as a board member of Prudential, believed that Brexit would help the global companies who wanted to disassociate themselves from the complex directive of Solvency II. Also, after Brexit investors were in dilemma because of its harm on balance sheets and regular business operations. That’s why insurers had to struggle to minimize the immediate problem of share price fluctuations. Legal & General’s stock declined substantially by 30pc in two days, before it reassured shareholders that its solvency and cash generation were retaining properly. (Williams C., 2016) Energy National Grid and SSE have both urged the Government to ensure Britain remains in the EU’s internal energy market (IEM) that will enable them to perform smooth trading of electricity and gas between UK and the European countries. (Williams C., 2016). Since EU laid an easy pathway for UK to make smooth dealing in regards to receive the utilities and benefits of energy sector, Brexit would bring disruption in the whole process that ran with a continuous synergy. Therefore, the UK consumers will now have to incur more costs for energy consumption because UK’s exit from EU could lead to 500 million pounds rise in the cost of procuring energy as a resource. Transport Airline industry has also been badly hit due to Brexit. Sterling’s sharp depreciation has brought perplexity in the aviation sector because this decline in the value of sterling would reduce the demand to travel. This drop in the value would make traveling more expensive. EasyJet has already speculated that they will have less passengers to travel during summer months, and this uncertainty has forced them to rethink whether they should carry on their business in UK or not. Positive Aspects Pounds weakness would increase tourism in UK. People from all around the world can visit and spend comparatively more than what it used to be before. UK’s hospitality industry can flourish more. Big touristy attractions like Madame Tussauds or Legoland can gain more foot traffic. Even the renowned restaurants and pubs can get more customers. Current Scenario of Brexit’s Implementation Theresa May, the current Prime Minister of the UK has stated that she will trigger Britain’s exit from the EU by end of March, 2017 and begin the two years of negotiations. To begin the negotiations, she must invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, and decide on what deals the UK will make with the EU. According to the deals to be made, people are terming it as either a â€Å"hard† Brexit or a â€Å"soft† Brexit.   Article 50 None of the states have ever left European Union; Britain was the first to do so. This has created a lot of turmoil in global economy. The rules for withdrawal or exit is mentioned in Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. Lisbon Treaty aimed to make EU more transparent and efficient in functioning. It was a treaty that was agreed by the head officials of EU member countries. But since UK has left the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May would trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017. Though the decision of the referendum was taken in a day, the process of leaving EU will be time consuming. After Article 50 is triggered, no directives or rules of EU that exercise control over its member states, will be applied to Britain. Britain and EU will then become two individual parties to any contracts or agreements, and will have to take every decision through bargains and negotiations. Many economists believe that creating future trade relationships or agreements on crucial policies like immigration or trade tariffs between UK and EU countries can become more difficult and burdensome. Figure 2. Steps to be taken for UK to leave the European Union (Hunt A. & Wheeler B., 2017) Hard and Soft Brexit A hard Brexit will be an arrangement where the UK will surrender its full access to the single market and customs union along with the EU. (Sims A., 2016). The trade relationship will be based initially on the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Going for a hard Brexit will give the UK full control of its border, and decide on trade deals on its own. A soft Brexit on the other hand will mirror the current deals the UK has with the EU as much as possible. It will lose having a seat on the European Council, but may keep access to the open trade market of the EU. The leave campaign members are more inclined towards going for a hard Brexit approach, while the remain campaign wants to take the path of a soft Brexit. However, both approaches come with their own pros and cons. International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, has said a hard Brexit approach would benefit the UK by making it a global trading nation. (Sims A., 2016). However, leaving the open market may subject the British goods and services to tariffs, as well as increase bureaucratic checks on goods. If the UK decides to go for a soft Brexit, London’s position as a financial hub may be kept intact if the UK decides to allow the EU rule of free movement of European nationals to work and settle in the UK. Supreme court ruling The latest update of Brexit’s implementation is the Supreme court ruling. Justices ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot use the privilege to trigger  Article 50  of the Lisbon Treaty and begin the two-year process of negotiating the UKs separation from its EU partners. (Telegraph Reporters, 2017). Britain’s Supreme court has also ruled out that the UK government must hold vote in the Parliament before beginning the process of annulment. (Greene Allen R. & Dewan A., 2017). Though UK Government was dissatisfied with this new ruling but they would abide by it. Jeremy Wright, Attorney General of England and Wales, told reporters that they would agree to court’s ruling but would also take every measure to implement Brexit. Theresa May is playing the key role in enacting Brexit and she looks forward to execute all the plans by the end of March 2017, in association with all who voted for leaving EU. References   (1) Hunt, A. & Wheeler, B. (2017) Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887 (2) European Union. (n. d.) The history of European Union. Retrieved from:   https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/history_en#1945_-_1959 (3) Pruitt, S. (2016) The history behind Brexit. Retrieved from: http://www.history.com/news/the-history-behind-brexit (4) The Telegraph. (2016) Britain’s 40-year relationship with the EU. Retrieved from:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/16/britains-40-year-relationship-with-the-eu/ (5) Wright, O. & Cooper, C. (2016) Brexit: What is it and why are we having an EU referendum? Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/what-is-brexit-why-is-there-an-eu-referendum-a7042791.html (6) Buttonwood. (2016) Eu Referendum- The arguments for voting remain. Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2016/06/eu-referendum-2 (7) Smith-Riley, B. (2016) Leave or remain in the EU? The arguments for and against Brexit. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/16/leave-or-remain-in-the-eu-the-arguments-for-and-against-brexit/ (8) Mauldin, J. (2016) 3 Reasons Brits voted for Brexit. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2016/07/05/3-reasons-brits-voted-for-brexit/#1c8d5991f9d6 (9) Allen, K. & Monaghan, A. (2016) Brexit fallout- the economic impact in six key charts. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/08/brexit-fallout-the-economic-impact-in-six-key-charts (10) Kierzenkowski, R., Pain, N., Rusticelli, E. & Zwart, S. (2016) The economic consequences of Brexit- A taxing decision. Retrieved from: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/the-economic-consequences-of-brexit_5jm0lsvdkf6k-en (11) Geewax, M. (2016) Circle June 23. A vote that day in the U.K. could affect your wallet. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/10/481424109/circle-june-23-a-vote-that-day-in-the-u-k-could-affect-your-wallet (12) Inman, P. and Farrell, S. (2016) Pound hits 31-year low after disappointing service sector data. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/05/pound-hits-31-year-low-after-service-sector-data (13) Rhiannon, B., Dakers, M. & Martin, B. (2016) UK firms mull moves in wake of Brexit. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/06/29/uk-firms-mull-moves-in-wake-of-poll/ (14) Williams, C. (2016) What does Brexit mean for the key parts of the UK economy? Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/07/02/what-does-brexit-mean-for-the-key-parts-of-the-uk-economy/ (15) Sims, A. (2016) What is the difference between hard and soft Brexit? Everything you need to know. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-hard-soft-what-is-the-difference-uk-eu-single-market-freedom-movement-theresa-may-a7342591.html (16) Telegraph Reporters. (2017) Brexit ruling: The Supreme Court judgement in full. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/24/brexit-ruling-supreme-court-judgment-full/ (17) Greene Allen, R. & Dewan, A. (2017) Brexit ruling: UK Supreme Court gives parliament Article 50 vote. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/europe/brexit-article-50-supreme-court-ruling/ Carmen Opera | Exotic Musical Elements Carmen Opera | Exotic Musical Elements Carmen, as one of the most famous operas in the world, has been performed many times in lots of different troupes. This 4-act opera represents the highest achievement of the 19th century French opera. Before this, there was no composer could put so many elements into one performance: the strong and martial torero, amorous and sly Carmen and ardently spoony Don Josà ©Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the busy atmosphere and the blatantly passionate mob scene. Bizet, he exhausted all the talent in the opera to pump the numerous smooth, grand and graceful strain. He used his sharp realistic style with the enthusiastic exoticism to compose it. After Bizet died, Carmen finally became the classical performance canonized by the professionals and music fans. George Bizet (1838 1875) was a French composer and Pianist in the Romantic era of music, whose best work is the opera Carmen. He had a talent in music. When he was nine, he went to the Paris Conservatory of Music to learn. His most famous composition was written in 1875, Carmen, which was adapted from the same title novella by the French writer Prosper Mà ©rimà ©e. The initial shows of the opera did not gain a huge success as Bizet expected, and because of the subject and other issues, the first performance was failed. Bizet, known as a wonder kid from his earlier age, could not accept the strike and fell ill for a long time, eventually died 3 months later. However, the luckiest thing is, Carmen was performed again after Bizet died, and achieved one of the best operas and the mostly performed opera in the opera history. In this essay, I will go to look at the opera Carmen through its exotic musical style, from the diversity and identity of the music, the Gypsy and Spanish musical styles in Carmen to the European style of music in the opera. I will identify and analyze these different musical elements in the opera, more importantly, I will compare those styles to the French and orthodox European music. These musical styles will be looked at from the perspective of history and characteristics in order to illustrate their functions in the opera. The word mentalità © is a fabulous expression in French. It is created to express a national or folk conception and perception towards something potentially and acknowledged to some extent. According to Nettl, Turino and Capwell (2008, p.235) that Music may be a part of and serve as a voice for a peoples mentalità ©. Here in this context of musical elements, mentalità © is used to show the accepted perception that music has been a part of our everyday life, more likely, music is a discourse that is well known by most of the people from all over the world. Since music is being part of the mentalità ©, we may find that the music has the identity. However, due to the different cultural and national background, music varies from country to country, which can be considered as the diversity of the music. For example, eastern music and western music are totally different in the styles and characteristics, especially when it comes to the opera. Music sometimes without lyrics can only make people internalize their emotional feeling into the strain. However, opera, with the story and music in one performance, did it better in making people to internalize the show into their feelings. An opera is performing a story about ones life, whether it is a tragedy or a comedy. Through flowing in the storyline, the songs and dances in the opera, the audience can live the characters lives in the theatre. Bizets opera, Carmen, based on the novella of Mà ©rimà ©e, has become the best example of Hegels tragic beauty. Tragedy is the all-time theme of the drama, Drama as an essential dialectical genre is at the same time the exquisite place of the tragic. Theatre after drama, we might thus suspect, would be a theatre without the tragic. This conjecture is fed by Hegels placing of tragedy in pre-modernity (Lehmann, 2006, p.42). Carmen, as our leading lady, is a beautiful, passionate but dissipated Gypsy girl, who loves freedom and has the open mind without any sanction on herself. Carmen, the cigarette girl falls in love with corporal Don Jose, but after she meets the strong torero Escamillo, she abandons Don Jose and falls for the torero. Don Jose is demoted to a normal soldier because he sets Carmen for free, but he loses Carmen at the end. In the final act, Don Jose kills Carmen after he fails for begging her love in front of the people coming out from the abattoir. In the original novella, because of Carmens Gypsy identity and Escamillos profession of being a torero (Spanish torero), there is an exotic atmosphere in the story. Bizet moved the exoticism onto the stage. He added the Gypsy and Spanish styles of music in the opera, as well as the orchestral composition using the graceful European musical elements. Musical exoticism in Carmen is a matter of dramatic structure, not simply of local color. Its function is not to characterize Carmen and her fellow Gypsies so much as to map a change in the relationship between Carmen and Don Jose (Parakilas, 1993, p.33). According to Parakilas, the exoticism in Carmen is to tell the difference of the real life and the dream: fact is something that men cannot test, and escaping from fact to dream will always fall down and prove itself false. However, in the following part of the paper, we will go over the exotic musical styles in the opera and analyze them as the musical elements in the whole composition. By according to Parakilas (p.33), that Carmen has the most Gypsy style pieces of music in the western musical tradition, which is famous in the musical history. There are the Habanera and Seguidilla in act 1, and in act 2, there are the song of 3 Gypsies and Carmens dance for Don Jose. Gypsy style of music is filled in Carmens dance and songs for her identity as a Gypsy girl. In the opera, her dressing style, her ways of singing and dancing are the representation of her characteristics of being passionate, romantic and blatant. Therefore, with her own style of personality, Gypsy music in her songs and dances seemed to be stereotyped into the impression of a passionate, romantic and irresponsible young girl who wants everything in her life but refuses to pay out. To give the numbers a Spanish flavor, Bizet based the melodies on what he took for traditional Gypsy music or folk songs, which lend an obsessive, pulsing beat (Fanelli, 2004, p.182). Gypsy music in Carmen presents to the scenes where Carmen shows her Gypsy character to Don Jose, more precisely, where she shows her love to him. To Don Jose, Carmens Gypsy dancing and rhythms are the temptation which is the representative lifestyle of generosity, enthusiasm and kicking over the traces. This is what he wants. He tries to run away from his rigid soldier life. In order to get the life he aspires after with Carmen, he betrayed his fiancà ©e and fails his mothers expectation for him. He gives up his original life for the Gypsy girl. The Gypsy musical style is the vivid rhythms, without hesitation from the beginning to the end; the lively composition, without any laggard notes in the transition to the next point; the beginning is the climax and the climax is the ending. the songs are diatonic, that is, they do not veer far from traditional harmony, displaying only a spattering of chromatic chords to highlight the tense moments, or as a run-up to some theme (Fanelli, 2004, p.182). The Spanish joined the condemnation of Carmen by denouncing Bizets pseudo-Spanish style as blatant plagiarizing of Spanish music; their argument was based on the scores punctuated rhythms that saturate the Habanera, the Seguidilla, and the Gypsy Dance. Nevertheless, Bizet had no intention of writing Spanish music perse, but rather, his intent was to capture the spirit and exoticism of Spanish song and dance in essentially his own music and style (Fisher, 2005, p.16). According to Fisher, that the pseudo-Spanish style of music in Carmen was not accepted by the Spanish because of the false rhythms in the opera and Bizet was not going to compose the formal Spanish music into the opera due to the music is just the representation of the spirit in Spanish music complex chords and Flamenco. However, Spanish music has been influenced by the Gypsy music deeply, which has the same features with Gypsy music vivid rhythms and lively composition. By referring to Trend (1934, pp.86), the Spanish music in Carmen is derived from the street music in 19th century, which is the most curious thing. Also, for the people who are not from the Spanish world, the Spanish music in Carmen reflects them a Spanish style of life. In the very beginning of the opera, even before opening the curtains, the orchestra is playing the music of Toreadors song from act 4. The music is full of Spanish soul of music, which depicts a scene of bullfighting on the abattoir. It is repeated in act 4 when the toreros enter to show the sense of excitement of the crowds seeing Escamillo. With the brisk Flamenco music, Carmen puts up its features as the Opera Comique the compare of the comedy elements and the tragedy ending in the opera. Over 1,000 years ago, because of some unknown reasons, the Gypsy starts to migrate, they almost left their home silently, and begins the journey of travelling around the world. They travelled all over the Eurasia, to the farthest northern Africa. They do not have their alphabetic characters. Instead, they left many psalms and legends word by word, keeping the memories in the nation as music. They have different characters in different part of the world, they do not have a stable place to stay, always live on the edge of the life, and under the circumstance of being killed, banished, snubbed and sympathized. In the time-space of thousands of year, there are no other nations like the Gypsy, living on the strings, singing the wind and snow. On the way of gipsydom, they communicated, compromised and even fought with them native people in the world, they accumulated rich cultural ideology, including the costumes, narratives, poems, music and dancing, etc. These primitive cultural elements are becoming more and more important, while the Gypsy living status cannot be developed per se. Because of the historical and geography reasons, the Gypsy music keeps their own features and also combines the residential folks music, as well as being influenced by the artistic music, popular music and jazz music to become a complex integrity. The Gypsy music, as same as the Gypsy, is distributing in many countries in the world, including Hungary, Rumania, Spain and Russia. In the earliest time, the Gypsy only use bagpipes, and then they start to add fiddles in the playing. Using one or two violins, a cello and a clarinet can play a performance. It is often to see a performance played by only two or three Gypsies. The instrumental music of Gypsy adopts the Hungarian folk music, as well as the melody. Nevertheless, the Gypsy always extemporizes the music and introduces the cadenza, on the speed as slow fast-very fast- suddenly stop. If these features are applied into other types of music, it becomes the Gypsy musical performance. According to that Dibbell It remained gypsy music: a seductively exotic mix of whatever was at hand and whatever had been picked up along the way (1990, p.12). Afterwards, the Gypsy music borrows from the European traditional music and the urban popular music styles. The Hungarian Gypsy songs usually adopt the monophonic cappella style in the slow-beat and dance-tune. The slow-beat has stronger lyricism and narrative, while the dance-tune is more bright and passionate with a shorter length and can be repeated many times. When the Gypsy performing a dance-tune, they normally will clap, snap the fingers or use a stranger mouth-bassing together to accompany the cantus. When they singing repeatedly, they will also add some yawp into the performance to heat the atmosphere, which usually sang by men. The Spanish music can never be discussed without Gypsy music, because of the historical reasons we talked before that the Gypsy is a nation that has a broad distribution and Spain is one of its residence. The Spanish Gypsy music is as much similar as the Gypsy music in other areas, but has been influenced by the local music. Referring to Smith (2007, p.82) that Far-fetched though it would be to suggest any direct influence of Grellmanns stereotyping of gypsy mores, it is notable that Bizets search for a style with which to represent gypsy music uses many effects that suggest improvisation: the amours of the passersby during Carmens Habanera, and the ornaments of the Chanson boheme and the Seguidille, to name a few. At the same time, Andalusian music has never left the Gypsy. The Spanish music put up a strong multi-cultural character. The familiar Phrygian mode in Spanish music is coming from the Byzantine music; the descending tendency of Phrygian cantus, rich grace notes and the main national instruments guitar, are influenced by the Aerobic music; and the southern Andalusian Flamenco shows the Gypsy elements of music. Flamenco is an integrated art that combined dancing, singing and guitar playing. The passion, heat, cafard of the Flamenco reveal a sense of mourn and sadness. Bizets style during this scene resembles Spanish music perhaps more closely than any of his other exotic numbers. In its sultry introduction, it adopts the descending tetrachord progression often associated with flamenco music (McClay, 1992, p.90). The most typical Spanish music style in Carmen is the intermezzo between act 3 and act 4. The music has the obvious features of Flamenco music. In the beginning of the music, the orchestra plays a series chords imitating the guitar strum, the rhythms of the dance may come from the Fandango or Seguidilla in Flamenco. With that, under the dancing rhythms of Spanish national instrument tambourine, with the accompaniment of imitating the guitar strum by harp and string instruments, then it come the Spanish-Aerobic cantus by oboes and the tune of clarinet and piccolo. This cantus shows a lot in the flamenco music. And in the first act, Habanera sang by Carmen is also a piece of rich Spanish features and dramatic music. Seguidilla as another Spanish music in Carmen is a dance in southern Spain, which is always danced in pairs a girl and a boy, with the complex footstep, and accompanied by guitar and percussion instrument. This song is sang by Carmen when she is seducing Don Jose. And the actress who performs Carmen always sings it with dancing. The strong dancing rhythms and passionate cantus show the ebullience and unconstraint of Carmen following Habanera. The Gypsy style of music in the opera functions significantly. The first piece of music in the act 2 is the Gypsy style. In these Gypsy compositions, Bizet grasped some important features of the Gypsy music. In the Gypsy dance music, the rich cantus and bright passion of the music is played thoroughly by Bizet. Just these characters in the music represent the Gypsy people as Carmen. The opera Carmen tells the story in Spain and uses mass Spanish musical elements, which is still a typical French Opera Comique. The Spanish and Gypsy musical styles just account for part of all the music in the opera. In truth, Bizet used a lot French styles of music. And the representation of the Spanish soul in the opera the Toreadors song performed by torero Escamillo was recomposed from the French folk song. Although that the opera Carmen did not seem to be a nondescript because of combing the 2 different musical styles together. Instead, these styles worked well together in this opera. Bizets Carmen, a work of pure genius, is the climax of achievement in this direction, and much of its fame is due to the fact that everything in it is of a familiar cast. The Toreadors song, the Habanera, and the music of the opening scene in the last act were recognized as Spanish the moment their introductory phrases were heard. (Grew, 1977, pp.235). By comparing the French music and the Spanish or Gypsy music in Carmen, it is clear that the features of the characters in the opera are performed with the exotic music in order to depict their differences with the crowds. Because of the unique historical background of European at that time (19th century during World War I), the soldiers (Don Jose, the killer in the end) emotional feeling towards his country and his duty was completely twisted and false, that is the reason why the exotic theme of the opera is grasped, not only because of the different musical style, moreover, because of the unrealistic expectations towards a different world by way of changing ones own life (Parakilas, 1993, p.43-67). In conclusion, the musical styles in Carmen are diverse, with both national (French) and exotic (Spanish and Gypsy). It keeps the Spanish passion and simple, also combines the French grace and elegance. Even though the opera Carmen was created by Frenchmen and sang in French language, it gave us the Spanish lifestyle in its every second. This will thanks to the original writer Mà ©rimà ©es deep observation to Spain, and Bizet, our brilliant composers research to the Spanish music. The diversity and exoticism of the music in Carmen depicted us the real life at that time in a hopeful and bright way.

Formal Approach to Thomas Grays Elegy (Eulogy) Written in a Country C

Formal Approach to Thomas Gray's Elegy (Eulogy) Written in a Country Churchyard   Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is a very structured poem with a set number of lines per stanza, and a specific rhyme scheme throughout the entire poem. The poem focuses on Gray's thoughts while he visits a country churchyard, and ends with an epitaph written on one of the tombstones in the churchyard. The setting of a country churchyard automatically gives way to a small and unknown graveyard, and those that inhabit the graveyard are not going to be well known people in the community or in American history. Gray's form and style allow for the reader to see the churchyard he is in, and the metaphors and symbolism he uses open the mind of the reader to view the world in a new way.   The form of the poem is a very standard elegy, consisting of four line stanzas and a rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b for each stanza. The form gives a visual image of a graveyard and all the plots lined up in a straight lines row after row, and in doing so puts the reader into the same setting as he is in. The setting is not only present in the form of the poem, but also in the first few stanzas. The setting is in a churchyard after sunset, and on a very still and quiet night. Gray's word choice to describe the churchyard present a vivid picture, such as "Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, and all the air a solemn stillness holds..."(5-6). The reader can visualize the images of the sun setting over the land and the stillness of the night air from his perspective in these lines. The rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b gives the reader a mental picture of plots in the graveyard. In the first stanza, for example, the ending words are day, lea, wa... ...eople in life might never be seen due to the environment that they are living in or born into. The irony of the poem is that the greatest things on earth might not be those things that we can see and hold to be the greatest. Gray's poem makes a reader examine one's life to truly measure the things that one holds to be great or wonderful, and to look deeper into society to find the truly great things in one's life. Also, he examines that no matter how great a person in life that they will become a just a "shapeless sculpture" (79) with a name, numbers, and a lasting quote that will sum that person's entire life up. Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is a poem that truly explains that there are far greater things in life than what society holds to be great, and that one must judge for oneself what is great or not based on one's own personal experiences.

Sex Who Needs It :: essays papers

Sex Who Needs It I've found the past couple of years to be an eye opener in the world of sexual experiences. I'm not necessarily referring to my own experiences, but those of society in general. There was a time when more smart-conscious decisions were made relating to sexual relationships. But times have changed. The pillars that hold up our individual sexual values have started to crumble. No longer can we create our own standards without feeling ostracized by the society that forms the standards for us. With influences coming from the media, infatuated hormones and opinionated peers, teenagers today have turned the act of love making into a whimsical joyride. The difference between making love and having sex is miles apart. To make love, the partners involved use their hearts more so than their parts. To have sex, the partners use their parts more so than their hearts. The key to this Dr. Seuss rhyme lies in the selected noun that the partners use in their actions. Since hormones and feelings (hearts) both exist on a different level, saying that they are the same would be to take away all the feeling, emotion and love involved in love making. Teens are letting their hormones control their sexual decisions by giving in to the pure pleasure of sex. To make up for their lack of solid reasoning behind their acts, they try to rationalize their choices. The justification that many couples come up with for having sex is love. I can't help but wonder how many couples would actually stay together if their relationship existed without sex. Friends and peers are a big pressure factor when deciding weather or not to have sex. As seen in many after school specials, the popular "C'mon, everybody is doing it," isn't far off the mark. Just knowing that three or four other couples in a social group are having sex can sway a couple to give in and start hitting their own home runs on their sexual playing field. With each new couple having sex, the pressure current becomes stronger and stronger, especially for those couples not sexually active. At this point many couples get swept in the flow of the current and just go with it; they do the nasty. Once they've committed themselves to having sex, it's very hard to stop. The couple might find out that they aren't ready for this big step in their relationship, but to stop having sex would mean to lose face with friends! Well, do you think that

GMR Applications :: science

GMR Applications A Microcontroller-based scheme for measurement of magnetic field position using Giant Magnetic Resistor (GMR) in Contactless Measurement and Robotics Omidreza Esmaeili Motlagh Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Mazandaran University ( UMZ ), Babol, Iran Magnetic sensors in contactless applications: Magnetic sensors can be used for all sorts of applications where a contactless measurement of position and orientation is required. For instance in cars, where a large number of sensors are employed, magnetic sensors obviously have great advantages over their counterparts which involve the use of moving parts. Also they are variety of Magnetic sensors used in industry to simplify designs in different cases. For instance the current measurement using shunt resistor is in some cases impractical or impossible. For large currents the shunt resistors are heavy and they cause voltage drop and dissipate heat. They are not insulated and the conductor should be disconnected for mounting. Contactless current sensors may be used for remote conductors at high potentials, underground cables etc. Today a wide range of AC and DC contactless current sensors is produced. Also precise contactless magnetic sensors are always required by car industry, chemical industry and many other industries, for measurement of power and many other applications. Solid-state magnetic field sensors are moving into a growing range of new contactless applications because of their small size, low power consumption, and relatively low cost. The first aim of the project therefore will be to become familiar with different kinds of magnetic sensors, especially new GMR family and to investigate their characteristics and behavior in presence of applied magnetic field. [1] Giant Magnetic Resistor (GMR): Structure: The sensor consists of stack of magnetic and non-magnetic layers and Giant Magnetic Resistivity or GMR effects occur when these ultra-thin magnetic layers are set in close proximity to each other. Alternately magnetic and non-magnetic layers can be built up with the magnetic fields either parallel or anti-parallel, creating very sensitive low to high resistance components. The resistance of a GMR sensor as a measure for the applied field varies with the angle between the hard internal magnetization and the soft magnetic covering layers which follows the magnetic field. [2] The Giant Magnetic Resistor is a resistive device whose Ohmic value changes gradually only when a nearer external magnetic field changes its relative orientation and the originated field intensity or the distance between magnet and GMR are not relevant within certain limits. Any rotary button or knob containing a magnet on it, may work as a contactless switch when its rotation is detected by a GMR.

The Technology Trends

Coursework Questions to Alan I. Taub, Automotive Materials: Technology Trends and Challenges in the 21st Century, MRS Bulletin, Volume 31, April 2006, 336-343 Read this article and answer the following questions on its basis: 1. What is the percentage of automotive vehicles that are powered by petroleum products? 2a. When did the area end where automobiles were a cost + margin = price business? 2b. Into what did this equation change to? 3. What is the primary challenge in improving automotive propulsion systems? . What higher degree does Alan I. Taub hold? 5. Define the concept of mechatronics in one sentence. (Direct quotes are OK. ) 6. Who has been the largest user of nanomaterials in the world for the past five years? 7. What are the two major advantages of the hybrid gasoline/electric propulsion technology? 8. What is an OEM? 9. Why are fuel cell propelled cars called â€Å"zero-emission vehicles†? 10. What kind of technology is expected to avoid crashes in the future? 11. What are the two challenges that arise as soon as fuel cells are reduced to a manageable size and weight? 12. How much more efficiency (in percent) can be squeezed out of the gasoline engine? 13. Approximately, how many microprocessors are in current high-end cars from General Motors? 14. By how much (in percent) needs the vehicle mass to be reduced in order to improve the fuel economy by 6%? 15. What seems to be the best solution for the hydrogen storage challenges? 16. Roughly, how much of the steel in currently produced vehicles is of high strength? 7. By how much (in percent) did the automotive industry reduce the weight of its vehicles over the past 30 years? 18. Which two light-weight metals replace steel in currently produced cars? 19. What are the amounts of money that manufactures are typically allowed to spend on parts in the automotive industry, the aerospace industry and on satellites? 20. What is the principle process of a fuel cell (not more than two sentences please s ince I ask for the principle – not the many details)

Gambling Research Essay

Gambling refers to the play of any game where there is money, or something of value at stake. There are many different forms of gambling including horse races, lotteries, casinos, scratch cards, stock market betting, and even more recently internet gambling. Although these games are meant for recreational use, the thrill of gambling causes some people to become so involved in it that they become dependent on gambling. The effects of gambling can cause damage psychologically, be very harmful to one’s social life and can also cause many physical damages. Gambling addiction and pathological gambling is not always seen as dangerous as other addictions like substance abuse but it can in fact be a very damaging addiction to many aspects of life and should be considered a major health problem. Not everyone who gambles has a gambling addiction or even has the capability of being addicted to gambling. The majority of people who gamble do not have an addiction and simply do it for recreational purposes. But there is a small percentage of people who gamble who are considered problem gamblers or pathological gamblers. Pathological gamblers is described as, â€Å"Pathological gambling is characterized by chronic and irresistible impulses to gamble, with consequent gambling compromises and disruptions to family, personal and vocational pursuits.† (Coman, Burrows & Evans, 1997) This addiction causes the gambler to gamble very frequently, often times they will begin to make bigger and bigger bets and receiving feelings of anxiety or depression when they are not gambling. Pathological gambling can also include gambling to recover losses from previous gambling episodes, lying to family members to try and hide their habits, committing criminal acts to obtain money for gambling and relying on others to provide money to relieve them from their financial situation. This is a very serious addiction and should be considered a major health problem because it can negatively affect many serious aspects of an individual’s life. There are many different influences and gateways that can lead to gambling and even a gambling addiction. Although things like scratch cards may not seem like much of a threat to becoming an addiction, they can intrigue the thought of winning money purely by chance which is a dangerous mindset to have. Another factor that can lead to a gambling addiction is the link between the proximity from the casino and gambling participation. Living close to a casino causes much more accessibility and can add to the possibility of gaining an addiction, â€Å"additional gambling opportunities due to the presence of a casino increase the prevalence of gambling-related problems for people who live close to a casino, as compared with people who live far from one.†(Sevigny, Ladouceur, Jacques & Cantinotti, 2008)People who live closer to the casino are much more likely to just â€Å"drop by† and play a few hands rather than people who live farther and have to make an evening of it. Accessibility can have a large impact on gaining an addiction to gambling. Also, the recent popularity of poker has a huge impact on the view of gambling for younger people. Poker has become very popular in our society today and is televised quite frequently showing these players not only making a living from this game of chance, but becoming millionaires. Some of these players are seen as celebrities who can cause some younger audiences to look up to them and strive to be like them. These aspects do not directly lead to a gambling problem but they can definitely help lead to one. Technology has become a large contributory factor to problem gambling. As stated earlier, accessibility can have a large impact on gaining an addiction to gambling and the technology of internet has brought accessibility of gambling to a whole new level. Gambling over the internet should be a major concern because the increase in gambling opportunities gives the potential for an increase in problem gamblers . Research evidence in other countries has clearly shown that: â€Å"where accessibility of gambling is increased there is an increase not only in the number of regular gamblers but also an increase in the number of problem gamblers.† (Griffiths, 1999) Internet gambling websites has dramatically increased this accessibility which will in turn increase the number of people gambling. Not everyone is susceptible to becoming a problem gambler, but the more people gambling, the more people who have the chance of becoming addicted. The popularity of internet gambling is on the rise with its easy accessibility and quickness. This popularity itself cannot lead to a gambling addiction but a number of the more popular poker players on television often promote different gambling websites where anyone of any age can play poker online. The websites allow someone to play in tournaments, play with friends and play with fake money or even real money. They are very appealing to people of all ages and easily accessible all the time which makes them a threat to contributing to problem gamblers and youth gambling. When someone suffers from problem gambling, it is not only that individual that is affected but their family, friends and community as well . There can be some positive aspects of gambling in terms of the social effects of gambling. Gambling can be seen as a recreation, a break from their problems of everyday life and a nice night out. Yet these positive effects only exist if gambling is done in moderation. Once gambling becomes a habit and a necessity is where the negative impacts arrive. Often, it’s those close to the pathological gambler that suffer the most. Constant gambling takes time away from family, friends and other activities. If gambling becomes a problem, it can cause loss of trust between individuals and family members which can lead to family related problems and even divorce. Generally, the social problems begin with borrowing of money to support their addiction. At this point, many friends and family may lose touch with the gambler. Being distanced from those who are closest can cause desperation which may lead to criminal activity. Pathological gambling can become so severe that they can resort to criminal activity in a last effort to support their financial needs. People are more likely to commit crime without thinking of the consequences when they are in a desperation mindset which is what can happen after a big loss due to gambling. Supporters for the spread of legalized gambling make claims about economic growth and more jobs but opponents have a strong case saying, â€Å"†¦various forms of street crimes, such as robberies and automobile thefts, come with gambling, as well as problems with connections to organized crime†¦ The majority of Wisconsin problem gamblers in treatment that were interviewed in Thompson et al. (1999) admitted to crimes as a result of their gambling activity, primarily property crimes.† (Gazel, Rickman & Thompson, 2001) Pathological gamblers reach a point where there are no options left so they have to resort to illegal means to support themselves displaying the severity and control that a gambling addiction can have. Having a gambling addiction does not just affect someone economically or socially but it can deeply affect them psychologically. Once a pathological gambler is down money, they will make bets to try and regain that money that they have lost. Instead of cutting their losses, they get deeper into debt, preoccupying themselves with gambling, determined to win big to repay their loans and solve all their problems (Griffiths, 2001). A very dangerous way of thinking is the â€Å"what if I win† mentality. This way of thinking is especially dangerous because then they are more prone to make bigger bets with money they may not have to lose so they can receive bigger rewards. A large factor for whether someone develops this addiction has a lot to do with their personality. The type of personality someone has can have on whether or not someone develops a gambling addiction or not. Gambling is characterized by an â€Å"unrealistic optimism by the gambler† (Griffiths, 2001). For the most part people believe that optimism is a good way to live life by always seeing the positive things instead of dwelling on the negatives. Optimists are known to be less likely to suffer from depression symptoms following a stressful event and seem to have more psychological benefits when compared to pessimists. Although in terms of gambling, optimism can be counterproductive, â€Å"Optimists may be especially susceptible to maintaining illusory gambling expectations. Because of their generalized expectations for success, optimists may approach gambling with the belief that they can win.† (Gibson & Sanbonmatsu, 2004) Optimists may also have a tendency to look at the positive aspects in a situation which may prolong their gambling thinking that they will win it all back. Also, people who are risk takers are more prone to gambling addiction than someone who is more conservative. Not everyone is susceptible to becoming a pathological gambler and a great deal of the matter has to do with their personality type and how they look at different negative situations. Having a gambling addiction not only affects one’s social life but it can have a great impact on your mind and even cause physical difficulties. Pathological gamblers often suffer from stress-related disorders such as depression, insomnia, intestinal disorders and migraines. Health problems do not only occur from the gambling itself but a significant amount of people suffer problems from the withdrawal, â€Å"Rosenthal and Lesieur (1992) found that at least 65 percent of pathological gamblers reported at least one physical side-effect during withdrawal including insomnia, headaches, upset stomach, loss of appetite, physical weakness, heart racing, muscle aches, breathing difficulty and/or chills.† (Griffiths, 2001) It was also found that pathological gamblers experienced more physical withdrawal effects when attempting to stop than substance abusers who are attempting to quit. This is quite astonishing and again proves why gambling addiction is a very serious matter and should be considered just as much of a health problem as addiction to alcohol or other substances. Pathological gambling can cause great psychological damage and can cause people to do irrational things after a big loss which can sometimes even lead to suicide. Pathological gambling and suicide have been known to have a link to each other. Suicidal attempts among pathological gamblers are much more frequent than among the general public. The American Psychiatric Association did a study that with these results, â€Å"Of individuals in treatment for Pathological Gambling, 20% are reported to have attempted suicide, (American Psychiatric Association (APA))† (Penfold, Hatcher, Sullivan & Collins, 2006) For many gamblers, coping with the negative emotions relating to their issues in their life can be overwhelming. Feelings of shame, hopelessness and failure may be hard to bear which sometimes makes suicide seem like the best solution for their problems. The damage to the mental aspects is one of the reasons that make pathological gambling so dangerous. The act of gambling and casinos is a very controversial topic. There are some positive aspects to the casino and gambling that include a source of jobs and economic development. Gambling is meant to be for recreational use on occasion but it can also be very dangerous. Certain people with certain personality types and lifestyles may be prone to becoming a pathological gambler. The effects of pathological gambling can cause a lot of harm psychologically, destroy someone’s social and family life, cause physical damage to themselves which can even lead to their death. Gambling addiction may not be seen as dangerous or likely to happen as other addictions but the results from being a pathological gambler can be just as harmful as other addictions and should be considered just as much as a serious health issue as everything else. References: Griffiths, M. (1999). Gambling Technologies: Prospects for Problem Gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, vol.15, no.3, p.265-283. Griffiths, M. (2001). Gambling: An Emerging Area of Concern for Health Psychologists. Journal of Psychology, vol.6, no.5, p.477-479. Gibson, B., & Sanbonmatsu, D. (2004). Optimism, Pessimism, and Gambling: The Downside of Optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 149-160. Coman, J., Burrows, G., & Evans, B. (1997). Stress and Anxiety as Factors in the Onset of Problem Gambling: Implications for Treatment. Stress Medicine, Vol.13, no.4, p.235-244. Sevigny, S., Ladouceur, R., Jacques, C., & Cantinotti, M. (2008). Links between Casino Proximity and Gambling Participation, Expenditure, and Pathology. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 22, no.2, p.295-301. Penfold, A., Hatcher, S., Sullivan, S., & Collins, N. (2006) Gambling Problems and Attempted Suicide. Part 1. High Prevalence amongst Hospital Admissions. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, vol.4, no.3, p.265-272. Gazel, R., Rickman, D., & Thompson, W. (2001) Casino Gambling and Crime: a Panel Study of Wisconsin Counties. Managerial and Decision Economics, vol.22, no.1-3, p.65-75.