Vocabulary Quiz #1

Vocabulary Quiz #1 Vocabulary Quiz #1 Vocabulary Quiz #1 By Mark Nichol In each sentence, choose the correct word from the pair of similar terms. (If both words possibly can be correct, choose the more plausible one.) 1. He was __________ about whether the change was a good idea. a) ambivalent b) ambiguous 2. Her score on the test was _______________. a) exceptionable b) exceptional 3. His ________ companion became even more obnoxious as the night wore on. a) arrant b) errant 4. I asked them to ___________ my latest short story. a) criticize b) critique 5. She delivered the ____________ at her father’s memorial service. a) elegy b) eulogy Solutions 1. He was ambivalent about whether the change was a good idea. Ambivalent means contradictory or unsure. Ambiguous, on the other hand, involves something that can be understood in two or more possible ways. 2. Her score on the test was exceptional. Exceptional is the right word in this context. Exceptionable means being likely to cause objection. 3. His arrant companion became even more obnoxious as the night wore on. Arrant means without moderation, while errant means traveling or given to traveling. 4. I asked them to critique my latest short story. Critique means to evaluate both the merits and demerits, while criticize usually means to find faults on something. 5. She delivered the eulogy at her father’s memorial service. Eulogy is a a commendatory oration or writing, while elegy refers to a poem or song. Give a thumbs up to our latest YouTube video: 30 Baseball Idioms Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Quizzes category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of PhrasesThe Difference Between "will" and "shall"5 Tips to Understand Hyphenated Words

Multilingual Create a Secondary Language Profile on LinkedIn

Multilingual Create a Secondary Language Profile on LinkedIn In July 2013, I wrote an article about how to write a secondary language profile on LinkedIn. I have never received as many comments on LinkedIn as I did on that article. Since the LinkedIn is always changing, and the information in that article is now out of date, I’m offering this useful update for any bilingual or multilingual LinkedIn users out there who want to have a profile in a second language. The general rule on LinkedIn is that you may only have one profile; having multiple profiles is a violation of the Terms of Service that could get you booted off the site. However, there is one exception to that rule: the Secondary Language Profile. As of October 2018, 70% of LinkedIn members are located outside of the US. Because such a large portion of users are multilingual and interested in connecting with people both inside and outside of English-speaking countries, LinkedIn allows users to set up additional LinkedIn profiles that cater to secondary languages. LinkedIn supports the following languages as of October 2018: English, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish NOTE: You cannot change the default language of your profile once youve set it up in a particular language. Its recommended that you set up a secondary language profile instead. Creating a Profile in Another Language To create a profile in another language, go to your Profile page and in the upper right corner, select Add profile in another language: Then choose your language from the drop-down menu: Youll also want to update your name and Headline before clicking Create Profile. Editing Your Secondary Language Profile As stated above, LinkedIn does not translate your content for you, so now youll need to edit your secondary language profile. To do so, go to new language profile by selecting it from the upper right corner: Once you are viewing your secondary language profile, you can edit the Summary, Experience, and Education sections as you normally would. When you click the pencil icon to edit one of these sections, youll see that LinkedIn provides a snapshot of your primary profile to help you: Can I Edit My Skills Endorsements or Recommendations? Your Skills and Endorsements cant be edited and will only appear in the language of your primary profile. Recommendations will also only show in the language in which they were written. How Members Will See Your Secondary Language Profile on LinkedIn When a member signs in to LinkedIn and views your profile, they will see it in the language of your primary account; or, if you have multiple profiles in several languages, viewers will see the one most relevant to them. The viewer has the ability to choose from your language profiles by selecting one from the upper right corner of your profile. All of your language profiles will show up in search engines and have their own URL that includes /?locale= and the code for that language. For instance, a profile in French would appear as https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname/?local=fr_FR. Deleting a Secondary Language Profile If you no longer want your secondary language profile, you can delete it by selecting the language from your drop-down list and clicking the x. If you are looking to attract a multilingual audience, don’t miss creating a secondary language profile on LinkedIn. And if you have other topics you want me to address, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’m here to serve you! You can find information like this and much more in my book, How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile. Get unlimited lifetime PDF updates when you purchase in print or PDF format. Need help crafting KILLER content for your profile? Check out my LinkedIn profile writing services or start with my 20-minute live LinkedIn profile review and well go from there!

Analyzing Marketing Opportunities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analyzing Marketing Opportunities - Essay Example GVA online defines market demand as the "total volume purchased in a specific geographic area by a specific customer group in a specified time period under a specified marketing program (GVA Online GVA, 2003/2004)." In the case of Qantas market demand is indicated by the total number of travelers and individuals who patronize the services that they offer, having the resources to pay for the bill charged by the company. When assessing the total demand for the company's product and services, the company takes into account only those people who can afford to pay them, excluding those who won't be able to afford those that they offer or those who don't intend to take a trip by plane. Market demand, market potential, and sales forecast are interrelated. It is due to the fact that market demand is utilized to generate an accurate sales forecast and sales potential. As defined above, market demand is the historical demand for a good or service by customers backed by purchasing power. Sales forecasting is a very essential tool in assessing the health of a business entity. The accuracy of sales forecast can also give decision makers in the company the required information to come up with precise and useful strategies that will boost the revenue and profit of the business in the long run. Companies that implement accurate sales forecasting processes reap benefits such as enhanced cash flow, knowledge on timing and quantity of inventory to be purchased, in-depth knowledge of customers and the products that they prefer, the ability to plan production and required capacity, an insight on the trend and pattern of sales, determination of the value of business above the value of current assets, and the ability to determine the expected return on investment (Conduct a Sales Forecast, 2000). These benefits in turn, will help the company maximize its revenue and efficiency, minimized costs and further boost customer retention. In sales forecasting, the company come up with a sales volume which the company expects to generate in the future. Since the forecast is based on past sales of the company, it is necessary to know the dollar sales volume of the firm for the past several years. If not enough sales data have been recorded, it may be necessary to improvise (Conduct a Sales Forecast, 2000). In the case of Qantas, sales forecasting can be done by gathering data on how the company performed during the past years. Historical data of number of passengers should be gathered according to the time-frame needed. In its other line of businesses like food service, it can utilize the historical data on dollar sales. Sales forecasting can be employed to predict the short-term and long term sales of the company. For a short-term forecast, it is usually enough to know the sales for the past few weeks or months in comparison with the corresponding period of the year before. If sales for the past 4 weeks were 8 percent more than the corresponding 4 weeks of the preceding year, sales for the next few weeks can reasonably be expected to be 8 percent ahead of the corresponding period a year ago (Conduct a Sales Forecast, 2000). Adjustments have to be made, of course, for any known or predicted conditions

It's a personal statement for graduate school major in education

It's a for graduate school major in education counslor - Personal Statement Example In light of this, I discovered that counseling was one of the indispensible roles in the learning journey for students. Given that I have bilingual and diverse culture background, I devote my life to assist those with similar challenges. I Lu Chen was born in China more than twenty years ago before moving to the United States at the age of 16. Being the first to join college in my family, I am among the first generation immigrants who are fluent in English and Mandarin, in both speech and writing. My long time objective is to be at the top in the field of counseling. This dream will be accomplished once I pursue a Masters of Arts degree in Education with specifications of Counseling and Student Personnel. I am always enthusiastic about working hard in order to make my dream come true. In this regard, I have to make certain that I utilize every distinct opportunity that comes my way, particularly in services that are attached to the San Jose State University. I have completed my first degree of Bachelor’s of Arts, a specialization in Child and Adolescent development in this University. My past academic life has intensively prepared me for a long time profession as a counselor. First, I have an interest in communicating, caring and solving challenges that affect the children especially those that have special needs. Moreover, my capacity to work with different people has made it possible for me to value and fulfill their diverse demands. I am in a position to assist children set up their schedule in a rational way by ensuring that they are able to have time for physical exercises after having their lessons. Likewise, I assist and participate with them in extracurricular activities such as MPM and Chess. On the other hand, through conferences held for parents, I am able to communicate with parents and express my opinions concerning their children in a respectful approach. My enthusiastic venture into

Athenian Artistic Performances Were They a Form of Propaganda Essay Example for Free

Athenian Artistic Performances Were They a Form of Propaganda Essay The â€Å"glory that was Greece† reached its height in 5th century BCE in Athens, under the leadership of Pericles. He opened Athenian democracy to the ordinary citizen, was responsible for the construction of magnificent temples and statues on the Acropolis and he, in effect created the Athenian empire. The definition of propaganda is â€Å"the planned use of any form of public or mass-produced communication designed to affect the minds of a given group for a specific purpose, whether military, economic or political† (Linearger, p. 39, 1954). This has connotations of dishonesty and while people assume it is a modern phenomenon, its roots go back much further. The question is however, was propaganda rife in 5th century BCE Athens and if so, was it the driving force whether explicitly or not behind many of the public displays? A funeral oration or epitaphios logos is an official speech delivered at a funeral. The epitaphios is regarded as a virtually unique Athenian concept, although early elements of such speeches exist in the Epic poetry of Homer and in Lyric poetry of Pindar; in addition modern parallels have been drawn between Lincoln’s Gettysburg address and Pericles. When Pericles gave the epitaphios for Athenian soldiers who had been killed in the first year of the Peloponnesian War. He took the opportunity to not only praise the deceased, but Athens itself, in an oration which has been both praised as enshrining the archetypal democratic system and condemned as barefaced propaganda. In Thucydides’ book History of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles’ Funeral Oration is a powerful rhetorical piece. In addition it is important evidence for the study of the Athenian sense of identity and the way they represented themselves and others. It eloquently discusses the ancient democratic model and the picture it portrays serves as a prototype for democratic states today (Abbott, 1970). Thucydides specified a man would be chosen to make an ‘appropriate speech’ i. e. it matched formulaic prescriptions of the epitaphios, which according to Edinger, â€Å"consisted of a number of recognised topics: praise of the dead, praise of the ancestors, praise of the city, consolation of the families of the dead.

Importance of Community in El Tonto Del Barrio Essay -- Tonto Del Barr

Importance of Community in El Tonto Del Barrio  Ã‚     Ã‚   The title of Jose Armas’ story, "El Tonto Del Barrio" (or "The Barrio Dummy"), may be interpreted two different ways. The first interpretation is literal and applies to the simple-minded Romero, who with the help of his community is able to function in the real world. The second interpretation is ironic; it applies to the Harvard-bound Seferino, who though he means well is so lacking in experience that he turns Romero’s world upside down and nearly gets him committed to an institution. Many readers see the second interpretation as the more interesting, but to see the story in this light is to overlook a very important element. This element is the significant role of the community that is the setting for this story. If we consider the importance of the community, Romero is justly the title character. Romero gives the community character through his positive attitude, and he is a great role model to the children in terms of his work ethic. In return, the neighbor s treat Romero with kindness, loyalty, and respect. In a successful community, everyone must work together and help one another. Sometimes there are people in the community who seem strange to outsiders. They may even seem strange to the community members. The more peculiar residents may be ridiculed and put down, but not in Romero’s community—he is both respected and well-treated, and in return he treats members of the community with consideration. In this way Romero’s situation demands the best of his community, and in demanding their best, he makes the community stronger. Although Romero was not quite normal, he has a mature attitude towards his job, and he always made sure his work was done thoroughly: "R... ... everyone is taught to help anyone who needs it and to respect everyone, no matter how odd he or she seems. These values come through strongly in Armas’ story. Overall, the reader can see that this community does band together to support Romero. Romero is a bit touched, but he manages to teach everyone in the town some important lessons. He exemplifies a work ethic that is probably stronger than any else’s in the community. Despite his affliction, Romero is always cheerful and full of vitality. Even though he is the "village idiot" by conventional definition, he is a blessing to this barrio. Works Cited Armas, Jose. "El Tonto Del Barrio." Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. NY: HarperCollins, 1991. 1137-1142. Works Consulted Armas, Jose. Cuban Consciousness in Literature: 1923-1974. Miami, Florida: Ediciones Universal, 1978.      

.Northwest Airlines Essay

1).Northwest Airlines applied mathematical models to determine which customers in its database were currently responsible for most of its profitability and which customers were not currently profitable but had similar characteristics to the most profitable customers. Northwest Airlines utilized _____ to identify these customers. 2) Minute Maid sees research as the fundamental first step in any business decision, and it created proprietary methods for conducting research. At what level of the hierarchy of business decision makers does Minute Maid operate 3) Which of the following questions is considered first when discussing a management dilemma 4) The goal of ethics in research is to _____. 5) _____ occurs when the participants are told only part of the truth or when the truth is fully compromised. 6) The process of stating the basic dilemma and then developing other questions by progressively breaking down the original question into more specific ones is called the _____. 7) The fun damental weakness in the research process is _____. 8) Which type of management question asks what do we want to achieve 9) In the Southeast, the potato chip market share held by the Lays brand is 46. This is an example of _____. 10) An increase in hours of television viewing leads to increases in the sales of snack foods. This is an example of a _____. 11) To be categorized as a customer, an individual must have a history of shopping at the establishment at least twice before the start of the study with expenditures of more than 10. RES/351 Final Exam. This is an example of _____. 12) James is entering data on client gender. Because the values entered reflect male or female, this variable is _____. 13) Which variable in an experiment is the variable expected to be affected by the manipulation 14) Qualitative research seeks to _____ theory while quantitative research _____ it. 15) Which of the following is true of quantitative research 16) The use of a control group in experimentation _____. 17) What is the first step in conducting an experiment 18) Data originating from studies that are conducted by others and created for a purpose different from the purpose of the study for which the data are being reviewed are called _____ data. Res 351 final exam 19) The goal of a formal study is to _____. 20) A _____ scale is a scale that scores an object or property without making a direct comparison to another object or property. 21).What type of data is produced by simple category scales

Part Four Chapter V

V Shirley Mollison was convinced that her husband and son were over-stating the danger to the council of leaving the Ghost's posts online. She could not see how the messages were worse than gossip, and that, she knew, was not yet punishable by law; nor did she believe that the law would be foolish and unreasonable enough to punish her for what somebody else had written: that would be monstrously unfair. Proud as she was of Miles' law degree, she was sure that he must have this bit wrong. She was checking the message boards even more frequently than Miles and Howard had advised, but not because she was afraid of legal consequences. Certain as she was that Barry Fairbrother's Ghost had not yet finished his self-appointed task of crushing the pro-Fielders, she was eager to be the first to set eyes on his next post. Several times a day she scurried into Patricia's old room, and clicked on the web page. Sometimes a little frisson would run through her while she was hoovering or peeling potatoes and she would race to the study, only to be disappointed again. Shirley felt a special, secret kinship with the Ghost. He had chosen her website as the forum where he would expose the hypocrisy of Howard's opponents, and this, she felt, entitled her to the pride of the naturalist who has constructed a habitat in which a rare species deigns to nest. But there was more to it than that. Shirley relished the Ghost's anger, his savagery and his audacity. She wondered who he might be, visualizing a strong, shadowy man standing behind herself and Howard, on their side, cutting a path for them through the opponents who crumpled as he slayed them with their own ugly truths. Somehow, none of the men in Pagford seemed worthy to be the Ghost; she would have felt disappointed to learn that it was any of the anti-Fielders she knew. ‘That's if it's a man,' said Maureen. ‘Good point,' said Howard. ‘I think it's a man,' said Shirley coolly. When Howard left for the cafe on Sunday morning, Shirley, still in her dressing gown, and holding her cup of tea, padded automatically to the study and brought up the website. Fantasies of a Deputy Headmaster posted by The_Ghost_of_Barry_Fairbrother. She set down her tea with trembling hands, clicked on the post and read it, open-mouthed. Then she ran to the lounge, seized the telephone and called the cafe, but the number was engaged. A mere five minutes later, Parminder Jawanda, who had also developed a habit of looking at the council message boards much more frequently than usual, opened up the site and saw the post. Like Shirley, her immediate reaction was to seize a telephone. The Walls were breakfasting without their son, who was still asleep upstairs. When Tessa picked up, Parminder cut across her friend's greeting. ‘There's a post about Colin on the council website. Don't let him see it, whatever you do.' Tessa's frightened eyes swivelled to her husband, but he was a mere three feet from the receiver and had already heard every word that Parminder had spoken so loudly and clearly. ‘I'll call you back,' said Tessa urgently. ‘Colin,' she said, fumbling to replace the receiver, ‘Colin, wait – ‘ But he had already stalked out of the room, bobbing up and down, his arms stiff by his side, and Tessa had to jog to catch him up. ‘Perhaps it's better not to look,' she urged him, as his big, knobble-knuckled hand moved the mouse across the desk, ‘or I can read it and – ‘ Fantasies of a Deputy Headmaster One of the men hoping to represent the community at Parish Council level is Colin Wall, Deputy Headmaster at Winterdown Comprehensive School. Voters might be interested to know that Wall, a strict disciplinarian, has a very unusual fantasy life. Mr Wall is so frightened that a pupil might accuse him of inappropriate sexual behaviour that he has often needed time off work to calm himself down again. Whether Mr Wall has actually fondled a first year, the Ghost can only guess. The fervour of his feverish fantasies suggests that, even if he hasn't, he would like to. Stuart wrote that, thought Tessa, at once. Colin's face was ghastly in the light pouring out of the monitor. It was how she imagined he would look if he had had a stroke. ‘Colin – ‘ ‘I suppose Fiona Shawcross has told people,' he whispered. The catastrophe he had always feared was upon him. It was the end of everything. He had always imagined taking sleeping tablets. He wondered whether they had enough in the house. Tessa, who had been momentarily thrown by the mention of the headmistress, said, ‘Fiona wouldn't – anyway, she doesn't know – ‘ ‘She knows I've got OCD.' ‘Yes, but she doesn't know what you – what you're afraid of – ‘ ‘She does,' said Colin. ‘I told her, before the last time I needed sick leave.' ‘Why?' Tessa burst out. ‘What on earth did you tell her for?' ‘I wanted to explain why it was so important I had time off,' said Colin, almost humbly. ‘I thought she needed to know how serious it was.' Tessa fought down a powerful desire to shout at him. The tinge of distaste with which Fiona treated him and talked about him was explained; Tessa had never liked her, always thought her hard and unsympathetic. ‘Be that as it may,' she said, ‘I don't think Fiona's got anything to do – ‘ ‘Not directly,' said Colin, pressing a trembling hand to his sweating upper lip. ‘But Mollison's heard gossip from somewhere.' It wasn't Mollison. Stuart wrote that, I know he did. Tessa recognized her son in every line. She was even astonished that Colin could not see it, that he had not connected the message with yesterday's row, with hitting his son. He couldn't even resist a bit of alliteration. He must have done all of them – Simon Price. Parminder. Tessa was horror-struck. But Colin was not thinking about Stuart. He was recalling thoughts that were as vivid as memories, as sensory impressions, violent, vile ideas: a hand seizing and squeezing as he passed through densely packed young bodies; a cry of pain, a child's face contorted. And then asking himself, again and again: had he done it? Had he enjoyed it? He could not remember. He only knew that he kept thinking about it, seeing it happen, feeling it happen. Soft flesh through a thin cotton blouse; seize, squeeze, pain and shock; a violation. How many times? He did not know. He had spent hours wondering how many of the children knew he did it, whether they had spoken to each other, how long it would be until he was exposed. Not knowing how many times he had offended, and unable to trust himself, he burdened himself with so many papers and files that he had no hands free to attack as he moved through the corridors. He shouted at the swarming children to get out of the way, to stand clear, as he passed. None of it helped. There were always stragglers, running past him, up against him, and with his hands burdened he imagined other ways to have improper contact with them: a swiftly repositioned elbow brushing against a breast; a side-step to ensure bodily contact; a leg accidentally entangled, so that the child's groin made contact with his flesh. ‘Colin,' said Tessa. But he had started to cry again, great sobs shaking his big, ungainly body, and when she put her arms around him and pressed her face to his her own tears wet his skin. A few miles away, in Hilltop House, Simon Price was sitting at a brand-new family computer in the sitting room. Watching Andrew cycle away to his weekend job with Howard Mollison, and the reflection that he had been forced to pay full market price for this computer, made him feel irritable and additionally hard done by. Simon had not looked at the Parish Council website once since the night that he had thrown out the stolen PC, but it occurred to him, by an association of ideas, to check whether the message that had cost him his job was still on the site and thus viewable by potential employers. It was not. Simon did not know that he owed this to his wife, because Ruth was scared of admitting that she had telephoned Shirley, even to request the removal of the post. Slightly cheered by its absence, Simon looked for the post about Parminder, but that was gone too. He was about to close the site, when he saw the newest post, which was entitled Fantasies of a Deputy Headmaster. He read it through twice and then, alone in the sitting room, he began to laugh. It was a savage triumphant laugh. He had never taken to that big, bobbing man with his massive forehead. It was good to know that he, Simon, had got off very lightly indeed by comparison. Ruth came into the room, smiling timidly; she was glad to hear Simon laughing, because he had been in a dreadful mood since losing his job. ‘What's funny?' ‘You know Fats' old man? Wall, the deputy headmaster? He's only a bloody paedo.' Ruth's smile slipped. She hurried forward to read the post. ‘I'm going to shower,' said Simon, in high good humour. Ruth waited until he had left the room before trying to call her friend Shirley, and alert her to this new scandal, but the Mollisons' telephone was engaged. Shirley had, at last, reached Howard at the delicatessen. She was still in her dressing gown; he was pacing up and down the little back room, behind the counter. ‘†¦ been trying to get you for ages – ‘ ‘Mo was using the phone. What did it say? Slowly.' Shirley read the message about Colin, enunciating like a newsreader. She had not reached the end, when he cut across her. ‘Did you copy this down or something?' ‘Sorry?' she said. ‘Are you reading it off the screen? Is it still on there? Have you taken it off?' ‘I'm dealing with it now,' lied Shirley, unnerved. ‘I thought you'd like to – ‘ ‘Get it off there now! God above, Shirley, this is getting out of hand – we can't have stuff like that on there!' ‘I just thought you ought to – ‘ ‘Make sure you've got rid of it, and we'll talk about it when I get home!' Howard shouted. Shirley was furious: they never raised their voices to each other.

Free Essays on Insomnia

Abstract Chronic insomnia is the most common sleep complaint among individuals. The present paper will attempt to discuss the non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia. Specifically, a psychological model will be outlined in forming a comprehensive framework in conceptualizing the onset of insomnia. Moreover, a cognitive model will be reviewed and discussed. The efficacy of cognitive interventions in treating insomnia will be explored. Future implications of non-pharmacological interventions for insomnia will ensue. Insomnia is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders, causing individuals chronic distress as well as impediments in social, interpersonal, and occupational functioning. Drawing on validated cognitive models of the anxiety disorders as well as on theoretical and empirical work emphasizing cognitive processes to insomnia, a cognitive model of the maintenance of insomnia is presented. It has been suggested that individuals who suffer from insomnia tend to be overly worried about their sleep and about the daytime consequences of not getting enough sleep. This excessive negatively toned cognitive activity triggers both autonomic arousal and emotional distress (Walsh, 1999). The cognitive model proposed by (Walsh, 1999) assesses that an anxious state triggers selective attention and monitoring of internal and external sleep-related threat cues. When taken together, this anxious state and the attentional processes triggered by it deceives the individual into exaggerating the extent of the perceived shortage in sleep and daytime performance. Therefore, it is proffered that the negatively toned cognitive activity will be fuelled if a sleep-related threat is encountered. Damaging behaviors such as thought control, imagery control, emotional inhibition, difficulty with problem solving and erroneous beliefs about sleep and the benefits of worry are referred to as exacerbating factors. The ... Free Essays on Insomnia Free Essays on Insomnia Abstract Chronic insomnia is the most common sleep complaint among individuals. The present paper will attempt to discuss the non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia. Specifically, a psychological model will be outlined in forming a comprehensive framework in conceptualizing the onset of insomnia. Moreover, a cognitive model will be reviewed and discussed. The efficacy of cognitive interventions in treating insomnia will be explored. Future implications of non-pharmacological interventions for insomnia will ensue. Insomnia is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders, causing individuals chronic distress as well as impediments in social, interpersonal, and occupational functioning. Drawing on validated cognitive models of the anxiety disorders as well as on theoretical and empirical work emphasizing cognitive processes to insomnia, a cognitive model of the maintenance of insomnia is presented. It has been suggested that individuals who suffer from insomnia tend to be overly worried about their sleep and about the daytime consequences of not getting enough sleep. This excessive negatively toned cognitive activity triggers both autonomic arousal and emotional distress (Walsh, 1999). The cognitive model proposed by (Walsh, 1999) assesses that an anxious state triggers selective attention and monitoring of internal and external sleep-related threat cues. When taken together, this anxious state and the attentional processes triggered by it deceives the individual into exaggerating the extent of the perceived shortage in sleep and daytime performance. Therefore, it is proffered that the negatively toned cognitive activity will be fuelled if a sleep-related threat is encountered. Damaging behaviors such as thought control, imagery control, emotional inhibition, difficulty with problem solving and erroneous beliefs about sleep and the benefits of worry are referred to as exacerbating factors. The ... Free Essays on Insomnia Insomnia Insomnia comes in many forms and worries people of all ages, most commonly for just a night or two, but sometimes for weeks, months, and even years. Insomnia has many causes. Insomnia is a symptom, much like fever or stomachache. There three symptoms commonly shown by people who have insomnia: difficulty falling asleep, no problem falling asleep but difficulty staying asleep with many awakenings, and waking up too early. Difficulty sleeping at night may be related with the following daytime symptoms: sleepiness, anxiety, impaired memory, impaired concentration, and irritability. There are three basic types of insomnia. The first type is called transient insomnia lasting for up to several nights and is usually caused by excitement or stress. Adults may sleep poorly before a key meeting at work or after a quarrel with his or her partner. Many people sleep worse than usual for the first night or two away from home, particularly if they have traveled across many time zones. Nighttime strong physical movements, the flu or other brief illnesses may disrupt sleep temporarily. The second one is situational insomnia. That is two or three weeks of poor sleep and is often developed during ongoing stress at work or at home. Situations such as job delay, divorced, serious illness or death are primary in this type of insomnia. Relief from the situation that provoked disturbed sleep or accommodation to it usually returns a person to his or her usual sleeping pattern. Chronic insomnia is the third and most serious type of the sleeping problems. This sleeping problem lasts for three weeks or longer with poor sleep every night, most nights, or quite a lot of nights of a month. This is a complex disorder with many possible causes. In more than half of all cases of persistent insomnia the cause appears to be a physical illness, such as disorders of breathing or muscle activity. These figures were derived from a nationwide study of 8,00...

Holding Back Your Backstory

Holding Back Your Backstory Holding Back Your Backstory Holding Back Your Backstory By Michael Authors call the hidden part of a characters life their backstory. When I was acting in plays, directors might ask me to decide what my character was doing before the scene began. Since my character is supposed to be a real human being, he has a life outside of what appears on the stage or on the page. Every character is like an iceberg there is more to the character than appears on the surface. If its a minor character, the reader may never learn much about what is under the surface. But even if you dont write about it, it still has to exist. A 25-year-old woman, by definition, has 25 years of life experience. Unless she was raised by wolves, she was raised by people, even if your story never mentions it. Everything she does, she does for a reason, unless she is mentally ill, and even then, as they say, there is reason in her madness. Keep the backstory in the background. A backstory is your tool to help you create your story, not a creation in itself. Your reader may never see it directly. Part of the editing job is to prune away references to the backstory that dont advance your story. Doing that may be painful if you think you have a darling backstory, but, as you know, writers have to kill their darlings. If your backstory is as fascinating as you think, use it to write a prequel. Backstory is for characters, not for writers. Details add life, but dont spend time coming up with old details for the sake of details. Decide what events and experiences could have made your characters into the people they became. But just because your character wants to say something, that doesnt mean your reader needs to hear it. Understatement increases interest. A five-page backstory digression about a father who worked in psychological operations during the war will probably become more interesting as you make it shorter. The shorter you make it, the more you leave to your readers imagination and the more interesting it will be come. Dont front-load your backstory. You may call it a prologue, but most prologues are not necessary. Instead, use the basic editing approach of cutting as much as possible from the beginning without confusing your reader. Youll likely discover that you can begin your story at an exciting point, in media res (Latin for â€Å"in the midst of things†), without having to explain everything first. Your story needs to catch your readers interest immediately. Adding a long introduction before the interesting part is about as effective as adding a long explanation before telling a joke. Nobody will laugh. You can add backstory as needed. Writing is more like sculpting with clay than with marble. If you find you need something, you can slap it on later. For example, once a mystery writer decides who committed the crime, she can go back and develop a backstory that explains why. She can reveal that on the night the plans were stolen by an unknown spy, the sweet kindergarten teacher was in the next room. But she can also hint that the teacher learned to sing The Internationale as a child when her intellectual parents invited other immigrants over to discuss politics. Dont info-dump. Yes, maybe you absolutely have to tell your reader something so they can understand whats happening. But how you share backstory elements is as important as what you share, if not more so. Share them naturally. Dont abuse characters, such as maids and butlers, by having them talk about information they already know. Spread out your revelations over several pages or chapters. The principle Show, dont tell applies here. So does the principle of subtlety. Youre creating an experience, not simply communicating facts. You dont need to flash back for a backstory. Flashbacks can be confusing and overused, along with other sudden changes in time and setting. You want your reader to always be wanting more, and how can they be curious about something if youve already told them all about? Instead of telling your backstory as another little story, intersperse it into your main story. You can say, At the Anhui Palace, she tried the Honeycomb Tofu, but it was much sweeter than her mother made it, instead of, Her mother had immigrated from the Chinese province of Anhui. Sometimes writers think their backstory is story. Its common: as your mind works out your tale, it spins out both story and backstory, and both may end up on your page. Identify when your real story takes place: what is the conflict? When does it come to a head? Look at references to the past, and see if your story still works if you remove some of them if you begin your story later. Does your second chapter work as your first chapter? Then maybe you should remove your first chapter, call it backstory, and interweave its contents, revelations and hints into the rest of your book. Avoid world-builders disease. Because J.R.R. Tolkiens high fantasy novels are more imitated than any others in the genre, his imitators might feel they need to copy his backstories as well. But the creator of The Lord of the Rings, who was a professor of philology and Old English, apparently enjoyed creating backstories more than creating the novels themselves. Otherwise, he could have published even more novels. If you want to publish more novels, you need to spend more time writing novels than creating the backstory for them. Because of Tolkiens popularity, his son was able to get these backstories published, but dont count on doing that yourself. James Michener was known, even teased, for his heavily-researched historical novels that sometimes retold the geological formation of the places where they were set. But in an interview with Voice of America, he said, Now if you look at the best books of the research writers, theyre as good as anything anybody else did. But the bulk of the best books, I think, come from people who just sit at a desk and write. And if I were starting over again, knowing that I had the ability that I did have, I might well go that route. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Greek Words You Should Know10 Techniques for More Precise WritingPredicate Complements

Occupational health and safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Occupational health and safety - Essay Example OSH increases workplace productivity. This is because OSH stipulates that all organizations have the duty of care of ensuring that employees and other parties who may be affected by organizations undertaking are safe at all times. Moral obligations in this case involve the protection of the lives and health of employees. Because of measures that are put in place in respect to moral obligations, employees become less susceptible to injuries and harm and thereby making the realization of a more secure, sustainable and healthier workforce. This in turn leads to abated levels of absenteeism, heightened motivation and ultimately, improved productivity. It is against this backdrop for instance that the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EASHW) established the finding that for every Euro that is invested in OSH, the Return on Investment (ROI) that is realized falls between 3 and 5 Euros, due to reduced costs that stem from reduction in absenteeism. In the US, the issue of absent eeism is underscored by the data that released to the same effect. Specifically, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics established that machine-related accidents and injuries alone claimed 64,170 cases that required long sick-offs, in 2008 alone. Similarly, more than a fourth of these injury cases required more than 30 days being spent away from work (Reese, 2008). The fact that following OSH stipulations entails the installation of workplace risk prevention and the enhancement of proper health and safety management means that cases dealing with serious harm and injuries on employees are assuaged. Cases where these injuries are commonly recurrent are concomitant with high employee turnover, as organizations are compelled to look for another source of manpower or skilled labor. Adhering to OSH in turn alleviates cases of terminal injuries and thereby reducing the chances of high employee turnover that would be incurred as an organization tries to replenish the size of its work force. In a closely related wavelength, adhering to the standards and stipulations set by OSH gives organizational productivity the quality of continuity and stability. With the aforementioned abated cases of injuries and harm on employees, a corporate entity is succored from the task of having to retrain and nurture fledgeling personnel to acquire the necessary skills and experiences that an injured team possessed. This is significant, since training and nurturing organizational workforce entails numerous workshop drives and training programs. Reese (2008) points out that an organization also benefits directly when it adheres to OSH regulations and standards. This benefit takes the form of increased security from the ravages of workplace accidents, malfunction and human error. This is because; OSH is broad enough to include interactions with other subject areas such as safety engineering, chemistry and industrial engineering. This is especially more pronounced in industries that ha ve inherently high proclivity to accidents such as mining, construction and crisis management which have over time developed safety procedures and methods as a way of managing physical danger at the workplace. For instance, since 1992, engineering workshops specializing in welding of components are to adhere to the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) regulations, and thereby curtailing high chances for