Reaction Paper to Jose Rizal film

The movie told us about the life story of Jose Rizal, the Philippine national hero. The three-hour epic of the life and struggles of Rizal covered his life from childhood to death at the hands of the Spaniards. The film showed flashbacks showing â€Å"Pepe† as his nickname, is a genius, a writer, a doctor, an artist, a lover, a friend, a brother and a son. The movie introduced us to the life of the Filipino people under the rule of the Spanish friars.The life of the people in that time was not easy. They were bound to obey every law, every rule and every word of the Spanish friars and government even if the leaders were already oppressing their rights. The colonizers abused them in different ways. Even the Catholic Church used their powers to get what they want. Spain thought that they can fool everyone.It was shown in the movie how Rizal inspired the Filipinos to fight for their right. By writing his novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, many Filipinos opened their e yes to what is really happening in their country. It led to the founding of Katipunan that aimed to revolt against Spaniards.The freedom we experience today, we owe it all to our heroes who fought for our motherland, either by weapons or by pen. Because of this movie, I did recognize the bravery of the people who gave their last breath with PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE in their mind. I learned so much about the past and its importance to our situation today. We may not be under any colonization now, but most of us are forgetting who we really are and what are we capable of. We are forgetting that WE ARE FILIPINOS.I hope that it is not only me whose patriotism and nationalism was revived by watching the movie. I hope that Rizal can still continue to inspire us to strive hard and finish our studies and to be educated by any means, either rich or poor. Because the more you know, the more you are equipped with knowledge which can defend you and even your country someday.

A Short History and Summary of the Current Conditions in Chile and Its Geographical Situation Essay

Chile is a country situated on the west coast of South America. It is also known as The Republic of Chile. The size of Chile is 289,112 square miles with a width of less than 100 miles. It is basically a little larger than Texas. Chile is divided into three main parts, mainland and two territorial islands named Isla Sala y Gomez and Easter. Chile has an interesting history and it has seen many ups and downs in its economic development (Hudson, 1994). A description of the history of the 20th century of Chile and its current economic and political situation is presented below. The history of the 20th century of Chile is mainly focused on its entrance to the parliamentary system and thus it saw the changes in its political situation. In the beginning of the 20th century, Chile was stable despite of having lesser power in the hands of presidents. During this time, congress selected the president for the country. The presidents of this century mainly includes: German Riesco Errazuriz, Pedro Montt, Ramon Barros Luco, and Juan Luis Sanfuentes. During the 1920’s, there was an increasing gap between the middle class and lower class of society (Bizzarro, 1987). Due to this gap, the masses were dissatisfied and they called a new leader, Arturo Alessandri Palma, who brought the system of election for the selection of president. He brought other changes as well such as compulsory primary education and separation between the church and state. After a few months’ service of Alessandri, Carlos Ibanez came into power and promoted public works and industry; however, he is known as a military dictator. Electoral Democracy was there during the years of 1931 to 1971 in Chile. After a period of uncertainty in Chile, Alessandri came into power again. Alessandri ruled Chile almost like a dictator and restored the power of Constitution of 1925. Considering the presidency elections of 1958, it is found that there were three candidates and all were from different types of people. They were conservative, Christian Democrat, and Socialist (Zanartu, & Kennedy, 1969). Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez won the election of 1858 and maintained a stable situation in Chile. Alessandri was sensible and with his ability to maintain the economic and political situation, he put a halt to the inflation in Chile; thus, contributed in the economic development of the nation. In 1964, Frei defeated Allende again. Frei was a Christian Democrat and took control over the copper industry of Chile. In the next elections, Allende came into power with his socialist view. Allende was the first elected Marxist in Chile. Allende brought new policies and changed the existing policies; such as, he finished the nationalization of the copper firms of the United States, nationalized banks, and sped up land distribution in the country. Some leaders in Chile were against the socialists programs of Allende. In 1973, with the help of the U.  S. , a military coup ousted Allende (after which he committed suicide). After Allende, Pinochet ruled untill 1990. He was mainly focused on privatization and returned the banks, factories and lands to the private owners, and put strict economic and social condition on the people of Chile (Weil, 1969). Overall, it can be said that Chile saw many different leaders in the history of the 20th century and developed in many directions. Current economic and political situation of Chile is described below in the paper. The Economic Situation During the 1970’s Chile saw the economic growth, but in the next decade it experienced recession. Pinochet was the president of Chile and he put some strict economic conditions on Chileans. Looking at the current economic condition of Chile, it can be said that it is a growing and prosperous economy. The government of Chile has a played an important role in the economic development of Chile. Peso is the official currency of the country. The government has intervened many times in the financial market of Chile to control the economic situation of the nation and promoted the social spending (Loveman, 1988). According to the current economic condition, the total GDP of Chile is U. S. $ 268. 3 billion and its GDP growth is 5%. Inflation in the country is 4 to 5% and its main industries include copper, iron, lithium, fish processing, foodstuffs, wood and woods products, cement, textile, etc. (Thomas White International, 2013). It is already discussed above that culture and history of Chile has affected the economic development of the country many times and its reflection can be seen in the economic system of Chile. Chile has seen both growth and recession (with the different economic treatments of its presidents) It is currently able to manage a decrease in the foreign debt and open for the foreign investment. The Current Political Situation The current political system of Chile is also stable. It is nation with multiparty. The country has three branches of executive, legislative, and judiciary. The cxecutive branch selects the president for the country and the legislative branch has two houses named Chamber of Deputies and Senate. The Supreme Court and other lower courts come under the judiciary system. There are many political parties involved in the Chilean Government and they are trying to maintain the social and economic condition of the country (Kelleher & Klein, 2011). Analysis and Conclusions Concluding the paper it can be said that Chile has now become an important part of the global economy with its growing industries. Due to many changes in its political atmosphere in the 20th century, Chile faced many challenges in its economic development as it saw growth as well as recession. In 1990, the democratic government was again brought into Chile. A Christian democrat Eduardo Frei won the election in 1993. Currently, the condition of Chile is stable. Chile is facing some challenges in its development of having some problems between the military and the government. Also, there is a belief in the people of Chile that the income inequality is getting worse. Apart from the economic problems, the people of Chile are facing the problems of natural disaster. A devastating earthquake has affected the economic condition of Chilean. The newly elected president of Chile, Sebastian Pinera, is trying to control the challenges that the country is facing (Cynthia & Crabtree, 2010).

Economic Development

The accelerated economic growth has compelled the employers and firms to hire a set of highly skilled and well educated workforce to keep up the pace with the dynamic developments. Employees worldwide have several reasons for their inability to take up a job like unsuitable geographic conditions, not being up to the mark with certain qualifications etc. but on the other hand, India is one such country where workforce is available in abundance but there are only limited candidates suitable to fill up the jobs and thus employer finds it difficult to find a perfect candidate. Shortage of relevant skills including hard and soft skills, being uneducated or unqualified results in less or no employability. Moreover, unlike other countries which are facing a burden of ageing population, India has a benefitting edge with a unique 20-30 years window of majority of the population and thus has a supporting demographic dividend. The main focus for the paper has turned to skill gap in the economy. A study by Rupam Jyoti Deka and Bhavika Batra (2016) has focused on the skill gap prevailing in the country. Indian workforce needs to acquire skills and knowledge in order to gain employability. As per the Planning Commission Reports of 2008, India has a huge skill gap compared to other countries. Percentage of workforce receiving skill training (2008) With the rising influence of globalization, India has immense opportunities to establish its distinctive position in the world economy. The rural workforce still lacks in skill development and good quality education for them to qualify and secure a job {Radhika Kapur, (2014)}. They need to develop skills for the purpose of obtaining skill sufficiency in resource utilization, governance, leadership, technology, management and so on. A study by A. Mahendra (2015) suggests that education alone does not suffice. For proper execution, skills are necessary. The importance of skill is an unattended area except in few areas like Medicine, Engineering etc. that too in very few institutes. The graduates are still struggling in free and confident communication, lack of boldness to present the presentations and projects. India is composed by demographic dividend with multiple languages, cultures, religion etc. So teaching in common language is not possible, if we continue doing this, other issues are cropped up. In 2014, the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Damodar Das Modi announced and requested the global economies to ‘produce in India' by launching a campaign ‘Make in India'. About 63% of Indian youth indicated a dire need to create employment in manufacturing sector, a study by Ankul Pandey and Prof. D.K. Nema (2017) indicated. Another paper by Ankul Pandey, Prof. D.K. Nema (2017) and AnnaLee Saxenian (2002) raised the concerns about an issue of Brain Drain or Brain Circulation. Brains of Indian people are immeasurably intellectual and has proved the worth and stand of India at various Global Levels including NASA, or holding a well reputed and respected positions in global firms including Google, Microsoft, Pepsi co. to name a few. But due to lack of job opportunities, the Indian talent is draining out to other countries which are willing to offer better positions with higher opportunities and perks. The emigration of highly skilled personnel to other countries represents a huge economic loss and brain drain. The main causes for this drain to happen be obviously lack of growing opportunities and availability of very few seats for huge number of job applicants. Also, higher salaries and perks attract huge number of job seekers improving their standards of living. AnnaLee Saxenian (2002) introduced a new concept of ‘Brain Circulation'. Brain circulation widely means returning of a personnel back to his own country after learning and experiencing the advancements in education, skill or work and contributing his part in the growth and development of the domestic economy instead of permanently settling down in the foreign country. Brain circulations would definitely prove a game changer if it is honestly practiced and this would be possible only if India would improve its skill development and increase the job opportunities and offer more perks and employee benefits. As per the study by Aya Okada (2012), the difficulties faced by youth for seeking jobs are:Intense globalization has led to intense competition among firms which is leading to improvement in their efficiency forcing them to hire few but highly skilled personnel.Global economy has led firms to engage in massive restructuring resulting in fewer job openings.Rapid technological advancements require workers to have moral complex and cognitive skills than ever. The economy now is more of ‘knowledge based'.Due to increase in migration of labour, the youth is exposed to increased intense competition even from workers globally who offer more knowledge, skills and competencies.To improve the conditions of employability and to produce more efficient labour, the government has launched several campaigns and movements. There is a measurable skill gap between what industries demand and the acquired skills of the youth. Youth's access to vocational training is limited because the vocational education and training systems across the nation is not large enough to be able to accommodate many schools and graduates. However, the government has formulated National Skills Development Policy, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, and Skill India; set up a new institutional framework to coordinate the skill development efforts and National Vocational Education Qualification Framework.

Correlation between music and nationality Research Paper

Correlation between music and nationality - Research Paper Example This was inferred by the survey that was taken by me, where most people, when asked if they listened to Oriental or Ballad music replied with a negative answer. The most loved genre out of all the possible options was pop music liked by British, Indians, Chinese as well as the French. This was followed by rock music liked by the British, Indian, Polish and Nigerian respondents. Country and classic music followed these two genres and techno, reggae, house and jazz have few followers, mostly in Britain. Respondents also mentioned other music genres such as bollywood, dance and metal music as part of their taste. Most respondents, that is 41% of the total number, chose the internet as the medium through which they downloaded and listened to music, thus choosing their laptops as opposed to radio players and their mobile phones. A significant number of respondents, to be specific, 37% of the number of survey takers, have also mentioned purchasing CDs to listen to music but it must be unde rstood that using the radio, with 18% listening to it on a regular basis, or cassettes, followed by a mere 4% of the total number of respondents, are on the decline, which is very well understood, taking into account the technology driven world we live in today. (Spotify For Bollywood) When asked what attracted the respondents to the kind of music they prefer to listen to, majority replied that the voice of the artist was what did the trick. Judging by this, it may be understood by house and techno music, or ballads that do not have a voice singing in them and are purely instrumental are on the decline, and why pop music is so widely loved and... This "Correlation between music and nationality" essay describes how our nationality influences out music tastes. By taking a survey from people belonging to different backgrounds and nationalities it may be understood that music sung in different languages does not necessarily have to be heard by people belonging to that particular nationality or speaking that language. Music has words and lyrics as well as rhythm that people find appeal towards which also helps in bringing them closer to each other; this was understood as I found that people of various nationalities liked listening to music that was not necessarily sung in the language that was native to them. Most people listen to absolutely anything, a stark example being the viral song ‘Gangnam Style’ belonging to Korean pop artist Psy because of the catchy beats and the chorus that the entire world has taken a liking to. On the popular website You Tube, the song has almost 806.3 million views. This proves that most people like pop because of the fast beats that it has and the peppy music helps them dance and have a good time. Pop music is also a great genre to be played in clubs where people go to take their troubles off their mind. Music is played almost everywhere from the radio to the television. However most people like listening to music on the internet on websites and either downloading from secure websites or buying them from websites like iTunes because it is more convenient than going to the store and rummaging through CDs and DVDs.

Segundo de Chomon and His Ciinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Segundo de Chomon and His Ciinema - Essay Example As the study stresses on one side the cinema is documenting reality, the reality of the train coming to the platform. On the other hand the same cinema is making the unreal look real, by making the viewer believe that the train coming towards him is real. These two qualities of Cinema led to the division of it into documentaries and feature films or fantasy films .It was the French magician Georges Melies who first explored the possibility of fantasy created through cinema He was the one to use what we now call the special effects in cinema. He discovered the cinematic special effect called the stop trick, in which objects disappear from the screen. He is the one to use the photographic effect called the multiple exposure, and also time lapse photography. He achieved all this with in a year after the Lumiere show, that’s in 1896. With his inventiveness, humor and the visual power Melies could create magic on the screen, so that he was called the â€Å"Cine magician†. Ac cording to Robert Philip Kolker, â€Å"Lumiere and Melies are posited as progenitors of two separate modes of cinematic expression, the one photographing things existing in the world, the other creating fantasies in the studio.† Years later Teruel Segundo de Chomon y Ruiz took forwards this fantasy and magic of cinema initiated by Georges Melies, both of them in France. Chomon’s Les Kiriki: Acrobats Japanois is a two minutes thirty seconds film that shows the Melies’s effect on him. This film was made one hundred and two years ago in 1907.It shows a group of dances who look like Japanese acrobats. Their samurai hair style is absurd and not correctly matching the samurai style at all.

CBI and QNB Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

CBI and QNB - Assignment Example This assignment also highlights the implemented strategy that may increase its portfolio and reputation in their respective markets as compared to others. Furthermore, the implemented strategy will also be evaluated so as to analyze its effectiveness and to recommend the most effective strategy is also for the organizations. The Commercial Bank International (CBI) of United Arab Emirates is a one of the budding commercial bank of United Arab Emirates. It is one of the reputed local brands established in the year 1991 offering a wide range of financial benefits such as auto loans, vehicle loans, credit cards enhancements and many more to its customers. This helped the organization to improve its market share and demand in the market of United Arab Emirates as compared to many other rival contenders. In-spite of being a public share holding company, it enhanced its reliability and loyalty within the minds of the local customers for its value-added services. The organization always tries to offer high valued products to its customers so as to improve their commitment and reliability. This is done in order to increase the sustainability and relationship with the customers that may amplify its brand value and profitability (Commercial Bank International, 2014). Similarly, Qatar National Bank (QNB) is established in the year 1964 as one of the first owned commercial bank of Middle East. It mainly offers a wide range of investment banking value-added services to its corporate and institutional clients with the help of its subsidiaries. This helped the organizations to expand it-self in numerous locations that amplified its dependency and reputations as compared to others (Qatar National Bank, 2014). The mission of Commercial Bank International (CBI) is to offer highly value-added and simple products and services to its target

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Assignment - Essay Example You will find that the currency policy can have an effect on the stability of a country's economy. Attached you will find the evaluation of the foreign currency regimes utilised by some of the major countries in the Asian region. Australia and Indonesia operate on a free floating regime, whereas Hong Kong is pegged at a fixed rate to the US dollar and China and Malaysia operate a managed float system. Their central banks have operations details in line with their government's monetary policy. A detailed analysis explains that each regime has strengths and weaknesses; however the pegged exchange rate system has the most drawbacks and the most potential for economic crisis. A free floating system allows a currency to be valued purely by the market however it relinquishes control of the central bank to the world market. A managed float allows for more control over the market and greater currency stability however it has some of the drawbacks of a pegged rate system. The appendices outline currency volatility given the type of exchange rate as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each type of currency regime. There are a variety of exchange rate mechanisms that a country can choose to use in order to value their currency. Each mechanism has its own strengths and weaknesses and each country creates an exchange rate policy that they feel will help to keep their currency stable. Since the currency crisis of 1997 in the Asia Pacific region, many countries in this region have revised their monetary policies away from a strictly pegged exchange rate system. Pegged exchange rate systems seek to tie the value of one countries currency (usually a less stable economy) to that of the currency of a country with a very stable economy. However it can be difficult for a country to maintain this peg in times of economic crisis. More countries are now moving towards floating or managed exchange rate systems. Floating exchange rate systems allow a currency's value to be determined by the market, in other words to float freely in relation to other traded currencies. A country that does not have a stable ec onomy may be hesitant to use this method as their currency may be severely devalued in an open market. Managed float systems are a hybrid of a pegged and floating system. In a managed float a country lets its currency float in the market, but only allows it to float within an accepted range compared to other currencies. Outlined below are the exchange rate mechanisms and operations employed by several countries in the Asian region, as well as an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the different mechanisms utilised. 2. Country Specific Exchange Rate Regimes 2.1 Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia maintains a floating exchange rate policy. The goal of their policy is, "the stability of the currency of Australia, the maintenance of full employment in Australia, and the economic policy and welfare of the people of Australia (Reserve Bank of Australia 2006, para. 2). Overall the Australian government is concerned with keeping inflation rates low. The Reserve bank of Australia is the institution charged with maintaining the exchange rate pol

England and Its Colonies in The Moonstone (by Wilkie Collins) Term Paper

England and Its Colonies in The Moonstone (by Wilkie Collins) - Term Paper Example Eliot’s comment: â€Å"The first and greatest of English detective novels... a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe† (310). Rarely has the novel been thematically known exposing British colonial relations with India. John Reed first paid attention to this in his 1973 seminal essay, â€Å"English Imperialism and the Unacknowledged Crime of The Moonstone,† where he argued that, what the novel probes is, actually, not the personal but the national guilt, neither is the individual but national values. Meaning, the novel does not simply uncover a personal crime, but rather the social crime of imperial British against its subjected race, India. (qtd. in Sabin 89) On the contrary, Ashish Roy sees the novel essentially defending British imperialism by showing that good Victorians, like Lady Verinder, never condone such violent abuses. (qtd. in Sabin 89) Nayder somewhat supports Roy’s contrary view, saying that, though The Moonstone evidently proves that Victor ian detective fiction investigates socio-political issues from imperialism to class and gender relations, its investigation usually ends up blurring the guilt or crime of British imperialists, while putting the colonised race into negative light (184). For example, Blake, Murthwaite, Bruff and Sgt. Cuff, though, had wrongly accused the Brahmans of stealing the moonstone; nevertheless, the Brahmans had been portrayed ruthless killers in the novel. Likewise, Trollope suggests that The Moonstone’s diamond mystery actually shrouded rather than exposed Britain’s real interest in India which is not simply India’s wealth but its land (qtd. in Daly 66). Britain wants to possess India for its territorial expansion, and not to simply loot its wealth. Whether, for or against, the theme of British imperialism is evident in the novel’s texts. Moreover, Spivak noted that, it would be impossible reading the 19th century British literature without taking into account Bri tish imperialism, which England made its noble mission to society, because that was the very social context with which authors create their imagination (qtd. in Jolly 381). Thus, understanding Collins’s work from this perspective would not be irrelevant. As Nayder explains, authors of Victorian detective fiction thematically make use of crime and policing to subtly examine broader social issues (178). Looking through The Moonstone’s plot, theme, symbolisms, characterisation, and literary technique, the novel evidently fits this description. The novel is not simply a detective or a romance-detective fiction; imbedded in its intricate plots of crime investigation is the exposition of British imperialism, mainly demonstrated in a master/superior (English) – subject/inferior (Indian) relationship. A. The Novel 1. Backgrounder The Moonstone, which Collins had started by mid-1867 in his mid-forties, was his fourth but also his last best novel. After this, his succeedi ng works were considered either mediocre or failure; such was attributed to his deteriorating health condition at that time. (Page 20) Significantly so, he wrote The Moonstone at the most pressing time of his life: His most beloved mother got sick and died while he was painfully suffering from his worst attack of rheumatic gout, disenabling him to attend his mother’s funeral. But against all these, he had to keep writing; much has yet to be written for the magazines, All the Year Round (England) and Harper’s Weekly (USA), which had started serialising The Moonstone, not to mention his

Finance Markets and Risk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Finance Markets and Risk - Essay Example The intention of this study is systemic risk that is ushered by unforeseen incidents that amplify uncertainty unimaginably and damage the liquidity of the market at a rapid phase. Illiquidity results in â€Å"prices gaps† in respective markets and in the pricing of a particular asset. The related pressure later extends to the liquidity of funding of financial institutions around the world that are assisting those independent markets. Illiquidity in markets sequentially can result in potentially momentous real economic impacts, thus warrant policy action, particularly by central banks. As per IMF (International Monetary Fund), BIS (Bank for International Settlements) and FSB (Financial Standard Board), systemic financial risk is one, which is associated with the peril of risk of disruption to financial services that (a) is happened by a destruction of whole or parts of the financial system and has the probable to have the worst negative outcome for real economy. During Septembe r 2008, AIG borrowed from the Federal Reserve System an $85 billion two-year loan that too at a penalty rate, which has been termed as ever known the rescue of one of the globe’s major insurers. In return for the rescue operation, Fed received a 79.9% of shares in the AIG. At the time, the investment banking arm of AIG witnessed a systemic risk emanating from its credit default swap (CDS) business. The failure of one firm may not impact its rivals as is happening in the most sectors of the economy nor does it result in market failures. However, in the financial sector, there is an impending peril that the breakdown of any major financial market or institution may result in the adverse impacts on the whole financial system more likely. In several associated channels, such systemic risk can be in operation, if there is a mishap in a specific financial institution. All the depositors of a bank will be in panic and will rush to get back their deposits when the depositors lose the ir trust, if a typical bank run occurs. The banking system of a nation as a whole may be in jeopardy if rumour spreads about the fate of the remaining banks of a nation. The bank runs vulnerability can be a reality typically as there will be a maturity mismatch between their assets and liabilities. The banking system might have invested in long-term debts like loans to households and businesses, whereas they might have accepted deposits from their customer on the demand basis. Even a healthy bank may have chance to witness a bank run despite the fact that its assets would have more value than its liabilities, but a credit crunch may occur if there is premature withdrawal of deposits suddenly by bank customers. Thus, even a solvent bank can witness a liquidity crunch, despite the fact that the liquidity issues may mirror concerns about bank’s solvency. However, there are some risk-aversion strategies, which are in place like lender-of-last-resort facilities and deposit insuran ce, which make the possibility of bank run as a mirage. Short-term deposits are available from one bank to another bank through interbank transactions, and this occupies sizeable quantum of their business transactions. However, at times of liquidity crunch, associations between banks may witness jolts to proliferate through the system. For instance, Barclays bank has provided short-term credit to ANZ bank, then, concerns of default by ANZ bank might jeopardise to the stability of Barclays bank. Such similitude vulnerabilities are regarded to be one of the main causes why the alarm can spread between banks in such scenarios. In such situations, inter-banking lending will come to a halt due to

Importance of Education Essay Example for Free

Importance of Education Essay The Importance of Education: What is the right way to educate? Our society has forgotten that the reason schools exist is to create minds not careers. Education plays a critical role in the development of our humanity. What is the appropriate approach to educate our students in order for them to succeed? Motivation is their key to success quite simply. A teacher humiliating a student in front of their classmates can lead to a negative impact in the student’s lifetime such as: becoming unsocial and causing them a mental discomfort in which in turn could lead to something far more sinister. In the article The Differences Between us: French and American Classrooms mentions a French film The Class, in which a teacher makes fun of his students after they respond incorrectly to a question. â€Å"When they too fail, he in turn ridicules them. Later, losing his temper at two students, he labels them what roughly translates as bitches† (Gillard). This teacher is unaware of the impact his remarks may have on the students being insulted. The students are being emotionally and verbally abused. The first five minutes on her first day she was mortified to tears by a teacher outraged that she had rushed in after the bell while her peers waited beside their desks† (Gillard). Some of the various effects emotional abuse may cause are bringing the students’ self-esteem level down, making them insecure, and therefore developing severe depression. Statistics show that last year’s students have been victims of verbal abuse. â€Å"36. 5 % of youth grades nine through twelve have attempted suicide. 20. % of those attempts resulted in medical care† (compassionpower. com). In the United States we believe in equality among all students. Providing accommodations for those with learning disabilities, this subject is clearly what differentiates the U. S education system from that of other countries. â€Å"Educators rolled their eyes when I asked about in-class accommodations for learning disabilities and individualized education plans† (Gillard). When other countries compare their students to those of the U.  S they should keep in mind they are competing against those with learning disabilities as well. â€Å"I was present for the dictation, given in a first grade class that had three little boys in a state of collapse† (Gillard). Education in France and other nations start children so early in their development and harsh education plan that at such an early stage they to become insecure. The U. S knows there is a need in reforming education. They already have reforms taking place such as the five pillars mentioned by President Obama. Investing in early childhood initiatives like Head Start; encouraging better standards and assessments, by focusing on testing itineraries that better fit our kids and the world they live in; recruiting, preparing, and rewarding outstanding teachers, by giving incentives for a new generation of teachers and for new levels of excellence from all of our teachers. Promoting innovation and excellence in America’s schools by supporting charter schools, reforming the school calendar and the structure of the school day. Providing every American with a quality higher educationwhether its college or technical training (whitehouse. gov). â€Å"Statistics show the percentage of high school dropouts among 16-24 year olds declined from 11. 8 percent in 1998 to 8. 1 percent in 2009† (afterschoolstars. org). Being sociable is fundamental in a career furthermore, in opening greater job opportunities. After school activities have been proven to help reduce the use of drugs, smoking, drinking and engaging in sexual activity. Last but not least, activities help decrease the chances of been overweight. The school ran from 8am to 5pm with a two hour long gaps scattered throughout the schedule. This structure precluded school-wide socializing as well as sponsored afternoon sports or drama activities† (Gillard). The French education plan is misleading their students from their road to success, by engaging them in being unsociable. Countries such as France are already verbally abusing children and making them have issues such as been unsociable that preventing them from taking part of after school activities is just crossing the line. In the book Me Talk Pretty One Day David an American student is studying French in France. He came into class confident in the several words he had learned, until he heard his teacher’s remarks to his classmate’s answers. â€Å"More to the point, how often is one asked and then publicly ridiculed for his answer? † (Sedaris). This French teacher now has not only scared them away but limited the chance of them asking questions in regards to the subject been studied. Asking questions helps a student understand the subject at a greater extend. â€Å"Our daughter described the terror she felt and er peers showed when making presentations in a philosophy class, stuttering in the face of the teachers frequent interruptions of â€Å" unimpressive,† or, â€Å"really? † (Gillard). Making these comments the students learn to feel unconfident in their work and themselves. Other countries should definitely consider reforming the way their teachers educate their students. â€Å"A positive learning climate in a school for young children is a composite of many things. It is an attitude that respects children. It is a place where children receive guidance and encouragement from the responsible adults around them. It is an environment where children can experiment and try out new ideas without fear of failure. It is an atmosphere that builds children self-confidence so that they dare to take risks. It is an environment that nurtures the love of learning,† (quotes. dictionary. com). Teachers should only bring in positive feedback to their students and point out their mistakes to show them where they went wrong. Our society is under so much pressure to succeed. Students need to realize it is ok to be wrong, practice makes perfect. Teachers in other countries need to become more educated to be aware that they are emotionally and verbally scarring students. The U. S equality among students is a subject that should be mimicked by other countries. As our population increases more and more students are becoming victims of this unprofessional â€Å"teachers†. These countries need to stop competing for top scores and focus on the way teachers are applying education to students. The consequences can be life changing. Education should be considered a sacred privilege that all children must have to excel.

The very important process of recycling

The very important process of recycling Introduction: Recycling is one of the most important methods used to reduce or preventing environmental crisis. It is the process of reprocessing used objects and turning them into new material. Waste is mostly used in recycling and it has a massive shocking effect on our nature like global warming and recycling the waste is an effective way to reduce the global warming problem. It also helps reduce the use of natural resources which is as well a very big problem because we abuse natural resources these days. The usual method of waste dumping or disposal is either by air or water which causes severe pollution to it and by using recycling as useful method its can help reduce the pollution a lot. We can also save space that is usually used for dumping waste and turning it into useful places. The lack of the basic materials and the need to create new ways to help fulfill the needs of humans made recycling one of the biggest important industries in the world. It became such an important industry becau se it helps get rid of the trash and waste and the toxic substances and its releases gases in a way that suits the environment and not affect it badly. Around the world, the recycling issue became an essential topic of all important gatherings and events because it is a very crucial matter. Global warming, the extreme weather changes, extinction of animal and the sea and ocean pollution and the death of plants all occur due to the carelessness of some factories and their wastes and the gases coming out of it. Recycling Paper The process of recycling 1. Sorting The first step in recycling paper is making sure the paper is free of any contaminants like food, metal and trash. 2. collection and transportation Secondly you take either to a nearby recycling center or a recycling bin after that it will be collected by a worker. 3. storage A very important part of the recycling process because the workers separate the different types of paper and then sort them together to make different kinds of recycled paper items. 4. Re-pulping and Screening The next step is called re-pulping, the enhanced paper is put into a machine called a pulper, and this machine contains a mix of water and chemicals. It cuts the paper into small pieces of fibers which turns into soft mix and that is called a pulp. The pulp is poured into a strainer which keeps the contaminants out of the mix and keeping just the pure pulp. In a large cone shaped machine pulp remains in a spinning process until all the heavy contaminants stay at the bottom of the machine and the lighter ones stay in the middle and then removed. 5. Refining, Bleaching and Color Stripping Refining is the next step in which the pulp mixture is crushed to make the fibers bigger to make it ready for the next process. If the paper is colored it will need some chemicals to remove the color and if its white it will need oxygen to make it lighter and if its brown then it does not have to be bleached. 6. Deinking The last step is papermaking; pulp has to be mixed with water and chemicals. This mix goes into a huge machine called a head box and its sprayed on a straining wire track that moves very quickly. The water from the paper mix starts to drop and the fibers start to attach to each other and form wet sheet. The wet sheet goes into rolling presses which compresses the sheet and sheds all the excessive water and dries the sheets out. After that the sheets goes through heated metal roller to dry them out and the paper is made. Positive Effects of Recycling Recycling paper is the economic process of the first degree as it, helps to reduce imports of raw materials for papermaking and reducing unemployment and this through the prevision of job opportunities for young people. Preserves the Environment Recycling paper is working to safeguard the environment. For example, the paper is manufactured. There is also became a growing demand for paper, many of the trees divided for the production of paper. For recycling paper is available to prevent the destruction of forests. These days, we see a large number of forests to produce shatter for the production of the growing demand for paper. Recycling a ton paper helps to preserve our natural resources and saves equivalent 12 trees. Also, recycling paper helps in getting rid of the paper is doomed sound environmental manner, rather than burned or buried, leading to increased pollution and reduces the demand for wood and fiber and to allow the forest to increase their capacity to absorb atmospheric carbon. In addition, working on protection of agricultural land and places of throwing waste paper. Recycling Saves Energy Processing raw materials requires a great deal of energy. But any processing used materials reduce the energy requirements for instance recycling paper. Also the process of recycling paper reduces a lot of pressure on energy resources. How Does Recycling Affect The Environment? Positives and Negatives http://www.allfreeessays.com/search_results.php?query=Positives+of+recycling+paper The Negative Effects of Recycling Paper Recycling paper conserves energy and landfill space, maintains the trees and reduces defilement. Although it is a procedure that produces some emissions and products harmful secondary. This process is working to develop a lot of ground techniques. Energy Use Recycling paper conserves 28% to 70%. This keeping is debatable for of the sort of energy utilization in two operations. Using recycled paper fossil fuels whereas the production maiden paper appoints the litter products from wood to provide high rate of its energy needs. In addition, recycling paper requires less energy from the plastic but for the recycled paper bag requires more energy from the plastic bags recycling process. Harmful Chemicals In this process is necessary that the indelible ink from used paper. The facilities of recycling use several of chemicals like chlorine and process. There is a particular problem is print from laser and copy machines. The Chemicals that is much more from chemicals caustic than level requires removal de-inking chemicals. De-inking chemicals includes some ponderously mental and other vehicles. Solid Waste Recycling waste paper teems sludge that includes solids (very small fibers). Often these waste sent to the landfill including mental. Incineration is an ersatz however the incineration serves to disseminate dangerous emissions like dioxins and hydrocarbons. For the residual ash also is sent to landfills. In summary, recycling is extremely essential and we should raise awareness because people mostly are very oblivious and clueless about it. We have to recycle in order to maintain a healthy environment we can live in happily. Try to minimize the use of paper and raw material so that we can save natural resources. We should be able to live in a healthy planet a thoughtful life. We have to consider the fact that there are other species living with us in the same planet that our silly acts and unhealthy behavior have negative effects on. http://www.livestrong.com/article/159591-the-negative-effects-of-recycling-paper

Properties of Phagraphene via Hydrogenation and Fluorination

Properties of Phagraphene via Hydrogenation and Fluorination Modulation of electronic and mechanical properties of phagraphene via hydrogenation and fluorination Donghai Wu ab, Shuaiwei Wang ab, Jinyun Yuanab* Baocheng Yang ab, Houyang Chenc* a Institute of Nanostructured Functional Materials, Huanghe Science and Technology College, Zhengzhou, Henan 450006, China b Henan provincial key laboratory of nanocomposite and application, Zhengzhou, Henan 450006, China c Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260-4200, USA ________________ Abstract: Recently, a new carbon sheet, phagraphene, was proposed by theoretical calculations [Nano Lett. 2015, 15, 6182]. In this paper, the hydrogenated and fluorinated phagraphene (denoted as H-PHA and F-PHA) sheets have been systematically studied using first-principles calculations. The results of formation energy, ab initio molecular dynamics, phonon dispersion and elastic constants confirm that the modified phagraphene sheets are thermodynamically and dynamically as well as mechanically stable. We find that hydrogenation or fluorination is an effective way to modulate the bandgap, and we also find that adsorption-induced semimetal-semiconductor transition and adsorption-induced semimetal-insulator transition occur. Configuration-dependent bandgap for partially H-PHA and configuration-independent bandgap for fully H-PHA are determined. Adsorption-ratio-dependent bandgaps of H-PHA and F-PHA are also identified. Calculated bandgaps from HSE06 and PBE functionals of fully H-PHA ar e larger than those of F-PHA, and they are comparable to thehydrogenated/fluorinated penta-graphene while they are larger than their corresponding graphene. Dependence of bandgaps of fully H-PHA and F-PHA on the tensile strain is investigated, and our calculations show that an insulator-semiconductor transition occurs upon increasing the tensile strain. Our results also determined that the mechanical properties are controllable by using hydrogenation and fluorination. The calculations of Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio reveal the functionalized phagraphene sheets possess suitable stiffness and resistance to volume deformation, and both are smaller than the pristine phagraphene. 1. Introduction Two-dimensional (2D) carbon-based materials have been attracting great attention due to their fascinating mechanical, thermal, electronic, optical and magnetic properties.1-11 In particular, graphene is the most representative example. Since synthetized by Novoselov et al.6 in 2004, graphene has been extensively studied for its robust stability,12 high crystal quality,13 captivating mechanical and electronic as well as thermal properties.14-18 The covalently bonded honeycomb lattice with perfect hexagonal symmetry of graphene plays a crucial role in forming Dirac cones,19 which gives graphene massless fermions, resulting in the anomalous quantum Hall effects,20 ultrahigh carrier mobility21 and other properties.22, 23 Recently, a new carbon sheet, phagraphene,19 composed of rings containing five, six, and seven carbon atoms, was proposed by theoretical calculations. It can be considered as a defective graphene.24 This planar carbon allotrope is slightly more unstable than pristine graphene while energetically more favorable than other carbon allotropes.19 The notable stability benefits from its sp2-hybridization and dense atomic packing structure.25 Zhang et al.19 have proven that the electronic structure of phagraphene has direction-dependent Dirac cones, which are robust against external strain with tunable Fermi velocities. This unique performance makes the phagraphene an advanced material for numerous applications in photoelectric technology. However, like graphene, the phagraphene suffers a major drawback of zero bandgap and rather robust gapless state, limiting its potential applications. In order to overcome this disadvantage, we use hydrogenation and fluorination to modulate its bandgap in this paper. Thanks to the surface unsaturated C-C dangling bond,26 the chemical modification by adsorbing non-carbon atoms on the surface is an effective way to create a bandgap and tune the electronic, magnetic and mechanical properties of graphene.14, 24, 26-32 Hydrogenation is not only the simplest and manageable adsorption but also the generating hydrides are promising hydrogen storage materials in energy field.33, 34 The fluorine atoms with ultrahigh electronegativity are adsorbed on the graphene surface forming fluorinated graphene, which have been investigated experimentally and theoretically.14, 35, 36 After adsorbing such atoms, the forming C-H and C-F bonds could give rise to the carbon atoms transforming their hybridizati on state from sp2 to sp3, 33 correspondingly, the structural and electronic properties would undergo dramatic alterations. In this work, by employing first-principles calculations, the effect of hydrogenation and fluorination on the bandgap opening of phagraphene sheet is examined. After hydrogenation or fluorination, the bandgap of phagraphene could be opened sizably, changing its electro-conductivity from Dirac semimetal to semiconductor or from Dirac semimetal to insulator. The structural stability and mechanical properties of the modified phagraphene sheet are also investigated. 2. Computational details All the first-principles calculations and abinitio molecular dynamics (AIMD) were carried out by density functional theory (DFT) with the projector augmented wave (PAW) method and performed by the Vienna abinitio simulation package (VASP)37 . The 2D periodic boundary condition was adopted and a vacuum space of 20 Ã… along the perpendicular direction of the phagraphene sheet was included in order to avoid the interactions between adjacent layers. The generalized gradient approximation (GGA) of Perdew, Burke, and Ernzerhof (PBE)38 was applied as the exchange-correlation functional in most of the calculations. Meanwhile, to accurately calculate the band structures, the hybrid Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE06)39 was introduced. The Brillouin zone (BZ) was sampled using 2à Ã¢â€š ¬ ÃÆ'- 0.01 Ã…Ã ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 Monkhorst-Pack40 k-point mesh density, and the plane-wave basis set with cutoff energy of 600 eV was adopted. The total energy difference of 10à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢5 eV and forc e tolerance of 10à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢2 eVà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ãƒâ€¦Ãƒ ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 were used for the convergence criteria of geometric optimization and self-consistent field. The phonon properties were calculated by the Phonopy package41 with force constants obtained by the finite displacement method.42 3. Results and discussion 3.1 Structural properties Figure 1 displays the structure of phagraphene19 together with its hydride and fluoride. The hydrogenated or fluorinated phagraphene (denoted as H-PHA or F-PHA) sheet is obtained by adsorbing hydrogen or fluorine atoms on both sides of the plane. For fully H-PHA and F-PHA, the ratio of C : H/F is 1 : 1. After optimization, the structures of both fully H-PHA (Figure 1c) and fully F-PHA (Figure 1d) are greatly distorted compared to pristine phagraphene (Figure 1a), resulting in low symmetry with a space group of P21/m (No. 11). The 5-6-7 carbon rings no longer remain in the same plane and become crumpled. The buckling height hb (i.e. the height between the bottom and top carbon layers) of fully H-PHA (0.856 Ã…, see Table 1) is larger than that of F-PHA (0.704 Ã…), and they are much larger than those of hydrogenated/fluorinated penta-graphene (0.42/0.40 Ã…) and graphene (0.46/0.49 Ã…).12 The calculated C-C bond distances of pristine phagraphene in Table 1 are in agreement wi th previous calculations,19 indicating the computational method is valid. All the C-C bond distances in fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA are enlarged compared to the pristine phagraphene, and are close to that of 1.546 Ã… in diamond43 while larger than that of 1.42 Ã… in graphene.1 These facts indicate the C-C bonds of phagraphene transform from the sp2-hybridization double bond to the sp3 single bond by hydrogenation or fluorination. The C-C bonds of fully F-PHA are longer than those of fully H-PHA, which can be explained by the depopulation of bonding orbitals between carbon atoms.27 The depopulation of these bonding orbitals stems from the electron transfer between carbon and hydrogen/fluorine atoms. The C-C bonds (C4-C4 in Figure 1) connecting the adjacent 5- and 7-carbon rings are enlarged to a greater extent than others, which is because of the repulsive interactions and steric effects between the adjacent two H/F atoms in the same side of phagraphene. The C-H and C-F bond di stances are approximately 1.11 and 1.38 Ã… (Table S1), approaching to the typical hydrocarbon and fluorocarbons compounds.44 Similar structure distortions and C-C bond elongation are found in hydrogenated/fluorinated penta-graphene and graphene.12, 26, 44 3.2 Stability analysis To investigate the stability of H-PHA and F-PHA, the binding energy Eb and formation energyEf are calculated (definitions of Eb and Ef are given at Section S1 of Supporting Information). The values of Eb are -2.540 and -2.977 eV/atom for fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA (see Table 1), respectively, implying strong interactions between C and H/F. A possible explanation of the strong attractive interactions between C atoms (of phagraphene) and H/F atoms is that, by adsorbing H/F atoms, the C-H/C-F bonds are formed, and the C-C bonds of phagraphene elongate greatly, which could partially release the stress imposed by the 5-6-7 carbon rings.12 Another important factor for synthesis is the formation energy, which applies to measure the stability against molecular desorption from the surface.44 The negative Ef (-0.276 eV/atom for fully H-PHA and -1.615 eV/atom for fully F-PHA) means that the surface modification is exothermic process and the H-PHA (or F-PHA) has lower energy than that of pristi ne phagraphene and H2 (or F2) molecules. The Eb and Ef of hydride are larger than those of fluoride, which are in accordance with similar systems of hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene (-2.48 eV > -2.86 eV)27 and penta-graphene (-3.65 eV > -4.22 eV).12 It is noticed that the Eb of fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA are close, whereas the Ef of fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA have huge difference. This is because of large difference in the dissociation energy of H2 and F2 molecules.27 The thermal stability is also important for H-PHA and F-PHA and is evaluated using the AIMD simulations with a 2 ÃÆ'- 2 ÃÆ'- 1 supercell and a time step of 1 fs for 5000 steps at room temperature (300 K) and 1000 K. Temperature (T) and total energy (Et) as functions of simulation time are plotted in Figures 2 and S1. T and Et converge to constants and the fully H-PHA and F-PHA keep their integrated structures during the AIMD simulations at the setting temperature. These facts demonstrate that hydrogenated or fluorinated phagraphene not only possesses robust thermal stability at room temperature, but also is resistant to high temperature such as 1000 K. In order to examine the dynamic stability, the phonon dispersion curves along the high symmetry points in the BZ and the corresponding phonon density of states (PDOS) are calculated  (Figure 3). No imaginary frequencies are found for both fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA, demonstrating that they are dynamically stable. There are three obvious acoustic modes in the bottom of the phonon spectra for the two structures, and the double degenerates arise along the XZ path of the BZ. These features are similar to the pristine phagraphene,19 graphene45 and its derivatives.12 From the PDOS, one can see that the H-PHA has a tremendous phonon gap of approximately 40 THz, while it is small for F-PHA (about 3 THz). The vibration frequency is inversely proportional to the effective atomic mass,12 thus the larger phonon gap of H-PHA than F-PHA may be attributed to the much lighter atomic mass of hydrogen than fluorine atom. Meanwhile, the narrow high frequency zone around 87 THz in Figure 3a is c orresponding to the C-H bond vibration modes of H-PHA, in accordance with the case of hydrocarbon.46 These C-H stretching modes are infrared active and useful in characterizing this compound.44 The low frequency range from 5 to 10 THz in Figure 3b mainly consists of the phonon modes of C-F bonds. The middle frequency range is dominated by the motion of C atoms. The C=C double bonds were broken by hydrogenation/fluorination, resulting in the disappearance of C-C vibration modes in the region of 40-50 THz for pristine phagraphene.19 3.3 Electronic structures In order to explore the electronic properties and bonding features, the band structures and density of states (DOS) of partially and fully hydrogenated/fluorinated phagraphene are calculated using both PBE and HSE06 functionals. As an example for partially H-PHA, 60% hydrogenation of phagraphene is chosen and four stable configurations (see Figure S2) are designed. The band structures of these configurations are shown in Figures 4 and S3. One can see that the band structures disperse greatly to single band, leading to the sharp peak appearing in the DOS at the EF. Meanwhile, a sub-bandgap located below or above the primary bandgap was observed. From calculations with PBE functional (Figure S3), the bandgaps of the four configurations vary from 2.65 eV (Figure S3a) to 1.72 eV (Figure S3b) to 0.93 eV (Figure S3c) to 0 (Figure S3d). The PBE functional usually underestimates the bandgap of materials.12 To obtain a more accurate Egap, the hybrid functional HSE06 is adopted. The calculated bandgaps with HSE functional in Figure 4 are 3.70 eV, 2.46 eV, 1.56 eV and 0.54 eV for the four configurations. Thus, one can conclude that the bandgap of partially hydrogenated phagraphene depends on configuration and adsorptio n-induced semimetal-semiconductor transition occurs. Such a functionalized 2D material with a proper bandgap has promising applications in optoelectronics and microelectronics.29, 47 The band structures and DOS of fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA are shown in Figures 5 and S4. From calculations with PBE functional (Figure S4), fully H-PHA and F-PHA have direct bandgaps of 4.29 eV and 3.23 eV, respectively. To examine the influence of configuration on the electronic properties, another four configurations of fully hydrogenated phagraphene (see Figure S5) are taken into account. The calculated band structures of the five configurations (Figures S4a and S6) are almost the same and the bandgaps are approximately 4.29 eV, indicating that the Egap of fully hydrogenated phagraphene is independent of the configuration. Similar behavior was found for fully hydrogenated graphene.27 We also calculated the band structures and DOS with HSE06 functional (Figure 5), and obtained that Egap for fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA are 5.37 and 4.98 eV, respectively. These values are comparable to the Egap of hydrogenated/fluorinated penta-graphene (5.35 eV and 4.78 eV) while they are larger th an those of corresponding graphene (4.97 eV and 4.74 eV).12 Obviously, the Egap of F-PHA is smaller than that of H-PHA. Similar results are found in cases of hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene26, 27 and penta-graphene.12Compared to the pristine phagraphene with zero bandgap, the surface modification via hydrogenation or fluorination can effectively tune its electronic structure from semimetal to insulator. Analysis of the partial DOS (Figure 5) reveals that, for H-PHA, the electronic states near the Fermi level (EF) are primarily originated from the C atoms, while they are dominated by both C and F atoms for F-PHA. Additional, from Figures 4 and 5, one can conclude that the bandgaps of H-PHA and F-PHA depend on the adsorption ratio of H and F atoms. We also examine the effect of strain on the band structures. The obtained stress-strain curves of fully H-PHA and F-PHA under biaxial loading (Figure S7) show that their fracture strains are 0.17 and 0.13, respectively. By changing the biaxial tensile strain, the bandgaps of fully H-PHA and F-PHA remain the direct gaps (Figures S8 and S9). Furthermore, upon increasing the biaxial tensile strain, the bandgap of fully H-PHA increases first and then decreases (Figure 6a), whereas the bandgap of fully F-PHA decreases monotonically (Figure 6b). These behaviors indicate that bandgaps depend on the strain. Strain-dependent bandgaps of other 2D materials were also determined previously.48-52 More interestingly, our calculations show that the bandgap of H-PHA reduces from 5.62 eV (ÃŽÂ µ = 0.10) to 4.42 eV (ÃŽÂ µ = 0.17) and the bandgap of F-PHA decreases from 4.98 eV (ÃŽÂ µ = 0) to 3.01 eV (ÃŽÂ µ = 0.13), indicating that an insulator-semiconductor transition occurs with the tensil e strain changes. To visually describe the electronic structure of fully H-PHA and F-PHA, we calculate the charge density. As shown in Figure 7, the charges are redistributed after hydrogenation or fluorination. Compared to the charge densities of C=C bonds in pristine phagraphene (see Figure S10), the charge densities of C-C bonds in H-PHA and F-PHA are reduced. For H-PHA, the shared charges donated by hydrogen are mainly located between the carbon and hydrogen atoms. For F-PHA, a large number of charges are focused on the fluorine atoms. This difference is a consequence of the different electronegativity of hydrogen and fluorine. For a selected element, its attraction of electrons becomes stronger with higher electronegativity.53, 54 The electronegativity increases gradually from hydrogen to carbon to fluorine.53 Thus the charge transfer is from hydrogen to carbon atoms in H-PHA while it is from carbon to fluorine atoms in F-PHA, which is consistent with other hydrocarbons and fluorocarbons.12, 55-5 7 Moreover, the charge density between H and C is lower than that between F and C, implying the weaker C-H interaction than C-F. The Mulliken population analysis58 shows that the transfer charge amounts are approximately 0.22 and 0.33 electrons for H-PHA and F-PHA, respectively, manifesting the weaker bond strength of C-H than that of C-F. 3.4 Mechanical properties Since the ultrathin 2D phagraphene as well as its derivatives is susceptible to external influences, including mechanical deformation,24 it is necessary to develop an in-depth understanding of their mechanical properties for practical application. The elastic constants are calculated (definitions are given at Section S2 of Supporting Information) and the obtained results are tabulated in Table 2, together with the existing reference data24 for comparison. All the elastic constants of fully H-PHA and fully F-PHA satisfy the mechanical stability criteria of C11C22 à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ C122 > 0 and C66 > 0 for 2D sheets,3, 59 indicating that they are mechanically stable. The in-plane Youngs modulus (E) and Poissons ratio (ÃŽÂ ½) can be derived from the elastic constants using the formulas of E = (C112 à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ C122) / C11 and ÃŽÂ ½ = C12 / C11.24 The E of fully H-PHA and F-PHA are 151.3 and 176.3 N/m (see Table 2), respectively, which are consistent with the results from the stress-strain curves (149.2 and 178.5 N/m for fully H-PHA and F-PHA, respectively). The Poissons ratio ÃŽÂ ½ of fully H-PHA and F-PHA are 0.078 and 0.152, respectively. Because the larger E implies the stronger stiffness and the larger Poissons ratio signifies the stronger incompressibility,24 the F-PHA has better stiffness and resistance to volume compression than the H-PHA, which may ascribe to the stronger C-F bonds than C-H bonds. Compared to pristine phagraphene, the E and ÃŽÂ ½ of H-PHA and F-PHA are significantly reduced. Such reduction may be related to their different charge density distribution and bond nature.12, 24 4. Conclusions In summary, we systematically study the structure, stability, electronic and mechanical properties of hydrogenated and fluorinated phagraphene sheets. Our results show that H-PHA and F-PHA are thermodynamically and dynamically as well as mechanically stable. The binding energy and formation energy of fully F-PHA are smaller than those of fully H-PHA, implying the stronger stability of F-PHA than H-PHA. After hydrogenation or fluorination, the bandgap of phagraphene is opened properly, resulting in an adsorption-induced semimetal-semiconductor transition or adsorption-induced semimetal-insulator transition. Strain-induced insulator-semiconductor transition is also identified. Our band structures demonstrate that bandgap of fully H-PHA is insensitive to the configuration whereas the bandgap of partially H-PHA is sensitive to the configuration. Adsorption-ratio-dependent of H-PHA and F-PHA is also determined. The obtained bandgaps from both PBE and HSE06 functionals of fully F-PHA are s maller than fully H-PHA. The charges are transferred from hydrogen to carbon atoms in the fully H-PHA while it is from carbon to fluorine atoms in the fully F-PHA. The positive Poissons ratios of fully H-PHA and F-PHA manifest that they can well resist the volume deformation.Both the Youngs moduli and Poissons ratios of the two phagraphene derivatives are significantly smaller than the pristine phagraphene. This investigation suggests that hydrogenation or fluorination is an effective strategy to modulate the electronic and mechanical properties of phagraphene for its possible applications in nanoelectronics. Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21401064, 21206049 and 51472102), the Natural Science Foundation of the Education Department of Henan Province (15A150060), the National Natural Science and Henan Province United Foundation of China (U1204601), Special Program for Applied Research on Super Computation of the NSFC-Guangdong Joint Fund (the second phase), and Leading Talents for Zhengzhou Science and Technology Bureau (Grant No. 131PLJRC649) for supports. We thank the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou and the High performance Computing Center of Huanghe Science and Technology College for the computer time provided. References 1.A. H. Castro Neto, F. Guinea, N. M. R. Peres, K. S. Novoselov and A. K. Geim, Rev. Mod. Phys., 2009, 81, 109-162. 2.D. Malko, C. Neiss, F. Vià ±es and A. Gà ¶rling, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2012, 108, 086804. 3.S. Zhang, J. Zhou, Q. Wang, X. Chen, Y. Kawazoe and P. Jena, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2015, 112, 2372-2377. 4.Y. Liu, G. Wang, Q. Huang, L. Guo and X. Chen, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2012, 108, 225505. 5.L. Xu, R. Wang, M. Miao, X. Wei, Y. Chen, H. Yan, W. Lau, L. Liu and Y. Ma, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 1113-1118. 6.K. S. Novoselov, A. K.

Ancient Indian Architecture :: Papers

Ancient Indian Architecture The Science of Architecture and Civil Construction was known in Ancient India as Sthapatya-Shastra. The word Sthapatya is derived from the root word Sthapana i.e. 'to establish'. The technique of architecture was both a science and an art, hence it is also known as Sthapatya-kala, the word Kala means an art. From very early times the construction of temples, palaces, rest houses and other civil construction was undertaken by professional architects known as Sthapati. Even during the Vedic times, there existed professionals who specialized in the technique of constructing chariots and other heavy instruments of war. These professionals have been referred to in the Rig Veda as Rathakara which literally means 'chariot maker'. The excavations of the ruins at Mohenjodaro and Harrappa (today in Pakistan) proved the existence of a developed Urban civilization in India. The Indus valley civilization is dated around 3000 B.C. Thus since the last 5000 years. India has had an urban civilization. The existence of an urban civilization presumes the existence of well developed techniques of architecture and construction. These techniques would no doubt have had been systematically stated in record books for transmitting them to the later generations as well for being used as reference media for actual construction. Unfortunately, as far as the Indus Valley civilization goes no such records have been preserved either as rock edicts, manuscripts, etc., or in folk tales and legends. But the fact that cities on the scale of Mohenjodaro had been constructed bear testimony to the existence of a systematized and highly developed technique of architecture 5000 years ago. But in the later ages, from about the 7th century B.C., we have both literature references as well as archeological evidences to prove the existence of large urban civilizations in the Ganges Valley. Like in most other sciences, even remotely connected with religion, in architecture also the scientific ideas and techniques have been integrated with philosophy and theology. This was so as the majority of the large constructions were temples.

Alcoholism - No Easy Solution Essay examples -- Argumentative Persuasi

Alcoholism - No Easy Solution Mike Brake’s â€Å"Needed: A License to Drink† is a well-written essay that covers the serious issue of alcoholism and goes on to offer a creative proposal to solve the situation. Brake addresses alcoholism as a â€Å"primary public health-problem† which holds merit, considering Brake sites alcohol is the cause of 19,000 auto fatalities each year. To remedy these preventable fatalities, Brake proposes to institute a national system of licensing with appropriate penalties for violators. He goes on to say that these licenses should be issued the same way as driver’s licenses. An applicant would have to read a manual, and take a written exam which would include questions such as â€Å"How many drinks would it take to intoxicate a 150lb man?† and â€Å"What is the penalty for drunk driving?† After passing the written test applicants would be issued a drinking license that would be required for buying any alcoholic drink. Brake bases his credibility on the tragic premature loss of four family members due to alcoholism which he refers to as a â€Å"deadly disease† (Brake 135). And although it would never be acceptable to wish such terror on anyone, the misfortune is not enough to qualify a person as an expert. Brake presents strong family values and plays into the reader’s compassion for loved ones. Brake also spent two years working as a counselor in a chemical-dependency treatment center, where he gained first hand experience working with a young man who passed out while smoking and a nurse who lost her license and became a prostitute. However he mistakenly forgets the patient explanation as to why a young man who passed out while smoking and a nurse who turned prostitute, is relevant to the problem of alcoholism. If ... ... can not present a legitimate argument, second alcoholism is not a disease and so each person must find it in themselves to stop, or they have family that really loves them and help them stop. Third it would cause more problems then it is solving, and finally it would cost the general public more money then it is worth. Works Cited. Brake, Mike. "Needed: A License to Drink." The Genre of Argument. Ed. Rosenberg. Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle, March 14, 1994. 135-136. Falcone, Timothy J. "Alcoholism and Drug Addiction FAQ's Saint Jude Retreat House. 19 April 2004. Online. Internet. 19 April 2004. Available: http://www.soberforever.net/FAQ1.cfm. "National Highway Traffic Saftey Administration." Operating Administrations, U.S. DOT FY 2005 Budget in Brief. 19 April 2004. Online. Internet. 19 April 2004. Available: http://www.dot.gov/bib2005/admins.html#nhtsa.

Psychology and Best Friends

What is you most prized possession? A prized possession is something that makes you happy the most above all else. Your most prized possession can be an item or a person. One of my most prized possessions would be my best friends, because they are what makes us believe in ourselves, make one of the biggest influences in life, and let us have the ability to stay strong. Without our best friends I would not be the same person I am today. Our mental and physical abilities are essential in life, it can build us strive and become driven into our success.People should not be dependent on computers because, this can damage a person’s mental and physical ability. It can affect someone physically by having the habit of bad postures, back/neck aches, and eye pain. These body parts are essential for us to live comfortably and be able to work efficiently. Also it can affect a person’s mental health, some of the different causes are, poor concentration, poor attention span, not bein g able to multi task, no use of own knowledge, as well as sleeping disorders.If This possession is more valuable to me than other possessions because, this is what brings us happiness for me and for everyone. Best friends support us and are what help us to move forward in life. This possession is something that anybody can receive but only in one condition, show different character traits so that he or she will give you the same respect. I need this possession because whenever we are feeling down, I can depend on my friends easily.

Obama’s Commencement Speech

Obama’s Speech Everybody knows how good of a speaker Obama is. His speeches always seem to convince the audience, but it is not by everybody understood what distinguishes him from other speakers. Certain skills he frequently uses help him reach his main purpose, but the question remains what these skills include. Therefore, the aim of this commentary is explain how the use of rhetorical devices makes Obama’s speeches stand out and memorable. Rhetorical devices are techniques that an author or speaker uses in order to convey the listener or reader a message with the goal to persuade him or her towards a certain perspective.There are a lot of different kinds of techniques such as irony and the use of metaphors. When listening carefully to Obama’s speeches one is able to distinguish certain rhetorical devices that seem to keep coming back in every other of his speeches. We could say Obama has got some favourite techniques which clearly seem to help him in giving exc ellent speeches. When we take a closer look at Obama’s commencement speech for the Illinois university school of medicine we can also find the devices that keep coming back. The Technique he uses the most frequently is the so called ‘tricolon’, which can also be called ‘the rule of threes’.Tricolon uses series of three to emphasis certain issues and by this making his point even more clear and memorable. In Obama’s Inauguration speech alone we are able to find twenty two example of tricolon and in this commencement speech he also is not ‘afraid’ of using it. Already in his first sentence we are able to find an example of this device: â€Å"After four years of endless work, sleepless nights, and constant stress†. And even though this is his first sentence and it is a joke, he already stresses the fact that his audience has worked hard and that it is something they can be proud of.Also by using three word groups each from a n oun and an adjective he makes the ‘situation’ seem even more dramatic and funny. Another example when he uses tricolon is â€Å"genocide in Dafur or the AIDS epidemic or the fifteen-year-old who was gunned down on front of his house. † By using three examples instead of two or four examples he reaches the just the right point where people will get his point, understand him, where they have had enough time to think about the situation, are able to identify and keep remembering his words.There are many more great examples but tricolon is of course not the only rhetorical device he uses. Barack Obama also knows exactly how to use the pronouns ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘we’ in a good and effective manner. By using specifically these three pronouns much more often than pronouns such as she, he or they, he is able to create a higher degree of intimacy and solidarity towards his audience. He makes his audience feel as if he is talking to them personally even though he may be speaking to an audience of thousands of people.Also when his topics concern some issues such as the health care issue in this speech, he is able to twist his story in such a way that he really believes that there is a solution and that certainly together we can always come to a solution. It is amazing he is able to tell it in such a way that the audience is also going to believe it. â€Å"This is why we need you. We need you to dream, we need you to speak out, and we need you to act. And together, we can build a health care system in this country that finally works for every American. This part of his speech is a perfect example where all of the most important rhetorical devices come together and work effectively together. We can identify his use of pronouns, tricolon (â€Å"We need you to dream, we need you to speak out, and we need you to act. †) and also anaphora. Anaphora is another of Obama’s favourite techniques. â€Å"We need you† is already repeated four times in just two sentences. The five following paragraphs also consist of anaphora, because they all begin with â€Å"We can (have)†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Repeating this part of the sentence does not only give the speech a nice structure, it is much more than that.It is saying in an indirect way that we really, honestly can, but in a much more effective way. Because every time the audience is reminded of that ‘fact’ and when things keep coming back one will be able to remember it easily with the effect that one can also start to believe in his words. â€Å"Perhaps you will first notice when a doctor tells a woman that her husband will need a life-saving procedure that their insurance does not cover and their family cannot afford. Perhaps it will be the late-stage diagnosis of a cancer that could have been prevented with a routine of screening that the patient’s health care plan just doesn’t cover.Perhaps it will be the endless stream of people who wait and wait in the emergency room which is the only place that will treat the uninsured. † Is another example were anaphora and tricolon are combined to create a stronger effect. Again three examples are used together to increase the power of the three separate examples another thing is that all three examples start with â€Å"perhaps† which is used to link the three separate examples but also again to make it more memorable. So Obama knows exactly how to use words in order to create the effect he likes: being persuasive, personal and productive.Every speaker has got his or her own characteristics in their way of speaking and so does Obama. His good and effective way of speaking distinguishes him from others. He is able to create this effectiveness by the use of important rhetorical devices. The three most important devices he uses Obama uses are tricolon, the correct use of pronouns and anaphora. By using these both separate as together he is ab le to make speeches in which his message comes across at the good manner and he is able to make speeches in which he can be as effective and persuasive as possible. 1. 058 words

Consequences of Unethical Behavior Essay

I had not heard of this until now, actually. Google paid their way out of CEO prosecution last year. Not only was their behavior unethical, and illegal, it was very socially irresponsible to the American people. Google was taking part in advertising narcotics and other prescription drugs for an illegal Canadian pharmacy on the American internet; making all of these drugs readily available to the American people. David Whitaker, a federal inmate and convicted con-artist became posed as an American government agent who went undercover to prove Google knew exactly what was going on. Google advertisement executives accepted the $200,000 worth of the government’s â€Å"set-up† money to begin advertising. Whitaker collected emails and recorded calls to prove that Google knew what they were doing were illegal. Even though it was obvious through the evidence to see that Google representatives knew that the advertisements were illegal, they extended Whitaker a â€Å"very generous credit line and allowed me to set my target advertising directly to American consumers. On August 24th, 2011, Google paid $500M dollars to pay their fines and avoid prosecution of their C. E. O. Larry Page. Through the emails and recordings, it is made obvious that Page knew exactly what was going on. Google was allowing illegal Canadian pharmacies to platform their ads on Google and target the American population. Google allowing American consumers to be targeted is absolutely outrageous. Google’s $500M fine covers the advertising costs and profits of the companies. The Department of Justice also has a â€Å"non-prosecution† agreement with Google. Now, what exactly is a â€Å"non-prosecution† agreement? To me, this all sounds like something illegal all the way around. How can a company, any company, buy their way out of prosecution? How can a C. E. O. not be classified as a drug peddler who well knows of what is going on within his company? How does this make him any different that Bernie Madoff or the Goldman Sachs C. E. O.? Google was allowing drugs to be sold through their network, period point blank; with the citizens of America being the target. How can a company buy their way out of prosecution? I just do not understand. If I was caught selling drugs, or giving people a platform to sell, I would be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Would I be able to buy my way out of prosecution? I absolutely would not! The American government would lock me away and take their sweet time about taking me to trial and finishing my case. Why was this not made more public? Now, it seems, Google is being looked into from every aspect, in which they should.

A Dirty Job Chapter 21

21 COMMON COURTESY Charlie was torn – he really wanted to take his sword-cane, but he couldn't carry it while using the crutches. He considered duct-taping it to one of the crutches, but he thought that might attract attention. â€Å"You want me to go with you?† Ray asked. â€Å"I mean, you okay to drive, with your leg and all?† â€Å"I'll be fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"Someone needs to watch the store.† â€Å"Charlie, before you go, can I ask you something?† â€Å"Sure.† Don't ask, don't ask, don't ask, Charlie thought. â€Å"Why did you need me to find these two women?† You robot-necked bastard, you had to ask. â€Å"I told you, estate stuff.† Charlie shrugged. No big deal, let it go, nothing to see here. â€Å"Yeah, I know you told me that, and normally that would make sense, but I found out a lot about these two while looking for them – no one in either of their families has died recently.† â€Å"Funny thing,† Charlie said, juggling his keys, the cane, his date book, and his crutches by the back door. â€Å"Both bequests were from nonrelatives. Old friends.† No wonder women don't like you, you just won't leave things alone. â€Å"Uh-huh,† Ray said, unconvinced. â€Å"You know, when people run, when they go as far as faking their own death to get away, they are usually running from something. Are you that something, Charlie?† â€Å"Ray, listen to yourself. Are you back on your serial-killer thing? I thought Rivera explained that.† â€Å"So this is for Rivera?† â€Å"Let's say he's interested,† Charlie said. â€Å"Why didn't you just say so?† Charlie sighed. â€Å"Ray, I'm not supposed to talk about this stuff, you know that. Fourth Amendment and all. I came to you because you're good, and you have contacts. I depend on you and I trust you. I think you know that you can depend on me and trust me, right? I mean, in all these years, I've never put your disability pension in jeopardy by being careless about our arrangement, have I?† It was a threat, however subtle, and Charlie felt bad for doing it, but he just couldn't let Ray continue to push on this, particularly since he was in unexplored territory himself – he didn't even know what kind of bluff he was covering. â€Å"So Mrs. Johnson isn't going to end up dead if I find her for you?† â€Å"I will not lay a hand on Mrs. Johnson or Mrs. Pojo†¦Mrs. Pokojo – or that other woman either. You have my word on it.† Charlie raised his hand as if swearing on a Bible and dropped one of his crutches. â€Å"Why don't you just use the cane?† Ray said. â€Å"Right,† Charlie said. He leaned the crutches on the door and tried his weight on the bad leg and the cane. The doctors had, indeed, said that it was just a flesh wound, so there was no tendon damage, just muscle, but it hurt like hell to put any weight on that foot. The cane would work, he decided. â€Å"I should be back to relieve you before five.† He limped out the door. Ray didn't like being lied to. He'd had quite enough of that from his desperate Filipinas and was becoming sensitive about being taken for a fool. Who did Charlie Asher think he was fooling? As soon as he got the store squared away, he'd give Rivera a call and see for himself. He went out into the store and did a little dusting, then went to Charlie's â€Å"special† rack, where he kept the weird estate items that he made such a fuss about. You were only supposed to sell one to each customer, but Ray had sold five of them to the same woman in the last two weeks. He knew he should have said something to Charlie, but really, why? Charlie wasn't being open with him about anything, it seemed. Besides, the woman who bought the stuff was cute, and she'd smiled at Ray. She had nice hair, a cute figure, and really striking light blue eyes. Plus there was something about her voice – she seemed so, what? Peaceful, maybe. Like she knew that everything was going to be okay and no one needed to worry. Maybe he was projecting. And she didn't have an Adam's apple, which was a big plus in Ray's book lately. He'd tried to get her name, even get a look at something in her wallet, but she'd paid in cash and had been as careful as a poker player covering her cards. If she'd driven, she'd parked too far away for him to see her get into her car from the store, so there was no license number to trace. He resolved to ask her name if she came in today. And she was due to come in. She only came in when he was working alone. He'd seen her check through the window once when he was working with Lily, and only came into the store later when Lily was gone. He really hoped she'd come in. He tried to calm himself down for his call to Rivera. He didn't want to seem like a rube to a guy who was still on the job. He used his own cell phone for the call so Rivera would see it was him calling. Charlie didn't like leaving Sophie for this long, given what had happened a few days ago, but on the other hand, whatever might be threatening her was obviously being caused by his missing these two soul vessels. The quicker he fixed the problem, the quicker the threat would be diminished. Besides, the hellhounds were her best defense, and he'd given express instructions to Mrs. Ling that the dogs and Sophie were not to be separated for any amount of time, for any reason. He took Presidio Boulevard through Golden Gate Park into the Sunset, reminding himself to take Sophie to the Japanese Tea Garden to feed the koi, now that her plague on pets seemed to have subsided. The Sunset district lay just south of Golden Gate Park, bordered by the American Highway and Ocean Beach on the west, and Twin Peaks and the University of San Francisco on the east. It had once been a suburb, until the city expanded to include it, and many of its houses were modest, single-story family dwellings, built en masse in the 1940s and '50s. They were like the mosaics of little boxes that peppered neighborhoods across the entire country in that postwar period, but in San Francisco, where so much had been built after the quake and fire of '06, then again in the economic boom of the late twentieth century, they seemed like anachronisms from both ends of time. Charlie felt like he was driving through the Eisenhower era, at least until he passed a mother with a shaved head and tribal tattoos on her scalp pushing twins in a double stroller. Irena Posokovanovich's sister lived in a small, one-story frame house with a small covered porch that had jasmine vines growing up trellises on either side and springing off into the air like morning-after-sex hair. The rest of the tiny yard was meticulously groomed, from the holly hedge at the sidewalk to the red geraniums that lined the concrete path up to the house. Charlie parked a block away and walked to the house. On the way he was nearly run over by two different joggers, one a young mother pushing a running stroller. They couldn't see him – he was on track. Now, how to go about getting in? And then what? If he was the Luminatus, then perhaps just his presence would take care of the problem. He checked around back and saw that there was a car in the garage, but the shades were drawn on all the windows. Finally he decided on the frontal approach and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later a short woman in her seventies wearing a pink chenille housecoat opened the door. â€Å"Yes,† she said, looking a little suspicious as she eyed Charlie's walking cast. She quickly flipped the lock on the screen door. â€Å"Can I help you?† It was the woman in the picture. â€Å"Yes, ma'am, I'm looking for Irena Posokovanovich.† â€Å"Well, she's not here,† said Irena Posokovanovich. â€Å"You must have the wrong house.† She started to close the door. â€Å"Wasn't there a death notice in the paper a couple of weeks ago?† Charlie said. So far, his awesome presence as the Luminatus wasn't having much of an effect on her. â€Å"Well, yes, I believe there was,† said the woman, sensing an out. She opened the door a little more. â€Å"It was such a tragedy. We all loved Irena so much. She was the kindest, most generous, most loving, attractive – you know, for her age – well-read – â€Å" â€Å"And evidently didn't know that it's considered common courtesy when you publish a death notice to actually die!† Charlie held out the enlarged driver's-license picture. He considered adding aha! but thought that might be a little over-the-top. Irena Posokovanovich slammed the door. â€Å"I don't know who you are, but you have the wrong house,† she said through the door. â€Å"You know who I am,† Charlie said. Actually, she probably had no idea who he was. â€Å"And I know who you are, and you are supposed to have died three weeks ago.† â€Å"You're mistaken. Now go away before I call the police and tell them that there's a rapist at my door.† Charlie gagged a little, then pushed on. â€Å"I am not a rapist, Mrs. Poso†¦Posokev – I'm Death, Irena. That's who I am. And you are overdue. You need to die, this minute if possible. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's like going to sleep, only, well – â€Å" â€Å"I'm not ready,† Irena whined. â€Å"If I was ready I wouldn't have left my home. I'm not ready.† â€Å"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I have to insist.† â€Å"I'm sure you're mistaken. Perhaps another Mrs. Posokovanovich.† â€Å"No, here it is, right here in the calendar, with your address. It's you.† Charlie held his date book turned to the page with her name on it up to the little window in the door. â€Å"And you say that that is Death's calendar?† â€Å"That's correct, ma'am. Notice the date. And this is your second notice.† â€Å"And you are Death?† â€Å"That's right.† â€Å"Well, that's just silly.† â€Å"I am not silly, Mrs. Posokovanovich. I am Death.† â€Å"Aren't you supposed to have a sickle and a long black robe?† â€Å"No, we don't do that anymore. Take my word for it, I am Death.† He tried to sound really ominous. â€Å"Death is always tall in the pictures.† She was standing on tiptoe, he could tell the way she kept bouncing up by the little window to get a look at him. â€Å"You don't seem tall enough.† â€Å"There's no height requirement.† â€Å"Then could I see your business card?† â€Å"Sure.† Charlie took out a card and held it against the glass. â€Å"This says ‘Purveyor of Fine Vintage Clothing and Accessories.'† â€Å"Right! Exactly!† He knew he should have had a second set of business cards printed up. â€Å"And where do you think I get those things? From the dead. You see?† â€Å"Mr. Asher, I'm going to have to ask you to leave.† â€Å"No, ma'am, I'm going to have to insist that you pass away, this instant. You're overdue.† â€Å"Go away! You are a charlatan, and I think you need psychological help.† â€Å"Death! You're fucking with Death! Capital D, bitch!† Well, that was uncalled for. Charlie felt bad the second he said it. â€Å"Sorry,† he mumbled to the door. â€Å"I'm calling the police.† â€Å"You go ahead, Mrs. – uh – Irena. You know what they'll tell you, that you're dead! It was in the Chronicle. They hardly ever print stuff that's not true.† â€Å"Please go away. I practiced for a long time so I could live longer, it's not fair.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Go away.† â€Å"I heard that part, I mean the part about practicing.† â€Å"Never you mind. You just go take someone else.† Charlie actually had no idea what he would do if she let him in. Maybe he had to touch her for his Death abilities to kick in. He remembered seeing an old Twilight Zone as a kid, where Robert Redford was Death, and this old lady wouldn't let him in, so he pretended to be injured, and when she came to help him†¦ALA-KAZAM! She croaked, and he peacefully led her off to Hole in the Wall, where she helped him produce independent movies. Maybe that would work. He did have the cast and the cane going for him. He looked up and down the street to make sure that no one could see him, then he lay down, half on the little porch, half on the concrete steps. He threw his cane against the door and made sure that it clattered loudly on the concrete, then he let out what he thought was a very convincing wail. â€Å"Ahhhhhhhhh, I've broken my leg.† He heard footsteps inside and saw gray hair at the little window, bouncing a little so she could see out. â€Å"Oh, it hurts,† Charlie wailed. â€Å"Help.† More steps, the shade in the window to the right of the door parted and he saw an eye. He grimaced in fake pain. â€Å"Are you all right?† said Mrs. Posokovanovich. â€Å"I need help. My leg was hurt before, but I slipped on your steps. I think I've broken something. There's blood, and a piece of bone sticking out.† He kept his leg below the level where she could see it. â€Å"Oh my,† she said. â€Å"Give me a minute.† â€Å"Help. Please. The pain. So – much – pain.† Charlie coughed the way cowboys do when they are dying in the dirt and things are getting all dark. He heard the latch being thrown, and then the inner door opened. â€Å"You're really hurt bad,† she said. â€Å"Please,† Charlie said, holding his hand out to her. â€Å"Help me.† She unlatched the screen. Charlie suppressed a grin. â€Å"Oh, thank you,† he gasped. She threw open the screen door and blasted him in the face with a stream of pepper spray. â€Å"I saw that Twilight Zone, you son of a bitch!† The doors slammed. The latch was thrown. Charlie's face felt like it was on fire. When he could finally see well enough to walk, as he limped back to his van, he heard a female voice say, â€Å"I'd have let you in, lover.† Then a chorus of spooky-girlish laughter erupted from the storm sewer. He backed against the van, ready to draw the sword from the cane, but then he heard what sounded like a small dog barking in the sewer. â€Å"Where did he come from?† said one of the harpies. â€Å"He bit me! You little fucker!† â€Å"Get him!† â€Å"I hate dogs. When we take over, no dogs.† The barking faded away, followed by the voices of the sewer harpies. Charlie took a deep breath and tried to blink the pain out of his eyes. He needed to regroup, but then he was taking the old lady down, pepper spray or not. It took him the better part of an hour to get into position, but once he was ready, he put down the cinder block, flipped open his cell phone, and dialed the number he'd gotten from information. A woman answered. â€Å"Hello.† â€Å"Ma'am, this is the gas company,† Charlie said in his best gas-company voice. â€Å"My grid is showing pressure loss at your address. We're sending a truck right out, but you need to get everyone out of the house, right now.† â€Å"Well, I'm the only one here right now, but I'm sorry, I don't smell gas.† â€Å"It may be building up under the house,† Charlie said, feeling proud of himself for being quick on his feet. Is there anyone else in the house?† â€Å"No, just me and my kitty, Samantha.† â€Å"Ma'am, please take the cat and go out by the street. Our truck will meet you there. Go right now, okay?† â€Å"Well, all right.† â€Å"Thank you, ma'am.† Charlie clicked off. He could feel movement inside of the house. He moved right to the edge of the porch roof and raised the concrete cinder block over his head. It'll look like an accident, he thought, like a cinder block fell off the porch roof. He was glad that no one could see him up here. He was sweating from the climb, his armpits stained, his trousers wrinkled. He heard the door open and got ready to throw the cinder block as soon as his target emerged from under the roof. â€Å"Good afternoon, ma'am.† A man's voice, out by the street. Charlie looked down to see Inspector Rivera standing at the sidewalk, having just climbed out of an unmarked car. What the hell was he doing here? â€Å"Are you the gas company?† said Mrs. Posokovanovich. â€Å"No, ma'am, I'm from the San Francisco police.† He flashed his badge. â€Å"They told me there was a gas leak,† she said. â€Å"That's been taken care of, ma'am. Could you step back inside and I'll check with you in a minute, okay?† â€Å"Well, okay, then.† Charlie heard the doors open and close again. His arms were trembling from holding the cinder block over his head. He tried to breathe quietly, thinking that the sound of his wheezing might attract Rivera's attention, make him visible. â€Å"Mr. Asher, what are you doing up there?† Charlie nearly lost his balance and went over. â€Å"You can see me?† â€Å"Yes, sir, I certainly can. And I can also see that cinder block you're holding over your head.† â€Å"Oh, this old thing.† â€Å"What were you planning on doing with that?† â€Å"Repairs?† Charlie tried. How could Rivera see him when he was in soul-vessel-retrieval mode? â€Å"I'm sorry, but I don't believe you, Mr. Asher. You're going to have to drop the cinder block.† â€Å"I'd rather not. It was really hard getting it up here.† â€Å"Be that as it may, I'm going to have to insist that you drop it.† â€Å"I was planning on it, but then you showed up.† â€Å"Please. Indulge me. Look, you're sweating. Climb down and you can sit in my air-conditioned car with me. We'll chat – talk about Italian suits, the Giants – I don't know – why you were about to brain that sweet old lady with a cinder block. Air-conditioning, Mr. Asher – won't that be nice?† Charlie brought the cinder block down and rested it on his thigh, feeling his trousers snagging beyond repair as he did so. â€Å"That's not much of an incentive. What am I, some primitive Amazon native? I've had air-conditioning before. I have air-conditioning in my own van.† â€Å"Yes, I'll admit it's not exactly a weekend in Paris, but the next choice was that I shoot you off the roof, and they put you in a body bag, which is going to be sweltering on a warm day like this.† â€Å"Oh, well, yes,† Charlie said. â€Å"That does make air-conditioning sound a lot more inviting. Thanks. I'm going to toss my brick down first, if that's okay?† â€Å"That would be great, Mr. Asher.† Disillusioned with DesperateFilipinas, Ray was browsing through the selection of lonely first-grade teachers with master's degrees in nuclear physics on when she came through the door. He heard the bell and caught her out of the corner of his eye, and forgetting that his neck vertebrae were fused, he sprained the left side of his face trying to turn to see her. She saw him looking and smiled. Ray smiled back, then, out of the corner of his eye, saw the monitor with the photo of the first-grade teacher holding her breasts, and sprained the right side of his face trying to turn in time to punch the power button before she passed the counter. â€Å"Just browsing,† said the love of his life. â€Å"How are you today?† â€Å"Hi,† Ray said. In his mental rehearsals, he started with â€Å"hi,† and it just sort of burped out of him before he realized that it put him behind a beat. â€Å"I mean, fine. Sorry. I was working.† â€Å"I can see that.† Again the smile. She was so understanding, forgiving – and kind, you could just tell that by her eyes. He knew in his heart that he would even sit through a hat movie for this woman. He would watch A Room with a View AND The English Patient, back-to-back, just to share a pizza with her. And she would stop him from eating his service revolver halfway through the second movie, because that's just how she was: compassionate. She made a show of browsing the store, but two minutes hadn't passed before she made for Charlie's special shelf. Even the sign said SPECIAL ITEMS – ONE PER CUSTOMER, but it didn't say if that was a per-day policy, or one per lifetime. Charlie hadn't really specified, now that Ray thought about it. Sure, Lily had yammered on about how important it was that they adhere to the policy, but that was Lily, she might have grown up some, but she was still disturbed. After a short time she picked up an electric alarm clock and brought it over to the counter. This was it. This was it. Ray heard the back door open. â€Å"Will this be everything?† he said. â€Å"Yes,† said the future Mrs. Ray Macy. â€Å"I've been looking for one like this.† â€Å"Yep, you can't beat a Sunbeam,† Ray said. â€Å"That's two-sixteen with tax – aw, heck, call it two even.† â€Å"That's very nice of you,† she said, digging into a small purse woven from colorful Guatemalan cotton thread. â€Å"Hi, Ray,† Lily said, suddenly standing there beside him like some evil phantom who appeared out of nowhere to leech every potentially joyous moment out of his life. â€Å"Hi, Lily,† he said. Lily clicked some keys on the computer. Slowed down by his freshly sprained face, Ray wasn't able to turn before she'd hit the power button on the monitor. â€Å"What's this?† asked Lily. With his free hand, Ray thumped Lily in the thigh under the counter. â€Å"Ouch! Freak!† â€Å"I'm sure you'll enjoy waking up with that,† Ray said, handing the alarm clock to the woman who would be his queen. â€Å"Thank you so much,† said the lovely brunette goddess of all things Ray. â€Å"By the way,† Ray said, pushing on, â€Å"you've been in a couple of times, I was wondering, you know, because I'm curious that way, uh, what's your name?† â€Å"Audrey.† â€Å"Hi, Audrey. I'm Ray.† â€Å"Nice to meet you, Ray. Gotta go. Bye.† She waved over her shoulder and headed out the door. Ray and Lily watched her walk away. â€Å"Nice butt,† Lily said. â€Å"She said my name,† Ray said. â€Å"She's a little bit – I don't know – unimaginary for you.† Ray turned to the nemesis Lily. â€Å"You have to watch the store. I have to go.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"I have to follow her, find out who she is.† Ray began to gather his stuff – phone, keys, baseball cap. â€Å"Yeah, that's healthy, Ray.† â€Å"Tell Charlie I – don't tell Charlie.† â€Å"Okay. So is it okay if I switch the computer from the UGLY Web site?† â€Å"What are you talking about?† Lily stepped back from the screen and pointed to the letters as she read, â€Å"Ukrainian Girls Loving You – U-G-L-Y, ugly.† Lily smiled, a perky, self-satisfied smile, like that kid who won the spelling bee in third grade. Didn't you hate that kid? Ray couldn't believe it. They weren't even being subtle about it anymore. â€Å"Can't talk,† he said. â€Å"Gotta go.† He ran out the door and headed up Mason Street after the lovely and compassionate Audrey. Rivera had driven up to the Cliff House Restaurant overlooking Seal Rocks and forced Charlie to buy him a drink while they watched the surfers down on the beach. Rivera was not a morbid man, but he knew that if he came here enough times, eventually he'd see a surfer get hit by a white shark. In fact, he sorely hoped that it would happen, because otherwise, the world made no sense, there was no justice, and life was just a tangled ball of chaos. Thousands of seals in the water and on the rocks – the mainstay of the white shark diet – hundreds of surfers in the water, dressed like seals, well, it just needed to happen for all to be right with the world. â€Å"I never believed you, Mr. Asher, when you said that you were Death, but since I couldn't explain whatever that thing was in the alley with you, didn't want to explain, in fact, I let it slide.† â€Å"And I appreciate that,† said Charlie, showing a little discomfort at drinking a glass of wine with handcuffs on. His face was candy-apple red from having been burned by the pepper spray. â€Å"Is this normal procedure for interrogations?† â€Å"No,† Rivera said. â€Å"Normally the City is supposed to pay, but I'll have the judge take the drinks off your sentence.† â€Å"Great. Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"And you can call me Charlie.† â€Å"Okay, and you can call me Inspector Rivera. Now, braining the old lady with the cinder block – just exactly what were you thinking?† â€Å"Do I need a lawyer?† â€Å"Of course not, you're fine, this bar is full of witnesses.† Rivera had once been a by-the-book kind of cop. That was before the demons, the giant owls, the bankruptcy, the polar bears, the vampires, the divorce, and the saber-clawed woman-thing that turned into a bird. Now, not so much. â€Å"In that case, I was thinking that no one could see me,† Charlie said. â€Å"Because you were invisible?† â€Å"Not really. Just sort of not noticeable.† â€Å"Well, I'll give you that, but I don't think that's any reason to crush a grandmother's skull.† â€Å"You have no proof of that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Of course I do,† Rivera said, holding up his glass to signal to the waitress that he needed another Glenfiddich on the rocks. â€Å"I saw pictures of her grandchildren, she showed me when I went in the house.† â€Å"No, I mean you have no proof that I was going to crush her skull.† â€Å"I see,† said Rivera, who did not see at all. â€Å"How did you know Mrs. Posokovanovich?† â€Å"I didn't. Her name just showed up in my date book, like I showed you.† â€Å"Yes, you did. Yes, you did. But that doesn't really give you a license to kill her, now does it?† â€Å"That's the point, she was supposed to be dead three weeks ago. There was even a death notice in the paper. I was just trying to make sure it was accurate.† â€Å"So in lieu of having the Chronicle print a correction, you thought you'd bash in granny's brains.† â€Å"Well, it was that or have my daughter say ‘kitty' at her, and I refuse to exploit my child in that way.† â€Å"Well, I admire your taking the high ground on that one, Charlie,† Rivera said, thinking, Who do I have to shoot to get a drink around here? â€Å"But let's just say that for one millisecond I believe you, and the old lady was supposed to die, but didn't, and that because of it you were shot with a crossbow and that thing I shot in the alley appeared – let's just say I believe all that, what am I supposed to do about it?† â€Å"You need to be careful,† Charlie said. â€Å"You may be turning into one of us.† â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"That's how it happened to me. When my wife passed away, in the hospital, I saw the guy that came to collect her soul vessel, and wham, I was a Death Merchant. You saw me today, when no one else could, and you saw the sewer harpy, that night in the alley. Most of the time, I'm the only one who can see them.† Rivera really, really wanted to turn this guy over to a psychiatrist at the hospital and never see him again, but the problem was, he had seen the woman-thing, that night and another time on his own street, and he had seen reports of weird stuff happening in the City over the last two weeks. And not just normal San Francisco weird stuff, but really weird stuff, like a flock of ravens attacking a tourist in Coit Tower, and a guy who slammed his car through a storefront in Chinatown, saying that he had swerved to miss a dragon, and people all over the Mission saying that they'd seen an iguana dressed like a musketeer going through their garbage, tiny sword and all. â€Å"I can prove it,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just take me to the music store in the Castro.† Rivera looked at the sad, naked ice cubes in his glass and said, â€Å"Anyone ever tell you that it's hard to follow your train of thought, Charlie?† â€Å"You need to talk to Minty Fresh.† â€Å"Of course, that clears things up. I'll have a word with Krispy Kreme while I'm there.† â€Å"He's also a Death Merchant. He can tell you that what I'm telling you is true and you can let me go.† â€Å"Get up.† Rivera stood. â€Å"I'm not finished with my wine.† â€Å"Leave the money for the drinks and get up, please.† Rivera hooked his finger in Charlie's handcuffs and pulled him up. â€Å"We're going to the Castro.† â€Å"I don't think I can work my cane with these things on,† Charlie said. Rivera sighed and looked down on the surfers. He thought he saw something large moving in a wave behind one surfer, but as his heart leapt at the prospect, a sea lion poked his whiskered face out of the curl and Rivera's spirits sank again. He threw Charlie the handcuff keys. â€Å"Meet me in the car, I have to take a leak.† â€Å"I could escape.† â€Å"You do that, Charlie – after you pay.†