Serial Killer Nurse Kristen Gilbert

Serial Killer Nurse Kristen Gilbert Kristen Gilbert is a former Veterans Administration (VA) nurse who was found guilty of murdering four VA patients in the early 1990s. She was also convicted of attempting to murder two other hospital patients and has been suspected in the deaths of dozens more.   Childhood Years Kristen Heather Strickland was born Nov. 13, 1967, to parents Richard and Claudia Strickland. She was the oldest of the two daughters in what appeared to be a well-adjusted home. The family moved from Fall River to Groton, Mass., and Kristen lived out her preteen years without any significant problems. As Kristen grew older, however, friends say she became a habitual liar and would boast of being related to Lizzie Borden, a notorious serial killer. She could be manipulative, threatening suicide when angry, and had a history of making violent threats, according to court records. A Nursing Job In 1988 Kristen earned her degree as a registered nurse from Greenfield Community College. That same year, she married Glenn Gilbert, whom she met at Hampton Beach, N.H. In March 1989, she landed a job at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northampton, Mass., and the young couple bought a home and settled into their new life. To fellow workers, Kristen seemed competent and committed to her job. She was the type of co-worker who would remember birthdays and organize gift exchanges during the holidays. She seemed the social butterfly of the C Ward where she worked. Her superiors rated her nursing as highly skillful and noted how well she reacted during medical emergencies. In late 1990, the Gilberts had their first child, a baby boy. After returning from maternity leave, Kristin switched to the 4 p.m. until midnight shift and almost immediately strange things began to happen. Patients began dying during her shift, tripling the medical centers rate of deaths over the previous three years. During each incident, Kristens calm competent nursing skills shined, and she won the admiration of her fellow workers. An Affair After the Gilberts second child was born in 1993, the couples marriage seemed to falter. Kristen was developing a friendship with James Perrault, a security guard at the hospital, and the two often socialized with other workers at the end of their shifts. At the end of 1994, Gilbert, who was actively having an affair with Perrault, left her husband and their young children. She moved into her own apartment and continued to work at the VA hospital. Kristens co-workers began to grow suspicious  about the deaths that always seemed to occur during her shift. Although many of the patients who died were old or in poor health, there were also patients who had no history of heart problems, yet were dying of cardiac arrest. At the same time, supplies of ephedrine, a drug with the potential to cause heart failure, began to go missing. Suspicious Deaths and a Bomb Threat In late 1995 and early 1996, four patients under Gilberts care died, all of cardiac arrest. In each case, ephedrine was the suspected cause. After three of Gilberts coworkers voiced their concerns that she may have been involved, an investigation was opened. Shortly thereafter, Gilbert left her job at the VA hospital, citing injuries she sustained while at work. By the summer of 1996, Gilbert and Perraults relationship had become strained. In September, federal authorities investigating the hospital deaths interviewed Perrault. Thats when the bomb threats began. On Sept. 26 while working at the VA hospital, Perrault took a phone call from someone claiming to have planted three bombs at the hospital. Patients were evacuated and police called, but no  explosives were found. Similar threats were made to the hospital the next day and on the 30th, all during Perraults shifts. Two Trials It wasnt long before police linked Gilbert to the calls. She was tried and convicted in January 1998 of making a bomb threat and sentenced to 15 months in prison. Federal investigators, meanwhile, were getting closer to linking Gilbert to the patient deaths at the VA hospital. In November of 1998, Gilbert went on trial for murder in the deaths of Henry Hudon,  Kenneth Cutting, and  Edward Skwira, as well as the attempted murders of two other patients,  Thomas Callahan, and Angelo Vella. The following May, Gilbert was also charged in the death of patient Stanley Jagodowski. The trial began in November 2000. According to prosecutors, Gilbert committed the murders because she craved attention and wanted to spend time with Perrault. In seven years at the hospital, prosecutors said, Gilbert was on duty when more than half of the 350 recorded patient deaths occurred. Defense lawyers countered that Gilbert was innocent and that her patients had died of natural causes. On March 14, 2001, jurors found Gilbert guilty  of the first-degree murder in three of the cases and second-degree murder in the fourth. She also was convicted of  attempted murder in the case of two other hospital patients and sentenced to four life sentences. She dropped her appeal of the sentence in 2003. As of February 2017, Gilbert remained incarcerated in federal prison in Texas. Sources Farragher, Thomas. Caregiver or Killer? The Boston Globe. 8 October 2000. Goldberg, Carey. Former Nurse on Trial in Patients Deaths. The New York Times. 23 November 2000. Gorlick, Adam. Murderous Nurse Escapes Death Penalty.  ABC News. 26 March 2001. HLN Staff. When Serial Killers Strike: The Angel of Death on Ward C. CNN. 1 April 2013.

Emperors of Chinas Han Dynasty B.C. 202 to 220 A.D.

Emperors of China's Han Dynasty B.C. 202 to 220 A.D. The Han Dynasty ruled China after the fall of the first imperial dynasty, the Qin in 206 B.C. The Han Dynastys founder, Liu Bang, was a commoner who lead a rebellion against the son of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of unified China whose political career was short-lived and full of contempt from his peers. For the next 400 years, civil unrest and war, internal familial conflicts, sudden deaths, mutinies, and natural succession would determine the rules that would lead the dynasty to great economic and military success over their long reign. However, Liu Xis ended the long reign of the Han Dynasty, giving way to the Three Kingdoms period of 220 to 280 A.D. Still, while it maintained power the Han Dynasty was hailed as a Golden Age in Chinese history - one of the finest of Chinese dynasties - leading to a long legacy of the Han people, who still comprise the majority of Chinese ethnicities reported today.   The First Han Emporers In the final days of the Qin, Liu Bang, a rebel leader against Qin Shi Huangdi beat his rival rebellion leader Xiang Yu in battle, resulting in his hegemon over the 18 kingdoms of imperial China that had pledged allegiance to each of the  combatants. Changan was chosen as the capital and Liu Bang, posthumously known as Han Gaozu, ruled until his death in 195 B.C. The rule passed to Bangs relative Liu Ying until he died a few years later in 188, passing in turn to Liu Gong (Han Shaodi) and quickly onto Liu Hong (Han Shaodi Hong). In 180, when Emporer Wendi took the throne, he declared that Chinas border should remain closed to maintain its growing power. Civic unrest resulted in the next emperor Han Wudi overturning that decision in 136 B.C., but a failed attack on the southern neighbor Xiongu  realm resulted in a several-year campaign to attempt to overthrow their biggest threat. Han Jingdi (157-141) and Han Wudi (141-87) continued this plight, taking over villages and converting them to agricultural centers and strongholds south of the border, eventually forcing the Xiongu out of the realm across the Gobi Desert. After Wudis reign, under the leadership of Han Zhaodi (87-74) and Han Xuandi (74-49), the Han forces continued to dominate the Xiongu, pushing them further west and claiming their land as a result. Turn of the Millenium During the reign of Han Yuandi (49-33), Han Chengdi (33-7), and Han Aidi (7-1 B.C.), Weng Zhengjun became the first Empress of China as a result of her male kin - though younger - taking the title of regent during her supposed reign. It wasnt until her nephew took the crown as Emporer Pingdi from 1 B.C. to A.D. 6 that she advocated her rule. Han Ruzi was appointed as emperor after Pingdis death in A.D. 6, however, due to the childs young age, he was appointed under the care of Wang Mang, who promised to relinquish control once Ruzi came of age to rule. This was not the case, instead and despite much civil protest, he established the Xin Dynasty after declaring his title was a Mandate of Heaven. In 3 A.D. and again in 11 A.D., a massive flood struck Wangs Xin armies along the Yellow River, decimating his troops. Displaced villagers joined rebel groups who revolted against Wang, resulting in his ultimate downfall in 23 wherein Geng Shidi (The Gengshi Emporer) tried to restore the Han power from 23 to 25 but was overtaken and killed by the same rebel group, the Red Eyebrow. His brother, Liu Xiu - later Guang Wudi - ascended the throne and was able to fully restore the Han Dynasty throughout the course of his reign from 25 to 57. Within two years, he had moved the capital to Luoyang and forced the Red Eyebrow to surrender and cease its rebellion. Over the next 10 years, he fought to extinguish other rebel warlords claiming the title of Emporer. The Last Han Century The reigns of Han Mingdi (57-75), Han Zhangdi (75-88), and Han Hedi (88-106) were rife with small battles between long-time rival nations hoping to claim India to the south and the Altai Mountains  to the north. Political and social turmoil haunted the rulership of Han Shangdi and his successor Han Andi died paranoid of eunuchs plots against him, leaving his wife to appoint their son the Marquess of Beixiang to the throne in 125 in hopes of maintaining their family lineage. However, those same eunuchs that his father feared ultimately led to his demise and Han Shundi was appointed the emperor that same year as Emporer Shun of Han, restoring the Han name to the dynastys leadership. Students of the University started a protest against Shundis eunuch court. These protests failed, resulting in Shundi being overthrown by his own court and the quick succession of Han Chongdi (144-145), Han Zhidi (145-146) and Han Huandi (146-168), who each tried to fight against their eunuch adversaries to no avail. It wasnt until Han Lingdi ascended the thrown in 168 that the Han Dynasty was truly on its way out. Emperor Ling spent most of his time roleplaying with his concubines instead of governing, leaving control of the dynasty to eunuchs Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang. Downfall of a Dynasty The final two emperors, brothers Shaodi  - the Prince of Hongnong - and Emperor Xian (formerly Liu Xie) led lives on the run from mutinous eunuch counsels. Shaodi only ruled one year in 189 before being asked to relinquish his throne to Emperor Xian, who ruled throughout the remainder of the Dynasty. In 196, Xian moved the capital to Xuchang at the behest of Cao Cao - the Yan Province governor - and a civil dispute broke out between three warring kingdoms vying for control over the young emperor. In the south Sun Quan ruled, while Liu Bei dominated western China and Cao Cao took over the north. When Cao Cao died in 220 and his son Cao Pi forced Xian to relinquish the title of emperor to him. This new emperor, Wen of Wei, officially abolished the Han Dynasty and its familys inheritance to rulership over China. With no army, no family, and no heirs, the former Emporer Xian died of old age and left China to a three-sided conflict between Cao Wei, Eastern Wu and Shu Han, a period known as the Three Kingdoms period.

Transportation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Transportation - Essay Example Both public and private types of road transport are available for students and the public in Abu Dhabi. The government has also improved usability of both means through reduced traffic and low cost of rail transport (The Oxford Business Group 185). One can use a private car, taxi, a bus, or other types of transport. In addition to received value from a type of transport, which can be convenience, efficiency, or effectiveness, cost is a factor to selection and opinion over types of transport. The study aims at understanding usage of different types of transport systems by students of Abu Dhabi University. Focus will be made on type of transport that students use and amount that students spend on transport. Other variables of interest are age, number of vehicles owned, and kind of car owned by students. Questionnaires have been distributed to 40 students and stratified random sampling was used to ensure age and social status

Psychological Analysis of the Story of Adam and Eve Essay

Psychological Analysis of the Story of Adam and Eve - Essay Example Interestingly, the Jewish story of God has a companion for him called Sophia 'Knowledge'. If God is the Oedipal father, then Sophia is the unobtainable mother. God is the mental 'superego', the judge or conscience. Adam is the Libido or Id. He is the human being of base desires; all this actions are inborn, and he lives in a state of gratification and simplicity. Eve is symbolic of the ego, which is concerned with the external reality, and the balance between physical desire and mental processes. Adam's knowledge is filtered through her; and where as Adam is unified with God's will, having no ego of his own, Eve is independent, her will is self-will, and Adam's is the will of the Other. Lucifer, as the serpent, is the symbol of a human being coming to consciousness, moving away from his parent, and beginning to reach out beyond the limitations of the Father. The serpent can be seen as the one who brings Adam and Eve out of the oedipal complex, and into the mental processes of Eros and Thanatos. In the story of Genesis, God is the Forbidding Father, or Thanatos, closely connected to the death drive; He represses the knowledge and understanding of Adam.

Population Advocate Role Essay Example for Free

Population Advocate Role Essay More than 50 million people in the United States have disabilities (Bauer, 2008). With the growing population and the careless lifestyle of some people, it is envisaged that more people would fall into this bracket. These disabilities include blindness, deafness, the handicapped, the mentally retarded and other ailments that does not allow people function as they would in the society. Although the government is doing its best to curb the rate of disability, it seems as if enough attention is not being given to those that are already disabled in our society. This is the job of the population advocate. The population advocate role has become a necessity in the human service field. This is because unlike other people of the society, these sections of the society have special needs and they need special attention. However, the question is who will take his/her time to attend to the needs of these people? The populations advocate for the disabled plays the role of speaking on behalf of the disabled section of the society. As a result of their condition, disabled people are often sidelined in the society and given little or no attention. The population advocate takes it upon himself/herself to see to the welfare condition of these people. The duty of advocacy should not be left to individuals and welfare organizations. It should be the collective responsibility of everyone as these people are also part of our society. People with disabilities have needs such as housing, treatment, short and long-term medical care, education, probation, and domestic violence. As an advocate, I can play a role by volunteering to take anybody with disability around me for treatment and ensure that he/she is treated like other patients. Apart from this, I would speak up, make a report to the police and rise in defense of the disabled whenever I see them being a victim of domestic violence. I will also make sure that I become a guide to the disabled person around me and become friends with them. I will also contact various welfare organizations to fund housing projects for the disabled in my community.

followers Essay -- essays research papers

Followers plan an active role in the process of leadership. By being a follower, it does not mean that one is inferior to a leader, but that they simply play a different role. Webster’s dictionary defines follow as to come or occur after, but it does not necessarily imply a causal relationship with what goes before. A follower is part of the team. A quarterback cannot win the game without the efforts of the entire team. He can throw or run the ball but without his team members blocking, he will not make the touch down. Much like a game, team players are imperative to the success of the organization. There are five different types of followers as stated by Frisina (2005) in the article Learn to Lead by Following. The types of followers Frisina identified include â€Å"yes people†, sheep, survivors, alienated followers, and effective followers. â€Å"Yes people† are those followers that always agree to what the leader is saying. As Wojcicki (2001) wrote in his article, A Role for Followers in These Extraordinary Times, followers must give leaders the time and freedom to develop plans of action. John Kennedy said though, that our role as followers is sometimes only to consent. After the plan is in motion, or an order is given, the role of the employee is to carry out the plan, not argue the strategy. Being a â€Å"yes person† means that there is never any disagreement between a leader and a follower. Sometimes a follower might have a better idea and thinks outside the box. A good leader shou...

Rene Descartes and a discription Essay

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was not only a philosopher but also a mathematician and scientist. As a philosopher, he used skepticism as a means of finding the truth of all. His idea was to doubt everything, and in doubting everything, anything that couldn’t be doubted was definite. â€Å"I will doubt everything that can possibly be doubted, he reasons, and if anything is left, then it will be absolutely certain. † (Moore/Bruder 93) This, Descartes felt was the only way to obtain truth and knowledge. This method was to take away all the confidence in everything that was taught to us, what we sense and believe, and the things we take as being obvious. To truly determine if we know anything is for certain we must doubt it all disregarding all we knew about it before. So everything we currently believe is open to discussion and can be questioned. Descartes’ ‘Method of Doubt’ incorporated two well-known conjectures, a dream conjecture and the evil demon conjecture. What the dream conjecture is, is the notion that everything that is reality might just be a dream. Adding to the dream conjecture, is the evil demon conjecture. This evil demon conjecture, in essence, is the concept that if this all [reality], is just a dream, then perhaps there is an evil demon that is deceiving our minds with these false images of reality. So, we can’t assume that our bodies or that anything of our experience exists and can be trusted to be true. For everything we know could be just a dream and not real at all and controlled by a deceiver. No, Descartes was not out of his mind. He was aware that these two conjecture he composed sounded far-fetched. However, that was the whole point. Descartes was on a quest to find certainty in an any-case-possibility. What Descartes came up with after going through and doubting everything was the cogito, ergo sum or â€Å"I think, therefore I am. † What this meant was if you are thinking, you are existing. â€Å"The self that doubts its own existence must surely exist to be able to doubt in the first place. † (Moore/Bruder 93) Subsequently, this was the only true thing we can know to be real. We know that we exist at least in a form of a mind. So we can doubt our physical existence but not our mental existence because you can think. To take this a step further he developed the clear and distinct test. The clear and distinct test was a test to find out what was true with â€Å"clarity and distinctness. † Meaning, anything that is clear and distinct is true. Using this clear and distinct test, Descartes came to the conclusion that God, in fact, exists. Descartes believed he viewed God clearly and distinctively, and further, God would not let an evil demon toy with his mind, if such a thing did exist. Descartes also thought that there were two distinct substances beyond God, and these two substances were material substance and mind substance. The material substance was all that exists and occupies space and the mind substance is that of thought. â€Å"Because a substance, according to Descartes, â€Å"requires nothing other than itself to exist,† it follows that mind and matter are totally independent of each other. † (Moore/Bruder 95) The result to these two substances being independent of each other is called parallelism. â€Å"The mind, they argued, does not really cause the body to move. When I will that my hand should move, my act of willing only appears to cause my hand to move. † (Moore/Bruder 97)Descartes felt that God was the one who was involved in the mental things that happened and the sequence of material actions. He believed God was the reason those two things happened to happen together. This idea was called occasionalism. Descartes was first to make this systematic account of the mind and body relationship, and also the soul’s contact with the body. (Rorty). Descartes essentially through everything, approached all metaphysical issues by going back and trying to pick apart everything about the basic things. â€Å"Descartes tried to discover metaphysical truth about what is through epistemological inquiry about what can be know. † (Moore/Bruder 97) The profit of Descartes’ ideas is that in the dismissal of everything makes you question and look at elements that may be overlooked because it is human to draw on experience. So, to clear oneself of all former beliefs leaves everything wide open for exploration and opens up a wider scope. The problem I find in his distinct and clear theory is Descartes proof of God’s existence. In â€Å"proving† the existence of God he uses circular reasoning. This circular reasoning is called the Cartesian Circle. The Cartesian Circle is the circular reasoning that, on one hand, we can only know that God exists because we clearly and distinctively perceive it, and on the other hand, we can only know that our clear and distinct perceptions are true because God exits. (Loeb 200-235) This type of reasoning doesn’t make any concrete conclusions on the existence of God. It just keeps going around in a circle, one right after the other. Descartes believe that only his perceptions could be deceived not his mind. So since God was good and perfect, he wouldn’t allow him to be deceived, therefore God exists. To explain his ideas on the existence of God, Descartes states that if one can have an idea of a perfect being, which is God, then a perfect being must exist if we can think it in our minds. All of this to me, doesn’t show any solid proof. Even though you can think something in your mind, doesn’t mean it must exits. I can think lots of things in my mind personally, that doesn’t necessary mean that somewhere, maybe not in the physical world I experience, truly exists. Also, if God did exists, and if God is perfect, as Descartes claims, then why does Atheism and such religious beliefs exist? Wouldn’t perfection be if God could exist and not be questionable? Because what Descartes believes is all that we can perceive clearly and distinctively exists, and he had not given any way that explains how you can perceive God clearly and distinctively, other than stating he can perceive in his mind. Also, another thing that is a problem in Descartes’ method is his goal of proving the existence of the outside world was not valid by any substantial means. There is no proof that any physical object exists aside from a near universal belief that the external world exists. What Descartes says, is that since God makes us believe that there is an external world, then there must be one. However, there are lots of mistakes in his proof of God and it isn’t truly valid. So, therefore we cannot say anything in this external world does exist or either God, based on the knowledge I have obtained on the subject matter on Descartes. From what I have read on Descartes and his philosophical ideas, there are many holes and things to argued; as I’m sure is in most theories. Nonetheless, even though his ideas aren’t entirely credible to myself, I feel that his contributions to the field of philosophy are eminent. Descartes had brought lots of old questions of past philosophers and tried to rationalize them, he failed in my opinion to come up with any competent answers for what he was trying to prove. However, he did prompt other philosophers in his progression to come up later with some better answers to some of these ideas.

Machiavelli’s story Essay

He wrote to medic embellished with magnificent words together with extrinsic allurements wishing the Medic’s honor should give him the position of the office that he definitely was stuffing of. He contemplated and made assumptions of himself being humble and low before the concerns of the princes, pretending to have understood the needs of people. He also thought that the book was a present to the prince to entice him in order to be given a vacancy in the new government. He even recommends to the prince to intelligently and diligently read and consider the book as in the Prince will end up learning Machiavelli’s extreme desire for prince to attain the greatness that fortune and other attributes promise. Machiavelli figured that the principalities are all hereditary to power and its acquisition is accustomed to live under the prince by either fortune or ability. He anticipated that the prince should keep the corrupt government continue to rule for the benefits of the few him included against to which what it was. His story from is was ultimately different from what it should be. For instance, Duke of Ferrara in Italy who could not have withstood the attacks of the Venetians in 1984 nor those of Pope Julius in 1910 unless of the establishment of dominions. For hereditary prince has less cause to and less necessity to offend to happen that he will be more loved but the vice versa caused him to be more hated as it was reasonable that Machiavelli’s subject naturally disposed him off from the prince, his motives was derived to no existence of change and his own definition of change was the one that leaves the toothing for another to keep the corrupt government from one generation to another that impossibly didn’t happen. Machiavelli’s story was defining change as the deception of the willing election of the new ruler hoping to better themselves expectation that could hardly rise from the inherent difficulties from the new to be principalities. He figures solidarity as hardship that he must put upon his new acquisition in order to satisfy those who elected Medic into power. Machiavelli egocentrically viewed himself as the core pillar for the success of Medic’s government, thus he must be given the position on this regime to excel. He beliefs not that Borge Cesare lost power by malignity of fortune that he acquired during the ascendancy of his father. In Machiavelli’s story, he didn’t imagine to care about the so called enemies whom he injured in seizing principality and he is not even considering the essence for them to feel satisfied as the way the expected or hopped when they were electing you into power. Instead Machiavelli suggested for the strong measures to be taken against them, feeling not bound to them anymore and they are profound to be oppressed by the use of the strong forces under the command of the leader in charge. This was totally different from even the theoretical view of Medic when he came into power. His mission and vision was to have equality among all those who elected him, stop/ eradicate corruption and that is why he disputed the gift from Machiavelli that was vividly giving him a clue towards the corrupt government to benefit the a few including Machiavelli. Medic wasn’t gullible for the public properties as the story of Machiavelli portray him as somebody who is gullible, selfish/mean, corrupt and egocentric. Basing on Machiavelli’s story, he viewed that the hold of accustomed hereditary pass of power was a prudent courtesy from the ancestors and anybody doing contrary to it was like transgression towards the ancestors. In order to deal prudently with circumstances as they arise and for the care to maintain Medic in state Machiavelli must be in the cabinet in the government and if not so something sinister will happen to deprive Medic extra-ordinary from power, which was untrue and didn’t happen. Reference: 1. The Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli, Translated By George Bull Published By Penguin Books Ltd (1995).

Making Academic Writing More Digestible

Making Academic Writing More Digestible Academic research provides the basis for many different texts written for many different purposes. Marketing campaigns, proposals, essays - they commonly begin with a writer pouring through pages of research, looking through all the numbers, and determining which needles to pull out of the haystack of jargon and methodology. Learning how to understand and sift through the data and protocol descriptions is often a key talent of the best writers. In this case, knowing how to adapt the academic 4-course meal into a more easily digestible snack becomes crucial in reaching a wide range of people, interests, and reading levels.As with any effective medium, writing requires consideration of the audience. A general audience requires less jargon - and fewer technical details - than a specialized audience expects. Therefore, the first thing to keep in mind is that when adapting academic text, audience engagement is crucial. Most writers will readily admit: academic writing isnt exactly the most exciting (or easy) read. So how does a writer adapt academic writing to get the message across in the right way, and to an expanded audience?This can be done in several ways. The easiest is to pretend that you are explaining the research publication to a friend. How would you describe the gist of the study, and more importantly, what highlights would you choose to point out to be the most convincing data from the research? Would you use words like therefore and furthermore, or would you opt for a more conversational tone? These questions are important to take into account before beginning a rough draft, and should be revisited at the various stages of the editing and final draft process.Making academic writing more digestible is not only a matter of shortening sentences and removing jargon - it involves being able to quickly get to the heart of the matter. While a marketers first impulse might be to simply reword the abstract to achieve this goal, the abstract rarely contains the specifics of the studys goals and aims, or even the exact statistics revealed. These factors are crucial in engaging a more general audience, because they will be the concerns that drive the purpose of the adapted text in the first place.Beyond these general considerations, there are specific tasks a writer can focus on to make the process of adapting an academic text a smoother one.Relax on the formalitiesSome grammar rules are accepted (at least for now) as being set in stone. Take, for example, run-on sentences. Fiction authors get away with it, but I have yet to see any non-fiction writers or copywriters pull it off. Ending with a sentence or clause with a preposition, however - thats an entirely different story.When adapting academic writing for a broader audience, the following grammar rules can be relaxed, making the text seem less stuffy and nondescript.Semicolon usage - semicolons most often connect two independent thoughts and tend to make sentences more convoluted. Its best to avoid them entirely, if possible.Avoiding contractions - most academic writers shy away from contractions, especially sense writing in passive voice tends to circumvent them, anyway. To adapt an academic text to a more mainstream audience, contractions are fine, and can be useful in giving the writing a more approachable voice.Referencing the source of every fact - the research approval and monitoring process demands that researchers state every source theyve taken from in their writing. This is such a focus within academic circles that researchers must almost be overly cautious about making a statement of fact or relevant theory that isnt referenced by previous studies.A lot can be learned from the appendixThe graphs and charts that are usually included in the Appendix of a research publication are often quick, visual indicators of the findings of the study. You can reference these by looking at the end of the paper, after the References or Bibliography section. Bar c harts and graphs are often used, or mapped webs to show hierarchical relationships and connections. Researchers are required to make these easily understandable, with applicable keys included, making them a great resource for beginning a scaled-down adaptation.Pay attention to the abstract, but dont use the same languageThis one is important. Abstracts are purposefully written to summarize the framework and methodology of the research. The language used is succinct, formulated, and chocked full of terminology that is edited specifically for removing wordiness and unnecessary language.The abstract is also typically written with a lot of passive verbs. Below is a common passive sentence you may find in a research abstract:The researchers found†¦The trick to modifying this statement is to simply state the findings of the research. Instead of The researchers found that 63% of employees reacted positively to a career ladder incentive plan, instead explain that, This career ladder in centive plan works - and the research proves it! The specific details can always be included in footnotes in case the reader wants to fact check.PowerPointThe above information also applies well when attempting to convert research into PowerPoint presentations. This type of writing is becoming a common task as modern workplaces are focusing professional development on data driven strategies.In fact, the commonly accepted grammar rules for PowerPoint slides are often even more lax than those of informal business correspondence. Bullet points are preferred to complete sentences, and end punctuation is sporadic.

Battle of Nashville - Civil War

Battle of Nashville - Civil War Battle of Nashville - Conflict Dates: The Battle of Nashville was fought December 15-16, 1864, during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Armies Commanders: Union Major General George H. Thomas55,000 men Confederates General John Bell Hood31,000 men Battle of Nashville - Background: Though badly defeated at the Battle of Franklin, Confederate General John Bell Hood continued pressing north through Tennessee in early December 1864 with the goal of attacking Nashville. Arriving outside the city on December 2 with his Army of Tennessee, Hood assumed a defensive position to the south as he lacked the manpower to assault Nashville directly. It was his hope that Major General George H. Thomas, commanding Union forces in the city, would attack him and be repulsed. In the wake of this fighting, Hood intended to launch a counterattack and take the city. Within the fortifications of Nashville, Thomas possessed a large force which had been pulled from several different areas and had not fought together previously as an army. Among these were Major General John Schofields men who had been dispatched to reinforce Thomas by Major General William T. Sherman and Major General A.J. Smiths XVI Corps which had been transferred from Missouri. Meticulously planning his attack on Hood, Thomas plans were further delayed by severe winter weather which descended on Middle Tennessee. Due to Thomas cautious planning and the weather, it was two weeks before his offensive moved forward. During this time, he was constantly beset by messages from President Abraham Lincoln and Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant imploring him to take decisive action. Lincoln commented that he feared that Thomas had become a do nothing type along the lines of Major General George B. McClellan. Angered, Grant dispatched Major General John Logan on December 13 with orders to relieve Thomas if the attack had not commenced by the time he arrived in Nashville. The Battle of Nashville - Crushing an Army: While Thomas planned, Hood elected to dispatch Major General Nathan Bedford Forrests cavalry to attack the Union garrison at Murfreesboro. Leaving on December 5, Forrests departure further weakened Hoods smaller force and deprived him much of his scouting force. With the weather clearing on December 14, Thomas announced to his commanders that the offensive would commence the next day. His plan called for Major General James B. Steedmans division to attack the Confederate right. The goal of Steedmans advance was to pin Hood in place while the main assault came against the Confederate left. Here Thomas had massed Smiths XVI Corps, Brigadier General Thomas Woods IV Corps, and a dismounted cavalry brigade under Brigadier General Edward Hatch. Supported by Schofields XXIII Corps and screened by Major General James H. Wilsons cavalry, this force was to envelop and crush Lieutenant General Alexander Stewarts corps on Hoods left. Advancing around 6:00 AM, Steedmans men succeeded in holding Major General Benjamin Cheathams corps in place. While Steedmans attack was going forward, the main assault force advanced out of the city. Around noon, Woods men began striking the Confederate line along the Hillsboro Pike. Realizing that his left was under threat, Hood began shifting troops from Lieutenant General Stephen Lees corps in this center to reinforce Stewart. Pushing forward, Woods men captured Montgomery Hill and a salient emerged in Stewarts line. Observing this, Thomas ordered his men to assault the salient. Overwhelming the Confederate defenders around 1:30 PM, they shattered Stewarts line, forcing his men to start retreating back towards the Granny White Pike (Map). His position collapsing, Hood had no choice but to withdraw along his entire front. Falling back his men established a new position further south anchored on Shys and Overtons Hills and covering his lines of retreat. To reinforce his battered left, he shifted Cheathams men to that area, and placed Lee on the right and Stewart in the center. Digging in through the night, the Confederates prepared for the coming Union attack. Moving methodically, Thomas took most of the morning of December 16 to form his men to assault Hoods new position. Placing Wood and Steedman on the Union left, they were to attack Overtons Hill, while Schofields men would assault Cheathams forces on the right at Shys Hill. Moving forward, Wood and Steedmans men were initially repulsed by heavy enemy fire. At the opposite end of the line, Union forces faired better as Schofields men attacked and Wilsons cavalry worked around behind the Confederate defenses. Under attack from three sides, Cheathams men began to break around 4:00 PM. As the Confederate left began fleeing the field, Wood resumed attacks on Overtons Hill and succeeded in taking the position. Battle of Nashville - Aftermath: His line crumbling, Hood ordered a general retreat south towards Franklin. Pursued by Wilsons cavalry, the Confederates re-crossed the Tennessee River on December 25 and continued south until reaching Tupelo, MS. Union losses in the fighting at Nashville numbered 387 killed, 2,558 wounded, and 112 captured/missing, while Hood lost around 1,500 killed and wounded as well as around 4,500 captured/missing. The defeat at Nashville effectively destroyed the Army of Tennessee as a fighting force and Hood resigned his command on January 13, 1865. The victory secured Tennessee for the Union and ended the threat to Shermans rear as he advanced across Georgia. Selected Sources Battle of NashvilleBattle of Nashville Preservation SocietyHistory of War: Battle of Nashville

The ideas and practices associated with marketing emerged in response Essay

The ideas and practices associated with marketing emerged in response to the challenges posed by mass production, and these idea - Essay Example In addition, the adoption of marketing strategies in the face of increasing competition is discussed. The evolution of marketing On the advent of the factory, new products began to emerge while old products appeared in strikingly new forms. With the flooding of the market with uniformly mass produced products that were virtually indistinguishable from one another, branding was introduced to differentiate the products. Competitive branding evolved to compensate for the product similarity, thereby, achieving image based difference. Essentially, advertising changed from delivering product news to developing an image around a branded version of a product. Design theorists assert that logos were introduced to evoke familiarity in an effort to address the new and unsettling similarity of packaged goods. Brand names replaced small shop keepers as the interface between the consumer and the product (Klein, 2001, p.12). In recent years, marketing has gone into an overdrive with increasing numb ers of ads and aggressive new formulas for reaching customers. The astronomical growth rate of the advertising industry is well reflected by the 1998 projection which set the total ad spending at $196.5 billion while the global estimate was $435 billion. This figure outpaces the growth of the global economy by a third. This trend is attributed to the firmly held belief that brands need to continuously and constantly increase advertising in response to increased competition. According to the law of diminishing returns, as more firms increase their ads firms are under increasing pressure to aggressively market their brands (Arvisdsson, 2006, p.178). As a result of the competition, marketers invented more strategies to attract customers. This caused marketers to introduce more clever and intrusive selling techniques. For instance, Calvin Klein stuck CK Be perfume strips on the back of Ticketmaster concert envelopes to attract customers to the CK Be brand. Proponents of branding claim t hat markets where producers compete based only on price, promotions and trade deals are susceptible to product duplication leading to decreased profits. Some companies have over time integrated their respective brands in the fabric of their companies. Such companies mould a corporate culture around the brand. Everything within such organizations is an ad for the brand; this includes branding employees with such tags as partners, superstar CEOs and design consistencies (Brownlie, et al, 1999, p.379). New media has revolutionised the interaction between consumers and organizations characterized by a shift in power where consumers have more influence on the product. The rise of consumer generated content has turned consumers into content producers. Consumers now possess greater control over what is provided in corporate communications. The shifts in power have not only changed consumer expectations but also have changed purchasing decisions (Bob, 2005, p.285). There is extensive eviden ce of a decline in traditional media usage among advertisers. In response to changes in technology, marketers are shifting expenditure to new media options. New media has transformed many aspects of brand marketing such as segmentation and targeting through positioning, distribution and customer relation management (Bob, 2005, p.285). Marketing strategies Marketing strategies evolved as a result of the need by marketers to deal

Basal ganglia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Basal ganglia - Research Paper Example Parkinsons’s disorder is treated with dopamine replacement therapy. In the study of Diaz and Walters (2009), they explained that Parkinson is treated with levodopa, carbidopa, dopamine agonists, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and amantadine. All drugs are known to relive motor symptoms. L-Dopa increases the level of dopamine in the brain thereby relieves muscle tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. Dopamine depletion results in the degeneration of the basal ganglia which may lead to excessive excitatory signals that affects the voluntary muscles in the different part of the body. Carbidopa prevents the breakdown of dopamine in the periphery thus causes fewer side effects. Amantadine has the same effect with L-Dopa. The study further provided an overview of other medications believe to treat non motor features of Parkinson disease like mood disorder, gastrointestinal, cognitive impairment, and autonomic dysfunction. Hilker and company (2010) in their similar study suggested that t he use of continuous dopaminergic drug delivery (CDD) may also provide a reduction in dopaminergic dyskinesias. CDD is based on the idea of continuous stimulation of striate dopamine receptors by infusing L-Dopa through a portable mini pump. While there are many researches and studies on the positive effects of these drugs on the signs and symptoms of Parkinson, medication is not the only treatment addressing this basal ganglia disorder. Understanding the underlying mechanism of the disorder had played a role in the interest of experts in expanding their search for other treatments to include surgical intervention in the form of pallidotomy and thalamotomy. These surgical procedures involve making lesions in the damaged tissues of the brain. In fact, the study of Krauss and Jankovic (1996) revealed that small lesion may disrupt the abnormal activity in the circuitry of basal ganglia. The operation involves treating the overly active brain cells thus signs and symptoms of the disease like dyskinesias, freezing movement, and stiffness are improved. In 1992, dramatic results among patients who had undergone pallidotomy were revealed (http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu). Treatment of basal ganglia disorder has been complicated. Treatment with drugs could cause another major symptom which is slowness in movement. Patient may still manifest the same major symptoms of the disorder despite undergoing surgery. This prompted experts to consider another option such as transplantation of fetal mesencephalic tissue. However, this treatment is still in its experimental stage. In the same study of Krauss and Jankovic, they noted that fetal stem transplantation has the potential to restore the lost nigrostriatal pathway. The stems when introduced into the substantia nigra would act as dopamine producing cells. This treatment is supported with the findings of Tran,Ho and Jandial ( 2010) where they explained that stem cells are the choice because of their ability to maintain a nd differentiate themselves and could develop into different new cells throughout the life of mammals. Furthermore, they reiterated that the preliminary use of stem cells has a therapeutic promise in treating neurodegenerative disorders that are characterized by neuronal and glialloss. Other studies found out that implanted stem cells migrate to lesion site and restore deficits in brain function. The data provided in the treatment of basal