Fun Loving Girl

I’ve been on my own for several years now, so have become independent enough that if I can figure out how to fix something, I will give it a try. I don’t need to be in a relationship to be dependent on someone, but want to have a relationship with someone who is my friend and confidant. My ideal match is someone who is easy to communicate with. If you can't talk to each other then there is not much future. I am looking for someone who is trustworthy, honest and faithful. Life is too short to have to wonder what your partner is doing.I have a grown daughter that is on her own with a very special little girl that has stolen my heart. They are most important in my life and always will be. Family is very important to me and I want to be with someone who also values family. This fun loving girl is ready to start taking care of her social life. I keep myself busy as a foster parent and sometimes forget that I need to get out and have some fun. I am a small town country girl w ho just likes to keep things simple. I work at a hunting lodge so stay very busy during the season. I love what I do and don’t consider it a job.I’ve grown up around guns and like to shoot at the range. Never been out hunting, but would like to see what it is all about†¦.. test the ‘if it flies, it dies’ theory. I shot clays for the first time last fall and really enjoyed it, so looking forward to doing that again. Love to go fishing (and yes, I can bait my own hook), just kicking back and taking it easy, spending time around the fire with friends having a few drinks and lots of laughs. I’d rather look at the stars and kiss in the rain than go to the mall. I like NASCAR and hope to get to a race someday.I think it would be awesome to take a car for a spin around the track too. Demo derbies, stock-car races, dirt track†¦. love the atmosphere. I haven’t been on the back of a bike in a very long time and have always wanted to learn to ride myself, so if you are into that, I am not opposed to having the wind in my hair. I enjoy rock from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and country. Never had much opportunity to learn how to two step but would like to learn. I like to go to out of the way places to look at the history, the old buildings and structures and remnants of the past that have been left behind.Antique stores and such are fun to explore and I like going to the local country auctions. I can always find something from the past that catches my eye. I'm looking for someone to enjoy life with†¦. Start out slow but have no limits to where it may go. I am a very affectionate girl who loves holding hands in public and giving hugs and kisses because that is how I like to show you that I care and I am really into you! I don't have time to play games†¦.. unless, of course, they are mutually agreed upon. I am adventurous and passionate, so intimacy and romance is a must. You should know that I gi ve like I want to get back and am looking for that special guy that does the same thing. You must have a great sense of humor! I love to laugh and can find humor in just about anything. I believe you have to laugh at yourself before you can laugh at someone else. And I laugh at myself every day! Laughter is a great healer and I try to surround myself with people who laugh at the smallest most ridiculous thing, and can also create their own humor.I am looking for someone to build a relationship with, that special friend to stand by my side through it all†¦the good and the bad. I want someone who also tries to keep a positive attitude in all things. I am determined to be happy, regardless of what life throws at me. I have learned through experience that the greatest part of my happiness will depend on my disposition, not my circumstances. I choose to be happy. I want someone to enjoy life with. I don't need someone to change me or someone to change for me. I am who I am, I'm not perfect but I work through my imperfection to be a better person.Life is not certain so I live life with no regrets, I am who I am because of my life and don't live in the past. I look forward to each new day and the adventure it brings. So if there is someone out there who is up to the task, I am ready to have fun. Here is our chance to maybe finding that spark for more. I am looking forward to meeting new people, forming lasting friendships, exploring life and the possibility of ultimately finding my soul mate. If you get what I’ve said here, then hit me up and we can get to know each other.

How does Chaucer’s portrait of Alison add to the interest of the poem? Essay

Alison is married to the carpenter. The carpenter is the total opposite of Alison. He is old and it is likely that she finds him boring and unattractive, which explains why she has an affair. The Carpenter realises that she is not that much in love with him, and is jealous as a result of it, â€Å"Jalous he was, and held hir narrwe in cage. † There is a sense of doom for John the Carpenter. It seems too good to be true that an old man like him should have such a beautiful wife. It is obvious something is going to happen to take her from him. In the description of Alison, Chaucer shows the difference between Alison and the carpenter. We know the carpenter is old, but the continuous portrayal of Alison makes us more convinced with every line that the two are note suited. â€Å"She was wild and young and he was old. † She is obviously very attractive, she presents herself well and she is youthful. We know that if Alison had any choice then she would not be married to this old carpenter, but back then, marriages were often arranged. The second man in love with Alison is hende Nicholas. Nicholas is a student of astronomy, who is lodging at the Carpenter’s inn. Nicholas is also young and much more suited to Alison that the Carpenter is. He declares his love for Alison in a way that is not too courtly, â€Å"And prively he caught her by the quaint. † This is not a very romantic way to court someone. You would not expect Alison to accept, but after much persistence from Nicholas, â€Å"Lemmen, love me all atones or I wol dien! † she agrees to meet with him. Alison warns him it must be a great secret â€Å"Ye moste been full derne as in this cas,† and Nicholas swears he will not say a word. This is not the type of love in stories like the Knight’s Tale. They are simply attracted to each other, making it closer to lust than love. There is a lot of description of Absolon, the parish clerk who is also in love with Alison. The description is a very feminine one, describing his fancy clothes â€Å"His rode was red† â€Å"Curl was his hair. † Chaucer seems to be mocking Absolon, making fun of his ways, and embarrassing him in the end. By mocking Absolon, Chaucer is mocking courtly love as Absolon represents this. He goes to Alison’s window every night and sings to her and reads her his poems, but every time he is rejected. Alison does not treat Absolon very well either. Absolon is a very jolly and gay character, but he is miserable and woebegone when Alison does not return his feelings. He sings to her and sends her cake and spices, but still Alison has no love for Absolon. â€Å"He n’hadde for his labour but a scorn! † After all the work he puts in to get Alison to fall in love with him, he is scorned. At the end of the story, both Alison and Nicholas at laughing at Absolon after the cruel trick they play on him. There is a lot of humour in the Miller’s Tale. This is to be expected from the description of the Miller in the general prologue, as it tells us he is fond of dirty stories and jokes. Love that is not returned can always be made humorous in such stories. We laugh at the carpenter because he actually thinks that a beautiful young girl like Alison would be in love with him. She makes a fool out of the carpenter in two ways. The first being her affair with Nicholas, which shows us she does not love him, even though he is very much in love with her, â€Å"This Carpenter had wedded a new wif, Which that he loved more than his lif. â€Å"

Gym Culture

IntroAttention Getter: By a show of hands who likes to go to work out? Background & Audience Relevance: Gym culture has been around for a long time but it has recently been growing and more and more people have begun to go and get healthy. Speaker Credibility: I have been going to the gym for a couple years now and I have done my own research on gym culture. Thesis: In my speech, we will be discussing what gym culture means to me and what it could possibly mean to you. Preview of Main Points: First I will be discussing how my object is part of my culture, second the important values it has, and third how I identify with it. II. Body Main Point 1: To begin, I am going to talk about how this object is used in a way for me to relieve stress and anger. Sub-point A: Being a full time student and working part time can be very stressful to me as I'm sure it is the same for a lot of college students, but finding at least an hour to an hour and a half to go to the gym or even working out from home can be such a helpful stress reliever. This is because it helps get me out of their my little stress filled bubble and pretty much let loose. Sub-point B: not only is it a good way to relieve stress but also anger. I know that working in a fast food or retail job can cause a lot of tension and anger especially with the customers, coworkers, and even managers. Of course we are forced to keep it all in because we need this job to put ourselves through school and buy our own personal treats. Well going to the gym is a very good way to take out that anger by pushing yourself hard in that workout. Transition between Main Points: Now that I have talked about how this object is a way to relieve stress and anger next I will be talking about how it represents my values. Main Point 2: going to the gym is not only about relieving stress and anger but also and about being healthy and motivated. Sub-point A: In my opinion going to the gym or being a fit person does not mean that you have to have a six pack or extremely muscular arms or legs. More so it just means that you are feeling good about yourself and being healthy. Since I have started going to the gym I am feeling much healthier and I am not doing crazy diets, but am cutting back on some foods and learning to eat better. Sub-point B: It also helps with being motivated because slowly but surely you begin to see results which gives me confidence and keeps motivating me to keep going and bettering myself.Transition between Main Points: having discussed how I value going to the gym, I will now tell you how I identify with this culture. Main Point 3: Influencing myself and other people to come to the gym or work out in general is one way I identify myself with this culture. Another could be the way I can dress to go to the gym a.k.a the fashion. Sub-point A: going to the gym helps me feel like a good influence to myself and others like my work out partners because I believe I am encouraging them to keep going and feeling healthy and fit because sometimes they do not want to go workout but I convince them to come with me and sometimes it is the other way around, but in the end we help each other to push ourselves in working out and bettering themselves. Sub-point B: When one starts going to the gym we see that there are many types of way people dress and we start looking for which fashion better suits us and makes us feel comfortable. There is no right or wrong way to dress for the gym it's just how you feel when wearing a certain outfit. I know that i enjoy my leggings and big baggy shirts because I feel extremely comfortable, but someone else could feel different about that outfit. III. Conclusion Signal and Review of Main Points: Having discussed how this object is part of this culture, how it represents my values, and how I identify with it you now know what this culture means to me. Recap Thesis: I have now explained what gym culture is to me. Memorable Closer: Remember being healthy and fit doesn't mean you have to be super skinny or muscular it is just about feeling better and more confident in your own body.

What is the greatest obstacle preventing the US from having a more Research Paper

What is the greatest obstacle preventing the US from having a more effective and cost-effective healthcare system - Research Paper Example Different healthcare organizations have been affected by hospital staff turnover. Majority of the medical workers have been overworked and hence deciding to leave the profession. Currently, the decreasing number of nurses and medical personnel is a major problem with no new trainees joining the profession. Because of this, we have very many medical injustices and errors occurring each year. The success of a nation is determined by the health of its citizens. This facilitates economic development because the population is healthy and productive. The older population in America is stressed with the need for health insurance, something very expensive and almost unaffordable (Wieners 48). Because of this, it is necessary to have an insurance collectivism whereby the people are safeguarded from incurring exorbitant expenses for health care services. The issue of health care has widely been debated in the country. Just like the Medicaid Program, I believe something much more is needed to r educe the expenses incurred by the older generation when searching for medical support and care.Today the US is one the countries where a lot of money is spent per individual on issues related to healthcare. This is something that has been stressing the elderly citizens as well as the young ones. That being the case, the government has always been spending enormous amounts of money on other issues instead of tackling the health crisis faced in the country. Experts believe that the issue of health care is seen in the country as a hindrance to other agendas, but this should not be the case (Thompson 1). A lot of money is spent on secondary issues such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Also, while security is something important, it should not be highly considered compared to the health of the common citizen. From the studies that have been conducted in five key States in 2001, it has been indicated that medical debts always contribute to about 46.2 per cent of the bankruptcies reco rded. Another study conducted in the year 2007 showed an increase to 62.1 per cent. The medical expenses in the country have also remained hence making it hard for the people to access better health support (TEDxBigApple). These facts therefore support the need to have free insurance for all legalized citizens of the country. This is the only way the rights of the people can be addressed and have a healthy nation. The logical explanation of any given country is always determined by the health of all its citizens. Possible Answers Today the U.S. is one of the wealthiest countries in the world yet is cannot make sure all the citizens of have proper medical care. Health care in the country is very expensive both from the public and private providers. In 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that over fifty million people in the country had not insurance cover (Anderson 3). This indicates that majority of the people decide to live without any form of health cover rather than paying exo rbitant amounts for the cover. Looking at it keenly, the citizens pay very heavy taxes for this health benefit to be provided (Squires 1). However, this is something yet to be realized. It would be wise tax the people and provide them with free medical cover and health insurance. Currently we have many citizens who do not have access or qualify for the insurance provided by the government; others cannot afford or purchase insurance, and other individuals are not insured by private employers. Such people have remained without any medical cover. Taxes paid by the people should always be used to address issues like people’s health and not concentrating much on foreign issues (Fox 1). Budget reports from

Nature and nurture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nature and nurture - Research Paper Example Some people also argue that both have an equal share in developing a child. Essentially, the question is, which of the two influences the children more, their biological and genetic circumstances i.e. nature, or their socioeconomic environment, peer associations and parenting skills i.e. nurture? Most experts are of the view that both the nature and nurture play a big role in the child’s cognitive, social and physical development, though there is little to no information regarding the degree to which either of the two participates in the processes of development. This essay aims at discussing the influence of nature and nurture on babies. Nowadays, people generally understand the relationship between nature and nurture. Babies are obviously influenced by both nature and nurture. Nature and nurture play mixed roles in the development of a baby's speech. The nature part of it is that the baby is bourn with the ability to learn the skill of making speech. On the other hand, the e nvironment in which a child grows up causes the child to start speaking within one to two years. The reason why babies start to speak when they are as little as one year old is that their brain is not complete. For example, children who grow up in the middle class of America start to speak when they are only one year old in comparison to the children that live in San Marcos village in Guantanamo, who take quite longer to begin speaking.

Production Process and Management Research Paper

Production Process and Management - Research Paper Example A company or a manufacturing company will be able to improve productive if the effectively integrate Computer integrated Manufacturing (Gouw, 2010). A production manager should be able to plan the production process. He should have a clear picture of the planning, scheduling, shipping of the products and a proper follow up. Through this strategy, the production manger should be able to detect any kind of delays in the production process. Two other responsibilities that he should have are proper Time management and effective employee engagement. A production manager should have proper time management as every phase in the production process is based a specific time schedule (Carter, 2010). Employment engagement is also another responsibility that is imperative for a production manager. When employees are more engaged in the production process, there is a possibility of increase quality and improved productivity. The employees can act as lookouts of the production plant as they will provide useful formation incase of an emergency. They will help reduce unnecessary maintenance cost by facilitating effective plant layout

Discussion borad 3.2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion borad 3.2 - Essay Example FAA: A structured observation was performed three times during the different days of the week and different times of the day to obtain a picture of his disruptive and aggressive behavior. The frequency count of hitting, kicking, biting, pinching, poking, grabbing eyeglasses and jewelry, and screaming was done to establish a baseline. Additionally, Jon’s teacher was interviewed to get her perspective and develop a working relationship in order to develop successful interventions. Setting Event (Ecological) Strategies: During transitions, Jon can be assigned to a peer partner who could model being calm and explain what was going on and what was expected; and the new teacher can be given more training in behavior management. Antecedent Strategies: Jon might benefit from more opportunities to choose which activities he would do first (e.g., allowed to continue working on puzzle if asks appropriately); Easy and preferred tasks may be combined with difficult, less preferred tasks; Activities should be made more appealing (e.g., reduce length, assistance offered). Consequence Strategies: The teacher should listen to and honor Jons new alternative requests (i.e., he was given assistance, or a break, or allowed to choose a different activity if he made the requests appropriately); The teacher will remain emotionally supportive when confronted with problem behaviors. Measures: (a) Number of incidents of aggression, noncompliance, and disruption per week, (b) percent of class activities in which Jon participated, (c) general indicators of quality of educational experience (e.g., type of activities, need for one-to-one assistance). From the information collected during FAA is seems that the function of Brandon’s behavior was actually seeking attention. That’s why when his grandmother moved away, the frequency of negative behaviors at school has increased. It seems that Brandon is lacking some social skills, which is typical among children

Parkinson's disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Parkinson's disease - Essay Example Damaging approximately 60% to 80% of the cells producing dopamine would cause its deficiency and consequently lead to the appearance of PD motor symptoms. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NINDS (2013) refers to this brain cells impairment process as neurodegeneration. Prevalence and Incidence About 1 million people in the US suffer from PD with between 50,000 to 60,000 new cases being diagnosed annually. Worldwide, between 4 million and 6 million people suffer from PD (National Parkinson Foundation, 2013). It has been particularly noted to set in at age 50 to 65 with a lower incidence in African Americans as compared to the Caucasians and 3:2 for male to female ratio incidence (Talan, 2011). Motor Manifestation Years before the motor manifestation, people with PD experience non-motor symptoms including sleep disorders, loss of smell, hyposmia and constipation. The Braak’s hypothesis cited by the NPF (2013) observes its earliest signs in the medulla, particularly the olfactory bulb which controls the sense of smell. It would then gradually progress to the cortex and substantia. Notwithstanding, the four motor symptoms cited by NFP (2013) are cardinal in PD: postural instability, slowness of movement, rigidity and tremor. The well-known symptom of tremor has been referred to as rest tremor by NINDS (2013) as it becomes maximal on rested limbs and disappears with sleep or voluntary movement. It begins with a single leg or arm and later becomes bilateral. The tremors have a frequency of between 4 and 6 Hz. Secondly, the slowness of movement referred to as bradykinesia by NFP (2013) relates to difficulties in the whole movement process: planning, initiation and execution. This early manifestation hinders simultaneous and sequential movement performance indicated by problems related with performance of fine motor controlled tasks like sewing, writing and dressing up. The magnitude would be determined by one’s emotional state or activity. Rigidity would be manifested by stiffness of the limb and resistance to movement due to excessive continuous muscle contraction or muscle tone. This could be uniform or ratchet referred to as lead-pipe and cogwheel rigidity respectively. It could be accompanied by pain. Whereas in the early stages it affects the shoulder and neck muscles, it later progresses to the whole body. Finally, the late stages of the disease exhibits impaired balance causing frequent falls and bone fractures due to postural instability. It would be experienced by 40% of the patients. Talan (2011) adds posture and gait disturbances like festination to the list of these motor manifestations. Diagnosis and Detection Initial diagnosis requires the identification of at least two of these four motor manifestations (NPF, 2013). Bedside examination by a neurologist remains the most basic diagnostic tool for suspect patients. To aid this diagnosis, emergent imaging modalities including PET and DAT scans would be performed by a neuroimaging expert with DATscan playing a critical role of differentiating PD from other essential tremors but cannot indicate the PD subtype. Also to aid in accurate diagnosis would be the need for information on physical and medical examination and also medication history to ascertain the absence of medication that causes symptoms similar to those of PD. The

Ecological Footprints Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ecological Footprints - Assignment Example   An ecological footprint is a vital tool for measuring the consumption of the earth. It gives a simple assessment overview of how our lifestyles affect the environment. In turn, these facts can be useful in the future, to help promote wise management of ecological assets. Apart from that, it challenges individuals and households to take personal and collective initiatives in the protection of nature (Ferng, 2001). For example, a household or an individual can get to use public transport to reduce their ecological footprint, or they can choose to adopt the use of organic substances to help protect the environment. It is, therefore, true to say that, the ecological footprint varies directly proportional to the rate of human consumption, this means that an increase in the rate of human consumption significantly increases the footprint and vice versa. Compared to most of my classmates, my ecological footprints is on the higher side, this means that my consumption is slightly on the ri se. According to the results, rated at 40.8percent, Yuni has the highest percentage of ecological footprint, while Charles took the least percentage with a total footprint of 16.8 percent. Equated to my 34.4 percent, it is evident that I need to reduce my resources consumption and waste disposal. If everybody on the planet could adopt my choice of lifestyle, then we would need 7.7 planets to provide the required resources. Charles will need 4.1 planets to expedite if all the people adopted his lifestyle.  

E-government problems Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

E-government problems - Research Paper Example Past literature illustrates the application of e-governance within federal offices (Groznik, Kovacic & Trkman, 2008). This includes communication through information systems and the internet among federal offices. Researchers demonstrate that such communication is the prerequisite to the ability of government offices to have effective relations (DG Information Society and Media, 2007). It is in this regard therefore that e-governments have been said to employ technology in ensuring that all of its offices work towards a common goal of providing efficient and effective services to the public (Chee-Wee & Benbasat, 2009). It is however notable through a review of past literature on e-governments, that scholars have not reached specific definitions for all aspects of e-governance. This is demonstrated by the different understandings and descriptions of issues in e-governance such as effectiveness, applicability, user friendliness and the various applications that are used in the implemen tation of e-government across all platforms of government operations (Ong, Katerattanakul & Seok Jeong, 2008). Past research literature agrees that e-government and its design are aimed at benefiting citizens (Sarantis, Smithson, Charalabidis & Askounis, 2010). This includes workers across a nation that implements e-governance, ordinary citizens, practitioners and researchers (Kazemikaitiene & Bileviciene, 2008). The definition of e-government reveals how citizens benefit from its applications. For example most of past literature on the topic reports that e-government is a set of technological tools and applications which are designed with an aim of facilitating communication and interaction between citizens and the government (Teo, Srivastava & Jiang, 2008). More notable is the fact that past literature agrees that the satisfaction of citizens on e-governance is less satisfactory in most states (Svard, 2010). This is attributed to the challenges or problems that are faced by e-gove rnments as described in the following sections of the literature review. Failures in E-Government Leadership The process of acquisition, design, installation and implementation technology within government institutions, agencies and offices requires that proper monitoring and control is guaranteed for success (BBC, 2012). Even though past literature presents the various processes of developing e-governments differently, it is evident that proper leadership is vital for successful development of information systems within all levels of governance (Hakan & Karl, 2009). It is in this regard that researchers have focused at an evaluation of the leadership processes within government agencies that employ technology. Researchers report that several failures characterize the leadership of government agencies and departments in regard to the development of e-government applications (Groznik, Kovacic & Trkman, 2008). Among the most notable failures in leadership include poor control and mana gement of the initiation stage of e-government development and poor control of the implementation

Ponzi Scheme of Bernard Madoff Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ponzi Scheme of Bernard Madoff - Case Study Example The SEC embarked on an investigation in 2006 but concluded it in 2007 based on the finding that there were no proofs of fraud found. Nevertheless, Madoff was arrested on December 2008 and on March 2009 he officially confessed taking part in various crimes. He was sentenced to a 150-year imprisonment. The ethical issues in the Madoff case obviously concern fraud, defined as â€Å"any purposeful communication that deceives, manipulates, or conceals facts in order to create a false impression.† Apparently, Madoff offered false hopes to potential investors and gave fabricated investment reports or financial statements. He encouraged large investors to put money in his investment machine by using his established image as a reliable, esteemed, and successful businessman. Madoff is, particularly, guilty of consumer fraud, marketing fraud, and accounting fraud. He deceived potential investors for personal gain or, according to the investigators, to sustain the lavish lifestyle of his family, which is suggestive of consumer fraud. He committed marketing fraud by exaggerating possible returns on investment, which can also be called ‘puffery’, or implied falsity since he told potential investors that his investment machine will generate a steady source of profit but in fact, the returns come from the money of new investors which was risky. Lastly, he committed an accounting fraud by manipulating the financial statements of his company to avoid any detection of his wrongdoings. Madoff implicated educational, nonprofit, and charitable organizations by giving a contribution to them. Several of these organizations put money into the company of Madoff as a return of favor. His fraud forced a number of these organizations to shut down. The scandal also negatively influenced the public’s perception of investment companies.  

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Essay Route 66 is the area where diners and gas stations are normally located and one of the diners around the area is owned by Mae and Al. A man enters the diner and wants to buy products for cheap prices and at first they refuse to accept and finally realized that they will compromise and give him the items for less. This era was the Great Depression and everyone was dealing with hard times with poverty and low employment. Families were trying to make ends meet and feed their families. The Joad family travels with the Wilson family who have been trying to get to California for the same purposes. The family members each have a dream that they want to achieve when they arrive at California, for example Rose of Sharon and Connor thought about moving into a new home . The family faces the fear of the family breaking down and they just want to make it work as a family and they want to remain close together. While on the way, the car breaks down and they try to fix the car. The car can symbolize the family’s current condition. As they get closer, they have a better relationship with the other families that are also heading to the place that everyone believes will bring prosperity and happiness. They arrive near the desert in Arizona before arriving at their destination and they start to dream about the life they want in California. They start to think about the materialized things that they might set their eyes on and the landowners that they might encounter with. As they arrive at California, they are struck with the news of Grannam’s death the night before and fear that they cannot go on without her. The history of California becomes well known and tells about how the Americans took away the lnad that once belonged to the Mexicans that settled there. Soon, the people from Oklahoma which they call the â€Å"Okies† arrive and the people in California fear them because they think of them as armed and hungry. The Okies decided to reside in shacks called Hoovervilles which represented the sign of poverty that existed in the Great Depression. People couldn’t afford good quality homes, so they had to build Hoovervilles named after the then President Herbert Hoover, who didn’t accomplish much while in office and the Depression was blamed on him. The Okies begin to start to fear the Californian landowners. The family begin to arrange Granma’s burial which decreases the money that they brought with them and Tom wants to find a job however there is hardly much to be found. The workers receive less pay for  long hours from their employers, the land owners. The land owners show dishonesty towards their workers and hardly pay them. Tom starts to run for his life after he tries to help his friend fight an officer and not risk his parole. Casy takes the blame and gets arrested so Tom wouldn’t be caught. The family face the harsh conditions from the police while in the shacks and the family faces more hardship as Connie leaves Rose of Sharon. The Joads are starting to decrease more in hope as they face terrible events on their way to California and risk the dangers that are on the way. I believe that if they can hold onto each other that they can achieve their dreams and get closer to it. As hey encounter these events, they start to lose their grips and feel that they cannot go on.

Comparing Eastern and Western Management Styles

Comparing Eastern and Western Management Styles Nowadays, organizations exist in the competitive business environment where theres rapid development which lead to high failure rate and difficult to stand up among the strong competitive environment. Turbulent business environment caused lots of organizations to face bankruptcy; however, there are still many successful organizations which have great success through their hard work. For those successful organizations, the main objectives are to maximum their competitive advantage and increase their market shares in the market place. However, such aim cannot be accomplish without the combination of instrumental and conceptual knowledge in their management practices. In fact, every successful organization needs competent people who have the all- around knowledge of leadership. Every business has a person to lead the organization to achieve success. The ability of this person to lead is essential to sustain the performance and growth of any businesses. Such person is sometimes seen as a charismatic leader, or even a competent manager can help to growth a business by manage the employees and operation effectively. In fact, the person who was seen as a leader of the organization is mostly the CEO of that organization, the decision and every single action that the CEO take will have massive impact on every single employee within the organization. The ability of a CEO to become a leader is essential in today competitive environment since CEO which has the ability to lead and create follower can create a vision for the organization and every people in that organization will be unite to achieve that vision. Mullins (2005) and Huczynski Buchanan (2007) also pointed out the important of leadership existing in the organizations. Hence, this essay will focus on the instrumental and conceptual knowledge of leadership by comparing two leaders from different culture and situation. 1.0 Introduction to Leadership Leaders are perceived as the heart of a business which inspire the whole organization and create vision for that particular business. Leadership is no longer a new word in the organization, but it is still a controversial word that many scholars concern with, because of the role we assume it plays in the organization is crucial. And there is always lack of the competent leadership in the society. In that case, lots of authors and scholars define the term of leadership through their understanding. In 1950, through long times study, Stogdill defined the term of leadership as the process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts towards goal- setting and goal achievement (cited in Huczynski Buchanan, 2007: p. 716). According to Robbins Decenzo (2005: p. 240), leader may be defined as persons with managerial and personal power who can influence others to perform actions beyond those that could be dictated by those persons formal (position) authority alone. Moreover, as leader in the recent year, their responsibility is coordinating the others and followers at most of the time. From goal focus to human behaviour focus, or from autocratic leaders to democratic leaders, they all demonstrated that leadership is more and more important for any organizations. Leaders versus Managers However, there are distinguishing between leaders and managers which we should realize before analysing the leadership within the organization. Some argue that manager is not a leader, but the roles of a manager require them to become a leader (Huczynski Buchanan, 2007). As Robbins Decenzo (2005: p. 244) suggest not all leaders are managers, nor are all managers leaders. There are differences between a manager and a leader, manager manage but a leader lead. Robbins Decenzo (2005: p. 239) defined manager as persons whose influence on others is limited to the appointed managerial authority of their positions to reward and punish. Manager manage the rules, follow the procedures and manage everything according to the system and structure establish by the company, they manage the people by the power and authority they have, people are managed not because of the manager, it is because the authority and power that the manager have. However, some argue that leader can create follower and make people to believe without any power or authority, people are willing to follow the leader on their own behalf and will (Huczynski Buchanan, 2007). Thus, there are no clear line that separate a manager and a leader, a CEO can have the characteristic of both which make them more competences to manage and lead the company to a greater success. It is undeniable that in today competitive environment, both leading and managing role are critical success factor for a CEO to have in order to achieve greater achievement (Kyle, 2004; Kotter, 2001). As De Wit Meyer (2004: p. 497) argue, Every leader must perform some managerial functions, even though every manager cannot take a leadership role. Wit Meyer (2010) argues that: the leader controls the allocation of the attention focus of the participants in the organization in any organization where managers dominate, structured rules tend to influence the allocation of attention, but the leader will try to capture the attention focus of the participants so that their attention is allocated to the areas that the leader considers important. Leaders to Discuss and Compare This paper will discover two successful leaders Jeff Bezos from the west and Akio Toyoda from the east by comparing their leadership style and other aspects related to leadership in order to discover the differences of leadership in different culture and background. Jeff Bezos from the West Jeff Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Amazon.com (New York Daily News, 2008). He founded Amazon.com in 1994, and launched in 1995. As a founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos is a pioneer in e-commerce (Spiro, 2009). As shown in Fair (2002): At the end of 1999, Amazon had raked in over a billion dollars in sales à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ in 2001, Amazon reported a fiscal loss of $1.4 billion, and had laid off over 200 workers in the last year à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Instead of giving up, Bezos had an idea: recruit other companies to sell their products online through Amazon as well. The idea worked. Companies such as Target, Toys R Us, Old Navy, and many others have agreed to sell their items through Amazon. Although Amazon is not directly responsible for inventory through these companies, they do get part of the sales, creating a profit for all involved. Since the inception of the idea, Amazon is now back on its feet and remains one of the most popular online vendors in the world today. Akio Toyoda from the East According to Los Angeles Times, 2009: Toyota tapped Akio Toyoda, grandson of the Japanese automakers founder, as president of Toyota à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The U.S.-educated Toyoda, 52, is the first founding family member to take the helm at Japans No. 1 automaker in 14 years. He promised a reaffirmation of the companys core principles, such as valuing ideas from the ranks a management approach called kaizen, [also known as Toyota Production System] that has made Toyotas production methods famous in industry circles around the world. 2.0 Comparison of Leadership Style and Culture 2.1 Participative Leadership Style and Charismatic Theory Jeff Bezos is more like a charismatic leader that practiced participative leadership style. Although he faced some obstacle in the early years, he managed to overcome the entire problem and bring Amazon to become one of the most innovative companies in the e-commerce industry. He launched Amazon.com and being persistent in persuading his aspiration, one of the characteristic of leader as describe by Mullins (2005). Jeff Bezos has the criteria as a charismatic leader as he has the ability to create a vision for the future and make everyone within Amazon believe in his visions that make him a charismatic leader. A vision should create enthusiasm, bringing energy and commitment to the organization (Robbins Decenzo, 2005: p. 246), while Ingbretsen (n. d.) argues that a charismatic leader has the ability to articulate a vision that touches an emotional chord with an audience. Jeff Bezos manages to lead people by making them believe that his innovative idea of online bookstore will be a s uccess. He had prove his vision are achievable and people believe in him since he lead everyone in the company to work hard and achieve the goal and objective to become the innovative player within the e-commerce industry, and people believe in him since he managed to turn the situation of Amazon around. As Robbins Decenzo (2005: p. 247) suggest, Charisma leadership appears to be most appropriate when the followers task has an ideological component or when the environment involves a high degree of stress and uncertainty. However, based on the other perspective that goes against charismatic theory, Raelin (2003) suggest that follower will follow the charismatic leader is just because the publicity make the leader look so powerful and great. The fancy packaging with the help from media had made the charismatic leader look like a legend, a myth that everyone believe is true. Levesque McNeil (2003, p. 215) strongly argue that as followers interact, they begin to define a social reality of leadership representing special mythical qualities endowed only by very special people. Raelin believes that followers are predisposed to look for a cause and a leader for whom they can become true believers (2003, p. 66). The critics for charismatic leader are that without massive publicity, there will be no charismatic leader; people will not recognize that leader at all. If Jeff Bezos is not good at making himself high profile by attending conferences, posting his own comment or opinions on the web, attending public events, accept a lot of interview and so on which make him highly expose to the media and make publicity for himself and the company as well, there will be no quoted as a charismatic leader for him. He was being quoted as a charismatic leader as people know what he done through the media and all the fancy publicity which make him look as great as a hero. There are many leaders around the world, even if we do not know their names or what great things that they have done, it didnt make them less an effective or great leader. Charismatic is not the only recognition for a great leader, people recognize the leader that they respect within their heart, even without the media spreading that lea der legend, people will still respect that leader, even he or she is not a charismatic leader. Indeed, some of the most significant CEO in the history of the visionary companies did not have the personality traits of the archetypal high-profile, charismatic leader (Forster, 2005, p. 30). 2.2 Autocratic and Collaborative Leadership Style On the other hand, Akio Toyoda practiced the autocratic leadership style and until now, the belief of autocratic leadership style still remain within the organization and most managerial level personnel practiced the same autocratic leadership style to manage their people. The main reason autocratic is effective at Toyota mostly based on the power-cultural that Japan always have. Akio Toyoda as president of Toyota is reaffirming its commitment to collaborative culture and methods (Rosen, 2009). Although being autocratic, Akio Toyoda practiced Genchi genbutsu or see it for yourself fits squarely into collaborative culture and methods of Toyota (Liker, 2004). As leaders, Akio Toyoda suggests that manager needed to hold themselves accountable for all their decisions, which they required their people to execute very quickly. Collaborative leadership and autocratic style of Akio Toyoda doesnt make him stay away from their unique kaizen production method, but to collaborate more with the implementation of lean production plant which was known as the Toyota Production System (Liker, 2004). Toyota Production System distinguished from its competitors and hard to duplicate since it is underpinned by just-in-time delivery (JIT); product quality; employee flexibility and the elimination of waste. This unique lean production system was buttressed by principle such as teamwork, continuous improvement, quality circles and employee development. 2.3 Traits Theory Although both leaders practiced different leadership style, they have their own personality traits that made them a great leader. First of all, based on the instrumental knowledge, the traits theory also call traits- spotting is argued even in recent years, for the reason of that leader is nature born or make. Although, there are thousands of successful leaders existing in the world, all of them have their own traits which can be summarize as six leadership traits including ambition and energy, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self- confidence, intelligence and job- relevant knowledge. Hence, instrumental knowledge indicated that the traits are the distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader through six leadership traits (Robbins Decenzo, 2005: p. 256). However, not every leader has all of the personal traits instead of maybe some of them. And lots of examples tell us that leader with different traits also can obtain successful in every area. For instance, Jeff Bezos a nd Akio Toyoda have total different characteristics and personal traits, but both of them acquired big successful in the business world. However, in contrast with the instrumental knowledge, the conceptual knowledge holds that it is difficult to identify whether any people is naturally born with trait, or they might just gain those ability through their life experience and learn from it. Besides, different countries which have different culture will need leader with different characteristic. Thus, every leader which is required in different country will need to have different trait. For example, people from the Western countries and people from the Eastern country will have different culture or ways of doing things (Hofstede, n. d.). Thus, different leadership style need to be implement in different countries, if that particular countries are afraid of uncertainty and have a high level of avoidance for confusion, such as China, Japan and others, the Autocratic style might be more appropriate. Therefore, there is no one universally accepted set of traits for all leaders. Every single individual are different, their abi lity and skills, knowledge and experience will be different as well and they will be accepted in the mind of different people which appreciate their traits. 2.4 Behavioural Theory The most popular behavior style theory should be Blake and Moutons Grid which is based on the idea that different in leadership approach are a function of concern for people and concern for production emerged during the 1960s (Doyle Smith, 2001). According to behavioral theory, it is easy to find out which style the leaders are belonging to by identifying the behavior. For example, leadership styles are another important aspect from the management process where different country will have different management style. Huczynski Buchanan (2007) suggest that leader cannot use the same leadership style in their various locations around the world due to the cultural and behavior differences. Japanese leadership style differs from those in the U.S and the most common is that Japanese (Akio Toyoda) and U.S (Jeff Bezos) leader have a basically different philosophy of managing people. For example, Jeff Bezos is heavily individual-orientated and will praised individual with great performance in front of everyone. However, a Japanese saying is, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down which mean that no individual should stand out from the group. Giving out individual reward system in Japan could embarrass a Japanese worker and is not accepted at Japan. Western motivation models are culturally individualistic, applying them to a collectivistic culture is probably inappropriate. As Fujisawa, co-founder of Honda Motor Company stated, Japanese and American management is 95% the same and differs in all important aspects (Keeley, 2001, p. 18; Erez Gati, 2004). U.S leadership style is not appropriate at Japan where the Japanese employees are unable to accept or tolerate participative and individual orientated leadership style. Mintzberg Westly (2001) suggest that Japanese worker dislike emphasize on individual performance and more toward group-orientation, and will felt appreciate if their leader can pay some attention to them at work and also concern a little bit about their personal life, like what Akio Toyoda did as a leader at Toyota. Akio Toyoda was more willing to allow poor performance to continue for a time so that those who were involved would learn from their mistake and to harvest loyalty among employees. The example above clearly showed that there are clearly different ways to work in different culture and it is important for leader to understand such differences and manage the employees based on their own culture. Huczynski Buchanan (2007) argues that leadership styles vary from company to company. There are many different styles of leadership that can bring success to an organization but organization has to make sure that their leadership style is right for the business. Which leadership styles to practice depend on many factors, but the most determine factors that has the biggest influence on management style will definitely be culture and behavior. 2.5 Contingency Theory and Hofstedes Five Cultural Dimensions Fiedler and his associates bring out the contingency theory which combines leadership style and situation during 1960s. In Fielders model, the good performance of the group depends on the interaction of the leadership style and the favorable situation, and a good leadership must be flexible and adaptable in order to appropriate different situation within the organization no matter how hard or soft situation (Huczynski Buchanan, 2007). Thus, there is no single style of leadership which can match to all situations; even the most effective leadership behavior should depend on the situational factors. Hofstede (n. d.) commented that: Western countries have characteristics of high individualism, medium uncertainty avoidance, high masculinity, low to medium power distance, and low long-term orientation. [Thus, based on the situation, it is best for Jeff Bezos to practiced participative leadership style in USA. On the other hand, eastern countries such as Japan] was found to have characteristics of low individualism, high uncertainty avoidance, high masculinity, high power distance, and high long-term orientation Hence, it is more appropriate for Akio Toyoda to practiced autocratic leadership style to suit the cultural and situation at Japan. In order to compare the different culture of USA and Japan, Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions of USA and Japan will be as the following (Hofstede, n. d.): Source: Geert Hofstede, Cultural Dimensions, www.geert-hofstede.com 3.0 Conclusion In conclusion, it is undeniable that Jeff Bezos is a great CEO which made Amazon a famous and innovative online company globally. However, it is too narrow to believe that charismatic leader is everything since Akio Toyoda is still a great leader without being a charismatic leader. Jeff Bezos is a charismatic leader, it might be his style to be one, but charismatic leader style is not suitable for everyone or in different culture, background and country, it might not be essential. Therefore, there is no one universal accepted leadership style that is the most effective one. Great leader are not only charismatic leader, anyone who was seen as a great leader, no matter what his leadership style was, is nothing less an effective leader if they were not quoted as one. Thus, culture differences play a significant role whereby leaders must consistently aware of the cultural change and react to the situation in order to lead their staff with the most appropriate type of leadership. Without acknowledging to the aforesaid, one will never be a good leader.

Aesthetic Rehabilitation of Non-syndromic oligodontia

Aesthetic Rehabilitation of Non-syndromic oligodontia Case report Title of the article: â€Å"Esthetic Rehabilitation of Non-syndromic oligodontia-an innovative approach.† Abstract: This case report describes the esthetic rehabilitation of a 13 year old girl presenting with non-syndromic oligodontia, who compromised in esthetics, occlusal function, development and functional growth of the bones. The oral rehabilitation was performed with direct composite restoration using thermoformed templates along with reinforced polyethylene fibers since it is a viable alternative to re-establish the masticatory function and esthetics, allowing the patient to achieve greater self-esteem and better social acceptance. Key words: Composite restoration, Oligodontia, Reinforced polyethylene fibers, Thermoformed template. Introduction: A tooth is defined as congenitally missing if it has not erupted in the oral cavity and is not visible on the radiograph. All primary teeth should have erupted by the age of 3 and all permanent teeth except third molars between the ages of 12 and 14. Therefore 3-4 year old children are suitable for diagnosis of congenitally missing primary teeth by clinical examination and 12-14 year old children, for diagnosis of permanent missing teeth, excluding the third molars.1 Dental agenesis is most common developmental anomaly in human, which can occur, in an isolated fashion or as part of a syndrome.2 In the permanent dentition, hypodontia has a prevalence of 1.6% to 9.6%, excluding agenesis of the third molars. Oligodontia has a population prevalence of 0.3% in the permanent dentition. It occurs more frequently in girls at a ratio of 3:2. In the deciduous dentition, hypodontia occurs less often (0.1%-0.9%) and has no significant sex distribution.3 Dental agenesis is classified according to the number of teeth involved and may be classified into hypodontia, oligodontia, and anodontia. Thus, hypodontia is defined as the congenital absence of less than six permanent teeth, full anodontia as the absence of all permanent teeth.4 The term oligodontia is generally used when the development of six or more teeth did not occur (KOTSIOMITI et al., 2000), and such a condition may be related to family history, syndromes, traumas, infections, and severe intrauterine or endocrine disorders (KOTSIOMITI et al., 2000; MCDONALD; AVERY, 2000). Oligodontia usually occurs as a part of syndromes. It may occur as a non-syndromic isolated familial trait linked to mutations of the MSX1 and PAX9, or as a sporadic finding.5 Non-syndromic oligodontia has been found either sporadic or familial in nature.6 Syndromic and non-syndromic form of Oligodontia can be differentiated by ruling out the presence of associated symptoms. Oligodontia presents clinical symptoms depending on the number and location of missing teeth. Positional changes of teeth, variation in their morphology and size may occur in the existing teeth. It may be associated with growth disturbances of the maxillofacial skeleton thus affecting the facial appearance.7 The absence of teeth in young patients can cause esthetic, functional, and psychological problems, particularly if the teeth of the anterior region are involved. The most commonly used method of diagnosis of dental anomalies is clinical examination accompanied by radiographic examination.8 There are several treatment options for adult and young patients with agenesis although, there are few studies demonstrating treatment in pediatric patients.9 The optimal therapy should include an interdisciplinary team approach, and rely on positive interaction between pediatric dentists, orthodontists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons and prosthodontics.10 The early diagnosis and treatment are important to improve masticatory function, speech, and self-appearance to reduce the psychosocial impact.9 This case report describes the dental rehabilitation of a young patient with direct composite restorations using thermoformed templates, which not only act as crown formers to re-establish the anatomical contour of the defective teeth but also control the amount of restorative material used and minimize the patient’s chair side-time. Along with this reinforced polythelene fibers are also used as an interim restoration. Case Report: A 13-year-old female patient referred to department of Pedodontics and preventive dentistry, college of dental sciences, Davangere, complaining of spacing between teeth in the upper and lower front region. A detailed history was undertaken with the patient and his legal guardian, who revealed her past medical history, was non-contributory and family history revealed that she was born to non-consanguineous marriage parents with normal delivery and mother did not suffer from any disease during pregnancy, none of the family member had congenitally missing teeth. The patient had no history of trauma but had severe aesthetic dissatisfaction which resulted in several social problems. On general physical examination her height and weight were normal according to her age and she was well oriented and active. On extra oral examination she was normal in her facial appearance and did not show any physical or skeletal abnormality. She had a mild concave profile, a mild reduction of the lower third of facial height, with a marked nasolabial angle and procumbent lip contours; however, the facial symmetry was not affected. No clicking or crepitus of the temporomandibular joint was detected and masticatory muscles were not sensitive upon palpation. On intra oral examination, soft tissues examination was normal. Oral hygiene was considered satisfactory. Hard tissue examination revealed presence of erupted 11 permanent teeth and 8 overeretained primary teeth (11,21,24,37,34,33,31,41,42,44,47) 63 and 83 were in grade II mobility. The remaining permanent teeth were missing clinically; she also had upper midline diastema between permanent central incisors, generalized spacing and underdeveloped alveolar ridges in the anterior mandibular region. In addition, no parafunctional habit was present. Suspecting the congenital absence of permanent teeth panoramic radiograph was taken which showed missing teeth; 12,16,17,22,26,27,32,35,36,43,46 [Figure 1], [Figure 2]. There was absence of dental caries and no previous treatment for the missing teeth was done. A provisional diagnosis of partial anodontia was given with differential diagnosis of ectodermal dysplasia; Rieger syndrome and Witkop syndrome were considered. In view of the oligodontia of permanent teeth, a detailed examination was done to rule out syndromes associated with oligodontia. Paediatric consultation was taken regarding general health status of the patient. Complete set of investigations were done. Routine examination of blood including serum calcium, alkaline phosphate, TSH, T3, T4 was done. The findings of these investigations were within normal range. During physical examination, hairs were not thin and sparse, nails were not brittle and no difficulty in perspiration was seen, which ruled out absence of ectodemaldysplsia. On occular examination, no signs of glaucoma was seen, ruling out Rieger syndrome and Van Der Woude syndrome was ruled out as there was no associated cleft palate or any mucosal cysts in lower lip. Final diagnosis of Non-syndromic partial anodontia/o ligodontia was given. Full mouth rehabilitation was planned; the teeth present were abnormal in morphology and were aesthetically restored after extraction of mobile teeth. The restorations of the defective teeth were carried out in stages. Each treatment session lasted between 1 and 2 hrs depending on the patient’s tolerance and acceptability toward treatment. Problems encountered when attempting to restore the palatal or lingual sites of the affected teeth using composite with free-hand technique so as to create a proper anatomical contour and to obtain a homogenous thickness of the material used. To overcome this, alginate impressions of both the dentitions were taken and stone casts were made. The defective areas of the tooth structure on the stone casts were filled and reconstructed anatomically using inlay wax [Figure 3]. Over the contoured cast, secondary impression was made and final cast was poured with stone. The reconstructed stone casts were sent to the laboratory for fabrication of transparent thermoform â€Å"Biostar† templates that conform to the anatomical shape of the reconstructed crowns. A 0.5mm thickness transparent thermoforming disc made of copolyester was heated up to 170 ºc for 50 s and, once the disc softened, it was pressed onto the stone casts. The pressed templates were allowed to cool and later removed and trimmed [Figure 4]. The produced templates act as crown formers to reconstruct the defective teeth. Initially, the upper four permanent incisors were restored. Minimal tooth structure was removed in order to provide additional retentive element to aid adhesion of the restorative material. Adequate volume of composite material was packed into the template that corresponds to the desired area of teeth to be restored. The template was then placed over the affected teeth and light cured. Upon curing, the template was removed from the teeth and the restored areas were examined for any defectiveness. The composite restorations were polished and contoured using a combination of rotary discs of various grades of polishing burs to create aesthetically pleasing restorations. Due to congenitally missing 43 there was a wide gap present between 42 and 44 which was aesthetically not pleasing even after restoring all 4 lower anteriors. Therefore fabrication of a fiber reinforced composite (FRC-RIBBOND) space maintainer using the acrylic tooth was planned. An acrylic crown of desired size and form was selected. Horizontal groove was made in the middle third of the crown palatal to at nearly 2-mm depth using a round diamond bur (No. 8) to accommodate the thickness and width of Ribbond. The required length of the fiber (Ribbond) was measured using dental floss between the adjacent teeth extending from distal surface of 42–44. Enamel on the lingual surfaces of both the acrylic crown and adjacent teeth were etched with 37% phosphoric acid for 20 s (Scotchbond Etchant; 3M ESPE, St Paul, MN, USA). The fiber soaked in bonding agent was adapted using a tweezer onto the acrylic crown to ensure that it fits into the groove and light cured. Thereafter, it was coated with flowable resin (3M, ESPE) and light cured (Elipar 2500, Halogen Curings Light; 3M ESPE) from multiple directions for 20 s, which increased the mechanical strength of the space maintainer. Fiber-adapted acrylic crown was then positioned in the edentulous space and adapted to the adjacent teeth. Flowable composite application was initiated starting from the distal aspects of 42 44 and cured. This enabled us to stabilize the acrylic crown and check for its correct position. After confirming the correct position, the remaining fiber was coated with composite and cured. Finally, occlusion was adjusted; finishing and polishing (Sof-Lex; 3M ESPE) was performed [Figure 5]. The patient was informed about the importance of good oral hygiene and regular follow up. Follow up of 6 months revealed good retention and satisfactory esthetics [Figure 6]. Discussion: Oligodontia (severe partial anodontia) is a developmental dental anomaly refers to congenital lack of more than six teeth excluding third molars. The exact etiology for oligodontia is unknown. Various factors have been described in the literature.11 Oligodontia condition should not be neglected as it may result in various disturbances like abnormal occlusion, altered facial appearance which may cause psychological distress, difficulty in mastication and speech especially during the formative age. Thus early diagnosis and treatment of these patients is very important. The treatment of oligodontia could be challenging if there are several missing teeth and malocclusion present. Treatment planning should take into account the age of the patient, number and condition of retained teeth, number of missing teeth, condition of supporting tissues, the occlusion and interocclusal space.12 The treatment should be planned thoughly as it needs multidisciplinary appoarch. Treatment options include orthodontic therapy, speech therapy, implants, adhesive techniques, removable partial prostheses, fixed prostheses and over dentures to ensure adequate and durable results.13,14 Most young patients require the fabrication of a partial denture as an interim procedure before definitive restoration is planned. Early treatment improves speech and masticatory function in addition to psychological implications that may greatly help in regaining self-confidence of the young patient. Prosthodontic rehabilitation is fundamental in these situations that allow the child to lead a normal life without damaging self-esteem or psychological development and ensuring that behavior remains unaffected.15 The prosthetic rehabilitation using complete dentures had lot of benefits including better social acceptance, self-esteem and restoring normal functional demands of the patient such as chewing as showed in case report by Manu R et.al.16 The age of the patient for the present case was carefully considered, since younger adults require special attention with regard to their psychological and emotional condition, and particularly the anatomical changes related to facial growth. In the present case, the patient was in an early adolescent stage. The posterior teeth were still in the erupting phases and, therefore, restoration of the defective teeth with permanent and complex restorations was contraindicated. Composite restorative material was selected as a suitable replacement of the defective structures because of its esthetics and high sustainability and also it provides excellent conservative transitional treatment.17 Initially, the defective anterior teeth were restored using a free-hand technique. However, due to small inaccessibility on the palatal and lingual aspects of the teeth, it was not possible to carry out proper restorations. The time spent to restore a single tooth was prolonged and each restored tooth needed more trimming and polishing. Thus, these templates act as an adjunct to allow easy restoration of the defective teeth. Similarly with the present report, this template method has also been proven successfully in a case report by Sockaling am et.al.18 Satisfactory restorations of the lost teeth space present in between mandibular anterior teeth was a challenge to the paediatric dentist as there are limited treatment options in children.19 While long-term single tooth replacement options such as conventional fixed bridges, resin bonded dentures, removable dentures, and single tooth implants may be the treatment choice for adults, they have limited use in children. As in growing children, gingival and bone architecture undergoes changes demanding provisional restorations to achieve good esthetics and maintain edentulous space until definitive restoration is planned.20 For the success of single tooth restoration bonding of the restoration to adjacent teeth is important. So grooving, use of etching, and bonding procedures increase retention.19 In the present case, a groove was made on the lingual surface of the acrylic tooth, 42 and 44 to enhance maximum adhesion, durability, and also to provide mechanical support. Acrylic restoration provides several advantages such as desirable esthetics (a sense of natural feeling), ease of use, and direct bonding to tooth structure with reduced cost. Besides, it provided better gingival health (lesser plaque retention), greater patient–parent satisfaction, and less clinical time in acquisition of natural crown anatomy.19 Minimally invasive adhesive restorations using Ribbond was selected in the present case, as it is an ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber having virtually no memory, translucent, colorless and disappears within the composite or acrylic without show through offering excellent esthetics. Hence, it adapts to the contours of the teeth and dental arch. Children with oligodontia appear to have worse oral health related quality of life than children with dental decay and malocclusion.21 However long-term studies are required to evaluate their prolonged use. Conclusion: Child patient suffering from oligodontia may have severe functional, esthetic and psychological problems especially during the early years of life as reported in the present case. Thus, these thermoformed templates act as an adjunct to allow easy restoration of the defective teeth. The FRC space maintainer technique described in this case can satisfactorily restore esthetics and function and hence suggested as an alternative to conventional techniques. However, it can be considered as an interim treatment until a definitive restoration can be performed. 1

The Culture of Montserrat ::

The Culture of Montserrat Culture on the island of Montserrat can be most easily characterized through the examination of the many natural forces influencing the lifestyles and customs of its people. Montserrat’s physical features have played a crucial role in shaping the attire, diet, shelter, and crops of the island’s inhabitants. Volcanic rocks and native plants scattered throughout the island were the source of a number of customs that remain prevalent in contemporary Montserratian culture. Prior to colonization by the British, the island of Montserrat was occupied by a number of Amerindian groups from Venezuela who made their living through fishing and cultivation. There is evidence from a small artifact found in the soil from roughly 500 B.C.E. that the first inhabitants of Montserrat were the Ciboney, known as the ‘stone people.’ The Arawaks arrived on the island around 400 C.E. and built their villages near the coastline. These were a peaceful people who made their living fishing and gardening, and made ceramic vessels, stone tools, and conch shell adzes. While the Arawaks had a few centuries on the island, at the time of European contact the Caribs had gained dominance by driving them to the north. By 1500 the cannibalistic Caribs practiced both permanent and shifting cultivation and built their villages and gardens near the coast with a pole framework and leaf thatch. Caribs grew a mix of economic plants for cultivation, including many from South America and some from the Old World, which modified Montserrat’s vegetative cover in addition to some structures, composed of saplings, reeds, and foliage. The Carib name for Montserrat was Alliouagana, meaning â€Å"island of the prickly bush,† which most likely referred to the native species of Acacia. When Montserrat was first settled in 1632, British colonial officials believed the land and people of their island colonies to be profitable machines and this view greatly determined the way in which a culture based on agricultural production and slave labor emerged. The British had sent Irish Catholics from St. Kitts to colonize Montserrat and these people were growing tobacco and sugar by 1654. By the 1650s, English and Anglo-Irish landowners formed the wealthy ruling class, and Irish indentured servants formed the bulk of the population. The Culture of Montserrat :: The Culture of Montserrat Culture on the island of Montserrat can be most easily characterized through the examination of the many natural forces influencing the lifestyles and customs of its people. Montserrat’s physical features have played a crucial role in shaping the attire, diet, shelter, and crops of the island’s inhabitants. Volcanic rocks and native plants scattered throughout the island were the source of a number of customs that remain prevalent in contemporary Montserratian culture. Prior to colonization by the British, the island of Montserrat was occupied by a number of Amerindian groups from Venezuela who made their living through fishing and cultivation. There is evidence from a small artifact found in the soil from roughly 500 B.C.E. that the first inhabitants of Montserrat were the Ciboney, known as the ‘stone people.’ The Arawaks arrived on the island around 400 C.E. and built their villages near the coastline. These were a peaceful people who made their living fishing and gardening, and made ceramic vessels, stone tools, and conch shell adzes. While the Arawaks had a few centuries on the island, at the time of European contact the Caribs had gained dominance by driving them to the north. By 1500 the cannibalistic Caribs practiced both permanent and shifting cultivation and built their villages and gardens near the coast with a pole framework and leaf thatch. Caribs grew a mix of economic plants for cultivation, including many from South America and some from the Old World, which modified Montserrat’s vegetative cover in addition to some structures, composed of saplings, reeds, and foliage. The Carib name for Montserrat was Alliouagana, meaning â€Å"island of the prickly bush,† which most likely referred to the native species of Acacia. When Montserrat was first settled in 1632, British colonial officials believed the land and people of their island colonies to be profitable machines and this view greatly determined the way in which a culture based on agricultural production and slave labor emerged. The British had sent Irish Catholics from St. Kitts to colonize Montserrat and these people were growing tobacco and sugar by 1654. By the 1650s, English and Anglo-Irish landowners formed the wealthy ruling class, and Irish indentured servants formed the bulk of the population.

Acetaminophen :: essays research papers

Acetaminophen   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the late 1800’s it was discovered that papa-amino-phenol, could reduce fever, but the drug was too toxic to use. A less toxic extract called phenacetin was later found to be just as effective but also had pain-relieving properties. In 1949, it was learned that phenacetin was metabolized into an active but also less toxic drug, acetaminophen. Since then, acetaminophen has been sold under many over the counter brand names, most popular being Tylenol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Acetaminophen serves one basic purpose, to relieve pain. It is the main ingredient in pain killers that relieve headaches. It also substitutes anesthesia in circumcision surgery because anesthesia often cannot be used on infants. Dr. Michael Weitzman and 2 other doctors performed an experiment on an infant to test the effectiveness of the drug. The results were not identical, but there were increases in heart rate respiratory rate and crying. But the drug did more good as a pain reliever after the surgery than before the surgery.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Acetaminophen is ingested orally and is rapidly and completely absorbed into the gastrointestinal tract. It works in about one hour. The liver detoxifies 90% of it by mixing it with sulfuric acid, and another 3-5% is catabolized by enzyme reactions to the acid. The metabolites are excreted in the urine. The dosage of the drug should be used according to the carton instructions. A 10 gram over dose in adults, 140 mg for kids, can cause permanent liver damage. Also if you had just taken some other drugs , The acetaminophen may become more toxic since the drugs are catabolized in the liver. To protect yourself from injury, you should take 1 gram of vitamin C and Cysteine -a bodily antioxidant.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The kidneys can be permanently damaged if you continuously take the drug over a long period of time. You can get all kinds of cancers such as heart, liver , kidney. 40 % increase !!There are no nutrient supplements known to protect against kidney damage, but some amino acids such as Taurine powder and lots of Vitamin E might help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people alternate the use of other OTC such as Aspirin, which also has other dangerous effects , but hopefully will reduce acetaminophen toxicity.

Kafka

This simple yet ingenious quote by Kafka does make one stop and think, is life really that meaningless? How can one concur if life is meaningless or not? Before these questions can be answered, one must ask, what is meaning? Amazingly enough, meaning is something we create ourselves. We attach meaning to everything around us whether it be language, a person, an item, or even a pencil.Meaning comes from within us, making us the sole contributor to our own existence. Therefore, nothing has meaning unless one was to ttach meaning to it, and to attach meaning to anything proves one has created an identity, and that identity allows one to exist. Mortal life by definition comes to an end whether one likes it or not, and because of this, we are always facing the pressure of extinction. The way we cope with this pressure is by giving meaning to the things we do, the things we love, and all the other things which matters in ones life.To give ourselves an identity in which we exist in this wor ld and to leave behind a trace of our existence. Although it is truly evident that meaning comes from within the individual, others might think differently. One of the main arguments against meaning coming from the individual is that we were already given meaning since birth, given a set of beliefs and morals to follow, so how does one create meaning if it was already given to us from generation through generation?What they do not know is that meaning is something we gain through experience, and experience is not something we have from birth. Another valid argument would be that this universe does not need meaning and therefore it is not important to have meaning or create meaning. However, meaning is all around us and whether one likes it or not, we were built to reate meaning in order for us to exist, and for us to be able to create an identity. Before we dive deeper into the topic of how we gain meaning, we first have to question what is meaning?Clare Carlisle quotes Kierkegaard and explains, â€Å"Even though all sorts of things exist, for Kierkegaard the word â€Å"existence† has a special meaning when applied to human life. This meaning arises from the fact that we always have a relationship to ourselves. † (Carlisle, What does it mean to exist? ) To go into more thorough detail, meaning is the stem of everything human. Meaning come rom us because like stated above in the quote by Kierkegaard, we are the only ones can have a relationship to ourselves.Humans only truly exist through identity, identity is gained through experience, and experience is what use to create meaning. Many other individuals would like to believe that meaning does not come within us, but rather given to us, passed down to us from our past generations. For an example, Annie Druyan, wife of astronomer/philosopher Carl Sagan (1934 – 1996) remembered a conversation her husband had with a young man and it goes, â€Å"At the end of it, a young man came up to him and he said: What do you give us in return? Now that you've taken everything from us?What meaning is left, if everything that I've been taught since I was a child turns out to be untrue? Carl looked at him and said, ‘Do something meaningtul. ‘ † (Sagan. ) Without meaning this world would b complete chaos. A person needs to grow up with meaning as a supporting factor, or else their world would become chaotic and by definition, meaningless. The young man in the flashback is a person who struggles with the belief that he grew up with meaning given to him and therefore once he comprehend the truth and reality of it all, there would be no significance left.Carl Sagan tries to make this young man understand that in truth, meaning is something we can create anytime, anywhere, and anyplace. Sagan's simple and brief quote ‘Do something meaningful' gives us hope because it illustrates that meaning does not stem from the beginning of our lives, but something we have to exp erience and something we have to do in order to gain meaning. Although there are many others out there like the young man depicted in Annie Druyan's flashback, they would have to know that meaning is not something in which they are given, but is gained through their Journey and understanding of life.This is significant because it is imperative for ones knowledge to understand that no matter how lost or confused one might be, they could always create their own meaning instead of relying or is biased on the thought that meaning was created for us. If one was to be biased on that thought, their total reliance on the meaning at which was given to them would collapse when they learn the undeniable truth that meaning has always been within their reach. Although meaning is a controversial and conflicting topic to discuss, some might argue that meaning is something we shouldn't try to understand at all.Alex Percival as a strong opinion towards meaning and how he believes the universe does n ot need meaning at all. He states in his own words, â€Å"With modern discoveries, we have found that the meaning of life itself is pointless, but we are extremely lucky to be here because the probability that any one of us being in existence is next to 0%. † (Percival. ) In truth, meaning does matter in this world that we live in. Without meaning we would be lost with no identity, and would have no proof of our own existence.It is important for humans to make meaning for themselves because we want to exist and therefore we should exist. Meaning is not pointless at all, in fact meaning is apart of ones soul, apart of us. Meaning is a tool we strive and depend on to survive, because without it we would feel worthless and needless to say, useless. Despite the many oppositions against the interpretation of meaning, language is one of the many factors in which humans attach meaning to. One blogger give their thoughts on how meaning relates to language and states, â€Å"Language communicates meaning, and the origin of meaning is relationship.In fact; if we use the idea that â€Å"relationship is the origin of meaning† as our lens, it opens up a whole new world eyond the narrow definitions that confine meaning to traditional ideas of language. † (The Wisdom of Life. ) Language in fact does relate to human relationships. To be able to communicate and articulate our thoughts gives us meaning. Without language, humans would not be able to express their thoughts and empty their minds and this is an important process to meaning because how can one attach or create meaning if they cannot express themselves.It is crucial to understand that language does not get it's meaning from others but it is something we attach to it. For n example, as Professor Jacoby has mentioned in class, â€Å"A chair does not have meaning unless we give it meaning. The word chair to another person could mean something much more significant or it could mean nothing depending who this person is and what significant attachment they have given to the chair. † (English 205 Lecture. ) Anyone can give meaning to anything as long as there is a special significance to it.This is how we gain existence and gain identity. It comes through our experience and how we see things in our own eyes and not through what has already been defined for us. When one speaks about language, often we question what is the significance of many languages in this world. As Noam Chomsky says in We Still Live Here, â€Å"A language is not Just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It's all embodied in a language. † (Chomsky. Language is no longer Just words or different types of languages that people speak around the world, it is what set us apart from others. It is what defines us as a people, it gives us meaning. With many languages around the orld, one could feel lost or troubled because they a re afraid they could lose their identity. Although that is definitely not the case, language could preserve ones true identity because with language comes a culture, a tradition, a community, and a whole history. With all these factors combined, one can find their identity and create meaning to their lives in their own ways and form.To find ones own identity is truly important in terms of existence, and the only way to find ones identity is through finding meaning within themselves. Meaning also attaches itself to forms of exceptionalism, how we interpret and ruly follow this ideal belief is entirely up to the person. In one article by The Globalist, they proclaim, â€Å"And Americans can only be exceptional if we are well informed and willing to make hard choices and take risks. Apathy, ignorance and risk aversion are the death sentence of the American experiment. (The Globalist, The Idea of American Exceptionalism. ) This is not only true to Americans, but also other cultures aro und the world as well. To make one self â€Å"exceptional† the person needs to be able to make well informed decisions on their own accord and take risks by the ips of the their own fingers. This connects to meaning because the only way we can make our own decisions and take our own risks is by attaching our own meaning to what all of these things mean. To be exceptional does not necessarily translate to ignorance, it could also mean it is their only form of survival.To any culture around the world, their identity is found through their culture, history, tradition. They rely on these factors because it is what makes them special, unique, and superior from others. Just like how each of them have their own language, tradition, and beliefs, hey want to preserve this by giving it a name, American Exceptionalism, British Exceptionalism, and Greek Exceptionalism. This way, they have given meaning to these terms which in return protect their identities. As individuals we all have a specific responsibility to be fulfilled once we take our first breaths in this world.One specific sentence which caught my attention in the article by The Globalist was, â€Å"As citizens, we have a sacred duty to conserve government by the active † not passive † consent of the governed. † (The Globalist, The Idea of American Exceptionalism. Even if we are a citizen of American or not, it does not matter, because every human in this Earth has a specific duty, which is to do something meaningful so that can be remembered for what theyVe done. The government is depicted as powertul, and because we see them as powertul, we believe that meaning comes from the government.The governments rules and laws seem to constrain us, but in reality it's constrictions is what tests our understanding of what meaning is. For an example, in The Trial, a relatable quote from the conversation between K. and the doorkeeper goes as this, â€Å"Everyone strives to reach he Law,† sa ys the man, â€Å"so how does it happen that for all these many years no one but myself has ever begged for admit-tance? † The doorkeeper recognizes that the man has reached his end, and to let his failing senses catch the words roars in his ear: â€Å"No one else could ever be admitted here, since this gate was made only for you.I am now going to shut it. † (Kafka 256. ) In The Trial, it is Kafka's intentions to make the court look so powerful, because in this way, K. is forced to look for meaning and search for his own identity instead of trying to search for significant meaning in others. In fact, the court is so powerful that they have already planned everything out for K. K. ‘s future was in their hands and yet he barely even realized this because he was transfixed on trying to get everyone else to help him when the answers was within him.This message is of vital importance to comprehend, because one must know that no matter how powerful the barrier maybe be tween the person and their journey to gain meaning is, their duty as a human allows them to conquer those obstacles and face their own challenges. In The Trial it is evident from the very beginning K. ‘s thoughts were always ethered to what others thought about him and his need to find meaning through them instead of himself. Whenever K. spoke, he would always pay close attention to others, as though their opinions and thoughts were crucial to him, † ‘Intrusive, thoughtless people! ‘ said K. s he turned back into the room. The supervisor may have agreed with him, at least K. thought that was what he saw from the corner of his eye. But it was Just as possible that he had not even been listening as he had his hand pressed firmly down on the table and seemed to be comparing the length of his fingers. † (Kafka 17. Throughout the Trial, K. is repeatedly focusing on what others think of him, how others does not give him attention, and how others gave him mean ing. His mind was constantly affected by the whispers around him and it affected him to the point whereby he was utterly dependent on other people.Kafka's mission was to make us understand that K. was trapped in the wrong place the whole time, in someone else's mind. When a person is trapped in someone else's thoughts, it would be hard for them to understand how important meaning is if they are constantly looking for meaning in the wrong place. One of the great meanings behind Kafka's works was to question one specific word, â€Å"Meaning. † In the text, K. ‘s conversation with the Priest demonstrates how Kafka views the word meaning, miou look for too much help from people you don't know,† said the priest disapprovingly, â€Å"and especially from women.Can you really not see that's not the help you need? † (Kafka 252. ) Kafka used K. as a guide to help him search for or make meaning. K. is constantly seeking and depending on others to be able to survive an d to exist in this world that the meaning to his life soon became xactly that; his reliance on others became his meaning of survival, to exist. Kafka wants us to know that meaning was not already given to us, but we make meaning. We give meaning to people, things, and everything around us so we can feel special, unique, and most importantly to teel I ike we exist.Katka also wants us to know that K was looking for meaning in all the wrong places and to learn from K. ‘s mistakes. K. looked for meaning through his reliance on others, when he was supposed to create meaning within himself. To exist, we first have to rely on our own thoughts and our own ideas. This significant because our thoughts and our own ideas is how meaning is created. If we do not create meaning through our own minds, we do not exist according to Kafka, and that is why K. ies (Kafka 271) at the end because he was not able to realize his whole life depended on someone else, and his sense of meaning came from t he people around him as well which is what makes one exist. Although, this leads to the quote which was stated in the beginning of the essay, â€Å"The meaning of life is that it ends. â€Å"-Franz Kafka. No matter how a person tries define meaning or try to apprehend it, life does end. So why is meaning so important? Meaning not only gives us a sense of security and comfort from the chaotic world we live in, but it also serves as a backbone to our identity and our existence.By us giving meaning to anything and everything, it gives us a sense of comfort knowing that it is significant or in some ways meaningful to us therefore making us feel as though we exist because we gave meaning to something which never had meaning before it came into our lives. To exist, to give meaning, and to gain an identity is all part of what it means to be human. Meaning nowadays is interpreted in many different ways, but one theory seems to tand out more than the rest, and it's that meaning comes from within each individual and not from an external source.We use meaning to create ourselves, find our identities, and sustain our existence through our lifetime. In these modern times, the word meaning has been modified to each persons own interpretations of what meaning is. The problem is, would meaning ever be completely defined? Or is it a word that us humans can attach our own meaning to? It is definitely something to think about as we progress further into the world of constant change and start to lose the roots of our identity and even our existence.

Expressionism in Death of Salesman Essay

From the opening flute notes to their final reprise, Miller’s musical themes express the competing influences in Willy Loman’s mind. Once established, the themes need only be sounded to evoke certain time frames, emotions, and values. The first sounds of the drama, the flute notes â€Å"small and fine,† represent the grass, trees, and horizon – objects of Willy’s (and Biff’s) longing that are tellingly absent from the overshadowed home on which the curtain rises. This melody plays on as Willy makes his first appearance, although, as Miller tells us, â€Å"[h]e hears but is not aware of it† (12). Through this music we are thus given our first sense of Willy’s estrangement not only from nature itself but from his own deepest nature. As Act I unfolds, the flute is linked to Willy’s father, who, we are told, made flutes and sold them during the family’s early wanderings. The father’s theme, â€Å"a high, rollic king tune,† is differentiated from the small and fine melody of the natural landscape (49). This distinction is fitting, for the father is a salesman as well as an explorer; he embodies the conflicting values that are destroying his son’s life. The father’s tune shares a family likeness with Ben’s â€Å"idyllic† (133) music. This false theme, like Ben himself, is associated finally with death. Ben’s theme is first sounded, after all, only after Willy expresses his exhaustion (44). It is heard again after Willy is fired in Act II. This time the music precedes Ben’s entrance. It is heard in the distance, then closer, just as Willy’s thoughts of suicide, once repressed, now come closer at the loss of his job. And Willy’s first words to Ben when he finally appears are the ambiguous â€Å"how did you do it?† (84). When Ben’s idyllic melody plays for the third and final time it is in â€Å"accents of dread† (133), for Ben reinforces Willy’s wrongheaded thought of suicide to bankroll Biff. The father’s and Ben’s themes, representing selling (out) and abandonment, are thus in opposition to the small and fine theme of nature that begins and ends the play. A whistling motif elaborates this essential conflict. Whistling is often done by those contentedly at work. It frequently also accompanies outdoor activities. A whistler in an office would be a distraction. Biff Loman likes to whistle, thus reinforcing his ties to nature rather than to the business environment. But Happy seeks to stifle Biff’s true voice: HAPPY . . . Bob Harrison said you were tops, and then you go and do some damn fool thing like whistling whole songs in the elevator like a comedian. BIFF, against Happy. So what? I like to whistle sometimes. HAPPY. You don t raise a guy to a responsible job who whistles in elevator! (60) This conversation reverberates ironically when Howard Wagner plays Willy a recording of his daughter whistling Roll out the Barrel† just before Willy asks for an advance and a New York job (77). Whistling, presumably, is all right if you are the boss or the boss’s daughter, but not if you are an employee. The barrel will not be rolled out for Willy or Biff Loman. Willy’s conflicting desires to work in sales and to do outdoor, independent work are complicated by another longing, that of sexual desire, which is expressed through the â€Å"raw, sensuous music† that accompanies The Woman’s appearances on stage (116, 37). It is this music of sexual desire, I suggest, that â€Å"insinuates itself† as the first leaves cover the house in Act 1.5 It is heard just before Willy – reliving a past conversation – offers this ironic warning to Biff: â€Å"Just wan na be careful with those girls, Biff, that’s all. Don’t make any promises. No promises of any kind† (27). This raw theme of sexual desire contrasts with Linda Loman’s theme: the maternal hum of a soft lullaby that becomes a â€Å"desperate but monotonous† hum at the end of Act I (69). Linda’s monotonous drone, in turn, contrasts with the â€Å"gay and bright† music, the boys’ theme, which opens Act II. This theme is associated with the â€Å"great times† (127) Willy remembers with his sons – before his adultery is discovered. Like the high, rollicking theme of Willy’s father and like Ben’s idyllic melody, this gay and bright music is ultimately associated with the false dream of materialistic success. The boys theme is first heard when Willy tells Ben that he and the boys will get rich in Brooklyn (87). It sounds again when Willy implores Ben, â€Å"[H]ow do we get back to all the great times?† (127). In his final moments of life, Willy Loman is shown struggling with his furies: â€Å"sounds, faces, voices, seem to be swarming in upon him† (136). Suddenly, however, the â€Å"faint and high† music enters, representing the false dreams of all the â€Å"low† men. This false tune ends Willy’s struggle with his competing voices. It drowns out the other voices, rising in intensity â€Å"almost to an unbearable scream† as Willy rushes off in pursuit. And just as the travail of Moby Dick ends with the ongoing flow of the waves, nature, in the form of the flute’s small and fine refrain, persists – despite the tragedy we have witnessed. Sets In the introduction to his Collected Plays, Miller acknowledges that the first image of Salesman that occurred to him was of an enormous face the height of the proscenium arch; the face would appear and then open up. â€Å"We would see the inside of a man’s head,† he explains. â€Å"In fact, The Inside of His Head was the first title. It was conceived half in laughter, (60) for the inside of his head was a mass of contradictions† (23). By the time Miller had completed Salesman, however, he had found a more subtle plays correlative for the giant head; a transparent setting. â€Å"The entire setting is wholly, or, in some places, partially transparent,† Miller insists in his set description (11). By substituting a transparent setting for a bisected head, Miller invited the audience to examine the social context as well as the individual organism. Productions that eschew transparent scenery eschew the nuances of this invitation. The transparent lines of the L oman home allow the audience physically to sense the city pressures that are destroying Willy. â€Å"We are aware of towering, angular shapes behind [Willy’s house], surrounding it on all sides. The roofline of the house is one-dimensional; under and over it we see the apartment buildings† (11-12). Wherever Willy Loman looks are these encroaching buildings, and wherever we look as well. Willy’s subjective vision is expressed also in the home’s furnishings, which are deliberately partial. The furnishings indicated are only those of importance to Willy Loman. That Willy’s kitchen has a table with three chairs instead of four reveals both Linda Loman’s unequal status in the family and Willy’s obsession with his boys. At the end of Act I, Willy goes to his small refrigerator for life-sustaining milk (cf. Brecht’s parallel use of milk in Galileo). Later, however, we learn that this repository of nourishment, like Willy himself, has broken down. That Willy Loman’s bedroom contains only a bed, a straight chair, and a shelf holding Biff’s silver athletic trophy also telegraphs much about the man and his family. Linda Loman has no object of her own in her bedroom. Willy Loman also travels light. He has nothing of substance to sustain him. His vanity is devoted to adolescent competition. Chairs ultimately become surrogates for people in Death of a Salesman as first a kitchen chair becomes Biff in Willy’s conflicted mind (28) and then an office chair becomes Willy’s deceased boss, Frank Wagner (82). In, perhaps, a subtle bow to Georg Kaiser’s Gas I and Gas II, Miller’s gas heater glows when Willy thinks of death. The scrim that veils the primping Woman and the screen hiding the restaurant where two women will be seduced suggest Willy Loman’s repression of sexuality. Lighting Expressionism has done more than any other movement to develop the expressive powers of stage lighting. The German expressionists used light to create a strong sense of mood and to isolate characters in a void. By contrasting light and shadow, and by employing extreme side, overhead, and rear lighting angles, they established the nightmarish atmosphere in which many of their plays took place. The original Kazan Salesman made use of more lights than were used even in Broadway musicals (Timebends 190). At the end of act 1, Biff comes downstage â€Å"into a golden pool of light† as Willy recalls the day of the city baseball championship when Biff was â€Å"[l]ike a young God. Hercules – something like that. And the sun, the sun all around him.† The pool of light both establishes the moment as one of Willy’s memories and suggests how he has inflated the past, given it mythic dimension. The lighting also functions to instill a sense of irony in the audience, fo r the golden light glows on undiminished as Willy exclaims, â€Å"A star like that, magnificent, can never really fade away!† We know that Biff’s star faded, even before it had a chance to shine, and even as Willy speaks these words, the light on him begins to fade (68). That Willy’s thoughts turn immediately from this golden vision of his son to his own suicide is indicated by the â€Å"blue flame† of the gas heater that begins immediately to glow through the wall – a foreshadowing of Willy’s desire to gild his son through his own demise. Productions that omit either the golden pool of light or the glowing gas heater withhold this foreshadowing of Willy’s final deed. Similarly, productions that omit the lights on the empty chairs miss the chance to reveal the potency of Willy’s fantasies. Perhaps even more important, the gas heater’s flame at the end of Act I recalls the â€Å"angry glow of orange† surrounding Willy’s house at the play’s beginning (11). Both join with the â€Å"red glow† rising from the hotel room and the restaurant to give a felt sense of Willy’s twice articulated cry: â€Å"The woods are burning!†¦There’s a big blaze going on all around† (41, 107). Without these sensory clues, audiences may fail to appreciate the desperation of Willy’s state. Characters and Costumes Miller employs expressionistic technique when he allows his characters to split into younger versions of themselves to represent Willy’s memories. Young Biff’s letter sweater and football signal his age reversion, yet they also move in the direction of social type. The Woman also is an expressionistic type, the play’s only generic character other than the marvelously individualized salesman. Miller’s greatest expressionistic creations, however, are Ben and Willy Loman. In his Paris Review interview, Miller acknowledged that he purposely refused to give Ben any character, â€Å"because for Willy he has no character – which is, psychologically, expressionist because so many memories come back with a simple tag on them: somebody represents a threat to you, or a promise† (Theater Essays 272). Clearly Ben represents a promise to Willy Loman. It is the promise of material success, but it is also the promise of death.6 We might consider Uncle Ben to be the ghost of Ben, for we learn that Ben has recently died in Africa. Since Miller never discloses the cause of Ben’s death, he may be a suicide himself. His idyllic melody, as I have noted, becomes finally a death march. In Willy’s last moments, the contrapuntal voices of Linda and Ben vie with each other, but Willy moves inexorably toward Ben. Alluding to Africa, and perhaps also to the River Styx, Ben looks at his watch and says, â€Å"The boat. We’ll be late† as he moves slowly into the darkness (135). Willy Loman, needless to say, is Miller’s brilliant demonstration that expressionistic techniques can express inner as well as outer forces, that expressionism can be used to create â€Å"felt,† humane character. The music, setting, and lighting of Salesman all function to express the world inside Willy Loman’s head, a world in which social and personal values meet and merge and struggle for integration. As Miller writes in the introduction to his Collected Plays: [The play’s] expressionistic elements were consciously used as such, but since the approach to Willy Loman’s characterization was consistently and rigorously subjective, the audience would not ever be aware – if I could help it – that they were witnessing the use of a technique which had until then created only coldness, objectivity, and a highly styled sort of play. (39) In 1983, when Miller arrived in Beijing to direct the first Chinese production of Death of a Salesman, he was pleased to find that the Chinese had created a mirror image of the original transparent set. Seeing this set, and observing that the kitchen was furnished with only a refrigerator, table, and two (not even three) chairs, Miller felt â€Å"a wonderful boost† to his morale (Salesman in Beijing 3-4). Teachers and directors might offer a similar boost by giving full weight to the expressionistic moments in Death of a Salesman. For directors, achieving such moments may be technically demanding, but they should not be abandoned simply because they are challenging.7 Similarly, the expressionistic devices should not be considered too obvious for postmodern taste. In truth, the expressionism in Salesman is not intrusive. Its very refinement of German expressionism lies in its subtlety, in its delicate balance with the realistic moments in the drama. This ever-shifting tension between realism and expressionism allows us to feel the interpenetration of outer and inner forces within the human psyche. The expressionistic devices also elevate Willy’s suffering, for they place it in the context of the natural order. To excise the expressionism is to diminish the rich chord that is Miller’s drama