Mark Twain Essays (1003 words) - Mark Twain, Picaresque Novels

Mark Twain Mark Twain was one of the most popular and well-known authors of the 1800's. He is recognized for being a humorist. He used humor or social satire in his best works. His writing is known for "realism of place and language, memorable characters, and hatred of hypocrisy and oppression" (Mark Twain 1). Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835. He was born on the Missouri frontier in a small log village called Florida. His parents had come to Florida from their former home in Tennessee (Unger 192). When Clemens was four, he moved with his family to Hannibal, Missouri, a port on the Mississippi River (Mark Twain 1). His father, who had studied law in Kentucky, was a local magistrate and small merchant (Unger 193). When Samuel was twelve, his father died. He was then apprenticed to two local printers (Unger 193). When he was sixteen, Clemens began setting type for the local newspaper Hannibal Journal, which his older brother Orion managed (Mark Twain 1). In 1853, when Samuel was eighteen, he left Hannibal for St. Louis (Unger 194). There he became a steam boat pilot on the Mississippi River. Clemens piloted steamboats until the Civil War in 1861. Then he served briefly with the Confederate army (Mark Twain 1). In 1862 Clemens became a reporter on the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada. In 1863 he began signing his articles with the pseudonym Mark Twain, a Mississippi River phrase meaning "two fathoms deep" (Bloom 43). In 1865, Twain reworked a tale he had heard in the California gold fields, and within months the author and the story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, had become national sensations (Bloom 47). In 1867 Twain lectured in New York City, and in the same year he visited Europe and Palestine. He wrote of these travels in The Innocents Abroad. This book exaggerated those aspects of European culture that impress American tourists (Bain, Flora, and Rubin 103). Many claim that The Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain's second-best book (Unger 198). In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon. After living briefly in Buffalo, New York, the couple moved to Hartford, Connecticut (Bain, Flora, and Rubin 104). Much of Mark Twain's best work was written in the 1870's and 1880's in Hartford and during the summers at Quarry Farm, near Elmira, New York (Bain Flora and Rubin 104). It was at Quarry Farm that he wrote Roughing It in 1872, which recounts his early adventures as a miner and journalist. While vacationing in New York one summer in 1876 he wrote his most famous story of all. Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Bloom 50). It is about Tom Sawyer, who is a twelve-year-old boy who lives on the Mississippi River. He is mischievous, adventurous, and humorous. Tom is loved by readers around the world. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer brought Twain to the top of the best-seller's list, where he remained for eight weeks (Unger 199). Mark Twain once said that he liked Tom Sawyer because "Tom represented everything that he had loved as a boy, and because if the world thought like Tom Sawyer, everyone would forget about their troubles and become happier people" (Kunitz 355). Twain wrote the sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1884. The sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered by many to be Twain's masterpiece (Mark Twain 1). The book is the story of Tom Sawyer's best friend, Huck. He flees his father, the town drunk, by raft down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave, Jim. The pair's adventures show Huck and the reader the cruelty of which men and women are capable. Another theme of the novel is the conflict between Huck's feelings of friendship with Jim, who is one of the few people he can trust, and his knowledge that he is breaking the laws of the time by helping Jim escape (Mark Twain 2). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is almost entirely narrated from Huck's point of view, is noted for its authentic language and for its deep commitment to freedom (Marshall 232). In 1884, Twain formed the firm "Charles L. Webster and Company" to publish his and other writer's works. The most famous books published there were The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Personal Memoirs, which was written by American general and president Ulysses S. Grant (Mark Twain 2). A disastrous investment in an automatic typesetting machine led to the firm's bankruptcy in 1894. A successful worldwide lecture tour and

The 4 Best ACT Apps (and How to Use Them in Your Prep)

The 4 Best ACT Apps (and How to Use Them in Your Prep) SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You can use apps to order food, watch sports, keep up with friends, and even study for the ACT. ACT apps are a somewhat recent phenomenon, but they're pretty appealing. After all, studying on your phone sounds like way more funthan studying from a book. Unfortunately, apps aren't enough to prepare you for the test on their own, but they can be a helpful resource. In this article, I'll explain what ACT prep apps are, list the best ACT apps (most of which are free!), andoffer tips on how to use them effectively. ACT Apps: An Overview As mobile apps have become more popular, a number of ACT prep apps have been created to help students prepare for the ACT. Those who have created them are trying to capitalize on the popularity of mobile apps, and they want to make ACT prep material more accessible for students. If you have an ACT prep app on your phone or tablet, you'll be able to study for the ACT wherever you’re at, whether you’re at home, school, or on a plane. Also, studying on an app is more enjoyable and interactive for some students than using an ACT prep book. Most ACT prep apps are free, but there are some that cost money to purchase. Why ACT Apps Are Not Enough ACT apps can be a good study tool, but you probably won’t be able to solely rely on them to reach your target score. They're helpful, but it takes more than just a piece of technology to to get a killer score on the ACT!You should check out our articles on how to get a perfect score on the ACT and the best ways to study for the ACTfor the best tips and tricks to getting a great score. Additionally, most of the apps don't have sufficient practice questions. There are either too few of them, or they're not representative of the questions you'll get on the ACT. You may need more real ACT questions or realistic practice questions to test your knowledge and improve your content weaknesses. Also, the apps don’t teach you ACT test-taking strategies that can help you. Most of the apps don’t cover test-taking strategies like how to read the ACT Reading and English passages. Furthermore, the majority of the apps aren’t customized to your skill level. To improve your ACT score, you need to focus your time on improving your weaknesses. You may need to get better with your time management on the Science section. Or you may need help with trigonometry. Most of these apps aren’t effective at determining where you’re weak, and they’re not designed to help you focus on the areas in which your skills need to improve. Identify your weaknesses What Makes a Good ACT App? There are specific qualities you should look for in an SAT app. #1: Tons of Realistic Practice Questions The best ACT apps will offer hundreds of practice questions for you to hone your skills. The questions should be presented in the same format as the questions that appear on the ACT, and they should be roughly as difficult as the questions on the official ACT practice tests. Each question should provide a thorough explanation, so you’re able to understand how to correctly answer all of the practice questions. #2: Good User Experience The app should be easy to navigate and use. On some of the apps, the text is hard to read, or the setup of the app makes it difficult to identify the functions and navigate between them. #3: Thorough Content Instruction A good ACT prep app should clearly teach you the content you need to know to excel on the ACT. After reading a lesson or answer explanation, you shouldn’t have any lingering confusion about the topic. A quality app will break down the topic and thoroughly explain it. You should be able to start with limited knowledge of the topic, but then understand it well enough to correctly answer related ACT questions after using the app. A bad app will provide more brief instruction and leave you uncomfortable with a content area you are unsure about. If you have unanswered questions about the topic, you'll need more content instruction. #4: Questions and Lessons Divided by Specific Topics A good app will divide practice questions and content instruction by more specific topics than just Reading, English, Science, and Math. If you know the topics on which you need extra help, you should know exactly where to go. If you need more help with pronoun agreement, you should be able to easily find instruction or practice questions to help you with your knowledge of pronoun agreement. The 4 Best ACT Apps If you want to use ACT apps in your studying, here are four that can provide some benefit to you. All are free of charge, except the official ACT app. Many of the other ACT apps that I’m not mentioning offer an unhelpful basic version, and then you have to pay to upgrade to the â€Å"premium† version for more practice questions and content instruction. #1: ACT Online Prep iTunes|Google Play This is the ACT’s official prep app, and it advertises itself as the only app that can help you accurately predict your ACT score. It’s definitely helpful, but it costs $39.95 and comes as part of thepurchase of the ACT's online prep program. It’s customized to your skill level, it has practice questions and a test with real ACT questions, and it offers thorough content review. Also, there are gaming features that allow you to test your knowledge and compete with your friends. That's not to mention the fact that this app isofficial,so you know you're getting the best information possible. Honestly, the biggest drawbackto this app is the price. #2: Ready4 ACT iTunes |Google Play This app offers 60 lessons, 1,000 virtual flashcards that provide explanations to example questions, and 1,000 practice questions. Initially, you take a diagnostic test of eight questions and the app will customize a course of instruction for you. Because there aren’t many questions on the diagnostic, the app may not accurately determine your current skill level. This app is definitely one of the better free ACT prep apps. It offers content instruction, you can take a mock ACT with up to 100 questions, it offers many good realistic practice questions, and the explanations to the questions are complete. It’s still not perfect, though. The content instruction it provides is pretty brief, so it may not be enough if you’re struggling with a topic. Also, the user experience isn't ideal. For the Reading and English questions, the passages and questions are on different screens, and it was a little difficult for me to find the underlined portion of the passage for the English questions. #3: ACT: Practice, Prep, Flashcards iTunes |Google Play This app, which was designed by the tutoring company Varsity Tutors, has a ton of features. Itincludes practice tests, single-section diagnostic tests, questions of the day, and flashcards with practice questions and explanations. You can also make your own flashcards and find a tutor via the app. You’ll have to pay for the tutor, though, and the prices for one-on-one tutoring aren't clearly listed. The app's major benefit is its wealth of practicequestions, and since they're divided by topic, you can drill your specific weaknesses. Unfortunately,there’s no mention of test-taking strategies nor anycontent instruction other than explanations of the practice questions. But for a free app, you can't beat the amount of information! #4: ACT Prep Coach Practice Test iTunes | Google Play On the upshot, this test prep app by Magoosh (which updates regularly!) gives users a lot to love. The app combines study tips, helpful articles, and test practice questions, and it even offers users a practice test. The free tier is pretty robust in that you can access all the most recent articles along with 100 video lessons and 63 practice questions. I think the free trial gives you enough good information to get started. The premium version of this app boasts tons more content, including nearly 700 practice questions and more than double the video content. But the pricing model for premium isn't clear. Is it a one-time purchase or a subscription? How much does premium cost? All of this information- which is pretty important- seems to be hidden from users, so it's hard to know whether a premium subscription is really worth it. How to Use ACT Apps in Your Studying As I previously mentioned, ACT apps can be a good resource, but you shouldn’t rely solely on them in your ACT prep. Here’s are a few tips on howto useapps effectively, rather than as a way to avoid more productive study methods. #1: For Additional Practice Questions For ACT practice questions, focus on the official released ACTs. These questions will most closely resemble the questions you’ll find on your ACT. Also, you can get the Official ACT Prep Guide, which has three official tests with answer explanations. The ACT prep apps are a good supplement to these resources, and they provide a ton of questions for you to continue to drill and test your knowledge. #2: To Improve Your Weaknesses If you know the types of questions on which you struggle, you can use apps to do more questions related to those topics or get more content instruction. Use the apps that divide questions by specific topics, and you should focus on the topics with which you need the most help.Don’t just dogeometryquestions if you’re already getting all of those questions right. #3: To Change Up Your Study Routine If you’re always using the same book or website to study, then you can use an ACT app to alter your normal routine. Sometimes, changing your regular routine can energize you and give you additional motivation to study. FinalRecommendations ACT apps can help you in your ACT preparation, if you use them in conjunction with other resources. The apps work best once you already have a solid foundation, namely if you'refamiliar with all the content on the ACT and aware ofyour current weaknesses. Also, keep in mind that you’ll have to learn test-taking strategies elsewhere. If you want needa free resource to learn ACT content and strategies, I'd recommendchecking outthe articles on this blog! What's Next? Are you trying to improve your ACT score? Learn how to study for and ace the ACT. Is your ACT coming up very soon and you haven't adequately prepared? Read our guide to cramming for the ACT. What score should you be aiming for on the ACT? We've got an article that coverswhat exactly a "good" score looks like, along with tips on how to get there. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes your prep program to your strengths and weaknesses. We also have expert instructors who can grade every one of your practice ACT essays, giving feedback on how to improve your score. Check out our 5-day free trial:

The Impact of Migration on Hotel Management in Bucharest Research Paper

The Impact of Migration on Hotel Management in Bucharest - Research Paper Example Since many Romanians are leaving for work abroad, there is a general lack of unqualified labor in Romania and this migration process has been rather continuous leading to economic and social impact on the labor market of Romania. The focus here is on the hotel industry and the perspectives for hotel management that brings out several issues about the hospitality and tourism sector in Romania and in Europe. Here the specific focus is on the tourism industry because tourism and hotel industry is an important part of the developing economy of Romania. The hotel industry is Romania is dependent on several factors including the levels of service, the workforce available, the tourists and visitors to Romania and Romanian and world economy, condition of the tourism industry in general. In one relevant study, Nield et al (2000) discussed the importance of levels of service in the hotel industry and the differences in levels of satisfaction. In this research proposal the methodology as also the background and further analysis of the research data are given along with the research questions, the literature review provides the basis for research and the questionnaire prepared aims to bring out the impact of migration and the state of the economy on the hotel and tourism industry of Romania as asked to 100 respondents working within the tourism/hotel industry and based in Bucharest. Background The hotel industry in Romania is as dependent on tourists as it is dependent on the workforce and the amount of unskilled labor. In fact the hotel industry is largely dependent on unskilled or low skilled labor comprising of cleaners, hotel supervising staff, clerks, security and doormen, concierge staff, taxi drivers, car drivers, bus

WestJet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

WestJet - Essay Example Westjet airlines is a Canadian carrier that provides scheduled and charter services to over 87 destinations in Canada, the Caribbean, United States, Mexico and central America. It was established in 1996 and by 2012; it was ranked the ninth largest airline in North America. It has two hubs, Calgary International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. It also has two focus cities, Edmonton International Airport and Vancouver International Airport. The company’s slogan is â€Å"Owners Care†. The company’s headquarter is in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and headed by Gregg Saretsky who is the CEO/ President. Westjet also operates on vacations to provide hotel, car, air, and excursion packagings. According to a research conducted by TNS Canada, Westjet is the most preferred airline in Canada (Grescoe, 2004). The competition over the Canadian traveler is fierce and Westjet is not spared from the whole situation. Its main competitors include Air Canada and Porte r Airlines most specifically Air Canada. Westgate has adopted a counteractive competition strategy to keep up with the spirit of competition. When Air Canada revealed that, it would be adding a premium economy class to cater for their customers of the business class, which was to include wider seats and a bigger legroom at a slightly higher economy price. Westjet responded by purchasing a fleet of Bombardier Q400s with seat configurations of 737-800. This included roomier premium seats and high-density economy class. Westjet signed a letter of intent for buying 20 Q400’s with another 25 on the way.... Its mission is to enrich the lives of everyone through provision of safe, friendly, and affordable air travel. In fact, Westjet received the â€Å"Business Ethics† Award from the Better Business Bureau in Alberta in 2004. It was also ranked fourth in Reputation Institute’s Corporate Reputation study among the 50 largest companies in Canada and Most admired corporate culture as selected by Waterstone Human Capital in 2011. Westjet’s values include commitment to safety, positive and passionate in everything, appreciative of people and guests, fun, friendly and caring, aligning the interests of West Jetters with the interests of the company and honest, open and keeping to their commitments (Grescoe, 2004). However, there was a major ethical issue in May 2006 between Westjet and Air Canada where Westjet admitted to accessing confidential information from an Air Canada’s website. Air Canada claimed that Westjet unfairly adjusted its scheduling and pricing infor mation to gain a springboard in starting new routes and terminating others. In a joint press release by Westjet and air Canada, Westjet admitted full responsibility stating that the conduct was both unethical and unacceptable. Westjet management admitted that they engaged in an extensive practice of covertly accessing a password-protected proprietary employee Web site maintained by Air Canada to download detailed and commercially sensitive information without authorization or consent from Air Canada (Grescoe, 2004). The most disquieting fact about this confrontation was that the whole affair of corporate spying occurred under the watchful eyes and direction of top management officials at WestJet and it did not stop until Air Canada

Effect of Interpersonal Touch on Third-party Observers

Effect of Interpersonal Touch on Third-party Observers Observing Touch Boosts Social Interests Sun Yating Abstract The goal of this study is to investigate the effect interpersonal touch on third-party observers. Specifically, we aim to test whether observing interactions with touch biases individuals towards social information in their environment. To this end, participants will be presented with prime images that entail touch and no-touch interactions. Primes will be followed by a set of target images comprising social (i.e., faces) and non-social (i.e., vehicles) elements. Participants processing of these images will be explored using behavioural measures (e.g., recognition accuracy) and eye-gaze data obtained through eye-tracking. We expect stimulus recognition and gazing to be enhanced when presented with face than with vehicle stimuli. Moreover this difference should be more pronounced for stimuli primed with touch as compared with no-touch images. Keywords: Interpersonal touch; Social information; Facial bias; Eye-gazing. Observing touch boosts social interests Touch is crucial to our daily life, as it allows us to communicate with the external world (Barnett, 1972). By doing so, we are able to feel the warmth of a human hand; to tap the screen of a smart phone; to send messages to a friend; to feel the sharpness of the tip of a pencil; or to feel the softness of a comfortable mattress. Among different types of touch, the interpersonal touch is the social sub-area of touch that mainly includes our interaction with another people (Field, 2001). For example, a strong handshake, an encouraging pat on ones back, a short tap on ones forearm, or a comforting pat on ones shoulder. Research has focused on how interpersonal touch influences our social perception, social behaviour, as well as our social brain. For the social perception, Fisher, Rytting and Heslin (1976) have conducted a behavioural study: when handing back the library card, library clerk either casually touched the forearm of the subject or did not touch the subject. The results illustrated that subjects felt higher level of affective and gave more positive evaluation towards the clerk, when they had been casually touched, in compared with the no touch situation. In other words, interpersonal touch enhances our positive social perception towards others. For the social behaviour, Cruso and Wetzel (1984) have asked waitresses to either briefly touch customers hands and shoulders, or behaving in the controlled manner (no touch). They have found that, regardless of the place being touched (hand or shoulder), customers gave higher rate of tipping fee when they had been touched by the waitresses, compared with the control group (where customers had not been touched). The above results suggested that interpersonal touch affects o ur social behaviour, which maybe a practical knowledge that we could use in our daily life. For the social brain research area, both neuroimaging studies and EEG studies have shed light on the role of interpersonal touch. For example, Olausson et al. (2010) conducted an fMRI study and identified a system of unmyelinated low threshold mechanoreceptors (C tactile, CT afferents) which contribute to pleasant touch and provide an important sensory underpinning of social behaviour. It is important to note that their experiment was not strictly an interpersonal touch. In fact, it was a robot arm that held a brush that was stimulating participants. The brush touch was a slow, dynamic property of light touch in hairy skin. However, this kind of touch has been suggested to be salient in tactile interactions between individuals (Gallace and Spence, 2010; Vallbo et al., 1999). Also, as social processing include multiple mechanisms (e.g. vocal, facial, and olfactory), Olausson et al. (2010) have only suggested the CT afferents’ function in interpersonal touch. Thus, it is possibl e that the CT afferents do not wholly support the social processing, but only partially contribute to one specific aspect (i.e. the interpersonal touch aspect). Although having the above issues, the study done by Olausson et al. (2010) generally suggested that CT afferents (in posterior and middle insular cortex) is the brain system which works for both interpersonal touch and social processing. For the EEG evidence, Maria et al. (in progress) have conducted an experiment with facial stimuli. They asked participants to focus on the facial images displayed on a computer screen. At the meantime, they used a brush to briefly touch the forearm area of participants. According to the results, being touched by the brush enhanced the N170 ERP component, which has been proved to reflect the processes of neutral faces (Rossion et al., 2000). Again, the above study used a brush instead of a real human hand to touch participants, which may be not good for the consideration of validity. However, previous study has shown the similarity between being touched by a brush and a human hand. Therefore, this EEG study suggested that our social perception of faces could be enhanced after being touched. With the knowledge of how interpersonal touch influences our social life, it is interesting to find out whether such influence could be extended, so that individuals are not being touched with ones own experience, but simply observing a vicarious interpersonal touching interaction performed by another two people. It is important to figure out the vicarious interpersonal touch problem, as this is the social interaction that we have to process in everyday life. For example, the mess media propose thousands of news, which including pictures capturing the interpersonal touch interactions between politicians. When observing such pictures, readers may form stereotypes towards both politicians within in this interaction. Sometimes, being the toucher or the receiver in such a simple picture can determine the publics social-emotional attitudes towards politicians, which will later greatly affect the voting rates toward them. Therefore, having the knowledge of vicarious interpersonal touch is important for us to guide our behaviour pattern in our social life. To support both the real and vicarious experiences, a same neural system should be activated for both procedures, which is called the Mirror system. According to Blakemore et al. (2005), the mirror system lies in our Primary Somatosensory Cortext (SI). Moreover, Keyser, Kaas and Gazzola (2010) suggested that different sub-regions in SI make different contributions: BA2 functions to the perception of others experiences, whilst BA3 processes signals originate in our own body. Furthermore, Scharfer, Heinze and Rotte (2012) conducted an fMRI experiment that they assigned participants to either observe a painful vicarious touch (using a paintbrush to touch a hand), a non-painful vicarious touch, or become in the real touch condition (where participant watched no visual display and was touched by a paintbrush). The results suggested that, for the contrast between observed/ real touch, there was a significant overlap in SI. In other words, SI is the mirror neuron system for non-painful touc h. Also, among all sub-regions within SI, BA2 made around 50% contribution to the overlap activation. However, this fMRI study, as previous studies, risked validity by using paintbrush instead of a more realistic interpersonal communication stimulus. Also, although this study hinted the influence of vicarious touch on the social perception, it did not directly test any social-emotional issue as dependent variable. A recent study by Schirmer et al. (2014) has developed the Social Touch Picture Set (SToPS), which contain two characters within each image. The interaction between the two characters can be either touch or no-touch. Also, the interaction can be reciprocal (where there is no toucher and receiver) or non-reciprocal (where one character is a toucher while the other one is a receiver). This picture set enables the presentation of a more realistic vicarious interpersonal touch scene, compared with the previously used paintbrush one. In their study, they asked participants to watch the SToPS images, then rate the perceived valence, arousal, and likeability of the characters and the interaction procedure. They found that, when participants observed touch images, the image characters and interaction procedure seemed more positive, aroused, and likable, compared to the observation of no-touch images. Moreover, they used eye-tracking system to record the gazing pattern when participants were observing the touch/ no-touch images. The results illustrated more and longer fixations towards the upper body area rather than the expected touching area. With such unexpected results, it is interesting to locate the exact position(s) within the upper body area that people focus on, after they observed vicarious touch images. Among all human upper body areas, perhaps the facial area is the most important one for our social information processing. As Allison, Puce and McCarthy (2000) mentioned in their review about social perception, the reason why facial information is crucial to our daily communication is because human face not only provides multiple explicit information (i.e. age, sex, emotional state, etc), but also includes some implicit information. Therefore, it is likely that face is the key area in the upper body part that we focus on, after primed with a vicarious interpersonal touch scene. More specifically, the enhanced social processing (by observing interpersonal touch) may bias our attention towards faces and help us to deeply process facial related information. As no previous study has focused on the link between vicarious interpersonal touch and our facial information processing procedure, the current study is interested in such topic and will test: 1) whether observing touch biases individuals to attend to faces, and 2) whether a potential face bias facilitates the retrieval of facial information. Methods Participants Run pilot study with 10 participants. Depending on the effect size to decide the sample size for the main study. A balanced number of male and female participants will be preferred, as sex difference may influence the results of current experiment. Also, as the face images will all be Asian, we will only include Asian participants. Experimental designated The current experiment is a 2 (Touch: touch/no-touch) X 2 (Stimulus: face/car) X 8 (AOIs) X 2 (Old target: face/car) within subject design, with dependent variables of looking duration, number of fixations, and d value for the facial recognition data. Stimuli SToPS Images (vicarious interpersonal touch images). There are 480 SToPS images (see figure 1 as an example), which could be divided evenly into different within participant conditions in the current study. The SToPS images contain ten different gestures, which could be either touch or no-touch. There are three different actors’ versions for each type of image. Each version has four female and male dyads: female-female/female-male/male-female/male-male. Therefore, there are 10*2*3*4 = 240 images. Also, a mirrored version for each of the above images serves to avoid the left-handiness/right-handiness issues. In total, there are 480 vicarious interpersonal touch images. Face and vehicle recognition task images. Instead of using traditional houses in the control condition, vehicle images will be used in the current experiment. This is because the shape of the frontal vehicle images is comparable to human faces. This will enable us to standardize face images and vehicle images in the same manner (see figure 2 as an example). Figure1: Example of touch/no-touch images in SToPS picture set. Figure 2: Example of face and vehicle images. Procedure The experiment will contain two phases: the study phase and the test phase. For the study phase, each experimental trial will start with a 200 ms presentation of a white fixation cross in the middle of the screen against a gray background. Participants will be presented with either a face image or a car image for 1 s. Participants will then be asked to explore the picture and try to remember it. In total, we will present 60 face images and 60 car images during the study phase. The inter-trial interval will be 1-3 s with a blank screen displayed. The study phase will last 6-7 mins for the 120 images. Then, participants will be told that this is the end of study phase and they will begin the test phase (see figure 3 for an illustration). Figure 3: The procedure of the study phase. For the test phase, there will be 240 trials. During each trial, a fixation cross will be presented for 200ms. Then, participants will be primed with a Touch or No-touch image for 1 s. After priming, we will display a pair of target face/car image on a computer screen for 1 s. For each of the Touch/No Touch priming, target image pair could be one of the following combinations: FaceNew/CarOld (30 trials), FaceOld/CarNew (30 trials), or FaceNew/CarNew (60 trials). We will present target images with primes in a counterbalanced manner. After watching the target image pair, participants will have to decide whether they have encountered an old image or not. To show their decision, they will need to press the left button or the right button to indicate whether the left image or the right image is an old one. Alternatively, if they decide both images are new, they press â€Å"Enter† to start the next trial. During the inter-trial interval, we will present a gray blank screen for 1-3 s . Based on the above design, each trial will last around 5 seconds. Therefore, the total length for test phase will be around 20 mins (see figure 4 for an illustration). Figure 4: The procedure of the test phase. Measurements Eye-tracking system. Eye-tracking data will be analysed using 8 AOIs (see figure 5 for illustration). We will measure the looking duration and number of fixations during the test phase. Figure 5: There will be 8 AOIs for face image as well as for vehicle image. Among the 8 AOIs, our interest will focus on the eye and mouth areas. D value for facial recognition. We will use d-prime as the data analysis method to find the difference in sensitivity towards facial images. We will compute the H values (hit / hit + miss), the F values (FA / FA + CR), and the d values for each trial. Expected results For the looking duration, we expect to find out the Stimulus main effect and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus (figure 6). Figure 6: We expect to see: 1) in general, participants look at face images longer than vehicle images; 2) primed with touch images will increase the looking duration towards faces. For the number of fixations, we expect to see a Stimulus main effect and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus (figure 7). Figure 7: We expect to find out that: 1) the number of fixations on face images will be larger than the number of fixations on vehicle images; 2) the priming of touch images will increase the number of fixations on face images. For the facial recognition, we expect to find out the Stimulus main effect, and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus on the d values (figure 8). Figure 8: We expect to see that: 1) participants are more sensitive to face images, rather than vehicle images; 2) the sensitivity towards face images will be enhanced by touch priming, but not no-touch priming. Discussion The current study aims at seeking the relationship between observing an interpersonal touch and the social information procedure. We expect stimulus recognition and gazing to be enhanced when presented with face than with vehicle stimuli. Moreover this difference should be more pronounced for stimuli primed with touch as compared with no-touch images. If the results will be the same as our expectations, we can conclude that observing touch biases individuals to attend to faces, and a potential face bias facilitates the retrieval of facial information. These possible findings will provide us knowledge on the link between observing an interpersonal touch and our facial information processing. Future studies could use fMRI to locate the brain areas that work for both observing an interpersonal touch and our facial information processing. References Allison, T., Puce, A., McCarthy, G. (2000). Social perception from visual cues: role of the STS region.Trends in cognitive sciences,4(7), 267-278. Barnett, K. (1972). A theoretical construct of the concepts of touch as they relate to nursing.Nursing research,21(2), 102-109. Blakemore, S. J., Bristow, D., Bird, G., Frith, C., Ward, J. (2005). Somatosensory activations during the observation of touch and a case of vision–touch synaesthesia.Brain,128(7), 1571-1583. Crusco, A. H., Wetzel, C. G. (1984). The Midas Touch The Effects of Interpersonal touch on Restaurant Tipping.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,10(4), 512-517. Field, T. (2001). Touch. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Fisher, J. D., Rytting, M., Heslin, R. (1976). Hands touching hands: Affective and evaluative effects of an interpersonal touch.Sociometry, 416-421. Gallace, A., Spence, C. (2010). The science of interpersonal touch: an overview.Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews,34(2), 246-259. Gobbini, M. I., Haxby, J. V. (2007). Neural systems for recognition of familiar faces.Neuropsychologia,45(1), 32-41. Keysers, C., Kaas, J. H., Gazzola, V. (2010). Somatosensation in social perception.Nature Reviews Neuroscience,11(6), 417-428. Kleinke, C. L. (1986). Gaze and eye contact: a research review.Psychological bulletin,100(1), 78. Perrett, D. I., Smith, P. A. J., Potter, D. D., Mistlin, A. J., Head, A. S., Milner, A. D., Jeeves, M. A. (1985). Visual cells in the temporal cortex sensitive to face view and gaze direction. Proc. R. Soc. London B 223: 293–317. Rossion, B., Gauthier, I., Tarr, M. J., Despland, P., Bruyer, R., Linotte, S., Crommelinck, M. (2000). The N170 occipito-temporal component is delayed and enhanced to inverted faces but not to inverted objects: an electrophysiological account of face-specific processes in the human brain.Neuroreport,11(1), 69-72. Schaefer, M., Heinze, H. J., Rotte, M. (2012). Embodied empathy for tactile events: interindividual differences and vicarious somatosensory responses during touch observation.Neuroimage,60(2), 952-957. Schirmer, A., Reece, C., Zhao, C., Ng, E., Wu, E., Yen, S. C. (2014). Reach out to one and you reach out to many: Social touch affects third-party observers.British Journal of Psychology. Vallbo, Ã…. B., Olausson, H., Wessberg, J. (1999). Unmyelinated afferents constitute a second system coding tactile stimuli of the human hairy skin. Journal of Neurophysiology,81(6), 2753-2763.

Ideology of True Womanhood

Ideology of True Womanhood Between 1820-1830, and sometime between the Civil War, there was a lot of growth of businesses and new industries. All of this growth created a new middle class in America. Back in the nineteenth century, middle class families could survive off of the goods or services that their husband’s jobs produced without making all the money they needed to survive. The men did all of the work which helped create a vision that all men should support the family while their wives and children stayed at home.This started the public sphere, the belief that the work was a rough job, and that a man had to do everything he had to do in order to be successful. It was engulfed in violence, trouble and temptations, and women were thought of as weak and delicate by nature. Women were then put into the private sector, in their homes where she was in control of everything that happened. Everyone in the middle class families saw themselves as the backbone of society. A new i deology about the home came after opinions towards work and family arose.This new ideal, called â€Å"domesticity,† provided us with a new view of women’s duties and roles but still treated men and women as total opposites. There were four characteristics that all good and proper young women should follow: piety, purity, domesticity and submissiveness. In the nineteenth century it was believed that American women were to demonstrate a particular behavior towards religion. They thought religion was good for women and that it helped put their minds at rest. Women who weren’t religious were considered the most disgusting human characteristic.They also believed that women were not women, but instead a lower form of being if they weren’t sexually pure. Marriage was supposed to be the greatest night in a woman’s life, when her she could give her greatest gift to her husband, her virginity. From this point on, she was dependent on him. A woman must remain pure regardless of any attempt made by a man to assault her. A woman who allowed herself to be seduced by a man was either killed or had her baby taken from her. Female purity also gave them some sort of â€Å"power. Her purity was used to keep men in control of their sexual needs and desires. The biggest feminine virtue is probably submissiveness. Although men were supposed to religious, they generally weren’t. Men were also supposed to be pure, but nobody really expected it from them. But men were never supposed to be submissive. Men were the ones that did everything and made all the decisions. Women were more passive and obeyed the husbands. Women were forced to wear tight corsets that pinched her organs and caused limited mobility.True women knew their place, and they knew what qualities their husbands wanted. Finally, they believed a woman’s place was in the home. They thought of housework to be an uplifting task. Her job was to make sure the home was perfect fo r when her husband came home. It was supposed to be a relaxing place for the husband to escape from work. Women were also thought of as intellectually and physically inferior to men. They thought they woman just because woman were generally smaller than men in physical size that their stamina wasn’t good either.They believed that the brain was smaller in women than in men. They believed that because women menstruated there was a periodic illness that was inflicted on them. Women were thought of as very emotional and very delicate and that they have an unpredictable nature. It was believed that sexual feelings were very strong in men but they were absent in women. Puberty played a large role as well. This was a period when boys became strong and vigorous men, and girls became timid and weak women. â€Å"Even if you have a child two years of age, you need to go to work,† said Mitt Romney, on CNN on April 2012.He argued that the women would be better off having â€Å"the dignity of work. † This proves that there is still evidence on how people perceive women. Mitt Romney wanted women to work even if they have a two year old child and some people said it was â€Å"heartless. † He said it isn’t because he would raise the money from the state for daycare so you could provide daycare for your child while getting a job for yourself. His intentions were to increase the work requirement but a lot of people had different opinions.

Prometheus Unbound

In examining Asia’s speech, appearing in Act 2 of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Prometheus Unbound,’ it is evident that Shelley utilised a vast range of themes to create such a unique piece. Overall, the play draws chiefly from areas such as Philosophy, Romanticism, Mythology, Music and Religion (Rossetti). However, the play itself could not have been created without Shelley’s reading of Aeschylus’s play, â€Å"Prometheus Bound† (McDonald). In this sense, the play is very much an appropriation of and sequel to the original.With the above matters combined, Shelley created a work that is conceptually complex, providing the foundations for a challenging yet dramatic play that â€Å"paradoxically performs itself inside the mind of the reader† (Quillin). Asia’s speech in Act 2 reveals Prometheus as fundamentally, the first humanitarian. As such, Prometheus is known as the liberator of humanity and referred to as the â€Å"culture br inger† (Greenblatt 821). Symbolically, Rossetti affirms, â€Å"The unbinding of Prometheus is the unbinding of the human mind† (28).In addition, Rossetti suggests the cave that retains Prometheus â€Å"†¦is the cavern of the human mind- the recesses of creative and contemplative thought, vocal with human sympathy, fertile of human enlightenment and elevation† (31). Therefore, Shelley's ideas signify Romanticism, as his writing insinuates when individuals attain freedom, the power of their imagination is unlocked (Quillin). This can be seen in the â€Å"Prometheus saw, and waked the legioned hopes Which sleep within folded Elysian flowers, Nepenthe, Moly, Amaranth, fadeless blooms; That they might hide with thin and rainbow wings The shape of death; and Love he sent to bindThe disunited tendrils of that vine† â€Å"Prometheus saw, and waked the legioned hopes Which sleep within folded Elysian flowers, Nepenthe, Moly, Amaranth, fadeless blooms; That th ey might hide with thin and rainbow wings The shape of death; and Love he sent to bind The disunited tendrils of that vine† subsequent fragments of Asia’s speech. First and foremost, Asia’s speech is one of unrhymed rhythm and abundant of religious connotations depicting parallels between Greek mythology and Christianity (Quillin). The word ‘Elysian’ refers to Greek mythology and the paradise to which heroes on whom the gods deliberated immortality were sent (Encyclop? ia Britannica). The word ‘hope’ is personified as it is ‘woken’. The awakening of ‘legioned hopes’ may also signify the mass of humanity, in the sense they have been transitorily paralysed by Jupiter’s wrath. It also provides parallels to purgatory, as the forced temporary suffering upon human kind occurs for an unspecified period of time (Padgett). The heavenly flowers act as strength to Prometheus. With Prometheus’ epiphany that lo ve is the answer, the ‘binding’ of the ‘disunited tendrils’ symbolises Prometheus’ realisation that he can be reunited with his wife.The ‘vine’ may also symbolise the chains that bound Prometheus to the cliff. In addition, metaphorically, the vine could represent the almighty strength of a vine in comparison to Prometheus and Asia’s undying love. Rossetti expands this notion, by stating Prometheus and Asia may be regarded as the â€Å"union of the mind and body, or mind and â€Å"Which bears the wine of life, the human heart; And he tamed fire which, like some beast of prey, Most terrible, but lovely, played beneath The frown of man, and tortured to his will Iron and gold, the slaves and signs of power, And gems and poisons, and all subtlest forms,Hidden beneath the mountains and the waves. † â€Å"Which bears the wine of life, the human heart; And he tamed fire which, like some beast of prey, Most terrible, but lovely, p layed beneath The frown of man, and tortured to his will Iron and gold, the slaves and signs of power, And gems and poisons, and all subtlest forms, Hidden beneath the mountains and the waves. † beauty, or intellectual and emotional/loving elements in the human soul† (32). The first line alludes to the greatest gift in life and predominant theme in Prometheus Unbound; love. Love aids the strength and power in Prometheus’ defeat of Jupiter.Evidently, ‘The frown of man’ refers to Jupiter, the chief of Gods who initiated the binding of Prometheus (Magill). After the annulment of Jupiter’s curse upon Prometheus, the play suggests if human kind decides to embrace love, freedom and reject all evil, then the reforming of humanity should occur (Padgett). Thus, the poem is contradictory to Shelley’s statement in the preface stating that â€Å"Didactic poetry is my abhorrence† (Greenblatt 797) as it essentially teaches morality. Once more, the play provides a parallel to Christianity, in the sense that the characters ‘Prometheus’ can be compared to Christ and ‘Jupiter’ to Satan (Padgett).As pointed out, Shelley’s philosophical roots are strongly embedded throughout the play. With this is mind, it is clear that Shelley utilised Aristotle’s theory of the four basic constituents of matter; earth, water, air and fire as a thematic element within the play (Fowler). Thus, words such as ‘fire’ and ‘forms’, refer to Shelley’s cosmic approach to symbols represented throughout the play (Padgett). This distinctive style of imagery enabled Shelley to thoroughly capture the readers’ imagination, as his writing suggests imagery â€Å"He gave man speech, and speech created thought, Which is the measure of the Universe;And Science struck the thrones of Earth and Heaven Which shook, but fell not; and the harmonious mind Poured itself forth in all-propheti c song, And music lifted up the listening spirit Until it walked, exempt from mortal care, Godlike, o’er the clear billows of sweet sound; And human hands first mimicked and then mocked With moulded limbs more lovely than its own The human form, till marble grew divine, And mothers, gazing, drank the love men see Reflected in their race, behold, and perish. † â€Å"He gave man speech, and speech created thought, Which is the measure of the Universe; And Science struck the thrones of Earth and HeavenWhich shook, but fell not; and the harmonious mind Poured itself forth in all-prophetic song, And music lifted up the listening spirit Until it walked, exempt from mortal care, Godlike, o’er the clear billows of sweet sound; And human hands first mimicked and then mocked With moulded limbs more lovely than its own The human form, till marble grew divine, And mothers, gazing, drank the love men see Reflected in their race, behold, and perish. † that can be concei ved various ways simultaneously (Padgett). The final section of Asia’s speech further glorifies Prometheus and the birth of liberation for human kind.It also typifies the premise of the entire drama; Prometheus is acknowledged as â€Å"the culture bringer† (Greenblatt 821). Meaning, he has given human kind the power of intellectual ability, made up of the creative arts and sciences, thus, liberating human kind. This is evident as â€Å"He gave man speech, and speech created thought, which is the measure of the universe†. This line highlights what Prometheus has achieved for the human race. Proving his suffering was not in vain, Rossetti states it has provided intellectual freedom for the rest of society (31).Furthermore, the line; â€Å"music lifted up the listening spirit† reiterates Prometheus’ liberation of human kind. From this, it is clear that Shelley adopts musical themes in his poetry when language no longer proves to be an effective mode o f aestheticism (Quillin). Overall, Shelley produces a dramatic piece addressing his revolutionary ideals by combining music and dialogue, which ironically performs itself in the mind of the reader (Quillin). In Conclusion, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Prometheus Unbound’ was conceptually inspired by a plethora of key factors.Throughout ‘Prometheus Unbound’, it is evident that Shelley’s approach to imagery stems profoundly from his interest in Philosophy, Romanticism, Mythology, Music, Religion and most importantly, the appropriation of and sequel to Aeschylus’s play, â€Å"Prometheus Bound† (McDonald). These key elements have enabled a multifaceted approach to Shelley’s’ writing, formulating the dramatic shape of the play as a whole. Works Cited â€Å"Elysium†. Encyclop? dia Britannica. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online. Encyclop? dia Britannica Inc. , 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. ;http://www. britannica. om/EBchecked/t opic/185418/Elysium; Fowler, Micahel. â€Å"Aristotle. †Ã‚  Beginnings of Science and Philosophy in Athens. N. p. , 9  Feb. 2008. Web. 11  Mar. 2013. ;http://galileoandeinstein. physics. virginia. edu/lectures/aristot2. html;. Greenblatt, Stephen, Ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th  Ed. New York, United States: W. W Norton ; Company, Inc. ,  2012. Print. Magill, Frank. â€Å"Prometheus Unbound. † Magill Book Reviews,  2011. Web. 10  Mar. 2013. ;http://www. enotes. com/prometheus-unbound-salem/prometheus-unbound-0089900364;. McDonald, Marianne. â€Å"Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound.   Osher Lifelong Learning Institute – UC San Diego Extension. N. p. ,  2008. Web. 10  Mar. 2013. . Padgett, John B. â€Å"The Imaginary Ideal: Prometheus Unbound. †Ã‚  Shelley, Dante, and Romantic Irony. N. p. ,  1995. Web. 11  Mar. 2013. . Quillin, Jessica K. â€Å"An assiduous frequenter of the Italian opera: Shelley’s Promet heus Unbound and the opera buffa. †Ã‚  Romantic Circles. University of Maryland, 15  Mar. 2005. Web. 10  Mar. 2013. .