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j | High levels of organizational justice result in better outcomes from a possibly point of conflict because the employee, while still feeling the pains of the negative outcome of the result, is not further exacerbated by feelings of injustice, unfairness and outrage. By delivering a high level of organizational justice within performance reviews, the positive outcomes will most likely be a movement by the employee to what is expected of them in order to earn the pay raise they seek rather than to retaliate against their employer for a perceived injustice.
The specific things that can improve the justice in employee performance reviews are as follows:
Show concern for employees. When communicating bad news, do not act as though the employee deserved what they got, but rather empathize with their disappointment and suggest ways to improve results in the future.
Involve employees in making decisions. At some point before the appraisal is complete, the employee should be allowed input to their own evaluation.
Share information. Give examples of expected behavior and reasons that outcomes have happened. Do not conceal anything pertinent to the decisions made, an air of mystery only fuels speculation
Reinforce good work with positive feedback. Otherwise the good an employee does may be lost because they feel they are unappreciated
Distribute rewards fairly. People with the same evaluation and same qualifications should receive the same reward. If this does not exist, then employees become disenfranchised.
Show respect and trust. No good can come of disrespect and distrust.
Use fair processes. As much as possible, use qualitative and empirical data to back up your assertions.
Seek collaborative win-win solutions. Delivering news of no raise should come with it instructions on how to earn the raise in the future. By giving the employee a roadmap to success, they will get the raise in the future and the company will get a better employee.
Journals of medical and chemical research have developed a new demographic in their subscribers. No longer is it just the aspiring doctor or research scientist pouring over the confounding academic material, but now, the new age synthetic drug dealer scours the research to find a pathway to the legal high. Synthetic cannabinoids (Marijuana), methamphetamines, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, PCP are all on the market as incense, bath salts, toilet cleaner or some other legitimate product bearing the “not for human consumption” disclaimer. Each of these products are different from the real article on the molecular level but are similar enough to target the same receptors in the brain, resulting in the same high without the legal consequences.
You might be outraged already, but there is always more. Hundreds of new chemicals are developed every year. Some show promising applications and are evaluated for human consumption by the FDA, others simply languish in obscurity. By virtue of this obscurity, these chemicals are perfectly legal, as they have not been made explicitly illegal. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | Interviews are time consuming and waste time of valuable employees, it should be moved to second from first. Tests are relatively inexpensive and are easy to administer with minimal involvement from employees, they should be administered first. Assuming the same ratios of elimination, the attached matrix would be rearranged as shown below.
This would result in 60 fewer background checks and 90 fewer interviews conducted.
I also believe cutting out TV ads would be a wise move to improve recruiting.
Rule 1 – Don’t Make Threats. A manager should never engage in intimidation or retaliation. Suppose an employee were to bring a lawsuit without merit, if a manager were to make a threat along the lines of “you better hope that you win the lawsuit, because if you don’t you’re gone,” then the employee has gone from a case without merit to a clear example of creating a hostile workplace.
Rule 2 – Avoid Making Promises. A manager should never imply contracts of job security. If a manager tells a new hire “no one gets fired if they get their work done,” any subsequent job loss is met with suspicion that the employee is being treated differently than everyone else.
Rule 3 – Don’t Denigrate People. A manager should never denigrate people based on race, sex, religion, national origin or any other protected or intrinsic quality. In fact, a good rule of thumb would be to never make any comments at all that single out any of these groups as even seemingly positive comments can be misconstrued. If a manager were to tell a Hispanic employee, “I love you Mexican workers; you always give it your best!” Although the manager attempted to give what he thought would be a complement, this may be very offensive because it singles out a group based on their national origin. Additionally, it presents the contra positive argument that whites do not work very hard.
Rule 4 – Avoid Asking Improper Questions. A manager should keep their questions to the very narrow focus of the job at hand and never ask questions about disability, national origin, union affiliation or personal matters. A question about disability may carry with it an implication that the manager does not believe the candidate is capable of the job description regardless of the applicants assurances they can handle it.
Rule 5 – Keep an Accurate Record of Hours Worked. A manager should ensure that employees are paid according to hours actually worked. Allowing an employee to trade current weekly hours for future time off is illegal and may result in dishonesty in addition to the legal ramifications.
Rule 6 – Be sensitive to Sexual Harassment. A manager should never ignore any inkling that sexual harassment is taking place in the workplace. The managers should always report complaints and should never permit a hostile or coercive work environment. The company should do its best to ensure there is an intimidation free and effective method to report these types of behavior. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j |
When discussing the 4/5ths rule, it is important to note that the law distinguishes between disparate treatment and disparate impact of protected classes. Disparate treatment is intentional discrimination of a protected class and requires no more than a finding that protected classes were intentionally treated differently because of their membership in a protected class. Examples of such behavior would include a rule against the hiring of bus drivers over the age of sixty or a policy that prohibited women from being hired to do heavy machining.
Disparate impact is different in that the rules for hiring practice do not specifically or intentionally treat members of a protected class differently, but rather, seemingly innocuous employment rules turn out to have a greater adverse impact on the members of a protected class regardless of the intent of the rule. Examples of disparate impact would include a hiring rule that an employee must be able to lift 150 pounds above their head, because women are less capable of this action than men, or employee must have college degree, because whites tend to achieve higher levels of education than minorities.
Disparate impact claims do not require proof of discriminatory intent, but rather, the plaintiff must show that the apparently neutral employment practice creates an adverse impact on a protected class. This is an appropriate point to assert that the protected class may shift from one group to another depending on the impact on the group. If men are being hired at a much higher rate than women, women are the protected class, if, however, women are hired at a much higher rate than men, men then become the group adversely impacted by the hiring policy.
Up until this point in the conversation, adverse impact has only been discussed in qualitative terms, “much higher” etc. The 4/5ths rule gives a definite and quantitative measure to determine the disparate rejection rates and can be used to show whether or not the rejections rates of protected classes are indeed disparate. The 4/5ths rule proceeds as follows
The selection rates for each protected group that makes up more than 2% of the applicant pool. This is determined as # hires / # applicants
The group with the highest selection rate is singled out for comparison to other protected classes. This is not always the majority class.
The disparate rejection rate is calculated by dividing the highest selection rate determined above by 4/5ths.
Compare the hiring rates of the other protected classes to this rate. If the hiring rates are below the disparate rejection rate, then the rule shows adverse impact.
An example of the 4/5ths rule is provided below.
In the above example, let us assume that the only demographical information we know about the applicants is their gender and race. Therefore, we must examine the possibility of adverse impact on all groups within each of these two classes. First we calculate the hiring rate for men and women at 47% and 55% respectively. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | Hunt Companies is in a unique position to turn a perceived detriment of our operations into a tremendous benefit, both perceived and actual, to the City of El Paso and to the residents thereof. As Hunt Communities develops land in the suburban areas of El Paso the clearing and grading operation destroys countless desert plants. As we are all aware, certain segments of the population are very vocal in expressing their displeasure at this perceived ‘injury’ to the community, but the community as a whole regards this as a necessary evil. Is it possible to appease both the environmentalists and the consumer who wants rock bottom prices? I believe it is
It is tremendously feasible to relocate select desert plants from the areas to be developed into areas of the city that could use cheap or free landscaping. Because these plants are native, they require little to zero maintenance landscaping. This operation would turn what is described as a necessary evil into a huge positive, and would not only improve the Hunt brand within El Paso, but would give us a competitive advantage over the other developers in the area.
Put as simply as possible, desert plants will be excavated from land to be developed, then transported to a candidate’s home and planted. Volunteers will perform most of the work involved in transporting and planting the vegetation and will also perform maintenance on the front yard to provide a polished finished product.
Obviously, it is quite difficult to dig an ocotillo out of the mountain side. There are several ways that this can be addressed. One way to address this would be to add excavation of cacti and other select plants to the contract of the earthwork sub. This would be the easiest, but would have a cost impact on the development of lots. A second method would be to trade vegetation for excavation. I have spoken with one grower in town that might be interested in harvesting some of the cacti for resale in his nursery. In return for plants a grower could provide us with the service of digging up the plants we intend to re-plant in a candidate’s home. A final way to address this would be to hire perhaps two laborers in charge of excavation & transplanting plants. Whatever method is chosen for excavation, this operation would also provide opportunities for community involvement as volunteers can be organized to perform the work at a candidate’s home.
The involvement of a candidate or beneficiary of this service opens an opportunity to further our brand within the military community. Two possible types of candidate could be a member of the retired military currently residing in El Paso, or a home of a deployed soldier. In the case of the former, native plants would be particularly attractive in that they require little maintenance for the retired/elderly to perform. In the case of either, the Hunt brand would be strengthened within the military community by providing this service to its brethren. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j |
With numbers so staggering it is easy to assume that prostate cancer isn’t getting publicity because of the taboo nature of the screening process, but Dr. Cox offers another explanation. “Prostate cancer has a very low mortality rate. 1 in 6 men get prostate cancer at some point in their life, but very few of those are actually going to die from it. Because of its low mortality rate people assume that it’s not a bad cancer and if they get it is treatable and they will survive and be fine, but the reality is because so many men are getting it, it still has a high death rate.”
Despite its low mortality rate, the American Cancer Society recommends yearly screening after the age of 50 for most men or 40 if you are at an increased risk level. In the case of prostate cancer, as in the case of most cancers, regular screening and early detection is your best bet, but Dr. Cox’s work is focusing on the late stage of cancer in order to provide a treatment where there was none before.
As Dr. Cox explains “Prostate cancer has very few treatments. In the early stage cancer it is very treatable. We have drugs that largely cut the supply of androgen or testosterone off, but once these cancers progress to late stage, much like breast cancer, we have no treatment options besides harmful chemotherapy and radiation therapies. The majority of efforts these days are trying to develop drugs that target late stage cancers, where we have no drug options available. My lab is developing new small molecules that look very promising for treating both early and late stage cancer. We’ve got a series of compounds that we’ve just patented and are showing great promise, in fact, they’ve generated a lot of excitement at meetings around the world.” In addition to prostate cancer, Dr. Cox’s research has serious implications on the treatment of breast cancer, diabetes and obesity.
The research that Dr. Cox’s lab is conducting is so promising that the collaboration between scientists at the University of Houston and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and UTEP has received a 5.2 Million dollar grant from the Cancer prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
With current economic conditions, federal funding of projects like Dr. Cox’s is on the decline. For every research opportunity that is funded, several others go without, and the development of earth changing technology is delayed. “Most new technologies are the results of hundreds of different research laboratories around the world taking small steps and publishing their results, so these things are very slow to develop. This country needs to put a lot more effort and funding into research. When I was a graduate student 20 years ago, you could score in the 40th percentile of an NIH grant and get funded, but now you have to score in the top 8 percent to get funding. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | A $2000 investment in web based advertising produced more hires than`a $75000 investment in TV ads and the percentage of people completing probation from web based ads was double that produced by hires generated from TV ads. Not only would web based advertising be less expensive, it would require fewer interviews, background checks and tests to be administered.
The reason for the higher cost per hire from TV ads is essentially that the television media is more expensive than other media. Additionally, television is a passive method to recruit applicants. In other words, people are not watching television with the hopes that an advertisement for jobs comes on in the form of a commercial, rather, it just may happen that a prospective applicant stumbles across the TV advert. In the other media, the people the advert is exposed to are already actively seeking employment. The other media are a far more target rich environment than TV. Therefore, TV is not only more expensive than the other media to begin with, but the people targeted contain a smaller percentage of job seekers and a smaller percentage of employable people.
If the company persists in TV ads, it would do well to better target potential applicants. If the job is 9 to 5, it should advertise during those normal working hours to ensure the people watching are already available during working hours. The company should also use the variety of cable stations to target their demographic. Adverts for zoo keeper might air on Animal Planet, while an advert for a crafts coordinator for summer camp might air on pbs sewing show.
The most widespread effort for increasing the number of employee referral job applicants is to offer incentives to the employee to provide the company with such referrals. Cash bonuses are often offered for employees providing leads to quality applicants. Other methods for increasing the employee referrals might be to pre-release job opening to members of the company and ask if they know anyone who might be a successful candidate. Some companies train their employees to recruit applicants from the company’s customer firms.
There is a potential for problems to arise with EEO because many people socialize within their protected class. The people they refer will often be of the same race, religion etc. and because referrals generate high quality applicants with better chances of being hired, there is a potential problem in creating a disparate impact as judged by the 4/5ths rule. However, many studies show that the referral process can help to diversify the work place, in that while 70% of minority applicants search the corporate website while only 52% are referred, actual hires report that 6% came from corporate website while 25% came from referrals.
The first thing that strikes me as a potential improvement to the recruiting procedures is to rearrange the steps in the hiring process. Because of the high cost of background checks, it should be last of the three steps. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | The standard deviations, attached in appendix 1, were determined by taking the historical prices for each of the stocks on a weekly basis, adjusting for dividends paid, then calculating the returns. It must be noted that the standard deviation calculated on weekly prices were weekly standard deviations and had to be adjusted to be yearly standard deviations. Once these values were obtained for all the relevant stocks and ETFs, a T-Test was performed to evaluate whether or not these samples were statistically different from one another. Using excel, the two tailed T-Test formula was used, testing the weekly standard deviations for the past year, the results are shown below
Specifically, this shows that at the alpha = .05 level, these are not statistically different. The T-Test value came back at .959, so at an an alpha of .01, we would say that these are statistically different.
Now that we can say with some certainty that the portfolio comprised of the top ten holdings gives a reasonable estimation of the ETF as a whole, we postulate the question of whether or not we can create a better combination of these portfolios by using a sharp optimal portfolio rather an the current weights. The process to form a sharp optimal portfolio was rather involved, but the major difficulty was in creating the covariance table and array weights shown below
Once these were created, a simple excel solver function was all that was necessary to form the sharp optimal portfolio. I constrained the weights of each stock to be within 5% and 25% of the total, as I felt these were reasonably close to the weights of the normalized portfolio. The changes between the weights of the normalized portfolio are shown below.
These revised weights give the portfolio a higher sharpe ratio, indicating a higher return per unit of risk, however does this ratio and weighting system translate into higher returns. Over a period of fifteen days, the prices were tracked of each stock, then the weights were applies to determine the return of this sharp optimal portfolio versus the returns of the ETF. The results of the tracking are shown below
Surprisingly, the sharp optimal portfolio did perform slightly better than the ETF, although, once again, it is doubtful that the differences are statistically significant. We can only be sure that using these tools to optimize your portfolio will help remove the idiosyncratic risk associated with the market. This was quite useful exercise, and I am using it on my 401k!
As a major land developer in the greater El Paso area, Hunt Companies struggles with the traditional negative impressions associated with land development. The modern consumer struggles with their own environmental consciousness and desire for ‘green’ consumption is placed directly at odds with price sensitivity. It is often said that the perfect innovation increases demand and decreases cost, and I believe that with the current portfolio of companies, Hunt has an opportunity to do just that.
| 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j |
An ETF, or exchange traded fund, is a security that is designed to track an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but is more flexible and trades like a stock on an exchange. An ETF gives you the diversification of an index fund and the benefits of single stock ownership like the ability to sell short, buy on margin and purchase as few as a one share in any transaction. Though these benefits are extremely attractive, the expense ratios of ETFs are far lower than those of the average mutual fund. Unfortunately, there are some down sides, such as the need to pay a commission on any trade involving ETFs, just as you would pay on a stock order. Another benefit of ETFs is the wide variety of funds available. Though these benefits are clearly stated, it is always a good exercise for the savvy financial investor to evaluate whether stated benefits, like diversification, do indeed exist, and the extent to which they exist. For the purposes of this effort, we will be examining the ETF IHF and comparing it against the top 10 holdings that comprise the ETF to determine whether the benefits of a owning a single ETF come close to the benefits of owning a diversified portfolio of the ten stocks and also whether or not there are better configurations of the same stocks that would provide a more optimal sharp ratio or return.
In order to evaluate the ETF, it would become rather unwieldy to include every holding, therefore we have decided to include only the top ten holdings accounting for 63.58% of all the assets in the ETF. Below are the top 10 holdings and the percentage of total assets.
In order to gain an estimation of how well these ten stocks represent the ETF IHF as a whole, we can use the current % of assets, normalized to 100%, to calculate the contributions of each stock to a portfolio’s Beta and Return if the portfolio was made up entirely of these 10 stocks in the proportion that the ETF has established through their holdings. The calculations of Beta and return are included in the below chart.
From the above chart it is evident that the return of a portfolio containing only the top 10 holdings is 6.11% higher than the ETF, a 16% increase in returns. It is also evident that the Beta of the top ten holdings is .12 lower than the ETF as a whole. From the results completed thus far, it seems that a portfolio of just the top 10 holdings could provide a higher return with a lower beta. However, there is a possibility that the means of these two portfolios may not be statistically different from each other.
In order to evaluate whether or not these portfolios are statistically different, the standard deviation of each of the top 10 stocks is determined and normalized to 100% in order to compare their accumulated standard deviation to that of the ETF IHF. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | If an employee discusses sexual harassment with a manager, and is dismissed, regardless of the merit of the claim or seriousness of the incident, the dismissal by the manager would go toward showing that the employee is incapable of receiving a satisfactory resolution and would increase the likelihood of litigation.
Rule 7 – Document Everything. A manager should document everything related to performance, misconduct, discipline and evaluations of an employee that may ultimately lead to an employee’s termination. If indeed an employee is incompetent, if there is no documentation, then there is little evidence to support termination. Suppose a manager tells an employee several times to shape up their performance, if they never document it, they must then testify that they told the employee a number of warnings, but never documented it. This gives the jury a very bad impression of the manager in question.
Rule 8 – Be Consistent. A manager must never treat people differently based on prohibited factors. In fact, it should be a goal of every manager to treat everyone as equally as possible. Obviously, if people are treated differently along lines of a protected class, this is clearly an example of discrimination, but treating your friends differently than others may create the appearance of impropriety. Suppose a White manager allowed his college friends, who all happened to be white, to rearrange their schedules but denied a similar request by a black employee. While this may have been just a favor to his friends, the manager has now created a situation where there appears to be racial discrimination.
Rule 9 – Be Safety Conscious. A manager should always report accidents in the workplace and adhere to the standards of workplace safety set by OSHA. The manager should never tolerate deviations from best practices in safety arena as it creates an atmosphere of tolerance to violations. If a roofer does not wear his safety gear and falls from the roof the success of a lawsuit filed on the employee’s behalf may hinge upon whether the manager was aggressive in stamping out safety violations or was lax in their administration of rules.
Rule 10 – Seek Help in Unusual Circumstances. A manager should do their best to be knowledgeable about employment scenarios that occur everyday, but he should also realize that the company employs specialists for a reason. When in doubt, spread it out. In scenarios where the manager is unfamiliar, he should always consult specialist whether that be a supervisor, HR or EEO. If an employee asks a question about FMLA, rather than hazard a guess, refer them to HR who can handle questions with information and answers that may not misrepresent the stance of the company.
Rule 11 – Consider Implications of Leave or Special Requests. A manager should do their best to consider the implications of leave, and should do so from the point of view of the company. It is almost certainly inconvenient to comply with FMLA and other legal requirements where leave is considered, however, the ramifications of not complying with such legislation would be far more costly and inconvenient. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | These private sources of funding foundations donations are becoming all too important because the federal funding is just drying up. I think that these types of events to raise money for research are very important and it’s important to highlight the contribution that potential donors are going to make to medical research.”
So, Ladies and Gentlemen, be sure to attend the bachelor auction on June 23rd at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing. You will be contributing directly to the research being conducted at UTEP by Dr. Cox and his associates, so, you may not just meet the man of your dreams, you may save his life.
The policies and practices involved in carrying out the “people” or human resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting, screening, training, rewarding and appraising. The responsibility of an organization to use their employees to the most productive and constructive degree possible.
A manager who assists and advises line managers. The staff manager is typically responsible to senior managers and acts as a liaison between senior management and the managers on the floor or in the midst of production.
A manager who is authorized to direct the work of subordinates and is responsible for accomplishing the organization’s tasks. Typically a line manager is located in the immediate area of the work or production and is tasked with overseeing a narrow range of work and given the authority to direct workers in that work, but is still responsible to a superior.
The right to make decisions direct others’ work and give orders. The power to do something. The area or a company’s tasks that belong to a specific individual and the right to direct operations in that specific area.
The tendency of firms to extend their sales, ownership and / or manufacturing to new markets abroad. The growing importance of economic, social and cultural factors in all countries of the world resulting in a tendency towards one single world market rather than markets in each country independent from one another.
An integrated set of human resources policies and practices that together produce superior employee performance. A High performance work system seeks to achieve synergy by accomplishing two outcomes simultaneously, 1 all of the organizational parts are aligned and 2 all of the employees are engaged and impassioned about their work.
Formulating and executing human resource policies and practices that produce the employee competencies and behaviors the company needs to achieve its strategic aims. Strategic human resource management is the linking or aligning human resources with the strategic goals and objectives of the company in order to create an atmosphere of cooperation that fosters innovation and flexibility.
The role of clearly and quantitatively defining how human capital strategies impact the business. This is accomplished through the establishing of metrics to be measured and tracked by the HR department and focuses on the business strategy metrics identifying how their human capital strategies are linked to these key figures.
| 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | From the diagram we see that random selection at a .10 selection ratio yields 50% successful hires. Using Unstructured interviews, a selection procedure with a validity of .10, the percentage of successful hires becomes 54% . This may not seem like a huge step forward, but remember the low validity of unstructured interviews. Using other techniques with higher validity further increases the percentage of successful candidates. Reference checks have a validity of .2 and result in 64% successful hires. Ability Tests have a validity of .3 and result in 71% successful hires. Integrity tests have a validity of .4 and result in 78% successful hires. Structured interviews have a validity of .5 and result in 84% successful hires. And finally, a combination of these valid selection procedures has a validity of .6 and results in 90% successful hires. It can therefore be seen that employers can achieve a 90% successful hiring rate by using a combination of valid selection procedures in conjunction with a low selection ratio.
Organizational justice in its simplest form is the attempt by the organization to ensure that managers treat employees fairly. Organizational justice is involved in employee performance reviews through the manner in which the review is conducted and the manner in which information is disseminated. Essentially, organizational justice is the perception of fairness in the performance review process by the employee being reviewed. It is therefore imperative that any negatives be communicated without an accusatory tone, and that positives are used to reinforce good work, that specific examples be used to back up all ratings (positive and negative), that the employee be involved in the decision making process and be allowed to communicate his side of the story, and that all rewards be distributed fairly using as quantitative a method as possible in an open manner to illustrate honesty or the process.
Suppose that a manager must communicate to an employee that he is not getting a raise. If the verdict is delivered in a manner of fact tone, the employee feels that they are not given the chance to give their side of the story and are being ignored, therefore they feel they are treated unfairly. If, on the other hand, the information is communicated with reasons for the lack of pay raise and information on what was required to earn the raise, then the employee feels less taken advantage of. While they are not pleased with the outcome, they are certainly less angry.
Positive outcomes of organizational justice include all situations where conflict is avoided and all situations where retaliation is minimized. High levels of organizational justice reduce the frequencies of complains, lawsuits and motivations to get even by stealing or breaking rules. High levels of organizational justice increases the frequency and likelihood that employees will be good organizational citizens and volunteer or produce extra work even when they don’t have to. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | By pouring over those medical journals, and reading about the drugs that never made it to FDA approval, the synthetic drug manufacturer is provided with a nearly endless list of chemicals that can be manufactured and sold legally. These drugs have not been evaluated for their effects on humans and are often manufactured in less than ideal circumstances by people who have limited knowledge of chemistry and human physiology.
Regardless of your belief in an individual’s right to chose what goes into his/her own body, you need to know two absolute facts when it comes to synthetic drugs. 1. In an unregulated industry, run by armchair chemists, there are wild variations in the product produced. These variations exist not only from one product to the next but within the product itself. Testing shows variations from the manufacturing process of the same synthetic marijuana made by the same manufacturer range from 2 times to 500 times stronger than THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. 2. When you slightly modify a chemical, the effects may also be slightly modified. In the case of synthetic marijuana, these slight modifications result in hallucinations.
Your brain is filled with chemical receptors, and these receptors are like locks on doors to your feelings and emotions. Fear, euphoria and basically everything else you feel is triggered by the interaction between chemicals and receptors in your brain. There are two receptors in the brain termed CD1 and CD2, but although their names are similar, the emotions they unleash are drastically different. When a chemical bonds with the receptor CD1, a feeling of anxiety and hallucinations are produced while CD2 produces a feeling or relaxation and calmness. THC bonds with CD2, but synthetically modified THC often binds with CD1, giving rise to news reports of hallucinations caused by the synthetic drug.
Many states are making entire classes of chemicals illegal so that small modifications in the drug cannot circumvent the legislation, but I am torn in establishing any logic that can be used that would make synthetic drugs illegal, while not having consequences on other items we consume in America. They are dangerous, so is alcohol. They have no nutritional purpose, neither does tobacco. How can we justify their banishment without accepting the consequences of our logic? Do we simply just pick and choose, or do we endeavor to a higher level of logic? Is it the government’s responsibility to protect our health at all costs, or our freedom to choose? At the very least, you should endeavor to know what you’re putting into your body, and I would recommend these synthetic drugs not be on your list of consumables, but you should be able to make the choice for yourself.
In the Texas Legislature, HB126 seeks to require drug screening for applicants and recipients of unemployment benefits. While the initial guttural reaction to this idea is positive for most conservative thinkers, the concept must be thoroughly examined because it straddles two of the conservative’s most fervently held ideals. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | Because women have a higher hiring rate, they are selected for calculation of disparate rejection rate. At 55% *4/5ths, the disparate rejection rate is 44%. We then compare men’s hiring rate to the disparate rejection rate. Because the hiring rate for men if 47%, higher than 44%, men are not adversely impacted by the hiring policies in place.
We then turn our attention to race. We calculate the hiring rate for each ethnicity. Immediately, the hiring rate for African Americans jumps out at us at 0%. However, because there was only one African American applicant, the group does not make up at least 2% of the applicant pool of 100, so the 4/5ths rule does not apply to the group. Whites and Hispanics have hiring rates of 64% and 42% respectively. Because Hispanics have a higher rate, they are selected for determination of disparate rejection rates. 64% * 4/5ths = 51%. We then compare the hiring rate for Whites with the disparate rejection rates, and since 42% is less than 64%, whites are adversely impacted by the hiring policies currently in place. This example shows not only that the majority can be adversely impacted, but also that some hiring policies that seem very egalitarian, hiring 25 Whites and 25 Hispanics seems as equal as can be, but further examination reveals the disparate impact.
Suppose a White plaintiff was to bring this information to light in a lawsuit against the employer, he would have proven a ‘prima facie’ case of discrimination, showing that the employer’s selection procedures had an adverse impact on a protected class. Just because there is adverse impact does not mean that the employer may not use the selection procedure, but the burden of proof shifts to the employer once adverse impact has been established as in the above example.
There are two basic defenses against the employment practices that have adverse impact on protected groups, the bona fide occupational qualification defense and the business necessity defense. The bona fide occupational qualification allows employers to hire “on the basis of religion, sex or national origin in those certain instances where religion, sex or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise.” The business necessity requires showing that there is an overriding business purpose for the discriminatory practice, and that the practice is therefore acceptable. In the above example, suppose that the employer required employees to be bilingual because most of its business is done in Mexico, the employer could therefore justify its discriminatory hiring practices because of overwhelming business purpose. By establishing positive correlations between test results, like those of the wonderlic test, and job performance, a company can prove that the test, while creating an adverse impact, is still representative of job performance and therefore a reasonable policy to maintain regardless of its discriminatory impact.
Absolutely yes. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j |
Rule 12 – Be Careful in Situations Involving Employment Termination. A manager should never take the decision of termination lightly. They should always consult with higher managers, HR or EEO to ensure that the termination is merited and that the termination does not occur in a manner that would cause hostilities or legal ramifications.
Rule 13 – Be Aware of the Laws. A good manager should recognize the changing landscape in HR. Though it is impossible to be perfectly knowledgeable of all the legislation involved in HR, the manager should strive to comply with the basic requirements and obtain a functional knowledge of the laws within the scope of his day to day operations.
Intuitively, a large applicant pool is important because for any given number of hires, you are getting a more exclusive cross section of employees with regards to their percentile position in the field of applicants. In other words, suppose you were going to hire 10 people. If 10 people applied, you would be forced to hire them all, the very best, the average and the well below average in order to fill your positions. If 20 people applied, then, assuming that your hiring procedures were effective at determining the best applicants, you could hire the best 10, or everyone that was above average. Now suppose you had 1000 applicants. If you still had to hire 10 people, you would be getting the best 1% of all applicants, a far more desirable result than being forced to hire everyone that showed up at your door.
More empirically, studies have determined that the percent of successful hires vary not only by the procedure used to hire, but also by the selection ratio. In the below diagram, it is evident that in all structured procedures, the selection ratio plays an important role in determining the percentage of successful hires. This diagram proves that the larger the applicant pool, the better the chances of hiring a successful candidate.
From the above diagram it is also possible to examine the implications of the usefulness of alternative types of selection procedures. Despite the proven effectiveness of certain selection procedures over others, the selection rate plays a vital role in the distinguishing of the most effective procedures. As can be seen, with a selection ratio of .90, or hiring 9 out of 10 applicants, there is little difference between random selection at 50% successful and the use of all selection procedures at 54%. Given this small difference, there would be little use in performing all the selection procedures with a payout of only 4% increase in probability of hiring a successful employee. However, when the selection rate decreases, the increase in probability of hiring a successful candidate becomes quickly apparent. The implications are clear, without a sizable applicant pool, all the best practices in the world produce little gain.
On the other hand, however, a selection ratio of .10, or 1 out of 10 applicants hired, produces fantastic results when combining the valid selection procedure. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
j | Few marketing tools could provide such positive PR with such little cost. In summary, by providing these groups with desert landscaping, we not only beautify their home and increase its value, but we are not giving them a chore to keep up with it, as these plants require little to no maintenance, as an upkeep responsibility might negate the initially positive reaction.
Hunt and its employees are strategically positioned to mobilize a large number of youthful volunteers. In discussion with several of my colleagues, most everyone seemed enthused about volunteering for this effort and were also confident that they could recruit their friends to participate. This type of event is what is lacking in the city of El Paso. Few volunteer opportunities exist that allow for a commitment of only a day or two. The menial nature of the tasks and the camaraderie provided through the people involved would engage a demographic of volunteers in their 20’s and 30’s, precisely the market that the homes being developed are being marketed toward. By involving themselves in the development process, they would be more likely to purchase a Hunt developed house, and would spread the word to their friends about our commitment to the environment and to El Paso. In discussions with a few restaurants in town, I feel confident that we could arrange special pricing for the volunteers to enjoy a post-volunteer meal and drink, furthering the camaraderie and commitment to the cause.
This idea is a good marriage of need, opportunity and PR for Hunt Companies, Hunt Communities & Hunt Military Communities. Landscaping for the deployed or retired military should be as low maintenance as possible, i.e. use desert plants and shrubs. Any attempt by us (volunteers) to transplant vegetation from land to be developed (by Hunt Communities) into the front yards of the retired military in an attempt to beautify El Paso would be viewed as a very positive thing, regardless of the quantity of plants transplanted or the number of yards beautified. Hunt monetary contributions would be minimal, perhaps providing some yard working tools and materials and the use of a company truck and laborers. An investment of a few thousand dollars would provide quality material for the billboards around town, press releases and would engage the upwardly mobile youth of El Paso. This is a Win-Win-Win for Hunt, El Paso, and the residents receiving the landscaping.
Every year in the United States, over 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and every year 32,000 men die because of it. In fact, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men, behind lung cancer, and the front line in the fight against the disease is right here in El Paso. At the University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Marc Cox and his team of research scientists are hard at work developing a late stage treatment for prostate cancer and other hormone related diseases. | 30 | English | male | Master's | Engineer | N,N,N,N,N |
p | Oh, and that first quarter at UCSD turned out to be a D not an F. I guess that leaves me with something to accomplish still.
Jack continued to stare at the ground in front of him. Grey, brown concrete. Green grass, pale in dying spots, bright in new ones, deep in the healthy areas. Brown earth, rich as candy, filled with rocks and bugs. Jack raised his head, quickly but without a sharp snap, and looked up and down the straight lines of the street. No, it wasn’t here yet. Just another large truck rumbling by. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, slowly.
Sometimes he didn’t have to look, he just knew. Instead of waiting impatiently, checking every mechanical noise, and every passerby, he would just close his eyes and let the world attenuate itself to his senses. He would simply wait, resting his mind, while reality serenely washed over his soul like a water color painting in motion. At such times he did not have to look for the bus, because he just knew when it was there. Those were good days.
Today was not one of those days. Today, as for the last several, Jack could not keep his eyes closed and could not simply rest, and wait, and listen. No, today he felt a need to fluctuate between serenity and annoyance, patience and agitation. Jack was unable to sink into the warm, comfortable, secure, universal, immortal center of his self because his focus was continually being readjusted by some tugging-urging-scampering-tickling-fleeting otherness. He tried to fight it by tensely straining his shoulders against the straps of his backpack, and tried to ignore it by closing his eyes to melt away, and tried to co-exist with it by giving in to whatever seemed to interest it at the moment, but nothing would satisfy that other consciousness. So Jack found himself looking up and down the street, fidgeting, relaxing, stretching, and self consciously fiddling with the two quarters he held in his jacket pocket. Serene or agitated, he thought to himself, the bus would not arrive any sooner.
As he waited, Jack’s mind rolled over various concerns. He would have to stop for a sandwich, after the forty minute bus ride, to give his body’s muscles fuel for the four mile walk. Jack had tried to go without food during his walks, to save money, but every time he did, upon reaching home, his body would explode into a hundred jaws angrily gnawing and gnashing and growling for sustenance. He would have to rest when he got home. He had tried immediately jumping into study and homework after the hour of walking, but his body would rebel in repugnance at his mind’s commands, forcing desires towards rest. Jack found he wasted too much time when he ignored the demands of his body so, although he had once prided himself on the ability to exert mind over matter, he now acquiesced to the body in order to maximize the efficiency of his day. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p |
Downwards I stared, mind blankly comprehending the view in front of me. Unemotionally, silently, with a practiced awareness that studied but refused to relate the object of study to any abstract understanding my mind analyzed the picture before my eyes. Thoughts slipped into my mind and slipped out again almost faster than they appeared. So smoothly and so cleanly my consciousness worked that it seemed I had no real thoughts of my own, just an active and liquid experience of what I was looking at.
Once, on advice from an artist I worked with, I purchased an art instruction book called The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I had wanted to learn how to draw ever since I was six years old and this book teaches everything from understanding what a pencil is to processes the brain uses to interpret lines. One technique the book teaches is to place a square frame around any picture the artist wishes to study. Thus transforming an overwhelmingly detailed picture, for instance a bowl of fruit sitting on a table located in a kitchen that is connected to a dining room, into an easily grasped picture, that bowl of fruit sitting on a simple plane.
At the time, staring down at the bowl in front of me I could not mentally project that artist’s frame. I was so overwhelmed, so awed that I could only stand and gaze in wonderment. Picasso went through his blue phase, Monet loved greenery, Italian Renaissance masters displayed a rainbow of colors. If I had any pretensions of casting my perspective as worthy of the title Artistic then before me were the beginnings of my picture, the start of my story, Work in Brown.
Fingertips alighted on my chosen implement of artistry, muscles tightened and relaxed as my hand passed through space, my mind’s will given shape and form in what could have been the most creative moment of my life. Water swirled, serene and smooth, crystal clear and clean. Flakes of matter broke away from the whole and were carried away to nothingness. Muscles tightening, jerking and spasming a little more quickly and anxious the second time, my hand smacked the handle of the toilet again. The offensive brown package refused to move, stuck like a slug on the bottom of the toilet.
Mop gripped loosely in hand, feet set a foot apart, green tie knotted uncomfortably around my throat, I frowned slightly as I stared at the rude bundle of processed animal and plant matter someone had left as a message for the suckers who cleaned the bathrooms at Rite Aid. A few flushes more, a few more tranquil introspective moments to myself, then my hand moved towards the wall to my right, gripped the sheet at the end of the toilet paper, and began mummifying itself until it resembled an oven mitt. Standing up straight, then bending at the waist, my hand dipped slowly into the bowl, like a mother going into an oven for the Thanksgiving turkey….
| 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | In a job whose primary means of promotion was political maneuvering, and undermining another’s decisions and actions, Jack felt his situation and his attitude towards his work to be a bright neon sign. He knew that any of the hundreds of ground floor wage slaves would be happy to take his job, as he had once taken another’s.
Jack noticed a minty smell and dank chill. He waited for a snide word, a painfully biting comment, but heard none. As the atmosphere cleared, Jack knew he only had a few options: get his act back together; get into the politics of relationships. Neither seemed possible, not with the bleakness of the prospect of continuing his work day in and day out until he made enough money to buy a house and rot away in the dark, hooked up to some virtual simulation of a secluded and sunny beach. Jack stared into empty nothingness as the variables of his life and future tumbled through his mind in different combinations.
As his screen floated by a particularly juicy looking bit of data, a perfectly shining orb of golden radiance which was a unique, artistic enough piece of psychological code to have turned his fortunes into an upswing around the office, Jack quietly rose from his seat. Before he walked away from his desk he covered the tiny star in a recursive bit of code that would hide it from the other reapers, and make it appear to the corporation’s server as featureless, native programming. Then he reconnected it to the originator’s persona, giving the customer free benefit of their own creation, which seemed to be a well constructed bit of code that would allow the individual to indulge in perpetually happy thoughts.
Jack walked away from his desk, through the corridor, and stepped through the silent, normally invisible double doors of the building entrance. The security system recorded his leaving an hour early, the fifth time he had done so in the last 30 days, which triggered an “attention” flag in his employment file. Tomorrow, his manager would be prompted to have a sit down talk with Jack about his punctuality, work ethics, and commitment to the corporation’s goals.
Jack had no plans of being anywhere in the vicinity of his desk, or the office building, tomorrow. Approaching his car, a regrettably new purchase, Jack ran over a list of things to do: clean out bank account; pack up valuables.
Driving away, Jack wondered what he would do. He figured he could sleep in his car for awhile, buying cheap food and roughing it through mountain ranges, forests, and deserts. He could also drag himself to relatives, people who would house his chemical riddled body and mind, while his flesh and psyche repaired themselves.
Maybe, he thought, he would just get drunk and wasted until he ran out of cash and fell on hard times. Or, maybe he could get another job. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | My fingers twitched, then again, then smoothly and assuredly as they answered the part of the essay question that I knew, with what memories I had. As I wrote my mind calmed my body as it planned out the immediate future and courses of action. I finished the second and final page of what should have been a six page essay, and closed my blue book, then grinned with relief. Walking towards my hippy swirl, multi-colored, tie-dye shirt wearing T.A. with blue book in hand and a toothy smile on my face I mentally added Failed a test, Failed a class to Quit a job and Got fired from a job as things I was truly happy I had worked hard to accomplish.
“Tap-Clack-Click” goes the keyboard. I stare past the computer monitor, past where it sits on the breakfast nook table, to look at the refrigerator. It’s full sized now, with a freezer and enough space to hold a few weeks worth of food. The rectangular box of a room is slightly larger this time. All three of us are still packed into a one room studio.
This time the room is in Mira Mesa, where we’ve lived since 1991, and which is located just five miles from UCSD’s campus. Five minutes of walking from our front door gets me to the MTS 921 bus that drives me to UTC in La Jolla where I can catch the SDT 41 that goes straight to UCSD’s campus; Total travel time twenty five minutes. There are two beds now, and even though mine is an uncomfortable fold out couch, it’s still right next to the air conditioner. A living arrangement I consider a very good thing. Three people in one room is still stuffy business.
The last year of school has been a lot better than the first. My financial aid was processed in March when the financial aid office grudgingly accepted my 8.0 units of enrolled classes as sufficient to fulfill their student aid requirements. And again in September when the FAO grudgingly accepted my 12.0 units of enrolled classes, personal letter of support from the Provost of Muir, essay length letter of explanation as to the difficulty of my circumstances hyphen steps taken to rectify those circumstances, multiple accurately filled out official forms, and two personal slash two impersonal references as sufficient to provide student aid and temporarily suspend my academic probation.
As far as classes go, in my second quarter of Spring ‘03 I achieved a B+ and an A. Which kind of surprised me because I had no idea UCSD gave +’s and -‘s on official transcripts. From all my work this quarter it look’s like I’ll be getting a C in Literature English 21, a B in Latin 1, and probably a B in Literature Writing 8C. I’m not quite sure about the last one because that grade depends on this paper, and I always feel my writings are failures. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | Once in a while there was a rhyme and reason to the process. On those days the line formed according to who had been there first, courtesy for elderly people, and consideration of minutiae of social status. Those were odd days. They weren’t special, like the relaxed and relaxing days Jack enjoyed. They were just… odd. On these days it was as if some universal concept of social order and space had propagated to each mind.
Most often the line seemed to form according to a mix of motivations. Some individuals would push themselves forward, others would fit in where they could, and certain others would attempt to establish a personal sense of order with their movements. Usually Jack just fell towards the back, or the very end of the line. Only on days of extreme agitation would he push himself forward; or on days of extreme self interest, such as when the line was remarkably long and space would be standing room only on the violently rolling bus.
Today was cold, but the line was short, so Jack fell towards the back of the line. As he stepped, clip clop pace to the double door, a middle-aged black lady approached from opposite the line. She obviously was not a student, in her elegant black and brown dress, and because she had not attempted to fit into the line. Jack glanced at her face, smiled very slightly, dipped his head just a bit, and waited for her to enter the bus before him. For some reason, perhaps because she felt the order of the line to be special and students to be somehow privileged, she stood patiently still while lightly smiling at Jack. This signaled to Jack that he should enter before her and so he did.
Jack trod the triple steps of the bus entrance. He glanced up to see who was driving today. Each driver had a different personality, a different style of driving, a different way of managing the passengers, and Jack had a different way of responding to each. He frowned just a little, as he recognized the driver he most disliked.
Today Jack was trying to maintain his calm. To do so he would have to ignore, avoid, or deal with things disliked and so he gave the driver no more attention than necessary. He clomb the last step, and stood in front of the metal box where one paid fare. Glancing at the balding head, the white hair, the red-white skin, the sunglasses, the mustache, and the blue shirt, Jack dropped the two quarters into the machine. Flattening the dollars, he watched them slide, machinery whirring, into the guts of the bus. After a last, neutral glance at the driver, he turned and looked at the passengers and seats.
For Jack, choosing a seat on the bus was a simple procedure. The public transportation buses Jack rode had doors in their middles. If the seat directly opposite these doors was open, he sat there. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | Jack washed his hands and hoped people had wandered away from Bill’s cubicle. If so, he could return to his own cube while Bill basked in the glow of social indulgence.
Stepping cautiously through a grey corridor, past a decoration here and there proclaiming awards or corporate information, Jack noticed a lack of noise. When he reached the entrance to the large room that housed his workspace, full of cubicle upon cubicle, he heard Bill humming softly and typing contentedly. Smiling, Jack returned to his seat and began moving things around to let Bill know that his only reason for not continuing pleasantries was the necessity of work. This, being more than half truth in a company that monitored how much each employee accomplished each day, would be an acceptable social excuse and so Jack was comfortable in tuning out any further considerations of Bill.
Staring at his screen and the numerous avatars and objects floating on the landscape, Jack began to actually feel some impetus towards work. Perhaps it was the onerous interactions with his workmates that gave him enough disregard for humanity and existence to overcome his usual distaste for his job, but whatever the excuse he knew he had to do it anyway; after all, the problems of bread and bills did not solve themselves.
Scanning the virtual horizon and reattaching his controls, Jack paid attention to the brightest or most structurally interesting objects. They were bits of data waiting to be analyzed, automatically flagged for attention by complex routines and mathematical formulas in the server computer’s and home computer’s software, culled from customer activity which had, through depth or complexity of interaction, created something that might be of propagational use. As they had signed over any right to any control over anything they did while within the corporation’s hardware and software, Jack was, as agent for the corporation, within legal rights to appropriate any such information regardless of intellectual creator. Willing his screen towards a particularly shiny maze, Jack analyzed the object.
It was, upon a short minute’s inspection, a simple psychological routine, created by someone spending their time contemplating sunsets on beaches. Its effect was to reroute several autonomic nervous functions into self-willed pleasure stimulation. Although it was run of the mill in complexity and depth, it was a unique take on classic psychological code. Jack knew if you cobbled six or seven such bits together you had a rather stunning mind twister which might take the average brain a week or more to experience and send to stimulus-extinction-land.
Jack spent a few minutes scanning the digital landscape, looking for anything beyond the base processing structure of the server. Except for the sunshine maze, everything was either a part of the corporation’s server, active customer entities, or junk constructions. Junk constructions were flagged data that turned out to be emotional and psychological waste; self-pity amplifiers, acquisitional routines, self-aggrandizing delusions. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | Though such negative bits of human psychology could be of profitable use, these particular ones were all redundant to those owned by Reap-Tech already and so Jack discarded them readily.
Jack considered the sunshine maze as he floated through the landscape, hoping to find another useful bit of data. He thought of tracking down the customer who had, unwittingly, created a useful and artistic bit of psychological data, in hopes of finding more. Stopping at a virtual hill-tree-stream, Jack decided against doing so. He had acquired an aversion towards exploring the near hallucinatory escapades of the customers.
Some of the other employees liked to exert the operator’s right to information to peek in on the minds of customers, into the worlds they were creating for themselves, to delight in castles in the sky and to indulge in the naughty thrill of voyeurism. The thought of doing so made Jack ill. He had satiated his desire to know what customers at the other end of the screen were doing at the start of his employment. After a few months, though, he had developed an aversion to doing so. Sick sexual escapades, ultra-violent daydreams, and real life conflicts twisted into puerile, recreated scenarios had inoculated Jack against any spark of desire towards spying into the customer’s worlds. He didn’t care whether they were riding unicorns or humping rhinoceroses, exploring universes of the human soul or assassinating the president. For Jack, the only part of his job that mattered anymore was appeasing the unspoken data quota, a quota based on random, fluctuating ceilings set by the top reaper and the average set by everyone else.
Chewing his lip, as he willed his screen past a desert-mountain-flower-raindrop, Jack momentarily recalled a time when he had been top reaper, culling the brightest most interesting bits of data, cobbling together the most effective lines of code which operated most profitably on the greatest number of customers. The first several months of his employment had been a non-stop explosion of energy, desire, ambition, fulfillment, and satisfaction. He had drifted through social groups easily, accomplished his work without effort, and been rewarded with promotions and an ever increasing salary.
Not anymore. Now Jack merely dragged his body through the day, doing just enough to maintain his job so he could haul himself back home to watch television and indulge in a choice intoxicant. The thrills of success, the tarnished glow of social relation, the promises of reward were no longer sufficient motivations to entice Jack into giving 100 hours of work a week, as he had once done. Even the minimal effort needed to mark himself as one of the valuable components in the corporate machine was too much. The horror he felt at the content of his work, of the software, the customers and the company hobbled his will to even try. He now only wished to forget everything about his days as quickly as possible and to float passively in shimmering rays of drug and media.
| 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | Otherwise he sat wherever there was a free space, preferably with a lot of room between himself and other passengers. He would patiently wait, at every stop checking to see if the middle seat was about to be vacated, and move into it when it was.
An open seat to Jack was one of the cushioned double chairs, facing towards the front of the bus, on either side of the center aisle. Jack only considered them “open” if no one was sitting in either of the two chairs because he hated sharing a seat on the bus. There were many reasons for this selective misanthropy: bad smells, unwanted psychotic conversations, a sense of safety. There were other factors in his seating choices, but after a year of riding on the bus he no longer bothered justifying the thought process to himself. So, if he could, Jack would sit opposite the middle doors, throw his right leg up onto the second seat and press his back against the side of the bus, and close his eyes.
Today the seat opposite the middle doors was open. Seeing this, Jack relaxed slightly and felt happier. He always thought that any day the middle seat was open was a good day. With a whisper of a benign smile he moved down the aisle, matching his steps to the rolling of the bus.
Past an ocean of sensations, the rolling-rumbling-swerving movement of the bus’ floor, Jack saw the faces of the other passengers. His smile darkened a bit. He took no displeasure in their presence, did not dislike them, or find them objectionable. Yet, meeting the eyes of several strangers, his mood was depressed and deadened.
Riding on the bus was something Jack would never become comfortable with. Since it was cheap and effortless, the bus attracted a great many destitute, unhappy, unfortunate individuals. Some were psychotic and homeless wrecks, sleeping wherever they could at night, and carrying all they owned in two or three bags. Some were hard-luck drunks, going from here to there as cheaply as possible. Some wore the shirts and hats of minimum wage, customer service employment. Often they looked ill or malnourished, with sunken eyes and sallow skin. They looked like ghosts, like after images in a photo, like ripples in a sea of tranquility.
There were more than a few such individuals on the bus today. As he moved down the aisle, Jack consciously relaxed his upper body, and scratched his neck against the interior of his thick, red, woolen jacket. He strolled past seats filled with students, past seats occupied with twenty-some-things both prosperous and poor on their way to work, past elderly men and women, and past the ghostly individuals with their empty, disturbed eyes.
As he made his way to his favourite seat he was cheered by the sight of the students. Jack found it hard not to be entertained at the sight of them. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | Brisk steps carried my body forward as I entered the one room motel studio my family called home. Relief at having quit a job I hated and fear that my mother and brother would resent me for losing work that brought in a hundred and fifty dollars a week colored my comments as I related my story. No glares confronted me as I spoke, just looks that conveyed the weariness and worry all three of us had become accustomed to.
Outside the electric buzz of the hotel’s hallway lamp lights never ceased. Less than a mile away the highway’s oceanic roar of traffic continued even at the late hours of the night, suffusing existence with a soft white noise. From where I sat, near our one window, off in the distance I could see bright blue-white and orange points of light that I knew to be the houselights of hundreds of homes that cover the hills of Mission Valley. Inside the 70’s era lampshades tinted the milky-white light bulbs shading the entire room an unhealthy orangish-brown. The ambience reminded me of the coloring of that restroom package, the color of waste people create after a strict diet of hamburgers and cola.
I mentioned my financial aid would be in soon, hoping to brighten the mood. They looked at me with empty faces and I tried to smile while frowning and grimacing. There were a lot of causes for my failure to achieve satisfactory financial aid status when I returned to school in January. None of them mattered to the women who sat behind the desks in the financial aid office and informed me that satisfactory financial aid status requires 8.0 units of enrolled classes. None of that mattered to my family as they stared at me blankly and then quietly looked away from me.
It was April now and we were still living in this run down motel, making thirty five dollar payments on our day to day room. I couldn’t blame them for being a little upset, so was I. My brother had refused to get a job since he graduated high school in 2000. No amount of pleading could get him to stop smoking weed and staying out until four in the morning. My mother had consistently refused to stop gambling away her money at Barona casino. No discussions could stop her from claiming her right to do WHAT she wished HOW she wished WHEN she wished with HER money. So, following their example, I quietly turned my face towards the TV to see what was on that night. I think it was NBC.
At first the one room box, part of a fourth floor that to me bizarrely felt like it was sagging towards the ground, of a motel situated between a very loud highway and a rarely visited river was just a place to sit and wait while circumstances rearranged, reshaped themselves until they could provide a better place to sit and wait. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | There was no message in the media, no goal in the experience, no value in the reality. The program existed to lure the customer in through promises of sensual delight, hooked them with easy fixes to their human problems, kept them in psychological and emotional mazes, in traps of simplicity and complexity, and would not let go as long as a shred of desire existed within their psyches. These were worlds of self-defeating indulgence, of rack and release, where bodies and memories rotted away in stale sweat and spittle as the individual went through elaborate, emotionally and intellectually draining exercises. The only winner in the equation was Reap-Tech, monetarily and technologically.
Jack’s job was to monitor their experience, to invisibly encourage them in the right ways, to shore up any weakness in the automated program, and to reap any mental constructions which would add value to the psychological repertoire of the program. It was, Jack felt in the back of his mind, the worst job in existence, lacking any moral, spiritual, intellectual, or basic human value. But it paid well.
“Oh my god! Did you see that?!” Yes, he had seen it, but Jack said nothing; only smiled hysterically and nodded when Bill looked at him. Soon a few other people in the office got up to investigate the seemingly positive disturbance, to indulge in a few wasted lazy minutes, and to stretch their legs. As they crowded into Bill’s cubicle, and Bill became distracted by the task of analyzing them and calculating the best way to wring the most pleasurable human interaction from them, Jack slipped away with the excuse of needing to go to the bathroom.
While Jack walked to the shiny, cream tiled bathroom, the sun beat down on the glass exterior of the Reap-Tech office building. Composed entirely of opaque, black panes, the building resembled a glass box. Even the roof was glass. Flat, black, reflective, and bullet proof. It stood as a personification of corporate ideals; dark, hard, unfathomably incomprehensible and impenetrable.
As Jack finished urinating, an employee approached the entrance of the building. He waved an electronic gizmo, which most employees used as a keychain because it was exactly the right size and the corporation encouraged it, in front of the flat glass wall. The security system scanned the passkey. Each key was satellite monitored, and unique to the individual employee. They continuously generated random codes, which were cross referenced with complex programs in the building’s security system.
Lines, slicing from ground to just over head height, appeared and formed two tall glass rectangles. With a slight escape of air pressure, the doors jutted away from the building a fraction of an inch and separated, allowing entry. As the employee entered the building the computer system recorded the exact amount of time he had taken for lunch. Not only did the key open doors, it was a good way to monitor employees at and away from work. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | If left to it’s own devices the areas’ ecosystem would drive powerful knotted tree roots under the man-mixed concrete to twist and tear it apart, freeing the ground for trees, brush, and grasses to grow as far from the river as could be supported.
In April, a month before my financial aid arrived and just before I quit my job, I came home one night to find multiple police cars, a crowd of news reporters, and several forensic vans in the motel’s parking lot. Worn out from another day of mopping bathrooms, collecting carelessly discarded shopping carts, scooping ice cream for sweet faced kids and hungry looking adults, selling drugs photographs alcohol cigarettes and chocolate bars to people whose bodies looked like they were constantly experiencing shocking caffeine fueled explosions, and also learning about 17th century British authors I trudged up to our fourth floor, one room, motel studio. My mother, who had picked me up from work but went to the front desk to find out what the commotion was about, came in afterwards with a look expressing excitement and that type of paranoia that expresses itself as gossip anxiety. She told me, in a voice that sounded like it should be telling a ghost story, that someone had found a body in the river.
The police had dragged the deceased onto the banks, so the coroners and detectives could examine the remains. It turned out to be a woman, blonde, no description of the state of dress or bodily injuries. She was said to have resembled a well dressed lady who had been seen accompanying different businessmen to their rooms in the previous several months. I frowned slightly, trying to express concern sadness empathy fear and personal weariness with my eyes, as she spoke. She stopped talking, and asked me to step outside and look with her. We did, studying the scene for awhile. She asked me some questions about remembering the businessmen and the lady, which I did and said. Taking in all I wanted to I returned to our room, my mother remaining outside then returning to watch the news, myself sitting and contemplating. The feelings I had developed for the motel’s dark but warm ambience, the river’s serene but liquidly active voice, and the forest’s harsh and gothic yet strangely evocative setting deteriorated not long after.
The slick ink line of my pen danced epileptically between the strict rows of the test book. Muscles over my eyes were spasming uncontrollably with jolts of energy my body was releasing every time my brain tried to remember which English writer wrote which poem from 300 years ago. My hand cramped painfully, screaming at me in a voice I learned way back in first grade; “Relax your grip! Slow down!!”
The guy to my left, sitting sideways in the auditorium’s forward facing seats looked at me amusedly then calmly returned to working on his final. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | From January to March, when I had no job and only one class there was a lot of time to study the room we were staying in. After awhile, though, the place began to feel like a forgotten piece of history, one of those weird out of the way places most people don’t know about, a museum that showcased the relics of a time that evoked sweet muddy memories that people were glad to be rid of.
The air conditioner was a beige box mounted on the wall underneath the window. Two knobs that looked like stovetop dials controlled the air conditioning. One controlled the level of “warm/cool”. The other selected high or low heat and cold, fan only, and off. None of us ever turned the dial to “off”. As far as we were concerned it could have had only one setting; full blast cold. The cold helped deaden noses that didn’t really want to experience three people packed into a space smaller than the size of a shipping crate. The air current exchanged clean new air for our heavy dank breaths.
The big brown machine looked like it had been sitting on that wall since the sixties, an example of plastic’s ability to make everything better. When it was running it sounded like an airplane on a runway. Every night I slept on the floor next to the air conditioner. I felt as if the thing was alive, freezing cold and quivering, encased in brown plastic from the acid sixties, sputtering coughing and blaring, reluctantly doing what was requested of it.
The room itself was shaped like a human sized refrigerator box. If you stood up you almost felt as if your head would brush the ceiling. Half of the space was dominated by a bed two people could sleep in. A quarter was taken up by the bathroom, sink, waist high refrigerator, and faux closet. The rest was split between a desk, a desk/dresser, two night stands, and walking space. My brother slept on the floor next to the bathroom. My mother claimed the bed.
The walls were the typical cardboard construction. Stiff cardboard planks attached to beams, slathered with a thick mash, covered by a light paint job. The carpeting looked like it had been laid down when the air conditioner was installed. The furniture had handles that fell off. Walls, rug, and furniture were shades of brown.
There was one bathroom, with one standup shower, and one toilet. There was a tiny refrigerator with a faulty ice tray that led to the growth of a pungent fungus. On the third floor there were two washers, and two dryers next to two soda machines, one snack machine, and an ice machine that continually soaked the tile floor with water. There was a TV with Cartoon Network, HBO, NBC CBS ABC and Fox. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | He had, at one time, decorated his walls and desk as every other employee took pleasure in doing, but the cheap posters and knick-knacks only amplified his agony in the abhorrence of his surroundings. He had removed them, almost immediately, and found a sort of peace in the simplicity, the cheap fabric existence of fuzzy grey walls, light tan desk, and brown carpet.
Using this personally significant memory as a catalyst, Jack cultivated a space of serene contemplation. Breathing calmly, evenly, Jack fingered the computer interface nodes to his temples and began to navigate his computer screen through the virtual landscape of the corporation’s online system, the space in which he performed his job; reaping. Moving cautiously at first, afraid to ruin the ripe conceptual frame of mind he had worked half the day to create, Jack could not hear the tiny whirring and humming of the miniature ceiling camera focused on the back of his head. Identical to the other hidden cameras watching the other employees at Reap-Tech, it recorded every movement and every decision he made.
Jack thought of his work as he moved aimlessly around the electronic landscape. Data reaping. The concept still half amused him, as it was supposed to, even after a year of the same tedious occupation. The job title was aesthetic embellishment for an otherwise bland resume entry, crafted by the company to appeal to prospective employees of Jack’s general temperament and psychology. It was, really, a fancy way of saying data analyst; a data analyst with special skills and a few months of training, but still just a data analyst.
Jack suddenly felt a sickening chill pass over him. Without turning he knew it was Paux, his once sometimes “friend”. Only Paux had that minty smell, that soggy atmosphere of chewing tobacco, and that thin, forced breathing pattern.
“What’cha doin… Jack?” Paux asked in a tone that was a thick mixture of ingratiation, challenge, self-control, derision, smugness, and anger ranging from irritation to hatred. A practiced smile, tense at the corners and loose in the lips, split his sallow, ashen skin, as he waited for Jack to turn around.
“You know, work,” replied Jack, tugging the control nodes from his skin as he turned in his chair to face Paux, in a tone that was a mixture of uncaring and purposely distanced disconcern, inconsolable depression due to feelings of being trapped in an inhuman and torturous system, slight annoyance, and boredom. He kept his face passive as he watched Paux mentally tabulate possible responses.
“Don’t look like it,” Paux said bluntly, with heavy touches of amusement and contempt.
“Yeah, well… I’m having trouble concentrating,” Jack replied bitingly, implying that Paux was not helping the problem.
“That sucks. Wanna get some lunch?” Paux said with nearly complete sincerity, just a hint of loneliness, and only a nascent conception of transference of self-loathing.
| 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | In the mornings there were free muffins and pastries you could finish with several bites, of which my brother would procure four or six, two each for whoever wanted something to jam up the passage between his or her stomach and intestines before work, community college, or Literature English 22 class. There was a maid service that disrupted your thoughts and required you to stand outside for half an hour while they cleaned your room. There was an elevator displaying graffiti the hotel wouldn’t or couldn’t remove, with a floor that sagged as disturbingly as my imaginary perception of the fourth floor. There was a pool and sauna I never tried.
Outside the hotel was the end of Hotel Circle, a street that carries cars past a view of the Marriot across the highway, the Holiday Inn, and the mighty Red Lion Inn with it’s towering sign board that itself seemed almost as big as the motel we stayed in. A sign that displays the weekend’s brunch and during Easter displayed an incomplete message that read “Young Rabbits and Ducklings”. Above our room’s bed was a painting, the only piece of conventional decoration, done in four shades of dark red-brown with sharp curving lines depicting several cranes in flight.
Outside the window I claimed as my portion of the room was a view of the arrow straight San Diego River that gurgles into existence in the mountains east of the city, it’s dark surface sliding west through what was once the farmland of Mission Valley, at it’s end gently disappearing into the ocean’s chameleon sky. Along the river’s edge for miles in both directions thousands of dead leafless trees covered the embankments, their bare branches intertwined, grasping each other, extending into the air. So many trees so close together that, even though only a few hundred feet wide at the thickest point, the forest’s interior was an impenetrable wall to the eye at even a dozen feet.
A dozen feet or so is as close as one can get to the interior of that forested area. There, a few hundred feet from the water, the steel wiring and metal poles that constitute a fence block entry to the area. One sign states the area is a wild animal preserve, no trespassing allowed. From our window I often saw flights of birds that resembled cranes, near the fence in the motel parking lot we saw brown furred rabbits. Twice we saw kayakers skimming over the waters in their long, slim, pointy nosed, yellow boats.
The park itself thrived, even in the dead of winter when the trees wore only their grey brown skin. It grew so well that for two weeks during our stay a huge work crew, equipped with a machine that lifted chainsaw wielding workers into the sky, was employed to cut down trees and branches, and to pull up stumps that encroached on commercial properties. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | The girl to my right looked like her entire body was trying to yawn in boredom at the quizzical demands set before her. I stared at the words in front of me, my eyes feeling like they were going to explode from their gelatinous settings onto the blue book with the force of a thousand ruptured capillaries.
Heart relaxing, thumping pumping ocean of blood turning into a gentle bumping and then a calm river. Dry black ink on dry white paper. My mind read the prompts in front of me again and again. The essay portion of the final was asking the student to relate different writings, different characters, different writers and their views into a coherent thesis on a socio-political issue from Britain spanning a period of 200 years with very clear support from the literature in question recalled by memory from the student. My eyes cut a razor’s edge across the situation. Over half of the final’s grade was based on this question. Forty percent of the grade I was about to receive in the class was based on this final. I had returned to school, put aside my dream of working on video games, put up with family arguments and family drama, ruined my credit and was about to lose my car all for this moment….
Downwards I stared, reading the question again and again. My brain felt like a bulbous mass of greasy yellow cholesterol, a useless lump of fat. Short lived sparks of electricity moved around the slimy, curved, gray matter inside my skull, each futilely searching for necessary information and each silently dying a lonely, unfulfilled death. Quietly, regretfully my brain resigned itself to the conclusion that it did not hold within its jellied tubules the knowledge it needed to construct a piece of writing that would fulfill the requirements of the test sitting on the scarred and pitted wooden desk in front of it.
Breathing slowly I anticipated waves of stressful stomach gripping pain I knew to be my bodies response to failures like 10th grade trigonometry tests, pissing off bosses, losing jobs, drinking half a bottle of tequila, or horrible sexual experiences. A few moments more and I knew I knew would receive a D or an F and a possible expulsion from school. While I sat staring straight ahead of me at the green “Exit” sign directly in front of my seat in room 212 of the Center building in UCSD for the final of Literature English 22, a place I figured I would not find myself at much longer, my brain made some quick, complex decisions I still cannot understand and decided it knew a way to redeem itself.
Staring downwards, jaw clenched in agony, the muscles in my arms twitching slightly, my consciousness was suddenly drenched in rivers of rich, thick, wet, buttery liquid sensation as my brain gave me answers for my immediate situation. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | “Nah. Thanks,” replied Jack in a tone he hoped did not reveal his dislike of the person talking to him, and desire not to be near him.
“Fine, later then,” said Paux, in a tone that said that he realized exactly those things.
“Yeah,” said Jack, in a tone that said “I don’t care if you do realize those things, just get away from me.”
As Paux walked away the dank miasma of his body chemistry receded. Breathing deeply, Jack stared in empty loathing at the missing wall of what he wished was an office, or just any room where he could close the door. Rubbing his stomach he swiveled in his chair to face his computer monitor.
Staring at the empty screen, Jack felt a desperate sudden need to recreate the expansive, conceptual contemplation that Paux had ruined. Of late, the days Jack could manage a space of emotional stability, psychological integrity, and intellectual contemplation were few. Jack felt his face burning and his eyes swelling as he grieved the interruption. Anxiously rubbing his hairline, he breathed evenly and smoothly and tried to calm himself.
It was at this moment that Bill popped his head over the cubicle wall. Wearing a grin that was rictus in the middle, and perversely forced, in an odd way that spoke of pleasance, at the corners, he stared at Jack and said, “You gotta see this. You won’t believe what they’re doing to this girl.”
“No thanks, I gotta do some work,” answered Jack in strained civility, barely concealing his disgust and annoyance. He immediately regretted the slip of tone, knowing it was the wrong way to deflect Bill when he was excited.
“Dude, you have to see this,” Bill said in a nervously energized voice alternating between a high squeak and a soft boom, a voice that told Jack he would physically force him to watch the video if necessary, which Jack knew he would do from previous experience.
Jack gave Bill an empty stare for an infinite second, then stood up in acknowledgement of necessary forces. He knew it would cost him less energy, less emotion, that it would save him from more agitation and lingering annoyance, if he gave in to Bill’s occasional requests for solidarity in exercising a psychotic need to indulge in media of questionable content. The alternative was to put up with days of pointed glances, cold shoulders, and off hand remarks. Moreover, Bill was the current favorite of the current Vice President, and displeasing Bill was tantamount to letting your own blood. Luckily Bill was not such a bad guy. He manipulated people’s senses of space gently, and it was common knowledge that the Vice President would not be around much longer.
Jack was certain Bill’s requests were meant to consolidate his political base in the office, bulwarking his employment against the inevitable and forcible “retirement” of Brad, the current VP.
| 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | By openly parading the happily, consciously perverse twists and knots of his psyche, a mindset that wasn’t uncommon in an office full of twenty-something big-money hopefuls, and showing his need for human association he was quickly building a network of political friendships.
Jack’s aversion to joining Bill in such matters was small. Jack had no desire to see any turmoil in the office, as infighting would only decrease his already small space of comfort and peace. Jack was on thin ice with his bosses anyway, for wasting too much time staring into space, taking one too many days off, and for pissing off one too many of his “peers”. So placating Bill seemed a good way to profitably operate on several problems at once. Jack forced a sharp smile onto his face, both for Bill’s sake and in amusement that he was bothering to attempt to defend his position at a job he despised so greatly.
As he stepped out of his cubicle, just two steps from desk to implied door, the camera continued to record his work space. There were the three grey walls, which formed one cubicle of four in a square, the brown carpet, the light tan desk pressed up against the grey walls, and the computer screen. On the screen was a greenish-greyish monochrome landscape of random land mass and water. Above were stars or sky or billowing masses of flame filled hallucinations, depending on time of day and user determination. Across the infinitely large landscape floated clouds, sometimes shimmering like oil, sometimes dull like mist. At times an organism would float by in some random form; a face, a body, a brain, a heart, or some other human symbol.
“Dude, can you believe that? Sick!” Bill trumpeted loud and sharp, happy to have human reassurance of his inhuman amusements.
On Jack’s computer screen the customers of Reap-Tech floated in a world of sensational indulgence. They had been hooked and landed by smart marketing, aimed at personalities even marginally interested in realities grim, dangerous, or exciting. Sitting in their homes, connected by brain scanning nodes, the desires and thoughts of their minds became fodder for an interactive world of amusement, anything within bounds of mass media restrictions.
They paid to live their lives, to waste their time, in a world of electronic projections, of imaginary vistas, and impossible realities. Working on a month to month payment plan, the customers connected via their computers to Reap-Tech Entertainment’s super computer. Each user ran a copy of Reap-Tech’s newest software, a program that would analyze their emotional desires and encourage them into Skinnerian loops, into self flagellating denials and rare approvals, into constantly running and never stopping and when stopping only long enough to feel good enough to get back to running.
The program performed these psychological manipulations by monitoring the most stimulating and effective sensual material from each individual’s mind and creating imaginary worlds perfectly suited to each user’s consciousness. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p |
The elderly couple took their last little steps off of the bus. The driver closed the doors behind them, looked left, and turned the wheel sharply. The bus slipped into the river of blue, green, brown, white, black, and silver cars with utter confidence born of its size. The little cars might take chances around the bus, cutting it off or slipping around it at a stop, but they never disputed its right and ability to command the space it needed for changing lanes and stopping.
Sighing quietly to himself, Jack stared at the double doors. Black rubber, yellow metal handles, two rectangular glass panes. They looked like a childish, stylized face. The mouth was made of the two handles, each slanting downwards into a “V”. The window panes were its eyes. The doors its… Jack couldn’t stand analyzing the stylized door-face yet again. He studied the face, something a kindergartener would draw, every day. Closing his eyes, he tried to sink down into himself, to find the relaxing immortal center where he could let the overwhelming sensations of the world melt away.
As he did so, he felt a grinding in his midriff. His stomach seemed to be gnawing on itself. Satisfied, Jack figured this was what was upsetting him and resolved to buy something before walking home. Money was tight, and he had planned on going without food for the walk, but he’d make up for it by eating cheap soup during the weekend. Opening his eyes, the door handle smile seemed beneficent and kind.
As the bus rumbled down the road, and the world swam by in a river of motion, Jack unfocused his eyes and let his mind and existence attenuate to each other. As existence careened around his face, he let his eyes relax and take in everything before him: the smiling doors, the interior of the bus, the floating heads, and the river of movement beyond the windows. Sensation seemed to burn, orange warm, around the sharp edges of his sight. Skin cold, body warm, he breathed slowly, peacefully and watched the world pass by.
Jack sat and stared at the fuzzy, grey wall. Reaching out he took the fluffy surface between his thumb and forefinger and tore away some of the kinked, plastic threads. Staring at them, as if through complete visualization comprehension could be perfected, and if comprehension was perfected then acceptance of the basis of his existence could be achieved, Jack felt upset. Jack could not explain the foundation of his anger, though he knew intuitively and abstractly that it stemmed from dissatisfaction with his work. Unhappy, Jack dropped the threads on the floor, which was exactly the same as the wall but brown.
As he sat staring at the walls of the cubicle he tried to move his contemplations towards a reality of peace. Jack fleetingly wished he had decorations in his space, though he knew they would not help his mood or his work. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p |
As he thumbed the ridges of the quarters Jack thought of his work, of the papers he had to write and the books he had to read. Have to write six page paper, he thought. Have to read a hundred pages. Have to do eighteen translations. One hour, he calculated to himself for the translations. One hour, he added for the hundred pages. Four hours, he estimated for the paper. Time and a half, for error and revision and laziness, he multiplied for the final answer of nine hours work. Add an hour, he added again, just to be safe. Ten hours, he thought.
His brain rebelled at the thought of dedicating so much time to academic endeavors. Somewhere in his mind Jack wanted all of those hours for himself, to waste on whatever passing fancy would be most pleasant or enjoyable to him at any given moment. Yet, Jack also enjoyed and was pleased by his academic work. He was gaining knowledge, skills, and experience at a slow but sure pace. And, though it was slow, there were few places and few times in his life where he had grown and learned so much; even during years of working different jobs. Wryly smiling to himself, Jack promised to waste a lot of time in between assignments. Whenever he felt a strong aversion to homework, wasting several hours always helped.
Suddenly Jack’s senses danced into excitement. His nose sniffed, smelling that particular mix of rubber, asphalt, and exhaust fumes. His ears strained, listening to air escaping under pressure and the loudest engine on the road. His head turned and his eyes tensed as they focused on the mammoth black, blue, white box of a vehicle moving towards him.
Gathering himself and his thoughts, Jack planted one foot beneath himself and stood up from his seat on the sidewalk. Giving a nervous tug on his backpack straps he set his face against the force of air pressure created by the massive bus stopping. Warm exhaust fumes rolled across his body. The smell was unpleasant, if you did not like the smells of cars, but the air was a warm respite on a cold day. One hand thumbing the quarters, the other flattening two dollar bills, he surveyed the other students lining up to get on the bus.
A ragged line took shape as Jack carefully shuffled towards the open bus door. He recounted to himself who had been the first people waiting at the bus stop, and he observed which people were more quickly or slowly adjusting their places in the growing line. It always amused Jack to watch the line for the bus form. Some days the line formed according to no rule other than quickness and willingness to advance to the front of the line. He could find no rhyme to the process. It was much like a school lunch line. Whoever wanted it most pushed themselves forward, and it was usually one or several of the older, and more consciously sophisticated, students.
| 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
p | They wore crazy t-shirts, sporting slogans and pictures, which shouted their individuality, personal beliefs, and desires. Many wore skin tight jeans that spoke of their youthful prime. Most seemed child-like to Jack, who was an almost elderly thirty years old, and were obviously not yet of drinking age. These youths had smooth skin, with pimples and skin blemishes. To Jack they seemed like they belonged in high school, and he knew it had probably not been long since they had been there.
A few of the students were older. Jack thought of them as Just-Turned-21ers, which was a period of life, he knew from experience, that lasted anywhere from five to fifty years. They usually wore more exotic, bright, or “in fashion” clothing. At school they were the ones who took expert drags off cigarettes, spoke loudly to each other, spoke loudly on cell phones, offered sophisticated observations on the ridiculousness of the world around them, and cast incredibly lusty looks at nearly anyone within sight. They reminded Jack, somewhat, of himself at their age.
Standing in front of his seat, Jack put everything from his mind. He slipped one arm out of his backpack, used his elbow to swing the heavy bag off of his other shoulder, and caught the pack by the strap with his left hand. He turned and fell backwards, heavily landing on his backside, and sighed to himself as the cheaply cushioned seat quickly sank beneath his weight. After lifting his right leg onto the empty seat, he pushed against the floor with his left to scratch and press his back into the metal wall. Doing so made him feel, somehow, more a part of the seat, more comfortable. Sheltered by the little cubby, he hugged his backpack to his chest as extra insulation against the cold day. He dragged his glasses off of his face, folded their arms together, and slipped them into his jacket pocket. Without any words to read he had no need to wear his glasses, and could give his strained eyes some rest.
The bus stopped. Jack looked to his left, past disembodied necks and heads floating above seats, and watched an elderly couple very, very slowly disembark from the bus. As he stared at them he felt… tired and… upset. He didn’t understand why.
He had not been sitting for more than a few seconds, in the comfort of his favourite seat, before a sense of unhappiness pervaded his mind. He reflected on it for awhile and considered the cause. It was not his fellow passengers, he concluded. They might have discolored his rosy portrait of the world a little, but their presence was what it was, and Jack could not change that fact. Therefore their presence and existence did not overly upset him. Jack thought of his money troubles, but they were minor and currently a stable factor in his life. Jack had long ago learned to deal with the financial difficulties of academic life. | 34 | English | male | Master's | Student | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | The area in which one lives such as urban, suburban, or developing could determine the amount of vulnerability sensed by an individual. Cross cultural factors could look at religious obligations, traditions, morals, races, and ethnicities that play a role in the cognitions involved with insomnia. While biological factors are an important aspect of insomnia, the sociocultural model of insomnia explains the environmental factors associated with the disorder.
The sociocultural model of insomnia takes into account the social aspects as well as the cultural applications of the lack of sleep or the unsatisfying sleep that defines insomnia. The social model of sleep disorders focuses on environmental factors such as living, communication, and events that affect sleep disorders. Because the mental disorder of insomnia deals with the topic of sleep deprivation, it is important to study the effects of sleep deprivation on the ability to perform tasks. Certain authors sought to find the cognitive effects that would be found when depriving willing participants of sleep for five days. Those who volunteered were studied in a laboratory setting for a total of 11 days in which the first two days the time in bed (TIB) allowed was 8 hours, followed by 5 days of four hours of TIB, and lastly, there were 3 days of eight hours of TIB. Predictions were made based on the days (baseline, restricted sleep, and recovery), the session (morning, noon, and evening), and the context (30 minutes of rest, after testing, and during normal activities). Subjective responses of sleepiness ratings were obtained from the participants, and their ability to perform a monotonous task was observed. Findings showed that sleepiness increased based on the type of day. Sleepiness was highest at the end of the monotonous task, and lowest at the end of the free activity. This implies that latent sleepiness was brought on by the monotonous task.
The weakness of this study was that the sample size was of only 9 participants, all of which were males. But it was a strong point that the participants all possessed similar characteristics: they were all moderate coffee and alcohol drinkers, they were all healthy, and they were all of the same general cohort. A strength study’s findings that overall subjective sleepiness responses were strongly related to sleep deprivation; this is can be backed up: in reviewing 8 other studies on subjective sleepiness ratings, all eight revealed the similar results.
A study of rural Caucasian fifth grade students sought to experiment with the teacher’s ability to predict sleep-related problems in students based on their performance. This study related to the cultural factor of the rural setting from which the participants were obtained as well as the indirect application toward economical factors such as the economic opportunities that education provides. Questionnaires were given to the teacher and students about problems (of the actual students and not of the teacher) that arose during the day. Students kept sleep diaries of the amount of time spent sleeping and in bed. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c |
This study had a very good strength of looking at the Maori and non-Maori populations of New Zealand because of the differences in health status between the two groups. There were no conceivable weaknesses of the study. The Multiple Logistic Regression analysis was able to strongly answer the research questions. The measures used, while not standardized measures, were presented very well to participants and provided seemingly accurate information and explanations of the information found.
Cross-cultural studies of insomnia compare differing races and ethnicities on factors such as socioeconomic status, gender, and demographic differences. A meta-analysis showed a trend of a female predisposition for insomnia in comparison to males in 28 out of thirty-one. The studies looked a multiple countries such as Western countries, European, and Asian countries. Female insomnia was found at lower rates in East Asian countries than in other countries. It was interesting that the studies on Finnish and Japanese individuals showed that males and females had similar rates of insomnia. This was possibly attributed to less marked variation of economic status of the Japanese compared to Westerners; no explanation was given for the findings with the Finnish.
In critique of the findings a specific weakness was the limitation of the finding that East Asian females had the lowest rates of insomnia. This limitation was methodological; four out of 5 of the studies showed lower rates, and the sample size of the one study that did not show lower rates contained a very small sample size. The strength of this study was the presentation of the specific comparison of the studies. It was also a strength that the constructs were conceptualized as variables. And all the measure captured the meaning of the constructs of interest, such as those related to the frequency and duration of insomnia, and the distribution of males and females throughout the different sample in the separate studies.
Nomura did a cross-cultural study of the Asian cultures of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. This looked at the impact of insomnia on health dissatisfaction within those cultures. This study sought to add to sleep research by looking at the sociodemographic characteristics associated with the quality of sleep and mental and physical health. The relation between insomnia and subjective health ratings was observed in the study as well as the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. Findings showed that insomnia has a relation to dissatisfaction with health as a function of sociodemographic factors. Japan had the lowest level of prevalence for insomnia. And in comparison to previous studies, Japanese participants showed less insomnia than in Western cultures (which could have resulted from the time frame of more 2 weeks that is used in diagnosing). The results suggest that Japanese culture has less health dissatisfaction based on insomnia than does Western culture. Reasons for this could be the differences in lifestyle and the strategies and attitude differences of coping with life. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c |
The research I read taught me a lot about insomnia. I learned that anxiety and physical tension seem to be the main focuses of the drugs in reducing insomnia or time spent trying to fall asleep. I also learned that economic and cultural factors differ for those with insomnia. And that women have higher rates of insomnia across almost all cultures. As a female, I am at risk for insomnia more than a male would be.
In order to reduce the risk of experiencing the symptoms of insomnia, I think that it would be important to focus on my bedroom as a place of sleep. I could possibly study in the dining room, which I do sometimes. This would be one way to reduce the environmental cue of my bedroom as a place of concentration and focus. Studying in a different room would allow for my bedroom to be a place that I could associate with relaxation, which is not always the case. Another thing I could try is to try relaxing and clearing my thoughts before sleeping, such as learning some meditation techniques. I would not want to try using benzodiazepines, I do not really take any pharmaceutical drugs, but I would be willing, perhaps, to attempt to cease consuming any caffeine at an hour later than noon. I usually drink a cup of Yerba Mate tea before I study. And at times I drink about 2 or 3 cups. While Yerba Mate has about a third the amount of caffeine as coffee, it tends to make me very alert and focused on whatever the task is I need to complete. But without it I have a lot of trouble focusing. Overall, I did not learn that my family is at risk, but I was better able to notice that we can sometimes have strange sleeping habits which are most likely related to environmental stressors.
Insomnia and Biological and Sociocultural Models Page numbers
Ignoring the influence of Asian influenced education on American society is nearly impossible. On the surface, the masses comment on certain Asian student groups (such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students) as being smarter than other American ethnic minority populations and as scoring higher or equal to Anglo Americans on standardized tests. As many current ethnic studies courses teach, it is not a nationality or an ethnicity that one is born into that determines grades, study habits, test scores, education levels and job opportunities but it is rather cultural advice and traditions that give rise to how a parent makes use of resources for their child’s education.
The educational systems in many Asian countries differ greatly from those in the United States; there are many countries that demand high standardized exam scores from a student in order for graduation and advancement to the next stage of schooling (such as middle school to high school and high school to college). Because of the demands of these school systems, the students are expected to not only score good in classes, but to learn how to take standardized exams very well. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | In comparison to American schools such as those in Los Angeles County, there are schools such as preparatory and some private schools that prepare students early on for SAT. And even fewer public school systems allow for classes and tutoring that is written into the curriculum or that is at the very least affordable for working students of parents. SAT courses such as Kaplan and Princeton Review, while popular, are extremely expensive such as $1000 for average cheap courses. These classes tend to be attended by sophomores, juniors, and senior high school students. In comparison to the juku cram schools in Japan which would be attended from about age 13 during junior high or even earlier and throughout high school.
Another important comparison is knowledge of and access to such schools. In Japan, the juku crams schools are expensive. Some schools rate very high for acceptance to top high schools and top universities, while others rate lower on the scale. But nonetheless, the students learn from such schools about standardized testing very early on. The affordability of these schools varies. And juku schools are more of a common knowledge for parents. If a parent in Japan cannot afford or decides not to send their own child to juku, it is likely that the student will know at least some other friends that do attend juku or will at least be given other means through knowledge of the parent to pass exams early on (such as providing textbooks or a private tutor).
Juku allows for dangerous competition between students in the face of college entrance. Rohlen mentions that such competition even leads to student suicide at times. Juku systems began as a means of increasing public school comparisons to private schools. The study of juku school systems was recently studied by scholars in the 1980s. The juku focus is on primarily one subject area such as history, language, or science, or math. The school will not focus on details or information such as what may be found outside of the entrance exams. Juku also differ from one another, such as the shingaku juku, where the top students attend, or hoshu juku where the students use the juku school to catch up if they are behind other students in their regular school evaluations.
In LA County prep schools for American standardized testing are not always readily available. They are extremely expensive, and the student may even begin to start the classes much too late to learn the material for an exam such as the SAT adequately. In many instances students and parents alike are not taught much about how important the SAT exam is.
Because the school system is different in Japan in comparison to the USA, the standardized testing preparation follows that pattern. In Japan standardized testing really drives many important aspects of a student’s future. In the US a student can do poorly on the SAT and still go to a community college and then graduate from a UC and possibly be admitted to a prestigious university afterwards for a Masters or PhD degree. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | American schools in the US do have standardized exams, yet these exams rarely impede a student or determine their future to the extent of those exams in some foreign countries. Immigrants and Americans of Japanese descent have brought to the US programs such as Kumon and Juku schools which are popular for teaching standardized testing skills in ways similar to the schools in Japan which they were modeled after.
There is an extreme need for cram schools such as Kumon as they teach specific information needed to pass exams. Kumon was founded in Japan by a father as a means of his son with problems in school math skills. This method of teaching speed and accuracy in math and reading is now available worldwide in over 40 countries and is located is a very popular and open educational system for any nationality of person. Kumon students are expected to complete their work at their own pace and they advance to the next level once they have placed in the appropriate score range of standard accuracy and speed in comparison to a previously computed expectation. The mathematics curriculum ranges from the easy level of counting through advanced math, algebra, advanced algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and to the difficult level of statistics for a total of 27 math levels. (In some cases students may have assignments in calculus or physics). The 7 reading levels consist of reading, phonics, vocabulary building, grammar, punctuation, and reading comprehension.
The goal of Kumon according to the author Ukai is to eventually lead students to have the ability to solve differential equations in calculus school work. And it introduced even the possibility for students as young as elementary school age to also be able to solve calculus problem if they are introduced through small and increasingly more difficult steps daily. Many elementary, junior high and later high school math textbooks require that a student learns nearly a new subject each day. And while the new day’s subject is generally linked to the previous lesson, there is nearly no consideration for the student’s ability to answer the previous day’s questions with increasing accuracy, or with a personalized level of understanding of the materials. Such a method in many American schools has been used for many generations. There are many people who express a dislike for math. Some students may obtain low scores. But it is possible that if the classes were designed similar to a Kumon class, there would not be so many students left behind. There is a flaw in teaching a new skill every day as some student that did not understand the previous day’s skill will not understand the newly introduced and more complex lesson the following day. One main issue of learning math at a level that is not based on personal skills is that once you get behind you are still responsible for doing homework and exams that may not make sense at the time. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | For example, Western thought usually has a monistic description of lifestyles, and constantly focuses on separating the physical body from the mind; Japanese lifestyle focuses more on dualistic properties and links the body and the mind. These ways of thinking allow for different ways of processing the regular events of life.
The weakness of this study was the limitation that it used different methods of obtaining a sample for each group. This could have led to biased results. There may have also been errors in translation due to the fact that the data was obtained via interview. In addition, the Japanese participants were less likely to report that they knew their household income: this limitation was due to cultural differences. The strength of this study was the sample size, with several hundred participants per ethnic group. Also the overall design helped to answer the research questions. And the concepts sought to study were answered by the method of obtaining information. The variables were standardized, and the conclusions of the authors show ways in which future research in the same area could be carried out.
Treatments for insomnia suggest that overall, specific benzodiazepines help to improve symptoms of insomnia and the insomnia disorder. Treatments suggest that the root of preventing insomnia deals with anxiety and physical tension. Glass composed a meta-analysis to quantify and compare the benefits and risks associated with sedative hypnotics for treatment of insomnia in a sample of older people. Examples of such pharmaceuticals used for sleep difficulties are the benzodiazepines zolpidem, zopiclone, and zaleplon. Participants gave subjective reports on variables related to sleep; this studied the benefits of the sedative hypnotics. Adverse events (nausea, drowsiness, nightmares, etc.) and psychomotor impairments (falls, car crashes, and broken bones) were noted to study the sedative hypnotic treatment effects.
The findings showed that 24 studies found benefits of sedative hypnotics in that sleep quality improved by increases in the amount of time spent sleeping and decreases in the amount of times one woke up during sleep. Risk factors of sedative hypnotic usage were found for adverse events and psychomotor troubles: There were more adverse events reported with the use of sedative hypnotics such as events involving cognitive processes and events in which psychomotor ability was important. This means that while there are benefits related to sleep, which is the actual problem the participants sought to solve, the risks may be high for the individuals who take sedative hypnotics; the high risk factor comes from the fact that those spoken of in these tests were older individuals. While there may already be some problems with some older people in their cognitive slowing, this could be enhanced by the sedative hypnotic pharmaceuticals. It may be too high a risk for an older person to have physical or mental difficulties due to a drug, It may also be very difficult because older people are not so quick to heal from injuries. A fall or accident or broken bone could cause many unexpected problems for an older person. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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An article that pushes for changes is one by Nishino and Larson. They insist that school causes stress, extended schooling causes long hours, little sleep and exhaustion, and with little spare daylight hours juku students are not allowed the exercise and free time they need to socialize and grow in areas other than academia. Japanese students are expected many times by parents to not only enter high school and university, but to attend the highest possible ranking schools. The students are given a lot of expectations and responsibility yet they are forced to endure the pressure on their own many times without encouragement and with lack of involvement on the part of the parents other than paying for schools any making certain their children are obtaining high scores. While this may not hold true of all families of juku students, overall the students could benefit from regular activities with less pressures.
In addition to regular school and juku, there are other alternatives. Students can be involved in baskets, or after school programs that are organized for sports matches and skills, after school clubs such as debate teams or social clubs, or other school activities such as student council. Bakatsu offers a more well-rounded education as it includes socializing, similar interests with peers, and physical fitness. According to the authors, other time spent outside of academic regular and after school settings is spent 2 hours of watching television or listening to music; the researchers found that only 1 hour was spent on average with social interaction and talking outside of school; other activities were found to take place from 5-7pm or on weekends (including television watching and social interaction).
Overall, Torrance and Gardena school have very high enrollment in public schools for Anglo Americans and Asians and Asian-Americans; much higher in fact than the Latino/a, Black, and Native American populations. The demographics of the public schools are consistent with the regions in Torrance and Gardena. Overall, Torrance schools have very high success rates for standardized exams such as the SAT as well as for acceptance out of high school into the UC system.
The city of Torrance has as abundance of opportunities for learning about and enrolling in prep classes for the SAT. While Torrance and Gardena, unfortunately, are not very close to many universities there is still some library and bookstore access where free resources such as Kaplan, Princeton Review, and Bobrow books can be read and used for free during open hours. The store clerks never harass students for reading the materials even if they go in each day to read and they never buy a thing! This is very great because most students do not have a lot of spare money.
The one thing that I think is a great disadvantage about living in Torrance is that if a student is accepted into a university the commutes can be difficult. And it is also hard for college students to find late night places to study because the communities seem to cater to high school age students. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | Students in a Kumon class will not run into a similar problem since these students are only allowed to advance once they meet a requirement of accuracy.
There is also Kumon for preschoolers and kindergarten age students. The main website does not seem necessarily tailored to only Asian students (as is the case for juku schools). There are 6 listed Junior Kumon schools throughout Torrance and Gardena (including the surrounding areas of Carson, Rolling Hills, Manhattan and Redondo Beaches, Palos Verdes, and San Pedro) to which Gardena and Torrance residents can easily drive or bus. There are 5 Kumon schools for older children.
In Japan, Juku is primarily an after school learning system that generally begins after the regular school day and ends at about dinner time nearly every weekday and at times during one or both weekend days depending on the juku campus. Japanese school systems consist of a grade 1-6 elementary system, 1-3 for junior high, and 1-3 for high school. Following junior high school education a Japanese student will take an entrance exam through which the scores determine the quality level of high school education and prestige of high school that the student will be accepted to attend. Upon completion of high school the student will take another entrance exam to enter a prestigious university such as the prized Tokyo University. The high school acceptance gives opportunities to be better prepared for the college entrance. And graduation from a prestigious university affects the access to jobs and other resources as well as social factors. In some more recent cases there are even competitive preschools and kindergartens that prepare students for competition of standardized testing and study habits.
Because the Japanese school system in Japan is primarily driven by the ability to score high on standardized tests, students who come from Japan as well as their parents and family members who may move to an area like Torrance or Gardena, California, already have a background in how to accurately achieve high scores on standardized exams. This is one much overlooked reason as to why even international students are able to achieve high SAT scores and later MCAT, GRE, etc. scores.
An article about juku in the US showed results that the amount of homework given to students who attended juku was completed about 80-90% compared to the amount of take home assignments that the student was required to turn in. When comparing American juku students (studying in US juku) with Japanese juku students (studying in Japanese juku) it was shown that overall the students in Japan still scored higher possibly due to attitudes of learning, social pressures, and academic relevance and realities of juku in US versus juku in Japan.
Gains were greater for public school students who attended extracurricular activities. The schools from high SES background areas tended to show higher standardized testing scores. The author insists that improving scores in schools should start at home in which the parent or caretaker should provide opportunity, interest, and help for a student such as encouragement and strong involvement in academic performance. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | The constructs of interest are conceptualized as variables in this study, which is another strength; the researchers sought out to find the effects of insomnia on professional life, and they studied good sleepers in comparison to those with insomnia, and they studied the effects of sleep on professional life and medical health in relation to their careers. One weakness is that there is not a critical test in the articles that tests two opposing theories; while this is not necessary for all strong studies, it would have strengthened the. For example, they could have studied insomnia theory, which allows for the problems in sleeping to effect daily life. This could have been compared to sleep deprivation theory which, while similar, it states that long term sleep deprivation studies show that participants do not have as much difficulty in everyday life as do those deprived of sleep on a short term basis. There do not seem to be conceivable limitations of the study, and therefore this study’s results seem valid.
Overland did a historical cohort study related to the topic of socioeconomic factors. They sought to study insomnia and depression, and how the disorders predict disability pension. It was found that insomnia and depression were both predictors of disability pension at similar rates. There was also a higher rate of somatic disorders for participants who had insomnia alone (without depression). The mentioned associations were stronger for those under the age of 45. And insomnia was related to more work-related types of disabilities than was depression. These results imply that there is a predictive aspect to insomnia, which is that in addition to health risks insomnia can ultimately result in the need for financially assisted living.
Seemingly, the only weakness of this study was the limitation that the “non-attendees” were unable to provide an adequate amount of data; this is important because the non-attendees seemed to have higher rates of disability pension award as well as higher rates of illnesses . Otherwise, this study showed many strengths: The theoretical propositions of past research were explored and a new approach of comparisons of theoretically comorbid factors were studied. These results added to future research and especially added to the knowledge of socioeconomic factors related to insomnia.
A study of New Zealand’s Maori and non-Maori populations researched the links between the symptoms of insomnia, ethnicity, gender, age, employment status, and socioeconomic deprivation. Population prevalence information was considered and self-reports of insomnia symptoms were recorded by the experimenters. The findings of this study showed that the Maori participants reported more sleeping problems and insomnia symptoms. There was a strong association between unemployment and socioeconomic deprivation with insomnia as well as with sleep problems that lasted longer than 6 months. The focus of the authors was to look at health inequalities in New Zealand, and the results indicated that there are health inequalities which are based on socioeconomic deprivation.
| 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | It was found that students showed similar sleep patterns to other students in the US (such as those in urban areas) as well as to those in other developed countries of the world. It was also found that overall many students seemed to have problems with sleep related behavior. But teachers were not found to be able to accurately identify the students with sleep problems based on their performance. This study’s findings have cultural implications in that they stated that many developed countries other than the US show similar sleep patterns in fifth graders. Possible economic implications of the study are that for future jobs these students may injure certain chances or opportunities they might have had if their sleep had not interfered with their school performance. A strength of the study is that it has a very good sample size of about 200 participants, about half male and half female. It is also a very notable thing that this study used minors as participants, which in the field of sleep is not studied often.
A very interesting socioeconomic study looked the direct and indirect impact of insomnia on health and professional aspects of those with insomnia. Good sleepers were compared to those who met the criteria for insomnia. Findings showed that the participants who met the criteria for insomnia had been hospitalized more often and showed more medical checkups. This implies that the need for suspended consciousness is to aid in medical health and social functioning. There have been case studies in which a voluntarily sleep deprived student was kept awake until he chose to sleep. He was able to stay awake for about a month; but he suffered by becoming irritable and he hallucinated and was easily distracted and had trouble focusing while in classes. On the same note, it has also been found that sleep deprivation to extreme measures can cause death; and as a torture technique it is seen as one of the worse forms of torture to be a victim of. The most severe of those with insomnia missed work at a rate of twice as much as the good sleepers. In addition, the participants with insomnia had trouble concentrating, performing tasks, and showed more work-related accidents compared to the good sleepers. Such results indicated that insomnia can have negative economical consequences: such as losing a job, getting demoted, losing job stability, or getting pay cuts based on poor performance. Although the purpose of sleep is controversial throughout the field of study, one sleep theory is that the purpose of sleep is to replenish the body’s needs through a “suspended conscious” state. Lack of sleep makes one vulnerable to medical, psychological, and social problems.
In critiquing the article of 2002, it should be mentioned that the authors deserve recognition for a very strong study. The sample, materials, and procedure were strong methods used that supported their findings. The standardized questionnaire administered was able to determine the actual effects that sleep or lack of sleep had or good sleepers or those with insomnia. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | It is also possible for the opposite, and a bad SAT score leading to no choice of college perhaps due to a lack of funding or knowledge about college from a parent or student. But community colleges do not require SAT scores, and colleges near Torrance and Gardena, California such as El Camino College, Harbor College, and Santa Monica College are frequented by many students who need a smoother transition. Many of these students get bachelor’s degrees from Cal States and UCs once they transfer after 2-3 years.
Asunaro Soroban Juku: This specialty Japanese calligraphy class is quite difficult to find online information about. The main website is in Japanese and there is not a listed curriculum.
(Wanpaku-Juku is currently closed and has been for some time).
East-West Juku is known as Tozai cram school. It is run by the Japanese Adventist Christians. And is a cram school for Japanese language learning. With the use of Google Translate one can find that the information on the website consists of prices, location, time, and mission statements. This school seems to focus not only on the grades the students receive but also on a holistic learning that teaches peace of mind, pride in accomplishments, duty and hard work, and focuses on the values taught through the religious beliefs in addition to learning Japanese language.
Upon studying about cram schools I can definitely see that the differences in Japanese versus American school systems and how they are driven towards college/ university and lifestyle opportunities. I can see that these forces also affect students who may come from Japanese families or those who live in areas where there is a high concentration of Japanese and Japanese-American families. The local resources should be changed to be more accurately distributed for those who wish to attend college. In less affluent communities in LA County there are fewer resources and knowledge about resources for students and their parents.
At the very least the cost of these prep schools is far too great. To ask a parent to pay over $1000 for a course that lasts perhaps 5 weeks for 4 hour sessions once or twice a week is far too expensive. There should be private school options if parents wish to pay. But the government ought to consider funding these classes. Access to preparation seems to clearly be related to the ability of resources. If a family cannot afford to get help then the student may do poorly on the exam. This is extremely unfair. Especially since these courses cannot even guarantee that a student is adequately prepared for an exam. They only boost skills.
In addition, I believe that cram schools such as Kumon definitely have benefits. These schools can be used by even young students. And it not only helps with standardized tests but it also helps with their homework and school work and school exam grades which is a more immediate need.
| 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | The less overlap between sleep and food site, the fewer sleep sessions the artificial organisms had, specifically, there was a tendency for monophasic sleep patterns. This finding implies that animals are more likely to have monophasic sleep patterns when there is a high cost in changing from wakefulness to sleep. It was also found that the more quickly the food was depleted, the less amount of sleep time the artificial organisms partook in, implying that foraging impact sleep time in relation to needs. More time was spent by the artificial organisms in acquiring sleep or food if sleep or food was not readily available. This could imply that the brain is sending signals of what the body needs, and this is the neurological response required to keep the organism healthy and alive.
There are notable strengths and weaknesses. The strongest part of the study is the generalizability of findings with artificial organisms to realistic mammalian behavior. Almost all of the studies that the author made reference to were mammalian studies on general mammalian models or with specific species of animals (such as box jellyfish and giraffes). The weakest part of the study is that there seem to be only about 2 studies performed prior to this one about the topic of artificial organisms combined with the topic of sleep. One is “Sleep Response of Digital Organisms” ; The other study is the “Artificial Organisms that Sleep”. Both articles are in the “In Advances of Artificial Life” scientific journal. Artificial modeling is fairly new. And its applications to all fields have not yet taken place very thoroughly.
This study had sociocultural implications towards human mammals. Firstly, it can be noted that there are risk factors toward sleep disorders found from what this study mentions. In application to the sleep disorder of insomnia, this study suggests that if individuals with insomnia have a biological need or a need that they believe their environment requires of them, they will sleep only one time during a 24 hour period (a monophasic pattern). This period of time may not be the adequate amount of sleep needed due to brain signals. Such signals may fire allowing for the person to, instead of seeking out sleep, the person may seek out the activities or mentally (consciously or unconsciously) consider the activities their culture demands of them which their brain may be sensing as a pending need. And thus the person has much difficulty sleeping because organisms seek out what they are being deprived of. A possible prevention for this is to try and find a way to cause the brain to fire to signal that sleep is what is needed instead of the perceived need to attend mentally or otherwise to pending activities or cognitions. A specific treatment could be an applied cognitive behavioral therapy approach. Such a prevention plan would focus on the factors that the person may deem important. Each factor could be analyzed thoroughly. Factors that were considered to be distressful would have to be made to seem more attemptable. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | Their reason for looking at such information was because insomnia is one of the most prevalent health complaints. The comorbidity of insomnia was examined and it was found that in relation to onset of the disorder, patient responses to treatment, and long term history with the disorder, insomnia can often be independent of conditions in which it is also comorbid. This implies that usual thought of insomnia as a symptom is not always the case, one may have insomnia in isolation of another disorder.
This study was strong in that it thoroughly examined other studies on insomnia. The researcher sought to find information about insomnia as a symptom (a very common belief) versus insomnia as a separate disorder (which is a more rare finding). The informative information on insomnia as a separate disorder many times sheds light on the current field and also on current assumptions outside of the field.
No one in my family has been diagnosed with a sleep disorder, let alone insomnia. But at times some of my family members, I included, have strange sleeping patterns, sleep problems, and the inability to fall asleep. The earlier I have to wake up the more difficult it is for me to go to sleep. I naturally get tired around the hours of 3am-6am. It is easiest for me to wake up and feel rested at about 10am. I have always had difficulty sleeping because in the past years I have needed to be at 8 o’clock classes which required me to wake up at about 6am. I rarely felt rested in the mornings. And because I usually had to commute it was not possible to sleep in. Currently, and for the past year, I have been able to sleep and wake as I please (with the exception of this quarter). I have felt much more productive. I have held 2 jobs in the past that required late night working shifts at stores. I do not take sleeping pills and I do drink energy beverages to try and force myself awake or asleep.
I remember when I was younger, my father would work late hours and he would also study late into the night when he was doing his medical training. My mother worked as a nurse when I was young, working the 12 hour night shifts.
I have 2 siblings. My brother is 2 years younger than I am. He is usually asleep by 10pm and awake by 5am. My sister is 8 years younger than I. She usually goes to sleep around midnight or 2am and has to be at school by 8am, from which she lives a quarter mile.
I am not sure if I have a history of sleep disorders, but I notice that my immediate family does not always have to most regular of sleep schedules. My father has migraines and he drinks a lot of coffee. We all drink a lot of tea, which does contain caffeine most of the time. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | Negative aspects of after school cram schools are that those which last from about 4-7 are very hard on a student. The student will still have their daily homework to consider as well as possibly their cram school homework. An article by Harnisch (1994) explained the curriculum and daily lifestyle of a case study student named Taro. This fifth grade student attended regular school from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. After the hour break the student attended juku from 4:30 pm to 7:45 pm, after which the student went home, ate dinner, and afterwards began homework which was due the following day for both regular school as well as juku.
Many students that I know who went to schools such as Tozai Japanese language juku or a Kumon class express that they had trouble staying awake during their normal class days. But on a more positive note, these students, while possibly overwhelmed at times, they did not seem to have so much trouble grasping the material or keeping good study habits. They were very efficient and accurate in their work and many of these students were much better prepared during junior high and high school classes.
Some parents may force their children to attend cram schools. While others may not be able to afford these schools, and still some do not even know about such options. If I had children, and growing up as I did, I know I had a lot of trouble with math and it did not really click until the 8th grade or so. This was a year of drastic class size reduction and competition due to my class enrollment being about 10 students in the private school South Bay Junior Academy (Torrance). The teachers were able to help with every little problem and they always had time. And the small class size allowed us to help and teach each other as well as have friendly competition which was a great motivator.
It is possible that in Japan, the cram schools serve a very important need as the opportunities there allow for little “leaving behind” of students. I am sure that there are even school systems in Japan that are for the elite. And likely those who are involved in either no or less superior cram schools may feel at a disadvantage. In the US there seems to be (at least in LA County) more room for error. While community colleges are changing due to economic struggles and classes are extremely difficult to enroll in and transfer rates are dropping as universities are less able to accommodate so many transfers, it is still possible to go to a very poor high school and attend community college. But it is still a matter of preparedness once the student is in college. If a student places into low math and English courses they will still have to take maybe an entire year or more just to place into the appropriate level college course which is required to take general and later core classes before transferring. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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The following paper addresses the Biological and Sociocultural models in relation to the disorder insomnia. The biological model focuses on genetic information that is inherited as well as medical aspects of health. The Sociocultural models look at environmental relationships and their applications to race, ethnicity, demographics, and socioeconomic status. The following review of insomnia looks at these models and explains each piece of research chosen to relate to and to better explain the models. The explanations of the research and their findings are then critiqued to mention their specific strengths and weaknesses.
A sleep disorder can be characterized as a primary sleep disorder, a sleep disorder related to another mental disorder, or a sleep disorder related to other issues. The Primary sleep disorders are Dyssonmias or Parasomnias while sleep disorders related to another mental disorder are related to an Axis I or Axis II disorder. Other categories of sleep disorders can be due to medical complications or the intake of a substance. The Dyssomnias are: Primary Insomnia, Primary Hypersomnia, Narcolepsy, Breathing- Related Sleep Disorder, Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder, and Dyssomnia Not Otherwise Specified (NOS). While Primary Insomnia is a complication in adequate or maintained sleep, Primary Hypersomnia is a difficulty in staying awake, both for at least a one month period of time. Narcolepsy involves cataplexy and/ or automatic REM. While Dyssonmias focus on initiating and remaining asleep, the Parasomnias are sleep disorders associated with behavioral abnormalities and/ or physiological occurrences. Parasomnias are Nightmare Disorder, Sleep Terror Disorder, Sleepwalking Disorder, and Parasomnias Not Otherwise Specified. The sleep disorders related to another mental disorder involve sleep difficulties due to Axis I (Clinical Disorders) or Axis II (Personality Disorders or Mental Retardation). The following review focuses on insomnia, and somewhat on primary sleep disorders in general in relation to the biological and sociocultural models.
The biological model of sleep disorders focuses on genes, heritable factors, and physiologically acquired aspect of sleep disorders. Neurons in the hypothalamus containing orexin are responsible for the regulation of sleep and wakefulness. This study experimented with mice and found that there are phenotypic GABAB receptors on the orexin neurons which are specifically responsible for sleep/ wake states. The activation of the GABAA receptor induces responses that promote sleep. If it is inhibited from firing, this can cause reduced anxiety and induce sleep. The GABAB agonist (baclofen) increased sleep time (Matsuki et al., 2009). Such results imply that the animal models of mice can be generalized to studies in humans. This shows that there is a genetic and environmental basis for the physical GABAB receptor in humans. A problem or absence with this receptor could alter the ability of one to have adequate sleep without medication. The sociocultural implication of this study is that if the phenotype was inherited, this could regulate sleep, and an alteration of the receptor would naturally disturb sleep for an individual. This would negatively impact aspects of life such as school, career, and every day events that involve monotonous tasks and focus. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
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The risks and benefits discussed in the study could be very helpful for an older individual to consider. This article was a very strong meta-analysis. In looking at 24 other studies, they noted the selection criteria, inclusion criteria, the data sources, and they identified the studies used. This is helpful in validating their results. An additional strength of the study is the charts of the characteristics of each study, with categories such as “Quality score, Drug dose, length of treatment, Study population, and Study design.” All such information adds to the strength of the results they compiled. A limitation of the study is toward helping older people with insomnia; while they mention that alternative treatments may be more beneficial for older individuals, they only slightly mention that CBT is beneficial, but they do not give any details about how an older person seeking non-pharmacological treatment might differ from those who receive sedative hypnotic treatments.
A meta-analysis study by Holbrook was conducted on benzodiazepines overall in which 45 studies looked at benefits and risks of benzodiazepines associated with insomnia. This study was done on adults, but not specifically on elderly adults. They sought to find the associations of benzodiazepines with insomnia. Findings showed that, again, while benzodiazepines increased the duration of sleep, there was also an increase of adverse effects found with those taking benzodiazepines. They recommend using non-pharmacological methods of treating insomnia. The findings imply that the results are valid due to correspondence with the study’s similar findings.
A weakness of the study is that failed to include any studies related to their research question of whether or not there is tolerance that occurs when taking benzodiazepines. This would be important to know due to possible needs to increase dosage for an effect if benzodiazepines were to be prescribed to an individual. Another weakness of the study was that there was not an overall listing of the direct comparisons of the study. Comparing the studies directly to each other provides more understanding toward the differences between each study. This study was relatively strong due to the fact that these findings were soundly representative of the findings in the study.
An interesting review article added information to insomnia treatments in reference to the Holbrook study. The author’s review sought to better explain the treatment of primary insomnia. The major argument identified for review was that the research lumped the treatment for insomnia under the category of benzodiazepines; there are many different components of benzodiazepines, as well as different effects that are caused by the different compounds and different drugs that the benzodiazepine pharmaceuticals consist of. Such differences allow for different side effects, depending on the exact consistency of the specific benzodiazepine. An addition to the information about benzodiazepines is that there is often times the side effect of difficulties in breathing while sleeping with their usage. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | Findings can be generalized specifically to the elderly, which is the target population for problems of sleep fragmentation (or waking and sleeping multiple times during one sleep session).
This study was very strongly done: the hypotheses were based on past knowledge, and the researchers used what they knew to find new and more specific information about the GABA receptors. The study showed that the results were consistent with previous literature by tying their findings to what was previously known and showing how their information added to similar previously known concepts. The implications of the results were generalizable to human models. There were not any problems with the experiment: the sample, materials, and procedure were all controlled and designed adequately. The amount of time and effort put into breeding the mice and manipulating the genetic components of the mice brains can definitely be appreciated. Although the discussion explained the results and the study very well, the authors could have possibly explained the figures in more detail in the discussion. They also could have mentioned more about possible future research.
A study of the ecology of sleep in artificial organisms observed the environmental effects on artificial organisms and factors related to sleep. The future of the artificial organisms such as offspring was able to be computed as well. By looking at monophasic and polyphasic sleep patterns of artificial organisms, the researchers were able to generalize to all species the effects of the sleep patterns on offspring. A monophasic sleep pattern is one that is the duration of one entire period of sleep. A polyphasic sleep pattern is the division of a sleep into at least 2 sessions within a 24 hour period of time. The monophasic and polyphasic patterns specifically looked at fitness of the organisms based on their sleep and eat patterns. The experiment sought to find offspring trends and explained evolutionary adaptive circadian clock limits in different ecological conditions of which sleep and food relations were studied (Acerbi et al., 2008).
The artificial organism study was used to find out if sleep duration (monophasic, polyphasic, sleep flexibility, sleep inflexibility) is impacted by ecological factors (physical spatial distance between sleep site and food site, the rate of food depletion, the amount of food and sleep sites available). The following method was used in testing these interests. The parameters of the experiment were input into the computer program. The parameters were: distance between sleep and food (interDistance), food depletion rate, number of food patches, number of sleep patches, and number of sleep and food patches. The extremes were input for each parameter; these were the minimum and maximum ranges within which the artificial organisms would have access. For each parameter there were certain traits that were held constant. The paramerters were also given steps which were increments by which traits were set to vary.
The study found that monophasic and polyphasic sleep patterns were determined by the amount of overlap of sleep and food patterns. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
c | The implications of this review article is that future research should look more intently on finding specific differences between the available benzodiazepines, such as: the specific populations they work best for, the duration of usage a patient should be suggested, and the impairments that have not been considered significantly different but that are nearly significant.
The Montplasir article showed valid strengths by adding expert advice to a meta-analysis. In a straightforward way the article reviewed competing information and offered solutions. Also, the suggestions for future research are critical to the area of the insomnia disorder. A weakness is that the author does not suggest too much information about how to improve critical tests. Although the author mentions that more specific information should be obtained about pharmaceutical usage, the specific differences between the brands of drugs offered is not provided in the article.
Morin studied the treatment of pharmaceutical and behavioral treatments on insomnia. Older adults (mean age 65) were studied through the intervention of cognitive behavioral therapy, temazepam (benzodiazepine), a combination, and a placebo condition. The randomized pre-treatment post-treatment design resulted in the following findings: the most effective treatments were the CBT and combined drug and CBT conditions. The drug condition also decreased the time taken to fall asleep. Such findings imply that temazepam and CBT are both helpful in allowing for an increased onset of sleep time. The findings also yield important information toward prevention of insomnia. Because temazapam contains the properties of a drug that produces anti-anxiety and muscle relaxation effects, this implies that a possible problem to insomnia is a problem of anxiety and physical relaxation abilities. This also applies to the CBT. This therapy used sleep diaries to monitor that participants were compliant. Participants were to associate the bed and the bedroom with sleep, and were not to do activities such as watching tv, writing, reading, and worrying. When any of the forbidden activities was to occur in the bedroom, the participant was to leave the bed and the room. Such information implies that the root of insomnia lies in physical and mental difficulties caused by deep thinking, worry, anxiety, and discomfort that allow for trouble sleeping.
The main strength of this study is that the results and methods extend from other studies. In theory, it is most acceptable to consider therapies for mental disorders by taking a combined therapy and drug approach. It is also of known importance to see the results of each different intervention in relation to the mental disorder. This study did just that. This is very important in weighing and knowing the options that a potential client can be given. The weakness of this study is that while it mentions that over a long period of time the best treatment is CBT, it does not give a possible explanation for such a finding.
Buysee reviewed the literature to look at insomnia as a symptom and as a disorder. | 28 | English | female | MA | unemployed | Y,Y,Y,Y,Y |
x | Cardiovascular disease mortality was lower among women in the top quintile of the aMed diet score (RR, 0.61).
It is reasonable to accept the results of this study as valid because (1) the study population was very large; (2) nurses would likely keep accurate records; (3) where judgment was called for, the authors made choices to increase the rigor of their analysis, including making the criteria of their aMed diet harder to achieve than the Med diet; (4) the paper was peer-reviewed; (5) the authors are a highly-respected team, and (6) the study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and therefore is more likely to be free of commercial or similar bias.
Although the authors acknowledge that the conclusions must be limited to women, for anyone at higher risk of stroke, adopting a Mediterranean diet is a sensible choice, based on this and prior studies, without further epidemiological research to support the conclusions of this study. Funding and political resources should be devoted to education and policy changes, including changes in tax policy, to begin to change American eating behavior, tax eating behavior that increases costs to society and provide incentives to improve dietary behavior. If such changes cannot be encouraged without further research, future studies should concentrate on proving cause and effect and be of the intervention type.
This paper analyzes a 2002 Perrier Jouet–Belle Epoque Champagne print advertisement (the “Nude Ad”), and sets the ad in an historical context. The primary ads for comparison will be an ad from about 20 years earlier in the early 1980s (the “Bottle Ad”), and another from 2008, a significant revision of the 2002 Nude Ad (the “White Dress Ad”). I will show additional ads to enhance the understanding of the historical evolution–one from 1926, and a very recent (2010) update. I will also note additional promotional materials found in connection with the Nude Ad and White Dress Ad.
Both the Nude ad and the White Dress Ad were found at a source for advertisements (www.visit4info.com/advert/Perrier-Jouet-Champagne-Perrier-Jouet/17882). It has not been possible to identify the context in which the ad was used–which magazines, for instance–but tear sheets and the other ads were found as items for sale on eBay or similar sites. All three ads have a style that suggests they may have appeared in national American magazines such as Gourmet or The New York Times, publications aimed at higher income, sophisticated readers. At least one additional promotional item was found, a video that may have been used as a television commercial and appears likely to have been placed on the Perrier-Jouet website, a
website that currently displays many videos relating to this product. And of course the Champagne bottle itself, with its artistic white flowers, contributes to the strength of a campaign.
For the purposes of this paper, I will assume that the target audience was always higher income, educated Americans, who read national publications such as food and wine magazines and The New York Times.
| 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x | Together, integrated, they create not a sum of the meanings but a new whole. Giacomo Festi, Lecture, UNISG Colorno, 2010.
Let’s take an initial look at the ad, including denotative aspects. On the left is an artistic photo of a nude female figure. Although she is crouched, she is on her tiptoes and holds her legs with her arms. She looks up and away, a bit distant or dreamy, somewhat unclear, partly innocent, partly seductive, partly questioning. Her shoulder is tattooed with a flower, the same flower that bedecks the glistening bottle of Belle Epoque that sits beside her, and which her body faces. Her light flesh is set against a dark ground. The bottle of Belle Epoque is large, shiny and moist with condensation. The bottle, which is distinctive and covered with artistic flowers, bears the French language, indicating the name, year and style of the Champagne. The eye eventually finds, in small typeface on the dark ground, the word “Unforgettable” (not visible in this photo) The dominant typeface reflects an Art Nouveau (Belle Epoque) style of the logo.
At first glance, the ad conveys simple sophistication, luxury, pleasure, some form of social connection, quality, possibly relaxation and elegance. The ad is about the experience of the consumer, not that of the producer. The terroir of the wine may matter because it is Champagne, but it is not referred to in the photos or figurative text (which here refers to the English language words appearing in the ad). Although this ad is somewhat serious in form, it is not about such serious, even dull matters as sustainability or methods of production. The sign intends to draw in the consumer, who is to enter into a relationship with the figures in the ad, and thus with Perrier Jouet Champagne, and thereby derive personal meaning.
How did Perrier Jouet attempt to do this–to valorize its product? Using the semiotic square, the ad is about a lifestyle, dealing with existential values and subjective rebound. The emphasis is on the consumer–the object–and his or her perceptions and reactions to the images and texts. This ad is not about technological values or price. The viewer will likely expect that the price is high, as the photograph will suggest, to an educated, sophisticated American audience. This is serious photographic art. The ad is also about taste and playability, again about the consumer. Taste implicates lifestyle and vice versa. The woman is not yet inside the bottle, as in the later ads, but is a subject of the ad. And the nude body with flowers “tattooed” on her shoulder is clearly not about the pragmatic or utilitarian.
The ad is also about both the feminine and the masculine. The body is obviously that of a female. Her skin is pale and appears smooth and soft. The flowers are also feminine. But the Champagne bottle is bigger than the whole female body. It is tall, hard, glistening with moisture, presenting a more masculine sign. | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x |
The artistic references are not to a contemporary style or photographer such as Liebovitz or Avedon, but to a Dutch Old Master or still life artist who would be known to the upper middle and wealthy classes who would have studied art history. Their recognition of the reference would inspired confidence, reminded them they were of an educated class and drawn them into the aura of elegance and luxury, encouraging a purchase–if they were attracted at all to look at the fairly staid ad.
The intention of this ad may have been to convey subtle instruction on how to serve Champagne, through the glasses pictured and the amount of wine poured. The use of the word “ultimate” in “Uncork the Ultimate” evokes feelings of luxury, and the style of the photo, suggestions of elegance and high art. Or it may be that there was as yet so little competition for sparkling wine consumers at this time, that the French purveyors took a lax, even arrogant approach. When compared with both the earlier 1926 ad and later 2002 Nude Ad, it is clear that the values Perrier Jouet continued to convey were those of the elegant and exclusive. But the ad is not yet appealing primarily to the sense and there is nothing sexual in the appeal.
The 2002 Nude Ad represented a dramatic improvement from this Bottle Ad. The artistic element, the larger font size for the brand name, the larger size for the bottle, the word “Unforgettable”–all of these were dramatic improvements in conveying sophistication, class and identity of the product. The turn towards greater fun and away from more pompous self-assurance may have been drive by the enormous competition that developed in the 20 intervening years, with the rise of the California wine industry, and the availability in the United States of prosecco and Franciacorta as competition for the French, as well as Americans’ greater sophistication in wine buying. Perrier Jouet could no longer just set a bottle on a table and assume an anxiously awaiting buyer.
2008 White Dress Ad
With the 2008 White Dress Ad, we see that Perrier Jouet carries forward some of the visual, plastic concepts of the 2002 ad, with two photographic versions of the bottle of Champagne, the artistic photo of a female model, the colors remain predominantly green and white with sharp contrasts. The white is expanded and intensified with a flowing, luxurious ball gown on the woman–no longer nude–and the woman has been placed inside the bottle. Curves remain prominent, both visually and graphically, but are now more swirling. The figurative text has changed and includes a quote from Oscar Wilde–“Beauty is a form of genius”.
In this ad, the white dress becomes prominent in scale and movement. The values of luxury and elegance conveyed in 2002 remain, but are intensified and modified to a more conservative style. Their representation changed with the times. | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x |
This study was to show that adherence to a “Mediterranean Diet” (Med diet), as reflected by a high “alternate Mediterranean (aMed) diet score”, is associated with reduced risk of chronic heart disease (CHD) and stroke and stroke mortality. The aMed diet is a modified version of the Med diet and is characterized by higher consumption of plant foods, including plant proteins (excluding potatoes, but including fruits, nuts, whole grains and legumes), monounsaturated fat (compared to saturated fat) and fish, and lower consumption of animal products and saturated fats. Moderate intake of alcohol is allowed.
Prior prospective studies documented an inverse association between adherence to a Med diet and risk of total and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality and an intervention trial showed the Med diet to be more effective than a low-fat diet, in promoting weight loss and lowering the ratio of total to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in obese individuals. Prior studies did not focus on stroke or stroke mortality.
This epidemiological study followed 74,886 women, 38 to 63 years of age, without a history of CVD or diabetes, who are participants in the Nurses' Health Study, a cohort study of 121,700 female nurses in 11 US states. Six times, from 1984 to 2004, the authors computed an aMed diet score from self-reported “food frequency questionnaires” (“FFQs) designed to assess nutrient intake during the preceding year. More than 95% of nurses continued participation throughout the 20 year period. FFQs were subjected to validation studies. Reports of CHD, fatal CHD and stroke were confirmed by review of medical or hospital records, autopsy or death certificates. Where records were not available, cases were considered “probable” and included, with about 17% of all strokes and 24% of nonfatal myocardial infarcts so classified. Body mass index, smoking status, aspirin use, multivitamin intake, menopausal status and use of postmenopausal hormone were calculated for each FFQ, and beginning in 1986, leisure-time physical activity was assessed.
To reduce random variation for an individual and better represent long-term dietary intake, cumulative averages of the aMed score from the repeated FFQs were calculated (averaging together scores from two prior years). Adjustments were made for “confounders” (factors that could confuse results) by adjusting for age, smoking, BMI, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use, multivitamin intake, alcohol intake, physical activity and aspirin use.
Cox proportional-hazard modeling was used to assess the association between an aMed score and risk of CHD and stroke, using separate models for fatal and nonfatal CHD and stroke types.
Greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet, as reflected by a higher aMed diet score, was associated with a lower risk of incident CHD and stroke in women. During 20 years of follow-up, 2391 incident cases of CHD, 1763 incident cases of stroke and 1077 cardiovascular disease deaths (fatal CHD and strokes combined) were found. Women in the top aMed quintile were at lower risk for both CHD and stroke compared with those in the bottom quintile (relative risk [RR], 0.71). | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x |
Comparing the 2002 Nude Ad with both earlier and later ads highlights some of qualities and aims of Perrier Jouet throughout the changing eras in which the ads were used, and reveals semiotic differences.
Recalling again the 1926 ad in the form of a typeset announcement similar to a formal, engraved wedding announcement, the 1980 Bottle Ad reflects the change brought by a dramatically broader and larger potential market. With the economic boom after World War II, the U.S. market would have expanded from the class of the wealthy, educated and initiated, to draw in a larger number of wealthy and a broader potential universe of “receivers”, to include the large “upper middle class”.
This 1980 Bottle Ad uses the photograph to support the representational and “instructive” and figurative text to convey information. The photograph shows an open green glass bottle of Champagne with the white flower artwork. The top of the bottle has hints of yellow reflection, similar to the color of the Champagne in the glasses. The tan cork with red metal top sits on the surface below. Two Champagne flute style glasses sit adjacent, half filled with Champagne, a correct level. A string of yellow confetti of the sort used at New Years’ Eve celebrations winds through this scene. The figurative text reads only “Uncork the Ultimate”, and the brand name.
As noted, this ad is stolid, even boring. It says almost nothing about Champagne as a celebratory, happy drink, let alone conveying sensuality. It seems aimed at those who already know the wine. The name of the product is barely visible, the typeface is so small.
At the time of this ad, wine was not yet popular in the US in the way that it was 20 years later and is today. The California wine industry was still young and imports were not nearly as common as they are today. Mixed drinks took preeminence among the more affluent and wine had not yet become widely understood. Champagne flute glasses were only beginning to be in wide use in the United States, replacing the coupe style used in prior decades.
While this ad takes advantage of new technologies of color photography not available in 1926, the photo remains strongly linked to the past in its formality and representational nature. In fact, the scene suggests a Dutch painting of the 17th Century. The photo is primarily factual, not fictional; literal, not metaphorical; realistic not idealized, at least for the target audience of those affluent enough to be able to buy this product.
The plastic is clearly not dominant here. The subject is the bottle and glasses. While they signify luxury, the ad evokes, at best, a restrained emotional response, not an intense one as in the 2002 Nude Ad. The designer has not interjected himself between the object and the final photo, as in the 2002 ad, where the product itself seems subsidiary to the overall design and possible shock effect–and emotional reaction to–the nude woman’s body. | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x | The nude, curved, soft woman faces the masculine bottle. The moisture can be a further sign of the sensual, and also suggests the bubbly, cool quality of Champagne. The angle of the woman, the positioning of her bent knees, point upward towards the bottle, the flowers, the product’s identity. This appears to intersect the feminine and masculine in contrast to the later ad (2008, see below), that steers towards angel-like qualities.
The Nude Photo as Art. It is worth looking more closely at the visual and plastic values of this ad as an artistic vision of its time. By way of contrast, the 1980 Bottle Ad reflects a traditional, typical of pre-Impressionist artistic traditions, accurately representing the subject (see analysis below). This nude photo is not to convey information in the same sense. Instead, it interjects the perspective of the photographer as artist.
Through this ad, the artist can communicate to the consumer a sense or impression. The photograph is thus freed from the necessity of depicting merely the product, allowing it rather the promise of properly representing the sense and meaning of it. Harrison and Wood, id., p. 159 (citing Fernand Leger, Contemporary Achievements in Painting). The photo of the nude clearly does not represent Champagne, but “represents” modern ideas and feelings about a lifestyle that includes consuming Champagne. At the same time, paired with the photo of the bottle of Champagne, essential information is of course conveyed.
As art, this photo seems consistent with, and perhaps derivative of, a well known 1980 Annie Liebovitz photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the cover of Rolling Stone, all thoroughly modern subjects, and thus would have spoken in particular to a highly sophisticated, affluent audience.
Details of the Work of Art. The woman’s figure creates an Art Nouveau curve, leading the eye towards and highlighting the Art Nouveau design of the labeling and logo of the bottle and brand. Her flowered shoulder provides a similar visual link with the by now famous flowers on
the bottle.
The woman’s figure, a true depiction (with modification from the shadows and unnatural fetal position for an adult) may seek to reveal a sense or meaning of sensuality, willingness to submit, vulnerability, when viewed by a target audience man. Viewed by a woman, a secondary target audience–a savvy woman ready to make a buying decision about an expensive Champagne and knowledgeable about such things as wine and art–the core meaning would be different. It appears to tell this woman that she is bold enough to take off her clothes and choose to take control in a male world, represented by the bottle.
We have white, black, brown. The only real color is green, the Champagne bottle, allowing it to stand out in contrast to the more sepia tones of the nude. The contrast between black background and light skin tone and the white of the famous, iconic flowers is sharp. | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x |
Pouring wine sound. Burbling pasta sauce sounds. Some kind of music about eating cool food. Oinking pig sound.
Do you love great food? Good wine? Do you want to be at the cutting edge of the latest action in the food world? Live Your Dream . Become a New Gastronome and give your career a jump start. Live Food in Italy while earning a Masters Degree! Get Academic Credentials that can Change Your Life and Help you to Make the World a Better Place.
The graphic in this ad is of far less importance than the visual and figurative, but can be noted briefly. The font used for the identification of the product is, unremarkably, identical to that used on the bottle and thus supports the brand. The font has clearly been retained over the decades and reflects the Art Nouveau origin of this Champagne and nearly shouts France and French-ness. Compared to the 1980 Bottle Ad, the font is large and easy to see on the simple dark background. Graphic qualities also derive from the photographic and visual–shapes, curves, lines–as described above, and help to lead the viewer’s eye to the bottle. This is not a graphic ad, however, as plastic values predominate.
In addition to the print ad, I located a video that may have been used for TV advertising and has been placed on You Tube by Perrier Jouet, along with ads from more recent years. The You Tube ad had been viewed very few times. It shows two “blobs” of colored liquid–one green, the other purple–changing shape to become elongated, moving constantly in a fluid way, with the following written text appearing as the video progresses:
This video is graphic, not photographic and relies on the written text to convey the meaning. It is thus very different from the Nude Ad in style. The messages are consistent, however. “Power and body” is an obvious reference to the body of the nude in the photo and the powerful black background that the body is set against. The bottle also appears powerful, both because of its firm shape and because it is disproportionately large compared to the human body. The section of the video that states “consistency of style” is accompanied by the separate green and purple elongated fluid shapes coming together–possibly sexually suggestive. “Alchemy of opposites” reflects the sharp contrasts in the print ad–soft and white and curvaceous versus hard, straight-lined and dark. While the video is quite different from the print ad, the messages are consistent. These components spell out explicitly what Perrier Jouet has attempted to do in the print ad. The question of whether it worked will be addressed later. See “Analysis–The 2002 Nude Ad–Does This Ad Work?” below.
The bottle itself is like a work of art and, sitting on the shelf at the wine store, or displayed prominently in the window, sends it own message of something special, different from other Champagnes, originating in a glamorous Art Nouveau age, luxurious. | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x | And a genius will know to buy this Champagne.
There may also be a simile. The phrase itself uses a simile, a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind–that genius, a matter of the mind, is “beauty”, which is generally a matter of the visual. And so there is a subtle suggestion that the beauty of the woman and the dress, and even the flowered bottle, are a form of “genius”.
The emphasis of the plastic described above is on beauty, sensuality. In the figurative, the word “genius” to describe “beauty” appeals to the masculine. In the American society, the female should be beautiful. The male should be smart, so that he is interesting and also financially productive. So this ad may be trying to tell the American male that if he appreciates this obvious beauty established by the feminine plastic figures of the ad, and implicitly denoting the Belle Epoque champagne, he must be a “genius”. This allows a somewhat angelic, feminine ad to speak more to men. It does not lose female viewers, however, because by 2008, many American women may care more about their own genius than a gown.
The sensual and elegant photo draws these receivers into the narrative, swirling, lush and elegant, by references to a lifestyle lived or desired. The emotions have been tapped, the target viewer has been drawn in–and now he or she is told, figuratively, through the Wilde quote, that he is a “genius” for having responded. Thus, the values of luxury and exclusivity have been solidified for a receiver who is sufficiently educated and affluent to receive and understands these values. The figurative has entertained, if not instructed, the viewer through the play of language and may, if successful, have persuaded them of the value of the message conveyed and may reinforce the memory of the meaning of the message and its figurative expression.
The graphic is the 2008 White Dress remains the same as in 2002, contributing to ideas of elegance and luxury conveyed by the plastic and figurative.
The 2008 White Dress ad and more recent modifications have been supported by videos on the Perrier Jouet website and You Tube. Among these are at least two that emphasize the company’s desire to make a link between its product and fine art. For instance, one video focuses on a table designed by a known artist, in the shape of a white flower. Another, clearly designed to increase Asian sales, extensively highlights 14 Korean artists, using the bottle image, flowers strewn around the video screen, along with photos of the artists with their works, and music.
The primary target audience for the Nude Ad appears to be affluent Americans and, I propose, aimed at men. Champagne advertising was traditionally directed at women, beginning in the 19th century. By 2002, with international competition, this ad appears to be aiming for increased sales to men. | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
x | In 2002, the United States had not yet been governed by a conservative Republican Administration and Congress for over six years. In fact, it had just changed from a President who brought sex to the White House in a very public way. A nude figure advertising a quality champagne was probably still possible to accept. But by 2008, the United States had twice elected conservative Republicans to govern. It was time for the woman to put on a dress. And not just any dress, but a gorgeous ball gown, appropriate for a White House dinner, a dinner with dancing, energy and, finally, some fun. Perrier Jouet fully realized that it needed to convey the “Champagne experience”.
This ad also moves towards the angelic. The abundance of white represents purity. There is a second striking difference with the elimination of the nude, in addition to the political and cultural. I would propose that by 2008, Perrier Jouet was seeking to expand its customer base to a much broader female market. This ad appeals to the Cinderella or bride fantasy in the minds of women, even women who have worked hard enough to be able to make the buying decision on an expensive bottle of Champagne. The photo of the whole bottle is now small in relation to the woman. She is in command. She faces away from the whole bottle, instead of towards it, though gives a look back over her shoulder. The 2002 masculine bottle no longer predominates or dominates her.
Why is she inside the bottle? Is this mere playability, style, designed to show she can do as she pleases, keep a “barrier” between herself and the bottle sitting to the right, outside of the bottle she herself is in? Is the bottle her own home that she can control–a reality for more and more American women who make big salaries and big purchasing decisions, take wine classes and understand sophisticated products once in the realm only of men, and in 1926, only of wealthy, educated, upper class men? Or is it to convey how glamorous and fun it is to drink Champange–especially this flower-bedecked Belle Epoque?
The language or figurative of this ad is again limited. Apart from the bottle labeling and name of the brand, the only words are “‘Beauty is a form of genius.’ Oscar Wilde.” It takes an educated person with some literary background to know about Oscar Wilde and his lifestyle, which enhances the meaning of the phrase, but the words convey meaning even without that background.
This phrase is a metaphor (a phrase applied to something to which it is not literally applicable). The Champagne bottle is beautiful but is not a genius. The woman is beautiful, but we do not know if she is a genius. So the phrase is not explaining either to us. It is symbolic of something else–it suggests, arguably, that the person who knows this Champagne, is familiar with Oscar Wilde’s literary works, and who appreciates the beauty of this photo as art, is, surely, a genius. | 64 | english | female | JD and masters | retired/unemployed attorney | N,N,N,N,N |
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