Friday, January 24, 2020

Dolphin Assisted Therapy :: essays research papers fc

Dolphin assisted therapy (DAT) is a highly controversial topic in the medical world. Is it medicine or simply recreation? Whatever you might believe, you cannot deny the fact that dolphins are loving and nurturing mammals with the ability to show compassion. Along with that ability for compassion, some may claim that there is actual science, which proves that interactions with dolphins have helped to treat many patients. Most of the patients in dolphin assisted therapy are children with autism, Down's syndrome, depression, and other neurological and movement disorders. (http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9803/28/dolphin.therapy/index.html) The theory behind dolphin assisted therapy is based on two philosophies. One of these is that the unconditional love and support a dolphin has to offer can benefit children and mentally ill patients in many ways. As with most animals, a dolphin seems to have human-like emotions, so a deep trusting bond can develop between patient and mammal. Some proponents of dolphin assisted therapy claim that the compassion a dolphin displays increases the patient’s self-confidence, because the patient is never judged. Increased self-confidence can lead to better social skills and academic improvement. (http://www.ulst.ac.uk/papa/dolphin.html) The second part of the theory involves a more scientific approach. It involves echolocation (echolocation: a high-pitched sound sent out by the dolphin that bounces off an object and returns to the whale. The dolphin interprets the returning echo to determine the object’s shape, direction, distance, and texture). (http://www.zoomdinasaurs.com/subjects/whales/glossary/Echolocation.shtml ) Some say that the dolphins’ use of sonar and echolocation produce changes in the body tissue and cell structure of patients who associate with them. Others believe that sound waves emitted by the dolphins in communication and echolocation stimulate healing. (http://www.idw.org/healing.html) A diminishing of anxiety and depression, enhanced learning in handicapped children, and pain relief are all attributed, by some researchers, to dolphin echolocation (http://www.interspecies.org/dolphin.human/research ). Echolocation is also thought to help increase attention span, develop motor skill s, and develop better co-ordination in children (http://www.ulst.ac.uk/papa/dolphin.html). Although dolphin assisted therapy has many supporters, it also has a large number of critics. They say dolphin assisted therapy is an advertised miracle along with a hefty fee. Dr. Bernard Rimland, director of the Autism Research Institute in San Diego says, â€Å"There is no scientific evidence at all that using dolphins is helpful†¦. It’s a recreational thing.† Michael Westerveld, a pediatirc neuropsychologist at Yale University’s School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, said â€Å"If there is any success, I’d be more likely inclined to attribute it to the general effects of†¦.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Reading of Jane Austen(TM)s short stories Essay

‘From a reading of Jane Austen’s short stories what do we learn about women’s lives in the late eighteenth century?’ In Jane Austen’s a collection of short stories â€Å"Love and Friendship†, she shows us the lives of women in the late eighteenth century, and what they have to deal with. These short stories are written in epistolary (letter) form between women who were friends at the time, these letters show us what their lives were about and what was considered to be important to them. Jane Austen writes about marriage, status, personal views and the attitude to what she saw, she also uses humour in her letters showing us how shallow women were in that time. For young women in the late eighteenth century marriage was very important and a woman who did not get married was considered worthless, all women were expected to get married. There were many important reasons to get married for a woman living in this time, the most important reason being having money. If a woman had no money she would be considered as having a bad status, because women when they were with their parents had no possession of their own. In the three sisters Mary is not sure about marrying Mr Watts she does not like him but she still considers marring him because he has a lot of money. â€Å"He has a large fortune and will make great settlements on me.† â€Å"I hate him more than anybody else in the world.† This shows us the amount of money he has is more important than the relationship and how happy they will be together. She decides to marry him if he will give her all she wants, this shows us how shallow the women could be and what they will do for possessions, she demands â€Å"a new carriage hung as high as the Duttons’, and blue spotted with silver; and I shall expect a new saddle horse, a suit of fine lace, and an infinite number of the most fine jewels†¦must always let me do just as I please and make a very good husband.† This shows us all the things she expects to get in marring him they are all but one material goods. This shows us that women in the eighteenth century were very much focused on marriage and how much money they could get out of it. If a woman did not get married she would either have to live with her mother or a paid female companion. Another alternative was to be a governess to a wealthy family; this was not a good thing to be because you would be treated a little better than a servant, they would neither be on the same level as the servants or the family. Young women in the late eighteenth century were considered well educated if they had plenty of accomplishment, these were things like sewing, singing, reading and entertaining their guests at a dinner party. In ‘Lesley Castle’, Margaret Lesley was writing to Charlotte Lutterell tell her what they did to pass the time in Scotland and what they do is â€Å"we read, we work, we walk and when fatigued with these employments we relieve our spirits, either by a lively song, a graceful dance or by some smart bon-mot and witty repartee.† This shows us that they did not do any challenging or intelligent type of work. The women in the late 18th century were also polite this shows us that this mattered in this time; we can see they are polite because they write long pleasant letters to each other. ‘Lesley Castle’ demonstrates that it is important to have accomplishments in this time and it allowed them to get into a good marriage which was the most important thing in a young lady’s’ life in the late eighteenth century. Not many girls of the time attended school but the few that did attended boarding school, would not learn to be clever they would only learn things like sewing and singing. Margaret Lesley and Charlotte Lutterell both went to boarding school together, â€Å"it is four years since my removal from school.† School was mostly for boys, some girls went to boarding school but the education was not very good because they did not need lessons and the teachers did not know what to teach them. Women in the late eighteenth century did not own anything or have any property for themselves. A woman’s inheritance would be given to a distant male relative the woman would never be given the whole of the money. The only way women could get money was through marriage, Mary only wants to marry Mr Watts because â€Å"he has a large fortune and will make great settlements on me.† She also expects the pinmoney; two hundred a year.† Which Mr Watts only want to be â€Å"a hundred and seventy-five.† When Mary agrees to marry Mr Watts she expects him to build her â€Å"an elegant greenhouse and stock it with plants†¦ a room on purpose and a theatre to act plays in.† she also expects to be allow out of the house all the time she insists on spending â€Å"every Winter in Bath, every Spring in town, every summer in taking some Tour, and every Autumn at a watering place.† Mary’s mother is set on not letting â€Å"such an opportunity escape of settling one of my daughters so advantageously.† This shows us that money was not only important to the woman but also important to the rest of their family, to ensure that the family would stay with money. It would also be in a mans interest to marry someone with lots of money because some of the family money would be given to him for marring into the family. Marriage was based on material goods not on a relationship. If you did not marry you would have no money and possessions you could have from your father. In Lesley castle Charlotte Lutterell is worried what will happen if â€Å"by this second marriage sir George should have a second family, our fortunes must be considerably diminished †¦ those jewels which once adorned our mother †¦ Matilda would no longer sit at the head of her father’s table.† This shows us how easy it is to loose money and financial security. Female friendship in the late 18th century come over as shallow, because they are always judging each other Margaret Lesley calls her mother-in-law â€Å"an insignificant dwarf.† Where their mother-in-law Susan Lesley calls Margaret and Matilda â€Å"scotch giants† and continues â€Å"I am sure they would frighten you out of your wits.† This show us that women in the 18th century judge each other and think they look better than each other. There is also a lot of rivalry between friends Mary in â€Å"The Three Sisters†, says â€Å"how I will triumph over the Duttons† and the two families were friends; this shows us that was even rivalry between friends and even though they were nice to them to their faces they were horrible behind people’s backs. Manners and etiquette were more important than actual friendship; Susan Lesley and Charlotte Lutterell are only friends even though they are feed up with each other because â€Å"she is too polite and I am too civil to say† they still write letters which â€Å"are still as frequent and as affectionate.† This show us that women in the late eighteenth century are very selfish, and their lives were very shallow. We have learnt from reading Jane Austen’s short stories that women in the late eighteenth century had very little choice to what they could do because they had to marry to ensure that they would still have enough money to live. Life in the late eighteenth century for women was very much ‘everyone out for themselves’ and they all had to fight over having a rich man and material goods better than everyone else’s. Jane Austen did not like living in this time we can tell this because of the humour she uses with the women to show how important money was to them in â€Å"The Three Sister† Mary is very indecisive whether she should marry Mr Watts or not. Today we find it hard to compare with how they lived in the late eighteenth century because it is so different to how we live now. I am glad that we live in a society today which is more accepting to women and how both male and female should be treated the same. I also believe that Jane Austen would prefer to live in the society that we live in today because Jane Austen always humours the women in her collection of short stories.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Units of Analysis as Related to Sociology

Units of analysis are the objects of study within a research project. In sociology, the most common units of analysis are individuals, groups, social interactions, organizations and institutions, and social and cultural artifacts. In many cases, a research project can require multiple units of analysis. Overview Identifying your units of analysis is an important part of the research process. Once you have identified a research question, you will have to select your units of analysis as part of the process of deciding on a research method and how you will operationalize that method. Lets review the most common units of analysis and why a researcher might choose to study them. Individuals Individuals are the most common units of analysis within sociological research. This is the case because the core problem of sociology is understanding the relationships between individuals and society, so we routinely turn to studies composed of individual people in order to refine our understanding of the ties that bind individuals together into a society. Taken together, information about individuals and their personal experiences can reveal patterns and trends that are common to a society or particular groups within it, and can provide insight into social problems and their solutions. For example, researchers at the University of California-San Francisco found through interviews with individual women who have had abortions that the vast majority of women do not ever regret the choice to terminate the pregnancy. Their findings prove that a common right-wing argument against access to abortion--that women will suffer undue emotional distress and regret if they have an abortion--is based on myth rather than fact. Groups Sociologists are keenly interested in social ties and relationships, which means that they often study groups of people, be they large or small. Groups can be anything from romantic couples to families, to people who fall into particular racial or gender categories, to friend groups, to whole generations of people (think Millennials and all the attention they get from social scientists). By studying groups sociologists can reveal how social structure and forces affect whole categories of people on the basis of race, class, or gender, for example. Sociologists have done this in pursuit of understanding a wide range of social phenomena and problems, like for example this study that proved that living in a racist place leads to Black people having worse health outcomes than white people; or this study that examined the gender gap across different nations to find out which are better or worse at advancing and protecting the rights of women and girls. Organizations Organizations differ from groups in that they are considered more formal and, well, organized ways of collecting people together around specific goals and norms. Organizations take many forms, including corporations, religious congregations and whole systems like the Catholic Church, judicial systems, police departments, and social movements, for example. Social scientists who study organizations might be interested in, for example, how corporations like Apple, Amazon, and Walmart impact various aspects of social and economic life, like how we shop and what we shop for, and what work conditions have become normal and/or problematic within the U.S. labor market. Sociologists who study organizations might also be interested in comparing different examples of similar organizations to reveal the nuanced ways in which they operate, and the values and norms that shape those operations. Cultural Artifacts Sociologists know that we can learn a lot about our society and ourselves by studying the things that we create, which is why many of us cultural artifacts. Cultural artifacts are all the things that are created by humans, including the built environment, furniture, technological devices, clothing, art and music, advertising and language--the list is truly endless. Sociologists who study cultural artifacts might be interested in understanding what a new trend in clothing, art, or music reveals about the contemporary values and norms of the society that produces it and those who consume it, or they might be interested in understanding how advertising might impact norms and behavior, especially in terms of gender and sexuality, which has long been fertile ground for social science research. Social Interactions Social interactions also take a wide variety of forms and can include anything from making eye contact with strangers in public, purchasing items in a store, conversations, engaging in activities together, to formalized interactions like weddings and divorces, hearings, or court cases. Sociologists who study social interactions might be interested in understanding how larger social structures and forces shape how we behave and interact on a daily basis, or how they shape traditions like Black Friday shopping or weddings. They might also be interested in understanding how social order is maintained. Research has shown that this is done in part by intentionally ignoring each other in crowded public spaces.