The Twilight Saga 3: Eclipse Chapter 4. NATURE

I WAS HAVING A BAD WEEK. I knew that essentially nothing had changed. Okay, so Victoria had not given up, but had I ever dreamed for one moment that she had? Her reappearance had only confirmed what I'd already known. No reason for fresh panic. In theory. Not panicking was easier said than done. Graduation was only a few weeks away, but I wondered if it wasn't a little foolish to sit around, weak and tasty, waiting for the next disaster. It seemed too dangerous to be human – just begging for trouble. Someone like me shouldn't be human. Someone with my luck ought to be a little less helpless. But no one would listen to me. Carlisle had said, â€Å"There are seven of us, Bella. And with Alice on our side, I don't think Victoria's going to catch us off guard. I think it's important, for Charlie's sake, that we stick with the original plan.† Esme had said, â€Å"We'd never allow anything to happen to you, sweetheart. You know that. Please don't be anxious.† And then she'd kissed my forehead. Emmett had said, â€Å"I'm really glad Edward didn't kill you. Everything's so much more fun with you around.† Rosalie had glared at him. Alice had rolled her eyes and said, â€Å"I'm offended. You're not honestly worried about this, are you?† â€Å"If it's no big deal, then why did Edward drag me to Florida?† I'd demanded. â€Å"Haven't you noticed yet, Bella, that Edward is just the teeniest bit prone to overreaction?† Jasper had silently erased all the panic and tension in my body with his curious talent of controlling emotional atmospheres. I'd felt reassured, and let them talk me out of my desperate pleading. Of course, that calm had worn off as soon as Edward and I had walked out of the room. So the consensus was that I was just supposed to forget that a deranged vampire was stalking me, intent on my death. Go about my business. I did try. And surprisingly, there were other things almost as stressful to dwell on besides my status on the endangered species list. . . . Because Edward's response had been the most frustrating of them all. â€Å"That's between you and Carlisle,† he'd said. â€Å"Of course, you know that I'm willing to make it between you and me at any time that you wish. You know my condition.† And he had smiled angelically. Ugh. I did know his condition. Edward had promised that he would change me himself whenever I wanted . . . just as long as I was married to him first. Sometimes I wondered if he was only pretending that he couldn't read my mind. How else had he struck upon the one condition that I would have trouble accepting? The one condition that would slow me down. All in all, a very bad week. And today was the worst day in it. It was always a bad day when Edward was away. Alice had foreseen nothing out of the ordinary this weekend, and so I'd insisted that he take the opportunity to go hunting with his brothers. I knew how it bored him to hunt the easy, nearby prey. â€Å"Go have fun,† I'd told him. â€Å"Bag a few mountain lions for me.† I would never admit to him how hard it was for me when he was gone – how it brought back the abandonment nightmares. If he knew that, it would make him feel horrible and he would be afraid to ever leave me, even for the most necessary reasons. It had been like that in the beginning, when he'd first returned from Italy. His golden eyes had turned black and he'd suffered from his thirst more than it was already necessary that he suffer. So I put on a brave face and all but kicked him out the door whenever Emmett and Jasper wanted to go. I think he saw through me, though. A little. This morning there had been a note left on my pillow: I'll be back so soon you won't have time to miss me. Look after my heart – I've left it with you. So now I had a big empty Saturday with nothing but my morning shift at Newton's Olympic Outfitters to distract me. And, of course, the oh-so-comforting promise from Alice. â€Å"I'm staying close to home to hunt. I'll only be fifteen minutes away if you need me. I'll keep an eye out for trouble.† Translation: don't try anything funny just because Edward is gone. Alice was certainly just as capable of crippling my truck as Edward was. I tried to look on the bright side. After work, I had plans to help Angela with her announcements, so that would be a distraction. And Charlie was in an excellent mood due to Edward's absence, so I might as well enjoy that while it lasted. Alice would spend the night with me if I was pathetic enough to ask her to. And then tomorrow, Edward would be home. I would survive. Not wanting to be ridiculously early for work, I ate my breakfast slowly, one Cheerio at a time. Then, when I'd washed the dishes, I arranged the magnets on the fridge into a perfect line. Maybe I was developing obsessive-compulsive disorder. The last two magnets – round black utilitarian pieces that were my favorites because they could hold ten sheets of paper to the fridge without breaking a sweat – did not want to cooperate with my fixation. Their polarities were reversed; every time I tried to line the last one up, the other jumped out of place. For some reason – impending mania, perhaps – this really irritated me. Why couldn't they just play nice? Stupid with stubbornness, I kept shoving them together as if I was expecting them to suddenly give up. I could have flipped one over, but that felt like losing. Finally, exasperated at myself more than the magnets, I pulled them from the fridge and held them together with two hands. It took a little effort – they were strong enough to put up a fight – but I forced them to coexist side-by-side. â€Å"See,† I said out loud – talking to inanimate objects, never a good sign – â€Å"That's not so horrible, is it?† I stood there like an idiot for a second, not quite able to admit that I wasn't having any lasting effect against scientific principles. Then, with a sigh, I put the magnets back on the fridge, a foot apart. â€Å"There's no need to be so inflexible,† I muttered. It was still too early, but I decided I'd better get out of the house before the inanimate objects started talking back. When I got to Newton's, Mike was methodically dry mopping the aisles while his mom arranged a new counter display. I caught them in the middle of an argument, unaware that I had arrived. â€Å"But it's the only time that Tyler can go,† Mike complained. â€Å"You said after graduation -â€Å" â€Å"You're just going to have to wait,† Mrs. Newton snapped. â€Å"You and Tyler can think of something else to do. You are not going to Seattle until the police stop whatever it is that is going on there. I know Beth Crowley has told Tyler the same thing, so don't act like I'm the bad guy – oh, good morning, Bella,† she said when she caught sight of me, brightening her tone quickly. â€Å"You're early.† Karen Newton was the last person I'd think to ask for help in an outdoor sports equipment store. Her perfectly highlighted blond hair was always smoothed into an elegant twist on the back of her neck, her fingernails were polished by professionals, as were her toenails – visible through the strappy high heels that didn't resemble anything Newton's offered on the long row of hiking boots. â€Å"Light traffic,† I joked as I grabbed my hideous fluorescent orange vest out from under the counter. I was surprised that Mrs. Newton was as worked up about this Seattle thing as Charlie. I'd thought he was going to extremes. â€Å"Well, er . . .† Mrs. Newton hesitated for a moment, playing uncomfortably with a stack of flyers she was arranging by the register. I stopped with one arm in my vest. I knew that look. When I'd let the Newtons know that I wouldn't be working here this summer – abandoning them in their busiest season, in effect – they'd started training Katie Marshall to take my place. They couldn't really afford both of us on the payroll at the same time, so when it looked like a slow day . . . â€Å"I was going to call,† Mrs. Newton continued. â€Å"I don't think we're expecting a ton of business today. Mike and I can probably handle things. I'm sorry you got up and drove out. . . .† On a normal day, I would be ecstatic with this turn of events. Today . . . not so much. â€Å"Okay,† I sighed. My shoulders slumped. What was I going to do now? â€Å"That's not fair, Mom,† Mike said. â€Å"If Bella wants to work -â€Å" â€Å"No, it's okay, Mrs. Newton. Really, Mike. I've got finals to study for and stuff. . . .† I didn't want to be a source of familial discord when they were already arguing. â€Å"Thanks, Bella. Mike, you missed aisle four. Um, Bella, do you mind throwing these flyers in a Dumpster on the way out? I told the girl who left them here that I'd put them on the counter, but I really don't have the room.† â€Å"Sure, no problem.† I put my vest away, and then tucked the flyers under my arm and headed out into the misty rain. The Dumpster was around the side of Newton's, next to where we employees were supposed to park. I shuffled along, kicking pebbles petulantly on my way. I was about to fling the stack of bright yellow papers into the trash when the heading printed in bold across the top caught my eye. One word in particular seized my attention. I clutched the papers in both hands as I stared at the picture beneath the caption. A lump rose in my throat. SAVE THE OLYMPIC WOLF Under the words, there was a detailed drawing of a wolf in front of a fir tree, its head thrown back in the act of baying at the moon. It was a disconcerting picture; something about the wolf's plaintive posture made him look forlorn. Like he was howling in grief. And then I was running to my truck, the flyers still locked in my grip. Fifteen minutes – that's all I had. But it should be long enough. It was only fifteen minutes to La Push, and surely I would cross the boundary line a few minutes before I hit the town. My truck roared to life without any difficulty. Alice couldn't have seen me doing this, because I hadn't been planning it. A snap decision, that was the key! And as long as I moved fast enough, I should be able to capitalize on it. I'd thrown the damp flyers in my haste and they were scattered in a bright mess across the passenger seat – a hundred bolded captions, a hundred dark howling wolves outlined against the yellow background. I barreled down the wet highway, turning the windshield wipers on high and ignoring the groan of the ancient engine. Fifty-five was the most I could coax out of my truck, and I prayed it would be enough. I had no clue where the boundary line was, but I began to feel safer as I passed the first houses outside La Push. This must be beyond where Alice was allowed to follow. I'd call her when I got to Angela's this afternoon, I reasoned, so that she'd know I was fine. There was no reason for her to get worked up. She didn't need to be mad at me – Edward would be angry enough for two when he got back. My truck was positively wheezing by the time it grated to a stop in front of the familiar faded red house. The lump came back to my throat as I stared at the little place that had once been my refuge. It had been so long since I'd been here. Before I could cut the engine, Jacob was standing in the door, his face blank with shock. In the sudden silence when the truck-roar died, I heard him gasp. â€Å"Bella?† â€Å"Hey, Jake!† â€Å"Bella!† he yelled back, and the smile I'd been waiting for stretched across his face like the sun breaking free of the clouds. His teeth gleamed bright against his russet skin. â€Å"I can't believe it!† He ran to the truck and half-yanked me through the open door, and then we were both jumping up and down like kids. â€Å"How did you get here?† â€Å"I snuck out!† â€Å"Awesome!† â€Å"Hey, Bella!† Billy had rolled himself into the doorway to see what all the commotion was about. â€Å"Hey, Bil -!† Just then my air choked off – Jacob grabbed me up in a bear hug too tight to breathe and swung me around in a circle. â€Å"Wow, it's good to see you here!† â€Å"Can't . . . breathe,† I gasped. He laughed and put me down. â€Å"Welcome back, Bella,† he said, grinning. And the way he said the words made it sound like welcome home. We started walking, too keyed up to sit still in the house. Jacob was practically bouncing as he moved, and I had to remind him a few times that my legs weren't ten feet long. As we walked, I felt myself settling into another version of myself, the self I had been with Jacob. A little younger, a little less responsible. Someone who might, on occasion, do something really stupid for no good reason. Our exuberance lasted through the first few topics of conversation: how we were doing, what we were up to, how long I had, and what had brought me here. When I hesitantly told him about the wolf flyer, his bellowing laugh echoed back from the trees. But then, as we ambled past the back of the store and shoved through the thick scrub that ringed the far edge of First Beach, we got to the hard parts. All too soon we had to talk about the reasons behind our long separation, and I watched as the face of my friend hardened into the bitter mask that was already too familiar. â€Å"So what's the story, anyway?† Jacob asked me, kicking a piece of driftwood out of his way with too much force. It sailed over the sand and then clattered against the rocks. â€Å"I mean, since the last time we . . . well, before, you know . . .† He struggled for the words. He took a deep breath and tried again. â€Å"What I'm asking is . . . everything is just back to the way it was before he left? You forgave him for all of that?† I took a deep breath. â€Å"There was nothing to forgive.† I wanted to skip past this part, the betrayals, the accusations, but I knew that we had to talk it through before we'd be able to move on to anything else. Jacob's face puckered up like he'd just licked a lemon. â€Å"I wish Sam had taken a picture when he found you that night last September. It would be exhibit A.† â€Å"Nobody's on trial.† â€Å"Maybe somebody should be.† â€Å"Not even you would blame him for leaving, if you knew the reason why.† He glared at me for a few seconds. â€Å"Okay,† he challenged acidly. â€Å"Amaze me.† His hostility was wearing on me – chafing against the raw; it hurt to have him angry with me. It reminded me of the bleak afternoon, long ago, when – under orders from Sam – he'd told me we couldn't be friends. I took a second to compose myself. â€Å"Edward left me last fall because he didn't think I should be hanging out with vampires. He thought it would be healthier for me if he left.† Jacob did a double take. He had to scramble for a minute. Whatever he'd been planning to say, it clearly no longer applied. I was glad he didn't know the catalyst behind Edward's decision. I could only imagine what he'd think if he knew Jasper had tried to kill me. â€Å"He came back, though, didn't he?† Jacob muttered. â€Å"Too bad he can't stick to a decision.† â€Å"If you remember, I went and got him.† Jacob stared at me for a moment, and then he backed off. His face relaxed, and his voice was calmer when he spoke. â€Å"That's true. So I never did get the story. What happened?† I hesitated, biting my lip. â€Å"Is it a secret?† His voice took on a taunting edge. â€Å"Are you not allowed to tell me?† â€Å"No,† I snapped. â€Å"It's just a really long story.† Jacob smiled, arrogant, and turned to walk up the beach, expecting me to follow. It was no fun being with Jacob if he was going to act like this. I trailed behind him automatically, not sure if I shouldn't turn around and leave. I was going to have to face Alice, though, when I got home. . . . I supposed I wasn't in any rush. Jacob walked to a huge, familiar piece of driftwood – an entire tree, roots and all, bleached white and beached deep in the sand; it was our tree, in a way. Jacob sat down on the natural bench, and patted the space next to him. â€Å"I don't mind long stories. Is there any action?† I rolled my eyes as I sat next to him. â€Å"There's some action,† I allowed. â€Å"It wouldn't be real horror without action.† â€Å"Horror!† I scoffed. â€Å"Can you listen, or will you be interrupting me with rude comments about my friends? â€Å" He pretended to lock his lips and then threw the invisible key over his shoulder. I tried not to smile, and failed. â€Å"I'll have to start with the stuff you were already there for,† I decided, working to organize the stories in my head before I began. Jacob raised his hand. â€Å"Go ahead.† â€Å"That's good,† he said. â€Å"I didn't understand much that was going on at the time.† â€Å"Yeah, well, it gets complicated, so pay attention. You know how Alice sees things?† I took his scowl – the wolves weren't thrilled that the legends of vampires possessing supernatural gifts were true – for a yes, and proceeded with the account of my race through Italy to rescue Edward. I kept it as succinct as possible – leaving out anything that wasn't essential. I tried to read Jacob's reactions, but his face was enigmatic as I explained how Alice had seen Edward plan to kill himself when he'd heard that I was dead. Sometimes Jacob seemed so deep in thought, I wasn't sure if he was listening. He only interrupted one time. â€Å"The fortune-telling bloodsucker can't see us?† he echoed, his face both fierce and gleeful. â€Å"Seriously? That's excellent!† I clenched my teeth together, and we sat in silence, his face expectant as he waited for me to continue. I glared at him until he realized his mistake. â€Å"Oops!† he said. â€Å"Sorry.† He locked his lips again. His response was easier to read when I got to the part about the Volturi. His teeth clenched together, goose bumps rose on his arms, and his nostrils flared. I didn't go into specifics, I just told him that Edward had talked us out of trouble, without revealing the promise we'd had to make, or the visit we were anticipating. Jacob didn't need to have my nightmares. â€Å"Now you know the whole story,† I concluded. â€Å"So it's your turn to talk. What happened while I was with my mom this weekend?† I knew Jacob would give me more details than Edward had. He wasn't afraid of scaring me. Jacob leaned forward, instantly animated. â€Å"So Embry and Quil and I were running patrol on Saturday night, just routine stuff, when out of nowhere – bam!† He threw his arms out, impersonating an explosion. â€Å"There it is – a fresh trail, not fifteen minutes old. Sam wanted us to wait for him, but I didn't know you were gone, and I didn't know if your bloodsuckers were keeping an eye on you or not. So we took off after her at full speed, but she'd crossed the treaty line before we caught up. We spread out along the line, hoping she'd cross back over. It was frustrating, let me tell you.† He wagged his head and his hair – growing out from the short crop he'd adopted when he'd joined the pack – flopped into his eyes. â€Å"We ended up too far south. The Cullens chased her back to our side just a few miles north of us. Would have been the perfect ambush if we'd known where to wait.† He shook his head, grimacing now. â€Å"That's when it got dicey. Sam and the others caught up to her before we did, but she was dancing right along the line, and the whole coven was right there on the other side. The big one, what's-his-name -â€Å" â€Å"Emmett.† â€Å"Yeah, him. He made a lunge for her, but that redhead is fast! He flew right behind her and almost rammed into Paul. So, Paul . . . well, you know Paul.† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Lost his focus. Can't say that I blame him – the big bloodsucker was right on top of him. He sprang – hey, don't give me that look. The vampire was on our land.† I tried to compose my face so that he would go on. My nails were digging into my palms with the stress of the story, even though I knew it had turned out fine. â€Å"Anyway, Paul missed, and the big one got back on his side. But by then the, er, well the, uh, blonde . . .† Jacob's expression was a comical mix of disgust and unwilling admiration as he tried to come up with a word to describe Edward's sister. â€Å"Rosalie.† â€Å"Whatever. She got real territorial, so Sam and I fell back to get Paul's flanks. Then their leader and the other blond male -â€Å" â€Å"Carlisle and Jasper.† He gave me an exasperated look. â€Å"You know I don't really care. Anyway, so Carlisle spoke to Sam, trying to calm things down. Then it was weird, because everyone got really calm really fast. It was that other one you told me about, messing with our heads. But even though we knew what he was doing, we couldn't not be calm.† â€Å"Yeah, I know how it feels.† â€Å"Really annoying, that's how it feels. Only you can't be annoyed until afterwards.† He shook his head angrily. â€Å"So Sam and the head vamp agreed that Victoria was the priority, and we started after her again. Carlisle gave us the line, so that we could follow the scent properly, but then she hit the cliffs just north of Makah country, right where the line hugs the coast for a few miles. She took off into the water again. The big one and the calm one wanted permission to cross the line to go after her, but of course we said no.† â€Å"Good. I mean, you were being stupid, but I'm glad. Emmett's never cautious enough. He could have gotten hurt.† Jacob snorted. â€Å"So did your vampire tell you we attacked for no reason and his totally innocent coven -â€Å" â€Å"No,† I interrupted. â€Å"Edward told me the same story, just without quite as many details.† â€Å"Huh,† Jacob said under his breath, and he bent over to pick up a rock from among the millions of pebbles at our feet. With a casual flick, he sent it flying a good hundred meters out into the bay. â€Å"Well, she'll be back, I guess. We'll get another shot at her.† I shuddered; of course she would be back. Would Edward really tell me next time? I wasn't sure. I'd have to keep an eye on Alice, to look for the signs that the pattern was about to repeat. . . . Jacob didn't seem to notice my reaction. He was staring across the waves with a thoughtful expression on his face, his broad lips pursed. â€Å"What are you thinking about?† I asked after a long, quiet time. â€Å"I'm thinking about what you told me. About when the fortune-teller saw you cliff jumping and thought you'd committed suicide, and how it all got out of control. . . . Do you realize that if you had just waited for me like you were supposed to, then the bl – Alice wouldn't have been able to see you jump? Nothing would have changed. We'd probably be in my garage right now, like any other Saturday. There wouldn't be any vampires in Forks, and you and me . . .† He trailed off, deep in thought. It was disconcerting the way he said this, like it would be a good thing to have no vampires in Forks. My heart thumped unevenly at the emptiness of the picture he painted. â€Å"Edward would have come back anyway.† â€Å"Are you sure about that?† he asked, belligerent again as soon as I spoke Edward's name. â€Å"Being apart . . . It didn't work out so well for either of us.† He started to say something, something angry from his expression, but he stopped himself, took a breath, and began again. â€Å"Did you know Sam is mad at you?† â€Å"Me?† It took me a second. â€Å"Oh. I see. He thinks they would have stayed away if I wasn't here.† â€Å"No. That's not it.† â€Å"What's his problem then?† Jacob leaned down to scoop up another rock. He turned it over and over in his fingers; his eyes were riveted on the black stone while he spoke in a low voice. â€Å"When Sam saw . . . how you were in the beginning, when Billy told them how Charlie worried when you didn't get better, and then when you started jumping off cliffs . . .† I made a face. No one was ever going to let me forget that. Jacob's eyes flashed up to mine. â€Å"He thought you were the one person in the world with as much reason to hate the Cullens as he does. Sam feels sort of . . . betrayed that you would just let them back into your life like they never hurt you.† I didn't believe for a second that Sam was the only one who felt that way. And the acid in my voice now was for both of them. â€Å"You can tell Sam to go right to -â€Å" â€Å"Look at that,† Jacob interrupted me, pointing to an eagle in the act of plummeting down toward the ocean from an incredible height. It checked itself at the last minute, only its talons breaking the surface of the waves, just for an instant. Then it flapped away, its wings straining against the load of the huge fish it had snagged. â€Å"You see it everywhere,† Jacob said, his voice suddenly distant. â€Å"Nature taking its course – hunter and prey, the endless cycle of life and death.† I didn't understand the point of the nature lecture; I guessed that he was just trying to change the subject. But then he looked down at me with dark humor in his eyes. â€Å"And yet, you don't see the fish trying to plant a kiss on the eagle. You never see that.† He grinned a mocking grin. I grinned back tightly, though the acid taste was still in my mouth. â€Å"Maybe the fish was trying,† I suggested. â€Å"It's hard to tell what a fish is thinking. Eagles are good-looking birds, you know.† â€Å"Is that what it comes down to?† His voice was abruptly sharper. â€Å"Good looks?† â€Å"Don't be stupid, Jacob.† â€Å"Is it the money, then?† he persisted. â€Å"That's nice,† I muttered, getting up from the tree. â€Å"I'm flattered that you think so much of me.† I turned my back on him and paced away. â€Å"Aw, don't get mad.† He was right behind me; he caught my wrist and spun me around. â€Å"I'm serious! I'm trying to understand here, and I'm coming up blank.† His eyebrows pushed together angrily, and his eyes were black in their deep shadow. â€Å"I love him. Not because he's beautiful or because he's rich!† I spat the word at Jacob. â€Å"I'd much rather he weren't either one. It would even out the gap between us just a little bit – because he'd still be the most loving and unselfish and brilliant and decent person I've ever met. Of course I love him. How hard is that to understand?† â€Å"It's impossible to understand.† â€Å"Please enlighten me, then, Jacob.† I let the sarcasm flow thick. â€Å"What is a valid reason for someone to love someone else? Since apparently I'm doing it wrong.† â€Å"I think the best place to start would be to look within your own species. That usually works.† â€Å"Well, that just sucks!† I snapped. â€Å"I guess I'm stuck with Mike Newton after all.† Jacob flinched back and bit his lip. I could see that my words had hurt him, but I was too mad to feel bad about that yet. He dropped my wrist and folded his arms across his chest, turning from me to glare toward the ocean. â€Å"I'm human,† he muttered, his voice almost inaudible. â€Å"You're not as human as Mike,† I continued ruthlessly. â€Å"Do you still think that's the most important consideration?† â€Å"It's not the same thing.† Jacob didn't look away from the gray waves. â€Å"I didn't choose this.† I laughed once in disbelief. â€Å"Do you think Edward did? He didn't know what was happening to him any more than you did. He didn't exactly sign up for this.† Jacob was shaking his head back and forth with a small, quick movement. â€Å"You know, Jacob, you're awfully self-righteous – considering that you're a werewolf and all.† â€Å"It's not the same,† Jacob repeated, glowering at me. â€Å"I don't see why not. You could be a bit more understanding about the Cullens. You have no idea how truly good they are – to the core, Jacob.† He frowned more deeply. â€Å"They shouldn't exist. Their existence goes against nature.† I stared at him for a long moment with one eyebrow raised incredulously. It was a while before he noticed. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Speaking of unnatural . . . ,† I hinted. â€Å"Bella,† he said, his voice slow and different. Aged. I realized that he sounded suddenly older than me – like a parent or a teacher. â€Å"What I am was born in me. It's a part of who I am, who my family is, who we all are as a tribe – it's the reason why we're still here. â€Å"Besides that† – he looked down at me, his black eyes unreadable – â€Å"I am stillhuman.† He picked up my hand and pressed it to his fever-warm chest. Through his t-shirt, I could feel the steady beating of his heart under my palm. â€Å"Normal humans can't throw motorcycles around the way you can.† He smiled a faint, half-smile. â€Å"Normal humans run away from monsters, Bella. And I never claimed to be normal. Just human.† Staying angry with Jacob was too much work. I started to smile as I pulled my hand away from his chest. â€Å"You look plenty human to me,† I allowed. â€Å"At the moment.† â€Å"I feel human.† He stared past me, his face far away. His lower lip trembled, and he bit down on it hard. â€Å"Oh, Jake,† I whispered, reaching for his hand. This was why I was here. This was why I would take whatever reception waited for me when I got back. Because, underneath all the anger and the sarcasm, Jacob was in pain. Right now, it was very clear in his eyes. I didn't know how to help him, but I knew I had to try. It was more than that I owed him. It was because his pain hurt me, too. Jacob had become a part of me, and there was no changing that now.

Ethic Essay Essay

Assume that Mark pledge to look after his sister’s son while she goes to the grocery store to buy some food. Instead, he goes to a computer shop to play poker in the internet. Supposedly, Mark should find another person to baby-sit the son of his sister. This is the moral responsibility of Mark for his obligations to the child and his mother. Secondly, Mark’s sister has also a moral responsibility in circumstances when it would be right to ethically commend or hold responsible Mark for his actions. If Mark failed to find a baby-sitter, he is morally responsible for the failure of his sister to buy some food in the grocery store. Mark’s actions are reflected to moral agents. Agents are reflects to situations and intensions of actions (Q1 & Q2). I found my self altruistic to other people. If I have something (i. e. some money, food, clothes, etc. ), I intend to give it to other people. I didn’t count those things but I just want to help other people even at small things. Altruism in ethical concept in psychology is the purposeful pursuit of welfare of other people and/or public interest. In layman’s term, the concept of altruism is the unselfishness of one person for the welfare of other people (other than his/her family). I find it odd since I’m attracted towards helping other people like beggars and street people and charities rather than giving help my family’s lives (Q3 & Q4). The top three values I have are being altruistic, kind, and serious. I think these values came from my family and the culture we have. I also think that being altruistic and kind are some of the professional ethics in psychology that are most compatible with my personal values. The notion of psychological egoism I believed is the notion where people are inspired by self-interest and concerns to others for the reason that this kindness will be returned back to them and will benefit them. (ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGISTS AND CODE OF CONDUCT, 2002). Conversely, this is only a viewpoint of how things are but not what is expected to happen or ought to be (Q5 & Q6). References ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGISTS AND CODE OF CONDUCT. (2002) American Psychological Association.

Crossing Essay

Since the beginning of human life, fathers from around the world have played a vital role in their sons’ lives, whom they have had to learn to fish, hunt and survive in general. It has been crucial for fathers to hand over their knowledge to their sons. Concurrently with the development of human life and its foundation, it has been possible to form a social stratum given that it has been facilitated for some people to make more money than other people have. Furthermore, this evolution was an influence on the family relationship, were the man became the new capital in society, and thus became more important than the woman. As the men were working, the women became responsible for the children and therefore had an enormous impact on the behaviour and upbringing of the children. Mark Slouka’s short story, ‘Crossing’, from 2009 shows a number of these important themes, such as the father/son-relationship and man vs. nature. The protagonist in the short story is the father, an unnamed man somewhere between 30-50 years old. The father finds himself in a small depression: †He hadn’t been happy in a while.† 1. Recently, the father was divorced from the mother of his son, which is shown in his thoughts about whether he had missed his wife or not. â€Å"†¦he hadn’t wanted her back, hadn’t wanted much of anything really† 2. Even though the main character has a guilty conscience, and it seems that he is the one to blame for the divorce – he feels a desire to make things work again – both his relationship to his ex-wife and most important of all, the relationship to his son. â€Å"When he looked at her she shook her head and looked away and at that moment he thought, maybe — maybe he could make this right.† 3. The father comes across as an honest, caring and loving father to his son, and quickly we consolidate sympathy with him as a reader. â€Å"†¦when the boy came running into the living room he threw him over his shoulder, careful not to hit his head on the corner of the TV†¦Ã¢â‚¬  4. The protagonist takes his son on a trip to make up for the divorce and to improve their relationship. The father wants to share some of his childhood memories he had as a young boy with his dad. The main character used to go on this exact trip; therefore, he repeats the same rituals and traditions to give his son the same experience. †This is it, kid, the old man would say whenever they turned off the main road, you excited? Every year †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Almost there,† he said to the little boy next to him. â€Å"You excited?†Ã¢â‚¬  5. As the main character sees  the river for the first time in many years, he is considering calling of the trip – the river is much greater than he had expected from it. Yet, he believes that there is no way out – he cannot turn around. There is nowhere else to go, which could symbolize him being in the middle of something – with no turning back. †For a moment he considered pulling out, explaining †¦ but there was nowhere else to go.† 6. During the short story, the father gives his thoughts and some comments on the things happening, which builds up a thrill in the story. The protagonist points out repeatedly that what they are about to do is dangerous. He knows that he is putting himself and his son into danger, but he wants to convince himself and his son about the fact that he is a good father. â€Å"People in a hurry get in trouble.† 7. â€Å"†So what do you do if you fall? He remembered asking once †¦ – and the old man calling back of his shoulder, â€Å"Do not fuckin ‘fall.† 8. The solicitude of the father reappears as he tries to calm down the boy as he stumbles in the river on their way back. The father knows that they are in a bad situation but he remains calm for the boy’s sake. In fact, the father himself is very scared and afraid of what is going to happened – at this point he has lost hope. Even though, he wants to appear brave and to show himself from his best side, when all he wants is to be a good father. â€Å"He could hear himself, breathing hard. †I’m okay, kiddo. I’m okay. That was not good, but we’re fine. â€Å"They were fine. 9. Since we do not have access to the boy’s thoughts and feelings, Mark Slouka draws a picture of him with descriptions through the father’s mind of the boy. We get the picture of a little fragile boy, who needs to be taken care of by his father. This makes us sympathize with the boy and especially the father, who needs to take care of him throughout their trip in the wilderness. †He tried not to look at the boy sitting where he’d left him on the opposite shore because there was something about the smallness of him in his blue shorts against the bank of stones he didn’t like†¦Ã¢â‚¬  10. There is a third person narrator in the short story, which is attached to the father since we get to know his inner feeling and memories. â€Å"You never see it, he thought.† 11. Slouka places the point of view with the father in order to show us how he experiences the situation of having been divorced, and how he now tries to regain order and meaning in his difficult life. The short story is arranged in chronological sequences, but with flashbacks. The time jumps from the present to the past. The present is in the wilderness at the river, and the past is when the father picks up the boy at his moms, and when he thinks back on his own childhood. The amount of energy used to build up the tension in the story is great. From start to finish, the reader is given a feeling of discomfort, and that something bad will happen. The author achieves this suspense by using the environment and the mood of the story. From the beginning the mood ominous and menacing. Rain, fog and emptiness dominate the description of the environment they find themselves in. In this way, the thrill is build up just as slowly, and as a reader, you are waiting for something terrible to hap pen. †It was raining†¦ [†¦] A black road†¦ [†¦] The line of the open sky in the east was razor sharp†¦ [†¦] The empty road†¦Ã¢â‚¬  12. The river is the main environment in which the story takes place, in and around. The river is larger and more violent than the main character remembers it: â€Å"The river was bigger than he remembered it, stronger.† 13. The river itself show some ominous signs as well which helps building excitement in the story. You always have the feeling that something bad is going to happen. When standing in front of the river, they sees something in the river that looks dead, something that has been shot. As a reader you are left with the question whether they survive the river or not. Furthermore, the ending points in the direction of death. †He wanted to scream for help. There was no one – just the rushing plain of the river, the trees†¦Everything had come together. He couldn’t move. He was barely holding on. There was no way.† 14. In addition, the title â€Å"Crossing† points in the direction of death. When you use the phrase â€Å"crossing over† it is usually associated with death. You will go to the other side. It is a bridge between life and death. The river becomes the tunnel – the question is if they reach the light or survives from it. The ending might seem unfair, tragic and unreasonable. However, the open ending gives the reader a choice of life and death – The author puts the characters destiny into our hands. Even though the story ends up in a bad way to the father and son, the trip has been a journey that has brought the two characters even closer. In fact, the father gets the perfect opportunity to perform the action of being a good parent. The most important thing in the father’s life ended up being the last. The short story shows how little and insignificant man is in relation to Mother Nature.

History of Culture tissue propagation Research Paper

History of Culture tissue propagation - Research Paper Example The period ranging from 1940s to 1960s marked the development of the improvements of the existing technologies already used and the new technologies. This led to tissue culture application in areas such as: cell behavior including metabolism, cytology, embryogenesis, nutrition, pathology and morphogenesis; clonal propagation; plant modification and improvement, product formation, and pathogen free plants and germplasm storage. The beginning of the 1990s indicated a continuous expansion in the vitro technology applications to the increasing number of species of plants. Cell culture has since remained a vital tool in the area of biochemistry and basic plant biology, agricultural biotechnology and molecular biology (Singh & Srivastava, 2006). This paper seeks to discuss the history of plant tissue culture, the development and significant information on plant tissue culture. The idea of tissue culture began as early as 1838 with the theory of the cell by Schwann and Schleiden. The very first approach of an experiment was tried vainly in 1902 by Haberlandt. After the success of Carrel with the animal cells, motivating results were attained on plant tissues in 1934 by Gautheret and the issue was solved independently in 1939 by White, Nobecourt, and Gautheret. The development of tissue culture was slowed since the new field only attracted few individuals. In 1954 however, the principal chapters of plant tissue culture were opened: there were studies on cell culture, tissue culture, expertness of vegetative propagation and organ formation, improvement of nutrients, growth of substances, application of pathological problems, and efforts to achieve secondary products. In 1966, Guha and Maheshwari initiated the androgenesis, as Kuster’s pioneer efforts on the protoplast fusion was brought about and exhumed innumerable investigations. Eventually for the last ten years, there has been a true explosion of plant tissue culture and currently

The Collapse of the U.S.S.R Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Collapse of the U.S.S.R - Research Paper Example Communism as an alternative economic order was argued to have been â€Å"designed to avoid the wasteful and chaotic competition of capitalism and to move the country quickly ttoward industrial development.† (Strayer, 1998, page 6). It was the economy of Soviet Union that had given the material foundation for the country to become victorious in the Second World War. It also viewed as a model of rapid industrial growth for a number of Third World countries. Such was a planned economy which believed in the power of the state to plan and dictate what needs to be produced for users and consumers (Strayer, 1998). This paper will attempt to explain the collapse of USSR as a regime in the light of the experience of other empires, in relation to how ordinary mortals behave and the underlying concepts of communism and alternative economic order of capitalism Soviet was known to have its huge and growing military expertise during the Cold War. However such claims to superpower status were believed to be grounded on breakable and weakening economic foundation as seen in the 1970s and 1980s. This weak economic condition was said to have been caused by an "imperial overstretch". (Strayer, 1998, p.17). Instead of prioritizing its economic needs, USSR needed to join or maintain the race for nuclear and conventional weapons. This was also the reason why USSR made its expensive commitments in Eastern Europe and Third World. This heavy spending was believed to have undermined strongly its domestic consumer economy in the process. The Soviet leadership was aware of the problems of relationship between its international standing and declining economic base and the perception substantially caused the needed reform. Reform efforts in the late 1980s because of these perceived problems in the regime were actually made but they were not enough to prevent the collapse. The failure of communism as

Promoting Creativity and Creative Learning in Young Children Assignment

Promoting Creativity and Creative Learning in Young Children - Assignment Example It involves ensuring opportunities for children making connections within specific learning areas, and guarantee that these children relate to these learning areas. Creative learning activities may often be focused on specific goals. Creative thinking is free and open (Runco and Pritzker, 1999). It also uses both convergent and divergent thinking in ensuring creative problem-solving techniques. In thinking creatively, one idea may emerge from convergent thinking, and vice versa for divergent thinking (Runco and Pritzker, 1999). Creativity and creative learning support children overall development because creativity allows the children to be involved in a trial and error learning (Fasko, 2001). It also supports collaboration, curiosity, as well as experimentation, thereby allowing the children to be as free as possible in their learning process. Through creativity, more freedom is allowed for children, allowing them to make discoveries in learning for themselves (Fasko, 2001). There is a huge degree of play involved in learning as children explore a problem, as they think of abstract processes on how to manage such problem and how they can apply such solutions to the concrete issue. Games and creativity are often seen as frivolous activities; however, these activities often involve mental efforts, calling for the children’s participation in managing problems. It prompts them to collaborate and simulate actual scenarios (Thomas, 2013). Play allows abstract ideas to be more relevant in the children†™s mind, ensuring that an abstract idea would have more meaning to them. In order to support creativity in the classroom setting, some academics advise on the importance of leaving the concept of the teacher-authority figure behind. Students, therefore, have to be encouraged to ask their teacher questions. Where interaction sets in, collaboration follows, with possibilities for creativity being introduced.  

The Crystal Cathedral Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Crystal Cathedral - Essay Example It rises up in the centre of the park and has around 10,000 pieces of tempered silver-colored glass windows encased in a network of white steel trusses. The interiors of the cathedral can allow a seating congregation of nearly 3,000 people. If required, the portions of the exterior walls open up which allow additional members to remain in their cars while viewing the worship service in the insides. The glass used on the external surface is reflective. It allows only 8 per cent of light and heat to penetrate to the insides. The building happens to be the world's first all-glass church. The plan comprises of the basic elements of a typical church in a shape of a four pointed star some 460ft by 200ft that reaches up to 128ft at its apex. Its height is even bigger than that of Notre Dame in Paris. The church complex is designed by American architect Philip Johnson and John Burgee. The building is huge in scale, and its all of its walls are clad by mirrored glass to the outside over a steel lattice structure. It has a symmetrical plan and an asymmetrical section. The crystalline shaped and glass-covered steel lattice frames have been used to give the building its present structure and form. In the floor plan of the church, the nave has been squished to pull out the transept. The idea behind doing this was to get the public closer to the performances and the alter place to have a better view of the activities. On further simplification of this geometry, this form has eventually given rise to the form of a star in its plan, with free-standing balconies in three points and the chancel in the fourth corner. The glass hung on the steel lattice frames gives an effect of a non-massive building. On the outsides the mirrored glass makes an entirely mirrored building with only around one tenth of sunlight entering the insides of the building. The construction with a triodetic steel frame helps in venting the hotter air to the outside from its top and it functions as a gigantic chimney. This provides natural cooling the interiors as cool air enters fro m the lower openings. Image 2: the aerial view of the Crystal Cathedral in the park, note its star shaped plan Made almost entirely of glass and a framework of steel, the cathedral is having an angular, mirror-like exterior, a transparent sun-lit interior, a giant television screen, and an altar place made out of marble. The walls and roof are clad in the mirrored glass over a structure of space frame and it helps in attaining passive solar heating in small proportions. The openable strips of the ventilating windows also help in attaining wind cooling. This is needed as the building is located in suburban area of Garden Grove having a climate of mild desert. The apex at the top is made with the help of triodetic steel frame that act as a chimney to carry out wind movements and provide natural cooling. The glass, being reflective by its characteristics, allows only eight per cent of light and heat to penetrate to the insides. The supporting structure is a triodetic steel frame. It works as a giant chimney and allows heat to rise out of the building and preventing a greenhouse effect. The cathe dral has 10,000 panes of reflective glass, which allows only 8% of outside light into the church. This gives the interior a sub watery appearance. The audio services,

Gene cloning (Clone human gene from cDNA libraries...) Essay

Gene cloning (Clone human gene from cDNA libraries...) - Essay Example First, cloning is the separation or isolation of genetically homogenous strain of an organism (Lassen et al., 2005). Organisms at the same genetic level are identical within a clone. In most cases, bacteria, phages and even higher plants are cloned by the isolation of a single cell from the organism of interest and allowing the isolated cell to form a colony or an entire plant. In more specific terms, cDNA cloning entails the isolation of single but self-replicating organism followed by an amplification of its cell (Kfoury, 2007). However, there are certain conditions that should be met for such a technique to be treated as cDNA cloning. That is, such an organism’s DNA must contain the target cDNA. In cases where the interest of a researcher is in any cDNA produced by a given organism, it would not matter the type of cDNA produced. That is, any cDNA would work. The key and most difficult issue in many cloning studies on CDNA is never the isolation of CDNA but the selection of the CDNA of interest among many cDNAs. A DNA library on the other hand refers to a collection of various sequences of DNA combined into one vector (Kfoury, 2007). Thus, a CDNA library has sequences that are complementary to messenger RNAs. A vector refers to an organism that is designed for experimental purposes and self-replicates. In many experiments, vectors are made from bacteriophages, plasmids, retroviruses and animal viruses (Lassen et al., 2005). Vectors must have a system by which they reproduce, which is the essence genetic science. Before delving deep into the techniques used to clone from CDNA libraries, it is importance to overview a few cloning strategies. Cloning Strategies and Methods First among the recommended cloning strategies is the necessity of acquiring a library that contains the required sequence. Second, the clones of interest should be isolated. Third, formal tests to help ensure that the correct clones of interest have been isolated need to be developed. One method of creating human genes from CDNA is referred to as the Rapid Amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) (McLaren, 2000). The known strengths of RACE are that it is inexpensive and a powerful tool for acquiring full-range CDNA, even for partially known sequences. In this technique, which begins with a mixture of mRNAs, non-specification anchors and gene-specific primers generated from the known regions of the gene, it is possible to identify substitute transcripts of a gene for partial as well as complete sequence of only one known transcript (McLaren, 2000). This technique is used to obtain a full-range sequence of a cell’s RNA transcript. In the first step of the RACE process, reverse transcription in which an unknown end section of a transcript is copied by use of a known sequence from the middle of the transcript results in a CDNA copy of the RNA transcript. The copied region is bounded by the known sequence and either the 5' or 3' end. Screening of cDNA Libraries and D NA Synthesis of CDNA Inserts The other techniques by which human genes may be obtained from CDNA are screening of CDNA libraries and DNA synthesis of CDNA inserts. Screening of cDNA libraries, by transcript-specific RT-PCR cloning is particularly appropriate in situations where a labeled CDNA probe is not available. In this technique, it is the knowledge about a CDNA’

Compliance of Businesses with the Principles of United Nations Global Essay - 1

Compliance of Businesses with the Principles of United Nations Global Compact - Essay Example Alcoa Inc., being an international organization with 31 headquarters all over the world and working in all the major aspects of its industry (developing technology, performing mining, refining, smelting, fabricating, and recycling of aluminum), believes it has enough expertise and experience for making recommendations to the Australasian Local Network. Furthermore, these particular principles are a basis of our Vision & Values statement, which makes us responsible for protecting and promoting â€Å"the health and well-being of the individual and the environment† (Vision & Values 2011). Alcoa Foundation, one of the largest corporate foundations in the U.S., is an outstanding project of our company, the activities of which are aimed at supporting our host communities worldwide (Alcoa Foundation 2011). The organization works as an independent foundation for addressing both global and local challenges of the communities. These activities are consistent with the vision and mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of supporting â€Å"economic and social well-being of people around the world† (OECD 2011), and of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in regards to â€Å"promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights† (ILO 2011). Therefore, on the basis of our experience working towards the outlined above principles, we would like to propose the following recommendations: 1. Design, implement and control the fulfillment of a statement of protecting human rights in all the communities the company operates in (Global Compact Principle One 2011). Benefits & Implications: The company’s vision regarding human rights protection is clearly outlined and, thus, it is easier to develop corresponding structures and policies Communities differ and, therefore, some general and universal principles should be outlined in the statement instead of those to which a particular l ocal community is accustomed. A unified statement, being fulfilled, will not only promote human rights protection within the community but will also help to educated communities on what they should claim from organizations in terms of respecting and supporting people’s rights. Lessons Learnt The statement of protecting human rights of Alcoa Inc. now includes only the points regarding paying employees guaranteed minimum wages and prohibiting slavery (Health 2011), and we are working on improving this aspect. This shortcoming of ours has caused many problems in the past – we have even been blamed for putting corporate interests above the interests of people, governments or the planet. There, however, already exist good examples: the Human Rights Policy Statement of Continental Airlines, for instance, deals with such issues as ethical business conduct, as well as protection of the rights of co-workers and children (Continental Airlines, Inc. 2011).

Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research - Essay Example Libya had been operating under a 1951 constitutional order, a document which was abolished by Gaddafi immediately he rose to power. Gaddafi then put into practice ideologies outlined in his own manifesto, The Green Book. He served until 1977 when he announced that he had officially stepped down from power and claimed that he would maintain a ceremonial position (Freedom House, 2010). With Gaddafi remaining a ceremonial leader, Libya was ruled by People’s Committees as local governments, and indirectly elected General People’s Congress as the legislature. There was also the General People’s Committee, which served as the executive branch. However, to ensure that Gaddafi maintains full control, he manipulated these structures to suit his political endeavors. US diplomats in Libya described his politics as â€Å"mastery of tactical maneuvering†. Gaddafi, together with his family and close friends controlled almost every aspect of business enterprises (Wyatt, 2011). Looking at the political landscape in Libya, one may think that it is one of the best democracies in the world, being one of the richest countries in Africa. However, behind the outwardly wealthy Arab country there is a lot of human suffering. Gaddafi initiated projects that would provide free medical care, free education, and free clean drinking water for all. However, it is claimed that the road network is only good in parts of the country with his support. The free medical care provided is also sub-standard (Freedom House, 2010). There are countries which from outside may seem to have democratic structures in place, but which scrutiny may reveal to be undemocratic. They just have these structures to deceive the international community. These regimes manipulate everything to ensure they stay in power and control virtually everything (Edwards, 1993). Talking of human rights violations, there are believable sources that cite the existence of a crisis. Gaddafi was not only a d e-facto leader, but he was also an autocratic one. Dissent to his regime was notoriously termed illegal under Law 75 of 1973. No one was allowed to form a political party, lest they were executed- ranging from public hangings and the images rebroadcasted on public television channels. There were also assassinations of Libyan dissents all over the world by the Libyan intelligence. Reports also cite rapes and indiscriminate jail terms for dissents (Freedom House, 2010). Our question then is; what is the best approach to promote democracy and protect human rights in Libya? Many countries have intervened but a lot more needs to be done. The Middle East and Northern Africa regions have actually seen involvement of foreign countries since time immemorial; an attempt to promote democracy. However, Islamic leaders have rejected some of them, especially the US, on allegations that they want to rule the Arab world (Ferguson, 2004). There are various interventions, which the international comm unity has made in an attempt to promote democracy in Libya. Countries have not only condemned attacks on civilians but also some of them have also abandoned diplomatic relations with Libya. The recent crisis saw arrest warrants imposed on Gaddafi and his allies by the International Criminal Court. Many countries went as far as supporting the anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council as the legitimate government. People from other countries have also held

The Ongoing Evolution of Electronic Music and Its Impact on Music Essay

The Ongoing Evolution of Electronic Music and Its Impact on Music Culture and the Production and Performance of Music - Essay Example People listen to some sort of music every day in their lives, from the moment they are born till the day that they die. Music brings joy, a kind of joy which nothing else can offer especially in times of loneliness and despair. Music has a peculiar strength which captivates and mesmerizes the listeners, and they emerge rejuvenated on listening to it. One of the greatest accomplishments of humanity is developing songs, lyrics, beats, tunes and such other innovative musical strands that connect and create music culture. Music, as we know today is very far from what it was centuries ago. The ability of human beings to mimic the sounds they hear in the environment and converting them into their own music using the different tools he can find is one distinctive facture of human being race. It is believed that music has been around since the times humans, or as referred to during that time ‘cavemen,’ have existed. As it is known, musical instruments did not exist continues ago. The people then just made music out of things they could lay their hands on, like banging stones together, rubbing sticks together, clapping, and humming and so on. Evolution of Electronic Music: Music, like every other art form, has evolved over times to keep in tandem with the transformations in human aesthetics. Similarly, the advent of technolog y in the modern world has revolutionized all spheres of human life including music. â€Å"Key subjects in the music industry range from music production policy and consumption of popular music† (Wiechmann 2009). The evolution of music into electronic form, thus owes it allegiance to a great deal to the developments in technology. The first acknowledged form of an electronic music device is the telharmonium or dynamo phone, invented by Thaddeus Cahill. The evolution of electronic music indicates the type of music that uses various electronic musical devices and technologies of electronic music in its production. In general a difference can be made between the sound created using electromechanical ways and that which is formed using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound creating instruments are Hammond organ, Telharmonium, and the electric guitar. Pure electronic sound can be created by using instruments such as the sound synthesizer, computer and Theremin. The Effects of New Technology on the Approaches to Creating Electronic Music and Artists/DJs etc who Utilize Such Technologies: The effect of new technology has created lots of advantages in the process of creating artists, music or DJs who utilize such kind of technologies. The growth of new instrumental idiom and verbal idiom some of the outstanding phenomena of current music. There are undoubtedly certain contributing factors in the current music forms: the effect of folk instrument methods; the influence of jazz, and, afterwards, rock methods; the emancipation of percussion devices (a growth for which Bartok is particularly important); and at last, the arrival of a growing number of young singers and instrumentalists who specialize in the performance of current music, and who themselves play attention in questioning the idiomatic resources of their devices. The growth of idiom, obviously, has been an ongoing procedure over the centuries; in fact, it is incumbent upon every age to "reinvent" devices as modes and styles of expression change. â€Å"The music industry is one industry that has been greatly affected by technology† (Jones 2005). The influence of technology on music is devastating. A DJ gives all types of music.

Foundational Accounting Principles and Terminology Essay Example for Free

Foundational Accounting Principles and Terminology Essay We all know how important the accounting aspect of any business/organization is. It is basically the most important way to manage finances. Without proper accounting for all expenses and finances, a company and/or organization will definitely have a hard time being financially stable. In this paper we will discuss some foundational accounting principles and terminology that are basic but quite essential to the accounting practice. Now let’s discuss some accounting terms beginning with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is a codification of how CPA firms and corporations prepare and present their business income and expense, assets and liabilities on their financial statements. GAAP is not a single accounting rule, but rather the aggregate of many rules on how to account for various transactions. GAAP are more like accounting standards (Wikipedia, 2009). Next we have Contra-Asset Accounts, which is defined as an account which offsets another account. A contra-asset account has a credit balance and offsets the debit balance of the corresponding asset. A contra-liability account has a debit balance and offsets the credit balance of the corresponding liability (InvestorWords, 2009). Let us move on to Historical Cost, which is a measure of value used in accounting in which the price of an asset on the balance sheet is based on its nominal or original cost when acquired by the company. The historical-cost method is used for assets in the U. S. under generally accepted accounting principles (Investopedia, 2009). Okay, now there is the Accrual Basis vs. Cash Bonus Accounting. This is the difference between the two. In Accrual basis accounting, income is reported in the fiscal period it is earned, regardless of when it is received, and expenses are deducted in the fiscal period they are incurred, whether they are paid or not. Basically, you record both revenues and expenses when they occur. In cash basis accounting, revenues are recorded when cash is actually received and expenses are recorded when they are actually paid (Ward, 2009). Last but not least, there is the Accounting Standards Codification. Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) is a major restructuring of accounting and reporting standards designed to simplify user access to all authoritative U. S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) by providing the authoritative literature in a topically organized structure. ASC disassembled and reassembled thousands of nongovernmental accounting pronouncements (including those of FASB, the Emerging Issues Task Force [EITF], and the AICPA) to organize them under approximately 90 topics. The ASC are those that oversee that all accounting and reporting standards are adhered to (Wikipedia, 2009). It is now time to move on to discuss and describe three sets of financial statements that are part of financial statements of companies /organizations. The three sets of financial statements we will be describing are The Balance Sheet, The Income Statement and The Statement of Cash Flows. The balance sheet also known as the â€Å"Statement of financial position† reveals a company’s assets, liabilities and equity (net worth). The balance sheet is divided into two parts that must equal each other, or balance each other out. The formula of the balance sheet is: Assets= Liabilities + Shareholder’s Equity. What this formula means is that assets, or the means used to operate the company, are balanced by a company’s obligations along with equity investment brought into the company and its retained earnings (Investopedia, 2009). Next we have the income statement, which measures a company’s financial performance over a specific accounting period. The financial performance is assessed by giving a summary of how the business incurs its revenues and expenses. It also shows the net profit or loss incurred over a specific accounting period, which is typically over fiscal quarter or year (Investopedia, 2009). Moving on to the last one, which is the cash flow statement. The cash flow statement allows investors to understand how a company’s operations are running, where its money is coming from, and how it is being spent. The cash flow statement is also a mandatory part of a company’s financial report, and has been so since 1987 (Investopedia, 2009). Now I will describe which is more useful, Net Income or Cash from Operating Activities? I believe that Cash from Operating Activities is more useful to companies because they can generate cash in several different ways. Three different ways to be exact, they are cash flows from operating activities, from investing activities, and financing activities. Cash from Operating Activities, in my opinion is the most useful because it paints the best picture of how well a company’s business operations are producing cash. After looking over the annual financial reports for Samsung, RTL Group and Lockheed Martin, I make the prediction that each company will continue to improve its net income as well as see a significant spike in their cash flow. As far as relevant information in regards to conglomerates, such as the IDOLS segment of the Fremantle Media North America, I was not totally sure how to get this information but I eventually continued to read the investor portion on the RTL Group website where I found out more information. All in all, I learned some new definitions when it comes to accounting and decision making. I thought this assignment was intense due to a lot of reading and research, but I believe I got through it well. I look forward to learning more about how accounting and decision making come together. References http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/033104.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/031004.asp http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/incomestatement.asp http://www.investorwords.com/5476/contra_account.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generally_Accepted_Accounting_Principles

Refugees and Biopolitics

Refugees and Biopolitics Refugee: The Victim of Biopolitics While we acknowledged as citizens of our country are enjoying our basic rights as a human as well as a citizen, have turned a blind eye to those millions of people around the world who are forced to live on the margins of social, political, economical and geographical borders. These people are known as the refugees; people in search of a refuge. They can also be called immigrants or asylum seekers. Victims of their nation’s political functioning these people are forced to find haven on an alien land. At times, these people (called the ‘Others’) are constructed as a danger to ‘Us’. â€Å"Fear of the Other is produced, circulated and capitalized on to achieve political and economic purposes† (Robin). The questions that arise here are as many as why are these refugees treated as the ‘Others’? Aren’t they humans like ‘Us’? Weren’t they born as Man and, as a result, are entitled to be acknowledged with the basic human and citizenship rights? And most importantly, why and how do these people become the victims of biopolitics? This paper is an attempt to find the answers to such questions. In his book Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has devoted an entire section titled ‘Biopolitics and the Rights of Man’ to describe the suffering of these refugees who are denied even the basic human rights in a new country. Becoming a victim of his fate â€Å"the very figure who should have embodied the rights of man par excellence the refugee signals instead the concept’s radical crisis† (Agamben 126). The crux of Agamben’s essay is based on Hannah Arendt’s claim that the fates of human rights and the nation-state are linked together, which means that the decline of one also implies the end of the other. This means, that by altering the rights of these people who later become refugees, the nation is leading towards its own decline. â€Å"The paradox from which Arendt departs is that the very figure who should have embodied the rights of man par excellence the refugee signals instead the concep t’s radical crisis† (Agamben 126). Agamben completely understands the refugees’ condition as it is and that’s why he has titled his book as Homo Sacer. To understand the meaning behind this we need to go back to the Roman antiquity, where the cancellation of a citizen’s rights by the sovereign produced the threshold figure of homo sacer, the sacred man who can be killed by anyone as he has no rights but can’t be sacrificed because the act of sacrifice can only be done within the legal context of the city from which homo sacer has been banished, as can be seen in the case of refugees from Rwanda (Agamben 133). â€Å"He is an outlawed citizen, the exception to the law, and yet he is still subject to the penalty of death and therefore still included, in the very act of exclusion, within the law† (Downey). Homo sacer blurs the line between an outlaw and a citizen and, hence aptly portrays the figure of Agamben’s refugees. In his essay ‘Biopolitics and the Rights of Man’, Agamben has talked about the devastating impact of biopolitics on the refugees. The word ‘biopolitics’ has been formed out of two words: bio (the life) and politics, and means the â€Å"regulation of the life of populations† by politics (Zembylas). When Agamben says â€Å"Biopolitics† or â€Å"Biopower†, he refers to the social and political power that the nation-state has over human life. In order to protect the population’s biological well-being, the state acts preventively and thus it goes against the ‘Other’: â€Å"If you want to live, the other must die† (Foucault 255). And in this way, the killing is justified in the name of security. Biopolitics â€Å"establishes a binary categorization between ‘us’ and ‘them’, or between the ‘normal’ (legitimate citizens) and the ‘abnormal’ (illegal immigrants, un-qual ified refugees or bogus asylum seekers). The former deserve to live, while the latter are expendable† (Zembylas). Agamben talks about the first move of classical western politics: the separation of the biological and the political. This can be seen in Aristotle’s separation between life in the polis. Bios is the political life and zoÄâ€Å" is the bare life. â€Å"The entry of zoÄâ€Å" into the sphere of the polis the politicization of bare life as such constitutes the decisive event of modernity and signals a radical transformation of the political-philosophical categories of classical thought† (Agamben). For Agamben, at the political level, biopower means that what’s at stake is the life of the citizen itself; not only his existence but also his life. Agamben also examines the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 1789 and concludes that the bare natural life (birth) is the source and bearer of rights as mentioned in the first article of the Declaration, which says that â€Å"Men are born and remain free and equal in rights†. This should mean that despite leaving their country, the refugees deserve equal rights. But at the same time, he reminds us that the very natural life vanishes into the figure of the citizen, in whom rights are â€Å"preserved†. This means, that although a man is born free and has equal rights, these rights are valid only as long as he is a citizen. So, when he leaves his country and becomes a refugee, he is devoid of any citizenship rights. And, since the Declaration can attribute sovereignty to the â€Å"nation†, Agamben says, â€Å"the nation closes the open circle of man’s birth† (Agamben). Now, that the sovereignty lies with the nation, this is where the biopolitics enters the scene. Now, when biopolitics enters the scene, what we can see is the discrimination it does. A format of this discrimination can be seen in the real life accounts of Mexican-American writer, Luis Alberto Urrea, who in his book Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border, talks about his experience in Tijuana (a city in Mexico adjacent to the Mexican-American border) where thousands of immigrants/refugees from different parts of Central America arrive every day, with the hope that they might be able to cross the Mexican-American border and make it to The United States. He provides an account of the struggles of these refugees, who after spending all their money, leaving their homeland behind and facing all sorts of violence do make it to Tijuana but only to face more violation. Reaching Tijuana isn’t the most painful hurdle for them, the real struggle begins after they reach there and begin the journey of crossing the highly-guarded Mexican-American border. The border, strengthened by Border Patrol, makes the idea of reaching the other side of the fence (USA) a ‘dream’ for these refugees. The biopolitics comes here in the form of both nations’ Border Patrols who stop these immigrants from entering North America. The danger is present not only in the form of the ‘foreign’ Border Patrols but also in the form of the ‘local’ coyotes (guides) who at times turn on these refugees and take all their money away from them. If the coyotes don’t attack them, there are rateros (thieves), if the rateros don’t, there are pandilleros (gangs) who will. If the refugees are lucky enough (or rather, smart enough) to avoid these thugs, they will eventually collide with the authoritative Border Patrols who catch them and transport them back to Tijuana, forcing these desperate refugees to start their struggle from scratch. When these refugees return back unsuccessfully to Tijuana they are without a place to live, without any money to fulfill their basic needs, sometimes they are even without clothes and shoes. In many cases they are even â€Å"bloodied from a beating by pandilleros, or an â€Å"accident† in the Immigration and Naturalization Service compound. They can’t get proper medical attention. They can’t eat, or afford to feed their family. Some of their compatriots have been separated from their wives or their children. Now their loved ones are in the hands of strangers, in the vast and unknown United States† (Urrea 17-18). It is clear that North America doesn’t want these Central American refugees, and after a time even these refugees’ spirit starts to break. They start ‘living’ in Tijuana where they sell chewing gum, their children sing in traffic and at every stoplight they wash the car windshields. â€Å"If North America does not want them, Tijuana wants them even less. They become the outcasts of an outcast region† (Urrea 19). All these circumstances are a result of biopolitics which stops these ‘Others’ from mixing with the ‘Us’. These refugees are not welcomed in Tijuana, which is a place that itself isn’t welcome in Mexico. Tijuana is Mexico’s cast-off child. Although, she brings money and attracts foreigners, no one would dare claim her. Some people there don’t count Tijuana as a part of Mexico. For them the border is nowhere. But, in reality a border does exist there. That borer is ‘invisible’. Here, we can refer to Etienne Balibar’s concept of ‘inner borders’ which are â€Å"invisible borders, situated everywhere and nowhere† (Balibar 78). While talking about Europe’s Schengen Convention, Balibar says that â€Å"one of the major implications of the Schengen Convention [†¦] is that from now on, on ‘its’ border [†¦] each member state is becoming the representative of the others† (Balibar 78). By this, he is referring to the exploitation a refugee/immigrant/asylum seeker faces when more than one (Schengen) nations come together to exploit these refugees by prohibiting them entry (to asylums, etc.) in nearly every European nation (who have signed the Schengen Agreement). The border of these Schengen nations is biopolitically constructed, and â€Å"is indeed the only aspect of ‘the construction of Europe’ that is currently moving forward, not in the area of citizenship, but in that of anti-citizenship , by way of coordination between police forces and also of more or less simultaneous legislative and constitutional changes regarding the right of asylum and immigration regulations, family reunion, the granting of nationality, and so on† (Balibar 78). Although, the Declaration of Rights, (based on the birth-nation link and leading to national sovereignty) was expected to succeed the collapse of the ancien rà ©gime (where the concept of national citizenship was absent), Agamben clearly says that after World War I â€Å"the birth-nation link has no longer been capable of performing its legitimating function inside the nation-state, and the two terms have begun to show themselves to be irreparably loosened from each other† (Agamben 132). This leads him to talk about the immense increase of refugees and stateless persons in Europe. He lists several Europeans (1,500,000 White Russians, 700,000 Armenians, etc.) who were displaced from their countries in the first half of 20th century. Then, he talks about the mass denaturalization and denationalization of their own populations committed by France in 1915 with respect to naturalized citizens of â€Å"enemy† origin and by Belgium in 1922 who revoked the naturalization of citizens who have committed â€Å"anti national† acts during the war. He then mentions the â€Å"most extreme point† of this process when the Nuremberg laws on â€Å"citizenship in the Reich† and the â€Å"protection of German blood and honor† introduced â€Å"the principle according to which citizenship was something of which one had to prove oneself worthy and which could therefore always be called into question† (Agamben 132). This highlights the fact that by u sing the biopolitical weapons of Fascism and Nazism, countries stripped their own citizens off of their citizenship and human rights and ultimately pushed them towards their death. Agamben claims that, â€Å"Today it is not the city but rather the camp that is the fundamental biopolitical paradigm of the West† (Agamben 181). The two resulting phenomenons: 1) The massive increase in the number of refugees and stateless persons in Europe, and 2) European states allowing the mass denaturalization and denationalization of their own populations, â€Å"show that the birth-nation link, on which the Declaration of 1789 had founded national sovereignty, had already lost its mechanical force and power of self-regulation by the time of the First World War† (Agamben 132). What actually happens is that the governments suspend civil rights during social crisis and decide who is to be excluded and who is to be included. The refugees are the ones who are excluded. The camp signifies a state of exception in which â€Å"the originary relation of law to life is not application but Abandonment† (Agamben). The one who is banned is not simply set outside the law but rather abandoned by it. This highlights the fact that the nations and their biopolitics truly lack the humanitarian aspect. Agamben sees a separation of humanitarian concerns from politics. Instead, what’s visible to him is a solidarity between humanitarianism and the political powers it should fight. This contradiction is a primary reason for the failure of several committees and organisations (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for example) who work for the problem of refugees and the protection of human rights. They simply refuse to comment on the actions of political regimes. â€Å"This distinction is also seen in the general populace of many nation-states in which great compassion is demonstrated by donating millions of dollars to fund humanitarian aid, while showing great hostility to those same suffering faces when they are more proximate strangers† (qtd. in Zembylas). Although, these organizations function for the right of these refugees, they fail to resolve their problems in any way. These humanitarian organizations â€Å"maintain a secret solidarity with the very powe rs they ought to fight† â€Å"The separation between humanitarianism and politics that we are experiencing today is the extreme phase of the separation of the rights of man from the rights of the citizen† (Agamben 133). Now, the big question is how to stop the exploitation of these refugees at the hands of nations’ biopolitics? Some might suggest that since the concept of ‘refugees’ is a result of ‘borders’, a ‘borderless world’ would aptly solve the problem of refugees. But, â€Å"such a ‘world’ would run the risk of being a mere arena for the unfettered domination of the private centers of power which monopolize capital, communications and, perhaps also, arms† (Balibar 85). By saying this, Balibar is pointing towards the omnipresence of biopolitics which makes the fact clear that a world without borders and biopolitics can only exist in a state of utopia. First of all, what Agamben suggests is that the concept of the refugee must be separated from the concept of the human rights because refugees are devoid of any of those rights. It should be clearly visible to everyone where they stand. Secondly, the refugees are born in a nation and they should belong to it but they aren’t allowed to, and since they are born as Man they should be considered citizens but they aren’t. This is why the refugees must call into question the existing fundamental concepts of the nation-state: the birth-nation and the man-citizen links. Refugees should make nations and humanist organizations see how much they are lacking in their humanitarian approach. Lastly, refugees have got the power to ask the nations to renew their existing political categories where â€Å"bare life is no longer separated either in the state order or in the figure of human rights† (Agamben 134). If there would be no separation of bare life, then there wouldnâ€℠¢t be any discrimination against the refugees. This way they will be recognized as humans and citizens just like any other person and their discrimination at the hands of biopolitics will eventually see a decline. Works Cited Agamben, Giorgio. Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1995.  126, 132, 133, 134, 181. Print. Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace World,  1966. N. pag. Print. Balibar, Etienne. Politics and the Other Scene. London: Verso, 2002. 78. Print.  Downey, Anthony. Zones of Indistinction. http://www.sothebysinstitute.com/files/research/zones.pdf. Sothebys Institute of Art, 26  Apr. 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Foucault, Michel, and Mauro Bertani. Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collà ¨ge De  France, 1975-1976. New York: Picador, 2003. 255. Print. Robin, Corey. Fear: The History of a Political Idea. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. N. pag. Print. Urrea, Luis Alberto. Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border. New York:  Anchor, 1993. 17, 18, 19. Print. Zembylas, Michalinos. Agambens Theory of Biopower and Immigrants/Refugees/AsylumSeekers. Journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/viewFile/195/83. Journal of  Curriculum Theorizing, 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.

Structure And Function Of The Heart Physical Education Essay

Structure And Function Of The Heart Physical Education Essay The cardiovascular system is a very complex and unique system. The main structures of the cardiovascular system include the heart, blood, and blood vessels arteries, capillaries and veins. It is a system that allows all nutrients such as amino acids, electrolytes and lymph, gases, hormones, and blood cells to pass throughout the body, these all aid in the process of fighting diseases, stabilizing body temperature and maintaining homeostasis. Coronary, pulmonary and systemic circulations are the systems that allow blood to be pumped throughout the body, coronary circulation is the system that allows blood to be pumped through the heart, pulmonary circulation is the system that pumps blood through to the lungs and the systemic circulation which is the system that pumps the blood around the rest of the body and to the remaining organs. As humans we have a closed cardiovascular system which means the blood never leaves the circulation of the blood vessels. The coronary circulation is part of the systemic circulation by definition it supplies blood to muscles- muscles of the heart (myocardium), however it is the only system to provide the heart with blood. The blood comes from the aorta and filters through into the right atrium. If the heart didnt receive the blood supply, it would cause severe tissue damage. The pulmonary circulation uses the pulmonary artery to take de-oxygenated blood away from the heart through to the lungs which is where the blood is then oxygenated. The de-oxygenated blood enters the right atrium of the heart and flows through the tricuspid valve and then from there it flows into the right ventricle, here it is then pumped through the pulmonary semilunar valve into the pulmonary artery to the lungs. In the lungs is where the gas exchange takes place, where the CO2 is released and the blood then absorbs oxygen. This is the stage when the pulmonary vein returns the freshly oxygenated blood to the heart. The systemic circulation on the other hand takes the oxygenated blood from the heart and transports it throughout the rest of the body except from the lungs. The system then provides all other organs with the oxygenated blood, the circulation then returns all of the de-oxygenated blood back to the heart for the process to start all over again. The systemic circulation is a much lengthier system than the pulmonary circulation due to transporting blood all over the body. (1)The heart pumps oxygenated blood to the body and deoxygenated blood to the lungs. In the human heart there is one atrium and one ventricle for each circulation, and with both a systemic and a pulmonary circulation there are four chambers in total: left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium and right ventricle. The right atrium is the upper chamber of the right side of the heart. The blood that is returned to the right atrium is deoxygenated (poor in oxygen) and passed into the right ventricle to be pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for re-oxygenation and removal of carbon dioxide. The left atrium receives newly oxygenated blood from the lungs as well as the pulmonary vein which is passed into the strong left ventricle to be pumped through the aorta to the different organs of the body. The blood circuit is flows in the shape of a figure of 8. There are two loops to this circuit. The top loop carries the blood from the heart to the lungs and back (the pulmonary circulation). The bottom loop carries the blood from the heart all over the body (systemic circulation). The 4 main stages of the cardiac cycle are: Atrial Diastole -which is where the top chamber (atria) relaxes and fills with blood from the veins Atrial Systole- where the atria contracts and blood is forced into the relaxing bottom chambers which are otherwise known as ventricles Ventricular systole- which is where the ventricles contract and blood is forced out of the heart in to the arteries. Ventricular diastole -when the ventricles relax and become ready for the next pump cycle. The circulatory system also consists of the lymphatic system; this is a non-closed system that carries a clear liquid called lymph towards the heart and allows an average of 20 litres of blood per day through capillary filtration which removes plasma while leaving the erythrocytes. Around 17 litres of filtered plasma get reabsorbed into the blood vessels; however 3 litres are then left behind in the interstitial fluid. The main role of the lymph system is to provide an auxiliary route for the extra 3 litres to return to the blood. (4) The lymphatic system has multiple interrelated functions: it is responsible for the removal of interstitial fluid from tissues it absorbs and transports fatty acids and fats as chyle from the digestive system it transports white blood cells to and from the lymph nodes into the bones The lymph transports antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic cells, to the lymph nodes where an immune response is stimulated. There are three main blood vessels in the cardiovascular system, these are the arteries, veins and capillaries; arteries are responsible for carrying the blood away from the heart, they are made up of a thick elastic muscular wall, which is capable of stretching as blood is being pumped through at a high pressure. The muscle walls are able to contract to force the blood along through the arteries. Veins are made up of a much thinner, less muscular wall compared to the arteries. The blood in the veins is under considerably much lower pressure compared to the blood in the arteries, this is because arteries need higher pressure in order to deliver the oxygenated blood to the arterioles, capillaries, other organs and tissues and to also prevent the back flow of blood, veins dont require this high pressure because the de-oxygenated blood can travel from the tissues to the heart through the veins with the help of the muscle contractions. One of the functions of the veins is to ensure that the blood doesnt flow back towards the heart, veins contain valves every few centimetres along, this helps them push the blood in one direction. However muscle contraction and relaxation can also occur to help squeeze the walls of the veins to help the blood flow back towards the heart when necessary. You can use a stethoscope to hear pulmonary circulation. The sounds that are audible are the ventr icles contracting and the valves closing. Capillaries are the smallest of all the blood vessels they have a wall that is one cell thick, capillaries connect the arterioles and venules this is where all the exchange of nutrients and gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide occurs- through the capillary surfaces. Leucocytes are able to leave our capillaries in order to digest any micro-organisms that could be a potential threat or disease. Arteries, veins and capillaries are all blood vessels of the body and all of them are routes for the blood to pass through to provide their functions. They all contain tunica externa, tunica media and tunica intima. Blood is carried away from the heart via the arteries and the blood returns to the heart through the veins. Our circulatory system is a transport system the carries our blood, oxygen and waste products to and from our bodys cells in order for our bodies to functions. (2) During systemic circulation, blood passes through the kidneys. This phase of systemic circulation is known as renal circulation. During this phase, the kidneys filter much of the waste from the blood. Blood also passes through the small intestine during systemic circulation. This phase is known as portal circulation. During this phase, the blood from the small intestine collects in the portal vein which passes through the liver. The liver filters sugars from the blood, storing them for later When it comes to heat regulation in order to keep cool our capillaries are capable of forcing the blood supply to the surface of the skin, this allows the air to reach the blood and to cool it more easily, and sweating is also induced as part of the heart regulation. However when trying to keep warm our capillaries work hard in order to reduce the blood at the skin surface and sweating is also reduced. This is known as vasoconstriction and vasodilation. Heat regulation is one of the key functions of the circulatory system as well as many other functions. Signals along nerves from the hypothalamus control both vasodilation and vasoconstriction. It is necessary for the human body to have vasodilation and vasoconstriction as it regulates the bodys blood pressure, by constricting and releasing the vessels to allow more or less blood through, for example whilst exercising our heart and breathing rates increase and blood vessels in our limbs dilate in order to deliver more oxygenated blood to our working muscle cells. (3) Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of the blood vessels resulting from contraction of the muscular wall of the vessels, particularly the large arteries and small arterioles. The process is the opposite of vasodilation, the widening of blood vessels. The process is particularly important in staunching haemorrhage and acute blood loss. When blood vessels constrict, the flow of blood is restricted or decreased, thus, retaining body heat or increasing vascular resistance Our blood that is carried around in our cardiovascular system is responsible for maintaining its levels in many advance ways. For example haemostasis is a complex chain reaction that produces the blood to clot this is otherwise known as coagulation. The body clots in two different ways, there is the normal clot which is a good formation that stops bleeding, and there is also a thrombus which is bad as it can block the blood vessels. The endothelium is the cells that create the vessel wall. When the endothelium becomes damaged, for example, when a cut breaks through the wall, collagen fibres then start to appear. These collagen fibres are a protein that is vital for the structure of the vessel wall, these fibres then allow platelets to attach themselves, these are produced from precursor megakaryocytes, its these platelets that lead to the formation of blood clots. The platelets become activated and begin to release a chemical called Thromboxane A2 which calls on more platelets to the area. Fibrin, which is the insoluble form of the soluble protein fibrinogen, is then converted by thrombin. The fibrin begins to appear and layers on top of the platelets which start to fuse them together. This fibrin helps the clot form as the red blood cells stick to the fibrin. This process then repeats until the clot is fully formed. This process is important for the cardiovascular system, this is because the average human contains around 4.7 to 5.7 litres of blood, if around 30%-40% of this is lost it could prove fatal or cause severe damage. The blood the is carried around the cardiovascular system, is made of erythrocytes, leucocytes, platelets and plasma which is mainly water, amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, hormones, vitamins, electrolytes, dissolved gases, and cellular wastes. Erythrocytes contain a globular protein called haemoglobin which allows oxygen to bind to it; this allows the erythrocytes to transport oxygen throughout the body and organs. The haemoglobin molecule is made up of 4 polypeptide chains, 2 containing 141 amino acids and 2 containing 146, attached to each polypeptide chain is a molecule that contains iron and is known as a haem, the function of this molecule is to absorb oxygen until it is fully saturated. Carbon dioxide however binds to the amino acids and not the erythrocytes, this means that is binding to the proteins and not the haem.