Thursday, October 31, 2019

Emotional Intelligence Self Assesment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emotional Intelligence Self Assesment - Essay Example In all these, my performance was largely dependent on the impact of my personality on the people around me. In sum, I have been able to summarise my strengths and weaknesses into four main categories. In terms of strengths, I have I posses the characters of trustworthiness, and teamwork and cooperation. With regard to my weaknesses I possess the characters of poor communication and lack of self-confidence. The positive attributes of my characters have always provided the necessary synergies for growth and excellence. On the other hand, the negative qualities have often posed challenges in my performance within various discourses. Trustworthiness is an attribute that promotes the element of harmony at the work place. It is a positive trait that attracts people to others towards the pursuit of common goals. Trustworthiness provides the glue that holds people together towards a common purpose (Goleman 81). It encourages processes of leadership, delegation and team work. My quality of trustworthiness has been most evident in situations that required cooperation and group work. I rate myself at 9. I have always believed in the abilities and honesty of others. At social and professional associations, friends often remark that I bestow a lot of trust in my groups and colleagues to such levels that enable me to win favours and the confidence of the organization. Sometimes I have often felt that I risk running down processes by bestowing unchecked trust to people of varying levels of competencies. However, I retain the belief that positive working relationships can only be achieved through the cultivation of trust and confidence to the environment and the people around. This, I believe, fits well into the discourse of professionalism and work ethics. Teamwork and collaboration are key determinants of success. An organization will always have people of varying levels and kinds of competencies. Embracing teamwork and collaboration helps people to adjust

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Politics of Backstabbing Essay Example for Free

Politics of Backstabbing Essay Due to the result of such illegitimate political approach, Mr. Rosen was demoted while his colleague was promoted. Shortly after the incident, Mr. Rosen resigned with many questions unanswered (Robbins and Judge, 2007, p. 497). Warning These types of incidents are very common in the workplace as some people would use political games to move ahead. In my opinion Mr. Rosen needs to communicate ith his colleague and solve this issue in a friendly kind of way, to avoid any complication in the future. Be straight forward about his concern and bring up the comments and the abnormal behavior that affecting him. During the conversation Mr. Rosen should offer his assistant if ever needed as a reminder of working as a team. Anyone should feel at peace and concentrate on doing their Job without feeling like being watched or being stabbed in the back. Be sure to keep a written record, dated, time, and every event for future need. Manager or criticize the view. If there was no improvement, Mr. Rosen should take the next step by talking to his manager about his concern and ask for his manager advice to appropriately approach the issue. To avoid the negative repercussions that can come from backstabbing and other illegitimate behavior, manager should research and verify the incident. Never by pass your manager by going straight to the next level, because this can be much more complicated. Present your manager, the fact with any supportive written records you might have and pressing on the fact that this causing your Jobs performance and stress, and would lead to health issues. Backstabbers often claim to be a friend with their victims and act, as if they are hesitant about sharing negative information due to the friendship. Backstabbers arent our friend and we should be cautious and prepared of their existent. H. R. Dept. and the Chain of Command The next level can be accelerated to the human resource department if there is no improvement after reporting to the manager. Explain the fact that he had already taken all the necessary actions before proceeding to the H. R. Department. Again, Mr. Rosen will need to press firmly that this dilemma is causing his Jobs performance nd stress that will hurt not only him individually, but this will also impact the company performance as a whole. At this point, human resource should gather any necessary information and take appropriate actions. Hopefully, this is your last stop and be prepared if this doesnt work, then elevate to the chain of command. There is a reason to every problem, and every problem needs to be res olved. Be sure to keep a written record of all time during this dilemma, since it will be needed to go to the chain of command. Write a complain letter with supportive documents include ritten records and present it to the chain of command and explain that this behavior is causing a hostile work environment. Conclusion One of the most political actions in organizations has consistently found to be promotion decisions. The opportunity for promotions or advancement encourages people to compete for limited resources and positively influence the decisions outcome. Threatened with the loss of resources people may engage in political actions to safeguard what they have. Certain personality traits, needs, and other factors have been found by some researcher that is likely to be related to political behavior. However, any changes, especially those that imply significant reallocation of resources within the organization are likely to stimulate conflict and increase politicking. Many researches focuses on backstabbing aimed at organizations, but most sabotage is intended to harm a colleague, and generally benefits the perpetrator. Its not easy to identify back stabbers motivation. Backstabbers are jealous and generally insecure in themselves. They are very cruel and enjoy hurting others. It is never Justifiable to partake in backstabbing or any other illegitimate political behavior as soon, or later theyll be caught and suffer the consequences.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Factors for MRI Image Quality

Factors for MRI Image Quality Title: MRI Image Quality TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO (SNR) Figure 1 3.0 CONTRAST TO NOISE RATIO (CNR) 4.0 RESOLUTION AND SCAN TIME 5.0 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MRI PARAMETERS AND IMAGE QUALITY Table 1: MRI parameters trade-offs (Proprofs.com, 2015) 6.0 CONCLUSION REFERENCES 1.0 INTRODUCTION Image quality is the most important element in imaging radiography. According to Courses Washington Education, (2015) image quality must be assessed on the basis of average performance of some task of interest by some observer or decision maker. It was stated that image quality must be defined in terms of a task on what information to be retrieved from an image; and the observer on how the information will be extracted from the image. Since MRI image is a digital image, it is greatly depends on image contrast and its spatial characteristics. Nevertheless, one of the disadvantages of this flexibility is a greater difficulty in terms of the choice of scanning parameters. In general scan times are not negligible and there is a certain tendency towards artefact. However, the most fundamental limitation in MRI is the signal-to noise ratio (SNR) which is dependent upon the hardware, mostly the main field strength and radiofrequency (RF) coils, upon the relaxation properties of tissue and upon the choice of sequence parameters. Good image quality depends upon making good scanning parameter choices (McRobbie, 2007). 2.0 SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO (SNR) The signal to noise ratio can be defined as the ratio of the amplitude of the signal received to the average amplitude of the noise whereas the signal is the voltage induced in the receiver coil by the precession of the net magnetic vector in the transverse plane (Westbrook et al. 2011, pp.104). Noise can be defined as an undesirable backgroundinterferenceor disturbance that affects image quality (Mr-tip.com, 2015). According to Weber (2015), noise is caused by two factors which are the electromagnetic noise in the body due to movement of charged particles; and small anomalies in the measurement electronics, which depends on the size of the RF coil and the bandwidth of the pulse sequence. In addition, noise occurs at all frequencies and is also random in time and space. On the other hand, the signal is cumulative, and occurs at time TE, depends on many factors and it can be altered. The signal is therefore can be changed in relation to the noise. Increasing the signal increases the SNR, while decreasing the signal decreases the SNR. Therefore, any factor that affects the signal amplitude in gives effect to the SNR. The factors that affect the SNR include magnetic field strength, the proton density, voxel volume, repetition time (TR), echo time (TE), flip angle, number of excitations (NEX), receive bandwidth and coil type (Westbrook et al. 2011, pp.104). According to McRobbie in his book, MRI from Picture to Proton (2007), images with a poor SNR will appear fuzzy. An important aspect of image optimization is to certify that there is a high enough SNR for the images to be diagnostically valuable yet low SNR may result in losing small details or the obscuring of subtle contrast changes. Therefore, contrast to noise ratio (CNR) is always taken into consideration in the aspect of image quality. Figure 1: Increasing the basic resolution will increase the image quality. However, increasing the resolution more than the acceptable range will produce grains in the image due to low SNR and reducing it will produce a blurry image due to high SNR. Increasing basic resolution will result in prolonged time. (Image adapted from Mrimaster.com, 2015) 3.0 CONTRAST TO NOISE RATIO (CNR) CNR can be defined as a measure to assess the ability of an imaging procedure to generate clinically useful image contrast. However, the image contrast itself is not precise enough to qualify an image, because in a noisy image it is uncertain where the contrast originates. It depends on two factors either due true tissue contrast, or it may be due to noise fluctuations. The human ability to distinguish between objects is proportional to contrast, and it decreases linearly with noise (KTH, 2015). By improving CNR the perception of the distinct differences between two clinical areas of interest will be increased. In a simple word, acontrasttonoiseratio is a summary ofSNRandcontrast. It is the difference inSNRbetween two relevant tissue types (Mr-tip.com, 2015). CNR is controlled by the same factors that affect SNR. However, it is considered as the most critical factor affecting image quality (scrsl.weebly.com, 2015). 4.0 RESOLUTION AND SCAN TIME In MRI imaging, the scan time is advisable to be as short as possible. This is because the longer the patient lies on the table; the more likely it is that they will move. Moreover, if the patient has moved during the scan, the image produced will have a great SNR (Westbrook et al. 2011). The minimum scan time in MRI imaging is affected by TR, matrix size and NEX while the spatial resolution is determined by matrix size, FOV and slice thickness. By increasing matrix size or decreasing FOV and slice thickness increases spatial resolution at the expense of either decreased signal-to-noise or increased scan time. In order to obtain images of high resolution with high signal-to-noise requires longer scan times. All of the scan parameters affect signal-to-noise ratio. However, the signal within an image can be enhanced either by increasing TR, FOV, slice thickness and NEX or by decreasing TE and matrix size. The most direct way to increase signal is by increasing NEX, but increasing NEX from two to four which doubles the scan time, increases the signal by only the square root of two. Lastly, TE does not affect scan time; however, it does determine the maximum number of slices in multi-slice mode. Increasing the TE or shortening TR decreases the number of slices that can be obtained with one pulse sequence (Spinwarp.ucsd.edu, 2015). 5.0 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MRI PARAMETERS AND IMAGE QUALITY An image that is obtained in a short scan time, with a good spatial resolution and high SNR is preferable yet is hardly to achieve as increasing one factor certainly reduces one or both of the other two (Westbrook et. al, 2011). Trade-offsexists when changing imaging parameters to obtain the best images possible. For instance, the SNR, resolution, and acquisition time, are all interconnected. Changing one will affect the others. It is important to decide what factors are more important for an examination of a particular body part, patient and suspected abnormality. For example, when looking at the pituitary or cranial nerves, some SNR may need to be less considered or use longer acquisition time to improve the spatial resolution. However, in a claustrophobic of patient in pain who may be moving around, both resolution and SNR for the shortest possible examination time need to be considered to produce better image quality and preventing motion artefact (Ballinger, 2015). Thetable below summarizes the trade-offs in MRI between SNR, resolution, time, maximum number of slices and distance covered. Table 1: MRI parameters trade-offs (Proprofs.com, 2015) 6.0CONCLUSION In conclusion, the quality of an MR image depends on several factors which include the spatial resolution and image contrast, SNR and CNR and also artefacts. An MR examination is cooperation between scan time and image quality and its sequence parameters will have to be optimized in function of the organs and pathology. Moreover, the signal intensities and contrast are determined by the timing parameters TR and TE and also the flip angle. Besides, to produce a good image in MRI the scan time should always be as short as possible to avoid patient movement by using the shortest TR possible, select the coarse matrix possible and reduce the NEX to a minimum. REFERENCES Ballinger, J. (2015).Trade offs | Radiology Reference Article | Radiopaedia.org. [online] Radiopaedia.org. Available at: http://radiopaedia.org/articles/trade-offs [Accessed 3 May 2015]. Barrett, H. and Myers, K. (2004).Foundations of image science. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience. Courses Washington Education, (2015).Image Quality. [online] Available at: http://courses.washington.edu/bioen508/Lecture1_partC.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. KTH, (2015).Point Spread Function. [online] Available at: http://medim.sth.kth.se/6l2872/F/F9.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. McRobbie, D. (2007).MRI from picture to proton. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Mrimaster.com, (2015). MRI resolution and image quality | how to manipulate mri scan parameters. [online] Available at: https://mrimaster.com/index.4.html [Accessed 4 May 2015]. Mr-tip.com, (2015).MRI Database : Contrast to Noise Ratio. [online] Available at: http://www.mr-tip.com/serv1.php?type=db1dbs=Contrast+to+Noise+Ratio [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Mr-tip.com, (2015).MRI Database : Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI. [online] Available at: http://www.mr-tip.com/serv1.php?type=db1dbs=Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI [Accessed 28 Apr. 2015]. Mr-tip.com, (2015).MRI Database : Noise. [online] Available at: http://www.mr-tip.com/serv1.php?type=db1dbs=Noise [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Nde-ed.org, (2015).Image Considerations. [online] Available at: https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Radiography/TechCalibrations/imageconsiderations.htm [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Proprofs.com, (2015).Flashcards Table on MRIImaging Parameters. [online] Available at: http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/tableview.php?title=mriimaging-parameters [Accessed 3 May 2015]. scrsl.weebly.com, (2015).Parameters and Trade-offs. [online] Available at: http://scrsl.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/3/0/5130772/magnetic_resonance_imaging_6parameters__trade_offs.ppt [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Spinwarp.ucsd.edu, (2015). [online] Available at: http://spinwarp.ucsd.edu/neuroweb/Text/br-100.htm [Accessed 3 May 2015]. Spinwarp.ucsd.edu, (2015). [online] Available at: http://spinwarp.ucsd.edu/neuroweb/Text/br-100.htm [Accessed 3 May 2015]. UChicago, (2015).How does MRI work?. [online] Available at: http://wiki.ci.uchicago.edu/pub/HNL/DifficultQuestion/howdoesmriwork.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. University of Bergen, (2015).Contrast (CNR) in MRI. [online] Available at: https://wikihost.uib.no/mriwiki/images/5/5c/MRCourseLectures_Oct2011_ContrastTheory.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Weber, D. (2015).MRI Quality. [online] Psdlw.users.sourceforge.net. Available at: http://psdlw.users.sourceforge.net/career/dweber_docs/mri_quality.html [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Westbrook, C. and Kaut-Roth, C. (2011).MRI in practice. Oxford: Blackwell Science. 1

Friday, October 25, 2019

Key Elements of Successful Leadership Essay -- servant leadership chri

Key Elements of Successful Leadership John Quincy Adams provided one of my favorite quotes on leadership; â€Å"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.† In its most basic form leadership refers to influence. Though leaders often help us to accomplish more, poor leadership can also be the source of extreme frustration. The importance of good leadership is apparent on a college campus. Many organizations run smoothly and efficiently while others are mired in chaos and confusion; the difference is leadership. The college setting provides many opportunities for the development of leadership expertise. I believe three common factors exist in all successful leadership; a focus on people, clear communication, and character. A good leader understands that he or she cannot accomplish anything without the support of followers. The best way to develop this support is by showing love, dignity, and respect to the people being led. The secular manager can apply the principles of this model, but only a Christian can understand the reasoning behind it. A proper perspective recognizes that â€Å"all people have inherent value by virtue of being created in the image of God, and thus [have] an inherent right to develop to their fullest potential.† (Hind, 20) Instead of using people in order to accomplish goals, Christian leaders should accomplish goals in order to develop people. I often get involved in leadership roles for self-promotion and increased status. However, the Scriptural model of leadership is much different. Jesus is the ultimate example of what is oft labeled servant leadership. Servant leadership is the submission of the leader’s ego and will in order to meet... ...rinciples in the pursuit of Christlike leadership. Above all I must realize that leadership is not about personal glory, but it is about the mission that God has given me, and the people that I am responsible to lead. Works Cited: Brown, Bill â€Å"Three Perspectives on Leadership† 4/16/2004 Speech given to Organizational Leadership class Dubrin, Andrew J. Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and Skills 2nd Edition Houghton Mifflin Company, Princton, NJ, 1998 Hind, James F. The Heart & Soul of Effective Management (1989) Victor Books, Wheaton, Ill. Lewis, Jone Johnson â€Å"Leadership Quotes†  © 1995-2003 http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_leadership.html Maxwell, John C. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader (1999) Thomas Nelson Publishers, New York, NY Swindoll, Charles R. Hand Me Another Brick (1978) Thomas Nelson Publishers, New York, NY

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Dreams

Dreams and the perspectives they have on individuals in society has led to debate, and even controversy, over that past few centuries. It’s the analysis and interpretation of dreams and how it relates to individual experience that is a central element surrounding this topic. The impact of a dream on an individual along with the influence of dream interpretation can be viewed as having a direct impact on the types of dreams people have. I will address the topic of dream anomalies and what impact dreams have on individuals as I cite literary scholars to affirm my position. There have been many great philosophers with differing opinions on the influence of dreams and whether or not there is a direct correlation between the dream process and the human’s individual thought processing and daily-life experiences. First, I considered the views of a great philosopher named William James as a foundation behind the study of dreams and its effects on individuals. William James has published numerous manuscripts backed by volumes of other philosophical material, research, and documentation. William James is considered one of the most influential people who studied the workings of the human mind, interrelationships among thought, and the consciousness of an individual. James was a naturalist, physician, professor, writer, and psychologist. His studies played a role in other philosophical studies of dream interpretation. One of his published pieces, The Principles of Psychology, had revolutionary impact on society. It was a breakthrough for the sciences of thought. Some of his well-known material was published in the latter part of the 19th century, which will be discussed in detail. The Principles of Psychology was an immense undertaking by James. My focus will look at The Stream of Thought and The Consciousness of Self segments of this work where I will state why I was convinced by his arguments surrounding consciousness and thought-processing. The reason for incorporating William James’s interpretations on streams of thought and consciousness of self is because there is a direct correlation between thought processing and the dream phase of an individual. He begins The Stream of Thought by keying into the essence of human thought. His provocative conclusions surrounding what makes us think is done in very concrete terms. He states that previous psychological texts attempting to dissect human thought are deeply flawed. Consciousness, from our natal day, is of a teeming multiplicity of objects and relations . He relates the thought processes and earlier fallacies surrounding its study with these analogies: We cannot, according to James, simply say, â€Å"it thinks† with the same conclusive logic as â€Å"it rains† or â€Å"it blows. † What we can say, however is that â€Å"thought goes on. † He goes on to discuss why every ‘thought’ or ‘state’ is part of our personal consciousness. This sets the scaffold for why and how William James came to such conclusions regarding consciousness. Prior to this, theories on consciousness lacked sufficient evidence; for previous scholars attempted to state theories without the empowering reality that James was able to express in this chapter. To add further credibility to his presumption, he states that every thought is a part of our personal consciousness and can be altered from individual to individual. Thought, he goes on to say, is in constant change. He provides examples along the way to create reasoning and proof that his methodology is credible. His description of Mr. Shadworth Hodgeson (p. 149) creates very clear evidence that individual consciousness has the ability to change and alter what it thinks and why, almost on a whim. From thought-processing, we segue into the dream experience and how they are directly related to one another in forming, sometimes jarring experiences. First, we must look at the characteristic differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams. A lucid dream, simply stated, is the state of REM sleep when a person is almost awake. The dream continues to evolve but the dreamer is aware—if only for a few seconds—that they are dreaming. Non-lucid dreaming, on the other hand, occurs when an individual is not aware of being in a dream state. The non-lucid dream is the most common form of dream. It is difficult to ascertain when and where the division between lucid dreaming and non-lucid dreaming occurs. In other words, when the dream consciousness ends and where a person is consciously aware of the dream cannot be defined. It’s purely subjective, or set aside for individual interpretation. However, the true experience of the dream can best be interpreted with the following model. The dream model links the waking-self and the dreamer. With this connection, the model also looks at what psychological levels alter self-awareness in the act of dreaming. Research, according to Laberge, has shown that over 80% of lucid dreams are transformations of a non-lucid dream. When we look at many lucid dreamers, the act of coherence or stirring from the dream is, many times, likely to occur during a nightmare or a dream that instills anxiety. The notion of anxiety can be viewed differently from one person to the next. What one person views as uncomfortable will not hold the same gravity on another person’s interpretation. It’s all a matter of personal experience. To state it simply, what brings about fear in one person may not instill that same fear in another person. This, in turn, can lead us back to individual experience. The experience and thought processing is the framework for determining lucid dreams and non-lucid dreams, which can be referenced back to our discussion on the philosopher William James. It’s important that I include a few dream examples to express the anxiety that can be instilled upon the dreamer. One dream environment occurred in a classroom. It was a riot, according to the dreamer. Again, the notion of what institutes a riot can vary from person to person. It’s also important to detail the dream, in order to give merit to the person’s anxiety. This riotous dream had a large barbarian with a heavily scarred face. He was the Goliath in the dream and locked up the dreamer in its steely grip. The dreamer could not free himself. It was at this point that the dreamer realized he was amid a dream; for he recalled other situations in his life. He gave up the struggle and instead offered feelings of love and consolation to this beastly barbarian. Yet, the beast was too ugly to love. He tried to look beyond the physical appearance and scarred features and soon beautiful words of loving acceptance flowed freely and the creature melted into him. The riot soon disappeared and the dreamer woke feeling relieved and calm. There are many other human emotions—embarrassment or delight for instance—that can institute a person into wakefulness. The number of methods used by individuals varies. What’s important to reinforce—although it may seem obvious—is the fact that individuals learn these methods in a conscious, wakeful state. Again, I go back to incorporating some of the philosopher William James’s theories to reinforce my interpretation. James gives us clear real-life scenarios to help define his theory on human conscious thought. For consideration, suppose three people instantaneously say to you: â€Å"Wait! † â€Å"Look! † â€Å"Over here! † Our consciousness is torn to decide which of the three will gain our attention first. He doesn’t deny our consciousness being able to juggle thoughts of the â€Å"wait† â€Å"look† and â€Å"over here. William James reinforces his theory by stating that there is a different ‘feel’ within our conscious thought when we experience something for the first time, versus recognizing something familiar. It could be a tune, an odor, or a familiar photogra ph that resonated memories. Again, James uses specific examples. The new experiences—or unfamiliar experience—can shake our emotions, which can strengthen recall. Also, objects in our field of vision have what James called a â€Å"fringe. † If we try to recall a forgotten name, there will be a gap in our consciousness as we search the recesses of our mind for this name. If someone tries to help us remember and gives us incorrect names, our consciousness will remain ‘at the fringe’ until we hear the name or something stirs us emotionally to recall the name. In effect, it is the overtone, or the fringe of the word or thought that generates energy within the human mind. It gives way to ideas which create the verbal kernel—as James puts it—that keeps the stream of consciousness on the move, always flowing, and always changing. James offers clear, consistent evidence to warrant credibility surrounding the intangible concepts of the stream of thought. In the following chapter, James segues into The Consciousness of Self, and brings the ego and its relationship to consciousness to the table. James builds momentum by stating humankinds’ innate desire for recognition from loved ones, and society in general, plays a part in how human consciousness develops. To bring this point home, James adds impact with this: a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry as image of him in their mind. James also references a man’s honor in society by stating it has a sole purpose: to best serve our social-selves. This social grace, then, is tied to what James refers to as the self-regard. We weigh our own ‘Me’ as we perceive praise and blame. James speaks of an individual self-regard as vital; for the individual knows him or herself better than anyone else—regardless of how positive or depressing a person views themselves. It’s the emotion of self that James, in turn, speaks of as he builds on his consciousness of self. It’s the sense of personal identity that fosters the ego-thought which remains part of the individual’s stream of consciousness. From here, we look at anomaly recognition. Here, the dreamer trains themselves to understand bizarre dream events as a red-flag to bring oneself back to wakefulness. The dream interpreter uses previous dreams and/or previous life-experiences that they view as bizarre to work as a point where the conscious-self takes over and stirs the dreamer into an alert state. For, when an individual can jar oneself from a potentially nightmarish dream, their emotional consciousness, in turn, will not be affected by the dramatic negative effects of the dream. They, in effect, turn off the dream before it can be viewed in its entirety. Here’s another example of a dream with anomaly recognition: A person is stepping through a field that is colored with fairy-tale animation. There is life everywhere in this wilderness. The overwhelming image, however, are magic mushrooms (psilocybin variation). These mushrooms shoot out from the soil all over the field. Some grow to immense height and girth. The person, then, realizes that this fantasy is too dream-like to be real. Their rationalization offers the anomaly recognition to stir them from their slumber. They are able to insert lucid thoughts that say, â€Å"I must be dreaming. † The dream begins to fade as their conscious-self regains control of the person’s mind set. One more dream example that uses anomaly as a cue to clear oneself from an anxiety- driven dream can be seen in the following situation: A person stands on top of a hill that seems unfamiliar. He looks across the wide-open meadow and envisions the horizon stretching out before him. For some odd reason, the dreamer has no idea of time, or what year it is. He sees the positioning of the sun, which appears to be straight overhead. The sun is intense and bright, which is unusual. The dreamer suddenly realizes that it is autumn and the sun was much lower in the recent past. The dreamer correlates the angle of the sun in relation to the equator. His shadow, due to the angle of the sun in this season should create a shadow that is equal in height to his own. The shadow does not equal his height. So he realizes that this must be a dream. The reason I included this dream was to point out that individual interpretations on dreams can be directly related to human experience and one’s knowledge-base and educational background. Although this was not a frightful dream or one that might instill anxiety, the dreamer—due to his knowledge—ascertained that the lack of proportion in his shadow was enough to constitute an anomaly and thus free him from his dream-consciousness. There is heavy criticism surrounding the topic of lucid dreaming, which I will address in detail here. For one, even though, according to research, there is overwhelming positive feedback regarding lucid dreams, I have a difficult time taking this data seriously. Laberge and many other researchers in this field state that lucidity during a nightmare can create a fear-factor within an individual that may have dramatic effects on one’s courage and even self-esteem. I do not see any parallel significance in a person losing self-esteem due to a lucid dream. Other studies went so far as to state that mood can be altered as well. If people are affected, or say they are affected by a dream, then these results are too biased and subjective to be generalized. The attempts at generalizing lucid dreaming can be seen in the following example: One study reviewed moods in college students and the relationship to lucid dreaming. College students, it was reported, stated that if they realized they were dreaming in a nightmare that this lucidity helped them deal with the consequences of the nightmare and feel better in 60% of the cases (Lucid Dreaming Frequency p. 1). I find this rationalization too trite to even be considered in a literary study. Furthermore, they went on to state that those who experienced dying in a dream stated that the experience was insightful, and not regressive. All in all, these elements alone are too biased and opinionated to create any sound reasoning behind the notion of lucid dreaming and its effects on a person’s well-being. In conclusion, I must reiterate that the reasons for dreaming have bewildered philosophers and science enthusiasts for many years. When we look at a normal life span, a person spends close to 25 years of their life asleep. Dreams are an integral component of this. It only makes sense that there is a purpose to our dreaming that is related to personal experience. It can also be seen that dream control, in the sense of ‘turning off’ a dream so-to-speak is available to us in the form of anomalous dream situations. However, when literary criticism attempts to generalize the lucid dream with an individual’s mood, there is great concern for its validity. Dreams are in a genre that is still very blurred in its scientific evidence, and thus flawed when we try to use the dream as a developmental factor in a person’s conscious state of mind. While the discussions surrounding the purpose of dreams are far from over, at least philosophers and scientists have a captivating means into discussing how the brain creates these nightly tales of adventure.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

No Child

No Child No Child No Child is an outstanding show that depicts and outcaste the battle ground that United Stated public education system has become. This show consists of both pep and humor and many experts have believed that the show carries a great energy with itself. The show has got the much-needed appreciation throughout United States and Europe. Both audience and critics have been thrilled with the energy and honesty of play. This play has definitely ignited the debate on the crises of public school system. The play has meticulously presented the crises of present day public school system and has presented a light on this dismal situation. The play is devised from the teaching experience in the roughest school of New York City. No Child is a story about Sun who is completely broke and a nave actor. This actor arrived at Malcolm X high school and her mission was to help the students to rehearse and perform a play. Her first encounter was with a student who was giving taunts to their Asian-American teacher. With this the optimism of Sun was turned down to grim. She confronted with the reality of high staff turnover, parental indifference and mass truancy. She quickly understood that it is difficult to coordinate with students. Nilaja Sun emerges out as a revelation in itself; throughout the play she displayed the correct balance of mimicry and serious matters. She displayed ear for mimicry and uncanny comic timings. She provided a beautiful architecture of quirky high school; the ecosystem was described as completely dysfunctional and haphazard. Impressive and interesting characters were shown with the inclusion of parents, teachers, administrators, students and security guards. This all characters altogether portrayed an interesting image of school. The play is indeed a extraordinary work that shows and revealed the outstanding disparities that exists at the core of United States. The play should be seen by entire generation, from teenage to old people. Everyone would find some or other thing interesting and suited to his taste in the play. This type of work is the result of meticulous thinking and hard work that one can put into writing. The play brilliantly outcaste that a schooling system can be broken up to that level where people do not respect each other. People from every generation and every section of society would find the play that can be linked and associated to their heart. It is also believed that this play may create negative impression in the mind of kids, it is advisable that this play should not be watched by the children with less than 12 years of age. It is not preferable that kids in that small age get to see the breaking lines in education system. It may create a negative impression in their mind and they can also feel highly de motivated. The actors were also chosen in a careful manner, the acting was so perfect that a virtual classroom could be imagined while watching the play. People could actually think that entire thing is running in front of them and they could actually associate themselves with the characters of play. The play has also provided the hope and belief to the population of America. This emerged out to be an unexpected and superb experience that can change the working conditions in United States education system for a better and saner future, a future where students would respect their teachers and where student would apprecia te and respect other students. Children are the bases for any country and play has rightly depicted the importance that should be given to change and alter the existing education system.