Forensic nursing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Forensic nursing - Term Paper Example According to the American Academy of Forensic sciences (AAFS) forensic nursing is â€Å"the application of forensic aspects of health care combined with the bio/psycho/social/spiritual education of the registered nurse in the scientific investigation of trauma and or death† (Hammer and Pagliario, 2006). In the past, forensic medical interventions (including lifesaving interventions) were withheld until a Forensic medical examiner (FME) has arrived at the emergency department and had collected evidence (Pyrek, 2006 ). In fact, clients were even transferred to other cities that offered forensic clinical services; moreover, there was not much intervention that could be provided in order to protect forensic evidence ( Pyrek, 2006). When a Forensic Nurse Examiner (FNE) is available at the clinical site, they are able to secure the important forensic evidence requiring timely recovery and preservation without withholding medical interventions ( Pyrek. 2006). In 1991, the American Society of Forensic Nurses was the first to recognize and accept Forensic Nursing as a specialty (Bader and Gabriel, 2009 ). The following year , 72 primary sexual assault nurse examiners formed the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) (International Association of Forensic Nurses, 2006). The aim of the IAFN promoted the education of forensic nurses; thus, the Forensic Nursing Code of Ethics and the Scope and Standards of Nursing Practice was developed in 1997(Bader and Gabriel, 2009). Forensic Nursing is a specialty that is still in its infancy, thus it needs to continuously grow to provide an appropriate response in trauma cases, provide a more holistic care to their clients, and create advocacy for their patients in an unbiased , scientific, and objective manner. In the past many of these roles have been carried out by emergency nurses who may not be

Feminism Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Feminism Philosophy Essay At the onset, Valerie Solana’s SCUM Manifesto is a work that was clearly addressed to male species which she regarded as accidental a â€Å"biological accident. † The first two paragraphs of her work reveal her deep resentment on the role of men and women in the society. The last part of the first paragraph reflects her strong rejection of the male sex. Solanas identifies male in various ways but all describing the male as an undesirable species. To her, to be male is something that a man should be ashamed of and maleness is a dearth, a disease and that males are emotionally limited. She said male is completely an â€Å"isolated unit† and everything that he has in himself is nothing but a tool that he use to fulfill his drives and needs. Her work also reflect a seemingly an almost bitter feeling towards men. She used strong and very offending sentences emphasizing on the males’ purportedly many in capabilities including relationship except of his physical sensation. However, the male according to her is capable Solano’s obvious hatred to the male sex was also expressed in the way she describes how a male expresses himself. She described the male’s behavior as physically passive but then he does not like it. He expressed his frustration of his own passivity by screwing a woman he despises. She said the male project his passivity by projecting it onto women and by screwing. Overall, Valerie Solano’s work was an expression of her sentiments on the role between the male and the female in which she downgraded the role of the male species as concerns only of him self, but she gratifies women for her unselfish role. Solano stated that while mother cares for what is best for her children, the father only wants what is best for him. She was a man hater. In contrast with the work of Solano, Fry’s work is more objective although she also urges that women should detach themselves from the world of males and male dominated institution. This separation according to Fry is of various sorts which must includes institutions, relationships, roles and activities that are male dominated. Fry’s work reflects a more meaningful feminist opinion as she discussed important feminist issues leading to their objective of achieving liberation from the male dominance world. While Solano strongly reject the male describing him as incapable, emotionally weak, a disease, and so forth all maligning the male sex, Fry was more objective in a sense that she also put her feet on the other’s shoes. Though a real feminist and also a staunch advocate of the separation from male dominance, she described women’s role in the context of the traditional notion that men are the provider and the protector of women. Fry cited the notion of parasitism of the male and female in terms of family matters. But she insists that the parasitism â€Å"goes the other way around. † It is the male that is parasites to females’ because men are pathetic and used up by living by their own. In general, although both women were against the existing arrangement of the roles of men and women in the society, Solano was very radical in her views about the males’ role and the male as a person to the point that she appeared being a man-hater. Fry on the other hand, was more objective although she also deplored the male as weak and parasites to women. But unlike Solano’s views of the male which is very personal and very negative, Fry’s opinion reflects a carefully weigh ideas regarding the issues involving the role of men and women which in the perspective of feminist like them are offensive and binding to women. Is having a maid morally wrong? What are BARBARA Ehrenreich’s reasons for thinking so? Is correct? Why or why not? In my own opinion, having a maid is not morally wrong as long as they are not treated fairly, are not abused, and given just compensation. In the contexts of the employers, maids should not be viewed as slaves rather they should be considered as worker or even employees. Ong (2006) was right in her assessment that having a domestic helper or two is part of the â€Å"bargain with two-income families† (p. 201). Ong noted that a high standard of living is considered impossible â€Å"without one or even two foreign maids to take care of the household chores as well as of children or the elderly† (p. 201). Thus, having a maid at home should be considered as a social right, just like access to better schools, housing, shopping malls, and leisure. However, in the context of the families of these maids, to be maid in a foreign country is a source of hope on their economic miseries. Most of the families these maids came from are poor and the best option for them to survive is for their daughter to get employment overseas. In other words, hiring maids meant helping those families. Unfortunately, there are always people who discriminate others. They tend to abuse their domestic servants by giving them unequal and unfair treatment. According to the Human Rights Watch, many domestic helpers complain of abusive treatments such as not providing them enough food, longer working hours, and racist behavior. These are what is morally wrong and not the hiring of domestic helpers. Barbara Ehrenreich’s thinking about having maids at home On the other hand, Barbara Ehrenreich noted the movement of women around the world and draws a comparison that for every women executive who travels, large number of women from the third world countries leave their families to work as domestic servants in the first world countries. For Ehrenreich, this mass exodus of women is morally wrong because it results in odd displacements. Ehrenreich cited the facts that while these women carry with them the warmth of the female energy into the wealthy country that hired them; this is usually at the expense of their families left behind. Their absent deprive their families of her care which she willingly offer to the families that need her services abroad. For Ehrenreich, having domestic helpers harm one’s moral character and she calls on her readers not hire maids to clean the house. Ehrenreich argued having domestic servants clean the house is not good for the family especially the children. While Ehrenreich was more concern on are supposed to clean the house, which is usually done by the maids, she deplored that cleaning other people’s house is so gross and demeaning. While Ehrenreich may have a point, but this issue should not be seen as morally wrong rather it should viewed in the economic context. Having a maid is not morally wrong because it is a decent job for women who have fewer opportunities in life, especially those coming from very poor families in third world countries. As long as they are treated fairly and justly compensated, it is never morally wrong to employ somebody to do some jobs that one cannot do anymore. It is the most practical thing because it serves in two ways, it benefits the employer because they can concentrate in their work, and it benefits the maid because she will earn dollars for her family back home. Reference Fry, M. (1983) Some Reflection on Separatism and Power http://www. feminist-reprise. org/docs/fryesep. htm Ong, A. (2006) Neoliberalism as Exception USA: Duke University Press Solano, V. Avital, R. (2004) SCUM Manifesto USA: Verso

Why Investors Invest In Hedge Funds

Why Investors Invest In Hedge Funds Abstract Hedge funds have gained a lot of popularity in the last decade and are one of the fastest growing industries. The main aim of most hedge funds is to reduce volatility and risk. It also attempts to preserve capital and deliver positive returns under all market conditions. Not all hedge funds are same therefore it is important to know the difference between them. It differs in terms of its risks,  investment returns and volatility among the different hedge fund strategies. The strategies which are correlated to equity markets deliver consistent returns and have low risk while the ones that are not will be more volatile. Main objective of hedge funds is to provide consistency in its returns for investor, lower portfolio volatility and preserve their capital investments, which is the reason why investors such as pension funds, insurance companies, institutional investors and high net worth individuals and families invest in hedge funds. This thesis reviews various issues relating to the investment in hedge funds, which have become popular with high net-worth individuals and institutional investors, as well as discuss their empirical risk and return profiles. The concerns regarding the empirical measurements are highlighted, and meaningful analytical methods are proposed to provide greater risk transparency in performance reporting. It also discusses the development of the hedge fund industry in Asia. Asian hedge funds have grown vastly in past few years. It is said to have grown nearly six times as many funds while managing ten times are much in assets since 2000 according to Eurekahedge. The industry is estimated to consist over 1100 funds, and managing roughly $175 billion in assets. International managers are starting up their own Asia-focused funds too. Allocators are increasingly eyeing investment opportunities in Asia. Funds with a global mandate are increasing their allocation to Asia. The paper presents an overview of hedge funds, describing their development and characteristics. It also discussed the various issues related to the measurement of hedge fund performance, as well as examined alternative performance measures. This thesis ends with some remarks on the development of the hedge fund industry in Asia. 1. Introduction There has several definition of hedge funds throughout the history. There isnt one particular sentence that defines what hedge funds really means. However, according to Chicago Board Options Exchange (No Date), hedge funds can be defined as: A conservative strategy used to limit investment loss by effecting a transaction that offsets an existing position. Alfred Winslow Jones was the first person to create hedge fund structure more than 50 years ago. The fund established had following feature: He created hedges by investing in securities that was said to be undervalued and funded these positions by taking short positions in overvalued securities hence creating market-neutral position. He designed an incentive fee compensation arrangement for fund mangers. They were paid a percentage of profit from the clients capital assets; and He so invested his own investment capital in the fund, to make sure that his capital and that of his investors were coordinated and in line so that it is not just an individual investment but a partnership Almost all modern hedge funds have above listed features in them, and are set up as limited partnerships with a lucrative incentive-fee structure. In most hedge funds, managers also have a significant portion of their own capital invested in the partnerships. The term hedge fund has been generalized to describe investment strategies that range from the original market-neutral style of Jones to many other strategies and opportunistic situations, including global/macro investing. There is a large variety of hedge fund investing strategies present today and therefore no standard way to classify hedge funds separately. Many data vendors and fund advisors set up their own major hedge fund styles according to their popularity. Under the classification by Credit Suisse, the categories of hedge funds with 9 differentiated styles and a fund-of-funds category: (a) Event driven funds are the funds that take positions on corporate events when companies are undergoing re-structuring or mergers. For example, fund managers would purchase bank debt or high yield corporate bonds of companies undergoing the re-organization which is often referred to as distressed securities. Another event-driven strategy is merger arbitrage where the funds seize the opportunity to invest just after a takeover has been announced. They purchase the shares of the target companies and then short these shares of the acquiring companies. (b) Global funds are categories of funds that invest in non-US stocks and bonds with no specific strategy reference. This fund has the largest number of hedge funds and it includes funds that specialize on the emerging markets. (c) Global/Macro funds are the funds that rely on macroeconomic analysis and invest in long and short position in order to capitalise on major risk factors and unforeseen markets such as currencies, interest rates, stock indices and commodities. (d) Market neutral funds refer to hedge fund strategy that involves utilizing strategies such as long-short equity, stock index arbitrage, convertible bond arbitrage and fixed income arbitrage. Long-short equity funds use the strategy of Jones by taking long positions in selective stocks and going short on other stocks to limit their exposure to the stock market. Stock index arbitrage funds trade on the spread between index futures contracts and the underlying basket of equities. (e) Dedicated Short Bias  funds are strategies that take more short positions than long positions and earn returns by maintaining net short exposure in long and short equities. Detailed individual company research typically forms the core alpha generation driver of dedicated short bias managers, and a focus on companies with weak cash flow generation is common. To affect the short sale, the manager borrows the stock from a counter-party and sells it in the market. Short positions are sometimes implemented by selling forward. Risk management consists of offsetting long positions and stop-loss strategies. (f) Convertible bond arbitrage funds typically capitalize on the embedded option in these bonds by purchasing them and shorting the equities. (g) Fixed income arbitrage is a strategy that bets on the convergence of prices of bonds from the same issuer but with different maturities over time. This is the second largest grouping of hedge funds after the Global category. (h) Short/long fund-, shorts focus on engineering short positions in stocks with or without matching long positions. They play on markets that have raised too fast and on mean reversion strategies. Long funds take long equity positions with leverage. Emerging market funds that do not have short-selling opportunities also fall under this category. (i) Emerging Markets  funds invest in currencies, debt instruments, equities and other instruments of countries with emerging or developing markets (typically measured by GDP per capita). Such countries are considered to be in a transitional phase between developing and developed status. Examples of emerging markets include China, India, Latin America, much of Southeast Asia, parts of Eastern Europe, and parts of Africa. There are a number of sub-sectors, including arbitrage, credit and event driven, fixed income bias, and equity bias. (j) Fund of funds refer to funds that invests in a pool of hedge funds. They specialize in identifying fund managers with good performance and rely on their good industry relationships to gain entry into hedge funds with good track records. Table 1 gives statistics about the various categories of hedge funds and past performance. The global/macro hedge funds provided the best mean return over the period studied, while the event-driven funds had the lowest standard deviation of returns. On a risk adjusted basis which is obtained by dividing the mean return by the standard deviation, the category of fund that ranks highest is the global/macro funds followed closely by event-driven funds. Hedge funds are not required to publicly disclose performance and holdings information unlike the registered insurance companies, which might be construed as solicitation materials. This is the reason why which makes it more difficult for investors to evaluate hedge fund managers. TABLE 1 Jan 2000   Nov 2009 Categories Mean Return (%) Standard Deviation (%) Risk-Adjusted Return Event driven 8.66 5.44 1.60 Global 6.60 6.23 1.06 Global / Macro 12.28 6.07 2.02 Market neutral 2.09 13.48 0.16 Short/Long 5.50 8.88 0.62 Emerging Market 9.23 11.05 0.84 Convertible Arbitrage 6.98 8.34 0.84 Dedicated Short Bias (1.95) 16.40 (0.12) Fixed Income Arbitrage 3.66 6.81 0.54 Source: Credit Suisse/ Tremont hedge index Notes: The mean returns are annually compounded returns over the period 2000 to November 2009, The annualized standard deviations were computed from of the standard deviation of monthly returns for each investment style. Risk-adjusted returns are obtained by dividing the mean return by the standard deviation. In 1990 the entire hedge fund industry was estimated at $20 billion. At the end of 2008, global hedge fund industry was estimated to be worth $1 trillion with 8350 active funds. It has gained a lot of popularity in the last decade and is one of the fastest growing industries. While hedge funds are well established in US and Europe, they have also been growing rapidly in Asia. Hedge funds have posted attractive returns. A seven year annualised return of 2.47% posted by Hedge Fund Research (HFR) from 2003 to 2009, higher than the SP 1200 of 1.18%. Hedge funds are seen as natural hedge to control downside risk because they employ investment strategies believed to generate returns that are uncorrelated to traditional asset classes. Hedge funds differ in strategies- a macro fund such as quantum fund generally take a directional view by betting in particular bond market or a currency movement. Other funds specialise in corporate events such as mergers or bankruptcies. They also vary widely in investment strategies and the amount of financial leverage. In the recent financial crisis, hedge funds have been heavily criticised in terms of their strategies and also for the fact that in 2008, they have had hard time fulfilling their absolute return targets. There have been other criticisms towards hedge fund regarding this particular crisis. Stromqvist (2009) writes that ever since the growth of hedge fund industry there has always been discussions regarding the role of hedge funds in a financial crisis. The main focus of the criticism was on highly leveraged hedge funds and that they may have a large impact on price stability on both currencies and equities. In an article written in The Times, Dillow (2008) observes that even though average return of hedge funds in 2008 has been poor, they have not been a serious source of instability in the wider financial system. Regardless of the recent financial crisis, hedge funds still generate a growing number of interests all around the world. Due to their private nature, it is difficult to obtain information about the operations of individual hedge funds and reliable summary statistics about the industry as a whole. It is a common belief that investing in hedge funds can have superior returns. Many success stories have emerged in the past and the most popular of which is the George Soros story. In September of 1992, he risked $10 billion on a single  currency  speculation when he shorted the British pound, which gave him an international fame. He was right, and in a single day he successfully generated a profit of $1 billion â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" ultimately, it was reported that his profit on the transaction almost reached $2 billion. Therefore, he is famously known as the the man who broke the  Bank of England. The greates investor: George Soros, http://www.investopedia.com/university/greatest/georgesoros.asp 16-12-09 As seen in Table 1, the hedge funds as a group can generate positive returns. For example, over the period 1990-1997, all the hedge funds had positive absolute returns. Global/Macro funds obtained mean returns of 28.1% p.a. with a standard deviation that is comparable to equity funds. Traditional asset allocation makes the most of the use of equities, bonds, real estate and private equity to invest in a portfolio that maximizes returns and minimizes the portfolio risk. Therefore, in an investment portfolio hedge funds can play a vital role in maximising returns. Moreover, in a bear market, many investment and fund mangers find it dull to just beat the market index, which may have negative returns. They generally prefer to go short or avoid long positions to have positive returns. Choosing an appropriate hedge fund to invest increases the possibility of obtaining positive absolute returns. It is also generally believed that hedge funds have returns that are generally uncorrelated with the traditional asset classes. In fact, hedge funds may even have a lower risk profile. For example, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (2000) reported that hedge funds exhibit a low correlation with traditional asset classes, suggesting that hedge funds should play an important role in strategic asset allocation. The answer to the question Why invest in Hedge funds? simply is to make money. The common analogy in all hedge funds strategies and the underlying rationale for investing in hedge funds is the search for absolute returns. This is sometimes called alpha. Alpha is the extra return a skilled manager can produce over and above the market return (or beta). Whereas many conventional fund managers aim simply to outperform their chosen benchmark index, hedge fund managers seek to produce positive gains in all market conditions. http://www.fleetstreetinvest.co.uk/shares/trend-investing/hedge-fund-investing-00128.html Research Question By using quantitative study, I will try to answer the following questions: Why investors invest in hedge funds? To answer this question I will be looking at the return, risk and performance associated with investing in hedge fund and how the fund mangers. By looking at the annualised return, standard deviation and risk adjusted returns of different styles of hedge funds their performance can be measured. What are the issues relating the investment in terms of risk, return and performance measurement? Although hedge funds are popular in terms of an investment vehicle, there are various issues. The issues related are its cost/ management fee structures, collection of data, survivorship bias and selection bias. Various performance measure techniques are available for hedge funds too. I will be looking at some of the performance measurement approaches. Purpose There are several purpose for this paper. First is to give an overview of hedge fund as an investment vehicle with a short description of different characteristics and styles of hedge funds. Second is to describe why hedge funds are attractive for investors and fund managers by presenting different theories where risk and returns of hedge funds are investigated in order to evaluate the performance measures. Third purpose is to investigate the issues related to the investment in hedge funds where several sets of issues are evaluated and various performance measures are identified. LITERATURE REVIEW There is no one particular definition of hedge fund as mentioned earlier. According to the Investment Company Act 1940 of the US, hedge funds were defined by their low degree of regulatory controls. In comparison to mutual funds, hedge funds were seen to have higher level of risk. This led to a 100-investor limit as well as wealth requirement of the investors. Fung and Hsieh (1999) claim that another reason for 100-investor limit is the use of leverage and short selling in hedge funds. The limit restrictions were later abandoned and wealth requirement lowered. Many definitions of hedge funds have been cited-most of them mainly based on its characteristics. Some of them are: Investment companies that by their charter can buy on margin, sell short, hold warrants, convertible securities and commodities and otherwise engage in aggressive trading tactics in order to profit from forcasting market swings.- Polhman, Ang and Hollinger (1978) A mutual fund that employs leverage and uses various techniques of hedging- Soros (1987) hedge funds are vehicles that allow private investors to pool assets to be invested by a fund manager. Unlike mutual funds, hedge funds are commonly structured as private partnerships and thus subject to only minimal SEC regulation. Moreover, because hedge funds are only lightly regulated their managers can pursue investment strategies involving, for example, heavy use if derivatives, short sales and leverage.- Bodie, Kane and Marcus (2008). Murguia and Umemoto (2004) claims that the reason why there is no proper definition of hegdge funds is because they are not classified by the different asset classes but by the type of strategies employed by the fund mangers is what classifies them. Such strategies range from very aggressive to conservative, which is the reason why there is no clear definition. Several studies have been carried out about hedge funds performance and risk issues. Fung and Hsieh (1997a) extend Sharpe (1992) style analysis and conclude that there are more diversified hedge fund strategies and suggested that hedge fund strategies are more dynamic. The literatures also conclude that option-based factors can enhance the power of explaining hedge fund returns. Brown, Goetzmann and Ibbotson (1999) examine the performance of offshore hedge funds and attribute fund performance to style effects rather than managerial skills. Brown, Goetzmann and Liang (2003) found, in a study using the TASS database, that fund of hedge funds reduce by a third the standard deviation of monthly hedge fund returns, as well as significantly reduce the value at risk of hedge fund investment. Hence, fund of hedge funds can also provide significant diversification potential. A well-diversified fund of hedge fund manager can therefore take advantage of market-specific risks while maintaining low correlations to stock, bond, and currency markets. As a result of which the fund of hedge fund manager can provide superior returns and generate alpha which reflects managerial skills. More generally, since fund of hedge funds deliver more consistent returns with lower volatility than individual hedge funds, they are considered to be ideal for diversifying traditional portfolios. During 1993â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"2001, fund of hedge funds outperformed the SP 500 index on a risk-adjusted basis (Gregoriou, 2003a). Koh, Koh, Lee and Phoon(2004) state that traditional asset allocation optimizes the use of equities, bonds, real estate and private equity to invest in a portfolio that maximizes returns and minimizes the portfolio risk. Thus, hedge funds become vital in enhancing returns in an investment portfolio. Following the growth in hedge fund industry, fund-of-hedge funds (FOF) have become more and more popular. Liang (2003) states that FOF mixes various strategies and asset classes together and creates more stable long-term investment returns than any of the individual funds. It invests in underlying hedge funds and diversifies the fund specific risks and relieves burdens on investor to select and monitor managers, and providing asset allocation in dynamic market environments. Fund-of-funds require less initial investment as compare to hedge funds and therefore are more affordable for small investors. To participate in the investment, small investors may be willing to pay extra fees as it might be the only way for them. Previous studies in this area by Brown, Goetzmann and Liang (2002) conclude that combining hedge funds with fund-of-funds not only causes the double counting but also hides the difference in fee structures between hedge funds and fund-of-funds. Liang (2003) state that a hedge funds charges a management fee and incentive fee while a fund-of-funds not only charges these fees at a fund-of-fund level but also passes hedge fund level fees in the form of after fee returns to the fund-of-fund investors whether or not the fund-of-funds make a profit. Brown, Goetzmann and Liang (2002) examine this issue and propose an alternative fee which provide a better incentive for fund-of-fund managers and reduce the cost for investors under the current fee structure, which is that the fund-of-fund managers absorb the underlying hedge fund fees and establish their own incentive fees at the fund-of-fund level. Liang (2003) conclude that because of the above issues fund-of-funds need to be separated from hedge funds in academic studies and address the difference in performance, risk and fee structures. However, the FOF mangers can add value to the portfolio through selection, construction and continuous monitoring of the portfolio. They provide professional services and have access to the information that are expensive and difficult to obtain otherwise. The FOF mangers quite often use different investment strategies and styles through a diversified portfolio of individual fund managers. Considering these advantages for an investor, investing in fund of hedge funds is not cheap. The cost can be as high as the cost of buying a building, according to Koh, Koh, Lee and Phoon (2004). This structure allows for more diversified portfolio and much reduced risk at the fund level which comes at a price. More diversified the portfolio is it is more likely that it will incur more incentive fees. Therefore, there are many persuasive reasons why investing in hedge funds are considered as alternative investments. Some uninformed investors may be misled about the risks and returns on hedge funds as it relies heavily on statistical compilation from the database vendors which is filled with data bias such as survivorship bias and selection bias. Fung and Hsieh (2001a) found that estimates of survivorship biases differed across two commonly used databases, HFR and TASS. The survivorship bias was much higher in TASS than that in HFR. They estimated that survivorship bias would over-report hedge fund mean returns by about 1.5% to 3% per annum. Brooks and Kat (2001) stated that around 30% of newly established funds do not survive the first three years, primarily due to poor performance. Thus, not including defunct funds is likely to lead to over-estimation of the returns and profile of hedge fund industry.

Metropolitan vs. Colonial Space in Forster’s A Passage to India and Lawrence’s Women in Love :: Passage India

Metropolitan vs. Colonial Space in Forster’s A Passage to India and Lawrence’s Women in Love   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At first glance, it seems easy to state a definitive distinction between what Said calls â€Å"metropolitan space† and â€Å"colonial space.† In its simplest form, metropolitan space is the space occupied by the colonizers. Examples of this include England, France and the places these people reside in while living in these colonies. Likewise, colonial space is that which is occupied by those who are colonized. India and Africa are both good examples of this. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear that this distinction is not as simple as it may originally appear.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although the above definitions are accurate, they are also incomplete. As Said says, colonialism is not a â€Å"simple act of accumulation and acquisition (9).† The distinction between metropolitan space and colonial space does not lie solely within physical and tangible spaces. It also exists in the mindsets and attitudes of the people involved in colonialism. Said points out that a direct result of colonialism is that it comes with changes in attitudes (52).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another important element of the distinction between metropolitan and colonial spaces is the understanding that this distinction exists because of the differences in power. Said defines metropolitan space as a â€Å"socially desirable empowered space (52).† He goes on to say that metropolitan spaces are connected to colonial spaces by the â€Å"design, motive and development† of these colonial spaces. Further, he says that cultures want to move into these colonial spaces because they are viewed as ‘desirable but subordinate (52).† This point is especially important to note. There is a definite understanding that those who occupy the metropolitan space have the power while those who occupy the colonial space do not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The vocabulary used is also an essential element of the distinction between the two spaces. Said mentions that some of the key elements/words associated with colonialism include: â€Å"inferior† and â€Å"subordinate peoples. (9)† These terms further reinforce the division of power.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India is a prime example of the distinction between metropolitan and colonial spaces. Using the simplest definition, Forster presents an India where the distinction between metropolitan and colonial spaces is very clear. Metropolitan space is present in the form of England, but also is present locally in the form of the club. The Indians occupy their own colonial spaces that the British rarely enter into.

Determination of distance in a shooting scene Essay

Determination of distance in a shooting scene Introduction            Distance determination is an activity that is carried out to determine the distance at which a fire-arm was shot from in a crime scene. It is also a calculation done by the examiner to indicate the really distance of shooting in a crime scene. It is done to approximate the actual point from which a person was shot, something that is evident in the gun residue, that is, gunpowder from the muzzle to the target (Saferstein, 2011).            Forensic science has been of great help in investigating crimes in all ways that the crime is committed helping the investigator apprehend the criminal (Saferstein, 2011). The laboratory is not only used for the blood stain, it is also used to examine the weapon used in committing the crime for example a gun. The firearms suspected to have been used or involved in a crime are taken to the laboratory for investigation and examination to help establish the source and whether the firearm has ever been used in addition to the owner (Saferstein, 2011). This is done using a microscope that magnifies the cartridge used. The gun is used to determine the distance using the muzzle. The investigator can shoot from different angles using the same type of gun then checks the hole and measures the diameter used from the gun and the gunpowder will give clear indication of the distance (Saferstein, 2011).            The gun is used to determine the distance using the muzzle the investigator can shoot from different angles then checks the hole and measures the diameter of the muzzle from the points and then compares with the hole of the actual incident (Saferstein, 2011). Therefore, the muzzle-to-target analysis can help in determine the distance of the shooter to the target. The gunpowder is beneficial to the investigator because it leaves a pattern and enables the investigator to match the firearms used and the how the shooting took place (Saferstein, 2011). Reference Saferstein, R. (2011). Criminalistics: An introduction to forensic science. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Source document

Explore Jane Austen’s presentation Of Mr Darcy Essay

For this piece of coursework, I have been asked to explore Jane Austen – the author’s presentation of the misunderstood character Mr Darcy in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. I will be looking at how Jane Austen has presented the different aspects of Mr Darcy’s personality. These will include Mr Darcy’s language, behaviour, others’ opinions of him, a comparison with other male characters in the story, such as Mr Collins and finally what I think Jane Austen’s opinion on Mr Darcy is. This story was set in a nineteenth century Georgian society and in this time, the situation of marriage was that if a wealthy man proposed to you, you could not possibly give â€Å"no† as your reply. Mothers encouraged their daughters to get married by taking them to lavish balls and occasions where they would be acquainted with the wealthy. I will also be looking at the stages of Mr Darcy’s development throughout the book. This will include differences at the beginning of the novel – where he was very proud and self-centred, going on to the middle and end of the book, where his attitude changes and he turns into a caring, loving and considerate bachelor – the â€Å"perfect† man. The title of the story in itself represents Darcy’s attitude – â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† – Darcy’s pride where he thinks he is superior and his prejudices against the people he believes are less fortunate than him. Darcy is an extremely rich bachelor where he owns many houses, lands and villages. This adds to the change in his character as throughout the beginning and middle of the play, we are made to think that he is selfish and greedy, whereas in actual fact, he is the complete opposite! At the ball at Hunsford, Darcy refuses to dance with anyone, saying â€Å"there is not another woman in this room, whom it would not be a punishment to dance with.† Here is comes across as very self indulgent and pompous, having said that no other girl in that room is acceptable for him to dance with. He then goes on to say that â€Å"You (Mr Bingly) are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room†. From reading this, the mind of the audience has been already been made up – Mr Darcy is a rude and arrogant character and we are forced to immediately dislike him and his attitude because of this. As Mr Darcy talks, you can tell he has a very high opinion of himself as he talks to people as though they are beneath him and he is looking down on them. An example of this behaviour is as follows – â€Å"I certainly shall not†¦I detest it†. From this I feel that Jane Austen wants us to dislike him for a reason not yet known to the reader. Darcy’s arrogance then ceases to continue as at Lucas Lodge, where he rudely addresses the people who we at Hunsford Ball as savages â€Å"Every savage can dance† clearly suggesting that all the people at that ball were mere scavengers and did not deserve to be there as they did not deserve to be with him. In Darcy’s opinion, they were not high enough in society to be with him. He also suggests this as Sir William Lucas says â€Å"Do you not think it would be a proper compliment to the place (St James’, if he danced there), which he then replies â€Å"It is a compliment which I never pay to any place if I can avoid it.† – meaning Darcy not dancing at any certain place is in fact a compliment to him, as again he believes he is far too superior to dance at those occasions. Surprisingly, as Elizabeth Bennet’s hand is offered to Darcy, she gracefully refuses. However he accepts to take her hand when offered to her by Sir William, â€Å"Mr Darcy is all politeness†, she says this in a very sarcastic manor, and she was attempting to get back at Darcy at this ball, as he was so arrogant not to dance with anyone at Hunsford. Here, we support Elizabeth because we like her persona. At Netherfield, when Jane (Elizabeth’s sister) is ill, we again experience Mr Darcy’s arrogance and rudeness. This is a main build up of Darcy’s character as we see that he is a very serious and superior man, but at the same time, also very intelligent. We also see Elizabeth’s intelligent and witty side when she and Darcy have a minor quick-fire debate where it starts with Elizabeth saying â€Å"I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good† meaning, unlike some (Darcy) she hopes not to take advantage of the serious and good things in life. She then goes on to state after Darcy has said that everyone should understand what is good, â€Å"Such as vanity and pride† which Darcy then quickly fires back â€Å"†¦vanity is a weakness indeed†¦pride will always be under good regulation†. Finding this very funny, â€Å"Elizabeth turned away to hide a smile†. This suggests that Elizabeth is mocking, teasing and making fun of Mr Darcy, when the whole time, he is being serious. This brings an element of comedy into the story. At Netherfield Ball, Elizabeth tells Mr Darcy while they are dancing of her acquaintance with Mr Wickham, â€Å"who is blessed with such happy manners†. It then seems as though Elizabeth goes too far on talking about Wickham when she says â€Å"he (Mr Wickham) has been so unlucky as to lose your friendship†. You can tell he is not fond of Mr Wickham immediately as Austen writes â€Å"and seemed desirous of changing the subject†. At Longbourne, we experience Mr Collin’s proposal to Elizabeth. With the words that he speaks, almost made â€Å"Elizabeth so near laughing that she could not use the short pause he allowed in any attempt to stop him farther†. Again, this adds an element of comedy throughout the story, and is a comparison to Darcy’s surprise proposal. Mr Wickham uses his charm to his advantage by painting a bad picture of Mr Darcy, using his convincing persona to feel everyone. Mr Collin’s proposal is very abrupt and is obvious that he is only proposing because he feels that it is an obligation for him to do. He is therefore not proposing/marrying for the purpose of true love. â€Å"My reasons for marrying are, first†¦secondly†¦thirdly†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The fact that he is proposing in this manor also comes across as quite arrogant and selfish as he is only marrying for the purpose of himself. Before Elizabeth had had a chance to agree or disagree on the proposal, Mr Collin’s seems to already think he knows what she will say (yes), as he then refers to â€Å"When we are married†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This was the point at which Elizabeth stopped him before he gained further ideas of them married in his head. Elizabeth gracefully declines his offer â€Å"It is impossible for me to do otherwise than to decline them (offer of marriage)†. This proposal here at Rosings is what begins the change of Darcy to the considerate, kind and loving man that he turns out to be. Elizabeth still believes that Darcy is a terrible person however, as he has taken Wickham’s job (as a vicar) away from him. However, Mr Darcy begins to open up and explain to Elizabeth about his attitude. He begins with â€Å"In vain I have struggled†, making his life seem like a constant battle. He then goes straight to the point about his feelings towards Elizabeth when he says â€Å"I admire and love you† This gives a sense of truth and deep meaning and is an extremely brave thing to say. However, his use of language, as he speaks to Elizabeth, such as â€Å"†¦pride†¦inferiority†¦degradation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  suggests that Elizabeth still isn’t making him charming. Darcy also realises that his family are very much like himself too – proud and arrogant, when he says â€Å"degradation – of the family obstacles†, meaning he knows his family would object to him marrying such a â€Å"common† girl. But despite this, he still decides to go ahead. I particularly admire this moment, because it gives a sense of teasing the audience and confusing them – just as they thought they knew Darcy’s mind, they were wrong. It is extremely clever as Austen has now moved from what was portrayed as the man â€Å"in love† to suddenly a man becoming so frank and rude. Elizabeth declines Darcy’s proposal, apologising to him – quite sarcastically for any confusion or misunderstanding she has caused â€Å"I am sorry to have occasioned pain to any-one†. She insults him which is what changes him later. When looking back and comparing both Mr Collins’ and Mr Darcy’s proposals, it is clear that Mr Collins’ is the more heartfelt and honest one. Mr Collins was more careful and undoubtedly loving about his words, even though it was asked in a comical manner. It shows how much he cares for Elizabeth. Whereas Mr Darcy was just direct and abrupt and had not thought about anything else when asking, except for him; Darcy doesn’t even contemplate the fact that there is some chance of Elizabeth declining his proposal. â€Å"Wholly unmoved by any feeling of remorse†, is what is described as when the subject is brought up on Darcy’s feelings towards the end of the friendship between him and Wickham. Elizabeth still despises Darcy for stopping Bingly and her sister (Jane) from getting married. But here, Darcy is able to shake off the main â€Å"charge† against him which is arrogance, pride and prejudice; however Jane’s pain still remains the same, as she continues to say â€Å"†¦your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others†. However, in the reader’s eyes, Mr Darcy has become acceptable because he still cannot overcome the great force of love he feels for Elizabeth. We can see this as he leaves after Elizabeth’s speech on his behaviour, he remorsefully says â€Å"†¦I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been†. Here, the reader has been made to feel sorry for Darcy and for us to think that Elizabeth is being too harsh on him, when in actual fact; the audience knows at the back of their minds that she is being perfectly honest. He explains himself for the break up of Jane and Mr Bingly as he says â€Å"Her look†¦ (was)†¦without any symptom of peculiar regard†. He then goes on to apologise about his rude arrogance in opinion of Elizabeth’s family, saying that â€Å"your mother’s family†¦betrayed by herself†¦it pains me to offend you†. We can see here that even though he is still extremely snobbish, he has some remorse for the way he spoke to Elizabeth and her family. This is obviously a tremendous change in his attitude as before, at Hunsford and Netherfield, he cared about no body except himself. He explains to Elizabeth why he feels such great hatred towards Wickham, which obviously because he ran away with Darcy’s 15/16 year old sister, after the Darcy family have done many things to try to do the best they can for Wickham. But however much they had tried; Wickham stayed a gambler with no money. As the letter continues, he opens up more and at the very end, he ends with â€Å"I will only add, God bless you†. This suggests care, consideration, regard and love for her. This comment alone in my eyes shows a true depth of feeling Darcy is encountering about Elizabeth right now. This feeling of love for Elizabeth grows as she and her family visits one of his houses at Pemberley. The first thing she notices is that his house is very tasteful and is compatible with all the things that she would look for in a house. She realises that this house has â€Å"†¦more real elegance, than the furniture at Rosings†. As Elizabeth continues to explore the house, she finds out from the housemaid that Darcy was â€Å"always the sweetest tempered, most generous hearted, boy in the world†. She then carries on to say that Darcy will be â€Å"affable to the poor†¦He is the best landlord and the best master†¦that ever lives† meaning he is a very good, kind man, who is not selfish at all as he gives some of his earnings to the poor and that he obviously treats her well†¦as a human being not as a slave â€Å"not like the wild young men nowadays†. This reinforces our changing view of Darcy. However when Mr Darcy does walk in to find Elizabeth there with her family, she sees him as â€Å"strikingly altered† so he has dramatically changed â€Å"his manners so dignified†¦such gentleness†. All of this evidence tells us that from Rosings Park to here at Pemberley, his love for Elizabeth has grown stronger. The climax of Pemberley is when he sees Elizabeth and her family and asks to be introduced to them. This was an extremely major compliment towards both Elizabeth and her family. However, Elizabeth is still hesitant about Mr Darcy’s (to her) sudden change, and therefore she is still slightly prejudice â€Å"†¦she felt like he would probably strike into some other path†. Then, Darcy shocks Elizabeth even more when he asks her is it’d be ok for him to introduce her to his friends which she didn’t expect at all as it reads â€Å"†¦for which she was quite unprepared†, and following that, he asks if it’d be alright for him to introduce himself to his sister. With his sister being the only close family he has, this must have been very important for Darcy to ask. Here Elizabeth finds that Darcy has in fact been having conversations with his sister about her. The shock of Lydia running away with Mr Wickham causes the reader to think this incident will drive Darcy away from Elizabeth’s family, but in fact it has brought Elizabeth and Darcy closer together because Darcy has lived with this torment before, having known that Wickham has tried to do it with his own sister. Therefore, Darcy does everything in his power do help find Lydia. He now realises that in order to be able to accept Elizabeth, he must take on Wickham as a brother-in-law, having seen that everything wild about Elizabeth’s family is seen in the naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve Jane herself. Despite all this, Darcy still goes ahead to try to find them. To Darcy, it would be mortifying if Lydia and Wickham got married he would hate his brother-in law and think his sister-in-law was a stupid child. Mr Darcy helps Elizabeth’s family to find Lydia and when he does pays Wickham ten thousand pounds for him to marry her. But he ensures that Mr Gardner takes credit for it. In this asset of his personality he is a complete gentleman and in fact very modest. This is very cleverly done by Austen as she plans that we are told about this later. Privately, Mr Darcy has saved the family and Wickham single hand idly, by paying off debts of Wickham. While all the time, everyone else is left thinking it was the Uncle paying for everything. Here, we see a big change in Darcy’s behaviour, Jane Austen now wants us to think of Darcy as a misunderstood and misinterpreted character. She does this very well when we see Darcy’s gratifying behaviour, saying that Elizabeth’s â€Å"family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe, I thought only of you†. He then describes his feelings that he is â€Å"violently in love† with Elizabeth. Compared to Netherfield Ball, where he didn’t want to dance with a single person in the room, he is very compassionate. He even understands why Elizabeth insulted him and he realises that what she said about him was in fact true and he despises himself for this. He says the words have â€Å"tortured† him. He then tries to justify his behaviour by saying that it is due to his childhood â€Å"As a child†¦not taught to correct my temper†¦pride and conceit†¦many years as an only child†¦I was spoilt by my parents† He the goes on to say â€Å"†¦dearest, loveliest Elizabeth†¦you taught me a lesson†¦by you, I was properly humbled† Here, he is thanking her for helping him change and for helping him realise that he was a very arrogant man who wanted things his own way, he thanks her for changing him into a kind considering, loving man who fears that if Elizabeth didn’t come along to change him, he would still have been the selfish person he was at Netherfield. Jane Austen has clearly waited until the very end of the book, where she drops many ideas as pints such as the above of Darcy not being a bad man at all. This causes enjoyable tension for the audience. Unfortunately, Elizabeth’s mother still dislikes Darcy for his arrogant behaviour, and believes he hasn’t changed, not knowing he has helped the whole family and saved them from great debt and embarrassment. But this doesn’t bother us much as we know that Elizabeth’s mother is quite stupid and ridiculed. In conclusion we find that Fitzwilliam Darcy has undergone great change in his attitude from being rude, arrogant and full of pride at Hunsford, Netherfield and Rosings, to flourishing into the perfect gentleman as he meets his love, Elizabeth the audience finds Darcy acceptable after the letter and the second proposal, but he was never a bad person, he had never done anything to hurt anybody, it was just his personality. Maybe he was always kind hearted, but put on a show to suit his status. Mr Darcy is well worth his change as he has transformed into a humble gentleman with deep emotions. I think Jane Austen has done a very good job of portraying Mr Darcy as the loveable and romantic man she wants us to perceive him as. The whole story is structured well, with many exciting twists and turns which will keep the audience interested throughout. It is a true love story of a kind woman and a kind man, who make the perfect couple. As expected, Elizabeth becomes Mrs Darcy and everybody remains happy.