Epoxy Resin

Epoxy resin is a type of thermosetting polymer, commercially available in different forms, has a wide range of application in aerospace, coating, electric insulation and marine application due to its outstanding performances, easy handling and low cost [1-5]. Epoxy high inner stress, brittle texture, inferior impact resistance, weak creep resistance and poor moisture resistance, limited its application in other industrial areas [6]. So, the epoxy was mixed with polymers[7], clays, metal [8], carbon nanotube [9], graphene[10], and graphene oxide[11] to overcome its limitations. Graphene oxide (GO) is a graphite derivative that produced through oxidation of graphite using various methods. Graphene oxide is a 2D sheet with oxygen functional at the surface (hydroxyl, carbonyl, and epoxide) and (carboxyl) at its edge [12,13]. Graphene oxide is a promising material as polymer reinforcement, due to its high mechanical properties[14], excellent thermal stability[15], and good insulation properties [16]. Moreover, graphene oxide high surface area, high aspect ratio, excellent sheet flexibility, reactivity sites, and good dispersion in most common solvent favored its use a composites material for polymeric material. The Graphene oxide tends to improve the mechanical properties, thermal stability, insulator, and dielectric properties of the various commercial epoxy resin. However, Graphene oxide sheets tend to aggregate either by Van der Waals force or ?-? stacking interaction, which would decrease the improvement effects of graphene sheets in epoxy matrix [17]. Therefore, graphene oxide was modified either through covalent bonds or by ?-? interaction to reduce these aggregation phenomena and enhanced epoxy properties. For instance, Wan et al improved epoxy tensile strength and modulus by 75% and 15% through mixing epoxy with graphene oxide modified with DGEBA (diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A) [18].Also, Liu et al enhanced epoxy glass temperature and tensile strength by 26oC and 31% using grafted graphene oxide [5]. Sharmila et al prepared Graphene oxide modified with iron oxide nanoparticles, they epoxy composites shown improvements in the tensile, impact, and fracture strength [19]. Fluorinated polymer is polymer contain carbon-fluorine bonds and they has been applied in many domestic and industrial application due there excellent thermal stability, anti-chemical corrosion, weathering resistance, high dielectric conductivity, and low surface energy [20-22]. However, the high market price of the fluoropolymers and poor miscibility in epoxy resin restricted their applications [23]. Thermal stability, roughness, and corrosion resistance were improved for epoxy resin modified with a fluorinated polymer [24-27]. The fluorine atoms reduced the crosslinking density of the epoxy resin and fluoropolymer, reducing the mechanical properties of the epoxy [28]. The grafting of the fluorinated polymer into carbon base material such as carbon nanotube, fluorinated graphene, and fluorinated graphite may combine the excellent properties of carbon base material and fluorine group's properties. The miscibility was improved with enhancement of the mechanical properties, thermal stability, surface properties, and electric properties. Yang and coworkers grafted fluorinated polymer on reduced graphene oxide coated with dopamine. The modified graphene showed excellent dispersion in the ferroelectric polymer matrix with good high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss [29].Que et al modified epoxy resin (DGEBA) with trifluoromethyl containing polyimide structures. Compared with neat epoxy, they found that the modified epoxy shown better thermal stability with 18 to 55 % char yield at 800 0C, water contact angle (94.9–105.0 °), higher toughness, and lower water absorption (0.47–0.95 %). The tensile shear of modified epoxy was lower than the neat epoxy, the fluorine groups decreased epoxy surface energy which further reduced the adhesion strength compared with unmodified epoxy [7]. In this work, graphene oxide was modified with Hexadecafluoro (1, 10) decanediol through one-step reaction. Modified graphene oxide was mixed with epoxy resin in various loading. Then, the mechanical properties, thermal stability, water contact angle water uptake, and alkaline corrosion resistance were examined for epoxy composites. Results and Discussion:   The surface functionalization of GO was confirmed by FTIR, XRD, XPS, Raman spectroscopy, and TGA. Fig. (1) shows the FTIR spectrum of GO and GOFO. For GO typical peaks were observed at 3390 cm-1 (stretching vibration of C-OH), 1041 cm-1 (stretching vibration of C-O), 1374 cm-1 (deformation vibration of C-OH), 1261 cm-1 and 877 cm-1 (stretching vibration of C-O-C), and 1734cm-1 (stretching vibration of C=O). The peak at 1619 cm-1 is attributed to the skeletal vibration of the graphitic of GO [30]. After reaction with FO new peaks appeared. The peaks at 1178 cm-1 (stretching vibration of C-F) [31], at 2966 cm-1 (bending stretching of C-H), and at 1441 cm-1 (stretching vibration of C-H) from the perfluoro compound. The peak at 1080 cm-1 was related to stretching vibration of ester bond C-O-C. These results indicated that FO was successfully grafted onto GO surface.The XRD patterns of Graphite, GO, and GOFO was shown in Fig. (2) and the interlayer distance was calculated using Bragg equation. Pristine graphite is shown a typical peak at 26.410 with an interlayer spacing of 0.337 nm [32]. This peak shifted to 11.020 (corresponding to an interlayer space of 0.802 nm) after graphite was oxidized to GO, that was due to the formation of oxygen-containing functional groups on a graphite oxide surface and water molecules trapped between the layers [33]. The functionalization of GO with FO shifted the peak from 11.020 to 10.080 (corresponding to an interlayer space of 0.676nm), suggested that GO was modified with FO. Another broad diffraction peak was observed at 22.760, which suggests the formation of few layers of reduced graphite oxide. To further study the structural differences between graphite, GO, and GOFO, the graphitic crystal size was calculated using Sheerer equation and the number of layers was calculated based on crystal size. Graphite had a large crystal size of 21.28nm with 63-64 graphene layers. After oxidation to GO, the crystal size decreased to 10.92nm and the number of layers decreased to 10-11 graphene layers. The crystal size of GOFO was 3.78nm with 5 -6 layers of the modified graphene sheet. In order to study the exfoliation of GOFO into the epoxy matrix, the XRD patterns of EGOFO composites and neat epoxy were investigated as shown in Fig. (3). For neat epoxy, two broads peaks centered at ?70 and ?180 were observed due to the amorphous nature of neat epoxy. All Epoxy composites show the same characteristic diffraction peak as neat epoxy and no diffraction peaks of GOFO at 10.080 and 22.760 were observed [34]. That's confirmed that GOFO was highly exfoliated into the epoxy matrix. Although, the highly exfoliated level of GOFO sheets in the epoxy matrix cannot represent a good dispersion was obtained in the epoxy composites [35]. The thermographic analysis in Fig. (4) represents the thermal stability of GO and GOFO under a nitrogen atmosphere. Graphene oxide shows 8.404% weight loss between 50 0C -100 0C, due to evaporation of residual water trapped between the layers. A significant weight loss of 29.53% was observed between 100 0C – 250 0C, that's due to decomposition of labile oxygen functional groups to H2O, CO, and CO2 [22,10].Compared to GO, GOFO was more stable with 3.48% weight loss was observed between 50 0C -100 0C can be assigned to evaporate of residual water trapped between the layers, which was lower than GO. Between 100 0C – 250 0C, 8.18% weight loss was found due to decomposition of the reaming oxygen functional groups. Then, 12.44% weight loss was observed between 250 0C – 550 0C, that can be assigned to the decomposition of the bond between GO and perfluoro compound. In addition, compared with 48.59% weight loss at 700 0C for GO, GOFO undergoes 20.83% weight loss. The above data can be due to GO, bosses high amount of oxygenated functional groups, while GOFO possesses low oxygenated functional groups due to functionalization by FO. The above results confirmed that GOFO was more stable than GO.Raman spectroscopy was applied to explore the structural variations between GO and GOFO. Generally, the graphitic material shows two characteristic peaks, the G peak (~1575 cm?1) arises from first-order scattering of the E2g photon of sp2 C atoms and the D peak (~1350 cm?1) from a breathing mode of ?-point photons of A1g symmetry. Also, the intensity ratio ID/IG can be used to evaluate the graphitization degree of the graphitic material, the lower value represented a high degree of graphitization [30]. Fig. (5) shows Raman spectrum results of GO and GOFO. The G and D bands of GO were located at 1599.9 and 1357 cm-1 receptivity, as reported in previous reports [30,36,37]. After functionalization with FO, the G band was shifted to a lower wavelength at 1589 cm-1, no obvious changes were observed for the D band. In addition, the ID/IG intensity ratio of GO increases from 0.96 to 1.062 for GOFO. The changes in the intensity ratio imply that GOFO of graphene structure was restored, which can be due to the removal of oxygen functional groups. The GO and GOFO were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the results are shown in Fig. (5) and the elemental analysis is tabulated in Table (1). The GO broad spectrum shows two peaks at binding energies around 286.1 eV and 532.4 eV, which were assigned to C1s and O1s, respectively. The atomic composition of graphene oxide was obtained from XPS broad spectrum and revealed the presence of carbon (71.88%) and oxygen (28.12%). In contrast, the GOFO broad spectrum displayed three peaks at binding energies around 286.1 eV, 532.4 eV, and 686 eV, they can be assigned to C1s, O1s, and F1s respectively. The atomic composition of GOFO obtained from the broad spectrum shown the existence of carbon (71.66%), oxygen (27.34%), and fluorine (1%). The carbon-to-oxygen ratio increased from 1.6 for GO to 2.6 for GOFO, due to functionalization with FO. The C1s XPS spectrum of GO and GOFO are shown in Fig. (6). The C1s spectra can be decomposed into four characteristic peaks: C=C/C-C (non-oxygenated carbon, 284.5 eV), C-OH/C-O-C (hydroxyl, epoxy, and 286eV), C=O (carbonyl, 286.8 eV), and COOH (carboxyl, 288.9 eV) [38]. In comparison, the decomposed C1s spectrum of GOFO shows additional peaks at 287.02eV, 290 eV, and 292 eV, assigned to -C-O- (ether bond), C-F (fluorine), and C-F2 (fluorine) respectively[39]. As shown in Fig. (5), compared with XPS C1s spectrum of GO (Fig. (6)), the peak intestines of C-O and C-O-C were significantly decreased, new peaks appeared. The above results indicated the attachment of FO to graphene oxide surfaces via the reaction with hydroxyl groups of FO with C-O groups on the GO surfaces [40]. As shown in the SEM images of EGOFO composites, the GOFO sheets were well dispersed in the epoxy matrix. GOFO nano-sheets were surrounded tightly by epoxy resin, which indicates a good interfacial interaction between GOFO and the epoxy matrix. Such good interfacial bonding improves the stress transfer from the epoxy matrix to the GOFO nano-sheet and thus enhanced the mechanical properties of epoxy composites. However, due to the presence of incompatible fluorine groups on the GOFO, micro-voids can be observed and such voids could enhance crack initiation which leads to decrease the mechanical properties of epoxy composites[41]. SEM analysis of epoxy composites: The SEM images of epoxy and epoxy composites at fracture site after the tensile test are shown in Fig. (7). The images were used to examine the dispersion and the compatibility of GOFO in the epoxy matrix. Fig. (7a,b) shows neat epoxy exhibited relatively smooth surface with a river-like pattern in the fracture direction, confirmed the brittle nature of epoxy [42]. In contrast epoxy composites displayed rougher, fluctuant surfaces with GOFO nano-sheet pulled out of the epoxy matrix Fig. (7 c,e). Also, epoxy composites SEM images shown that GOFO nano-sheets were well dispersed in the epoxy matrix, a well interfacial interaction between the nano-sheets and epoxy composites Fig. (7 d,f). The good interfacial bonds can effectively transfer the stresses from the epoxy matrix to the GOFO nano-sheets and thus enhanced the mechanical properties of epoxy composites [41]. However, several micro-voids can be observed in all epoxy composites that can be due to the presence of fluorine groups. The low compatibility between the epoxy resin and fluorine groups caused the appearances of micro-voids. Cracks can initiate easily in the micro-voids, then spread through epoxy composites reducing epoxy composites strength. Mechanical properties of epoxy composites: Tensile test:The tensile test was conducted to investigate the effects of GOFO on the epoxy resin performance. Fig. (8) shows the stress-strain curves of neat and epoxy composites, and the results were summarized in table (2). The tensile modulus of pure epoxy was 471 MPa and its changes to 486 MPa (increased by 3.2 % with 0.1 wt. %), 507 MPa (increased by 7.6 % with 0.3wt. %), and 530 MPa (increased by 12.52 % with 0.5 wt. %). The highest tensile modulus was 12.52% compared to neat epoxy corresponding to 0.5% GOFO loading. The increase in the tensile modulus was due to the good dispersion and interfacial interaction between the GOFO and epoxy matrix. That's led to the good transfer of stress from the matrix to GOFO sheets. However, the tensile strength decreased by 18.35%, 22.15%, and 20.25% with 0.1 wt. %, 0.3 wt. %, and 0.5 wt. %. GOFO loading. The formation of micro-voids between the GOFO sheets in the epoxy matrix due to incompatibility between GOFO sheet and epoxy system due to the presence of fluorine groups. Fracture test:  Ã‚  The effects of GOFO loading on the fracture properties are shown in Table (2) and the stress-strain curves of fracture analysis were shown in Fig. (9). EGOFO composites shown a battened in the fracture modulus and strength to those of neat epoxy upon different loading. The fracture modulus was 1510MPa for neat epoxy. With 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 wt. % loading of FO, the fracture modulus increased to 2340 ±17.61 MPa, 2324 ±73.5 MPa, and 2450 ±45 MPa respectively, these were 54.97, 53.84, and 62.85% respectively. However, for fracture strength, it's behaved differently with increasing GOFO concentration. The fracture strength decreased by 13.12% with the addition of 0.1 wt.% GOFO loading and then increased to 13.61% and 16.98% with 0.3 wt.% and 0.5 wt.% GOFO loading respectively. The increase in the fracture modulus and strength can be attributed to improvement in the interfacial interaction between the GOFO and epoxy matrix. That's allowed better load transfer from the epoxy matrix to the GOFO sheets, which increased both fracture modulus and strength. Thermal stability of epoxy composites:The Thermal stability of the GOFO nanocomposites was investigated by TGA as shown in Fig. (10) and Table (3).T10% and T50% are the temperature of sample weight loss reached 10% and 50 % respectively. Tdec is the sample decomposition temperature. All the specimens showed similar thermal degradation behavior with main weight loss between 3500C to 4500C. They exhibited different weight loss during the onset decomposition stages as shown in the enlarged window. The incorporation of GOFO significantly enhanced the thermal stability of epoxy composites in different trends. Epoxy composite 0.3 wt. % GOFO loading has a higher T5%, T50%, and Tdec compared with other epoxy composites. The T5% and T50% increased by ?13 and ?150C respectively based on pure epoxy. The Tdec increased by ?13 with the same loading compared to pure epoxy. According to the literate, there are two factors effects on the thermal stability of polymer composites: the formation of networks via covalent linkages between them and the crosslinking density [43,44]. The existence of the oxygen functional groups at the edge and the surface of the GOFO, can react with the epoxy resin and increased the crosslinking of the composites. The XRD data showed that GOFO doesn't have a uniform crystal shape compared to graphite, that makes the GOFO has a poor thermal conductivity. Therefore, with good dispersion of GOFO, it will act as a barrier and reduce the thermal conductivity of the epoxy composites [44]. Water uptake epoxy composites:The influences of water absorbed by the polymeric material can be significantly reduced by incorporating nano-size fillers into polymers [45,46].The water uptake of neat epoxy and its composites filled with GOFO were shown in Fig. (11). The addition of GOFO nano-fillers significantly decreased the amount of water absorbed by epoxy composites. The water uptake by neat epoxy was 0.432%, which decreased to 0.317% , 0.304% , and 0.308% for epoxy composites with 0.1wt.% , 0.3wt.% , and 0.5 wt.% GOFO loading respectively. this phenomenon implied that the addition of nano-size sheet with high aspect ratio provided tortuous pathways for water molecules to enter the epoxy composites and acted as a barrier water transportation through epoxy composites [47]. Another reason can be due to the hydrophobic nature of fluorine groups on GOFO, which can immobilized water molecules and prevented it from diffusion in epoxy matrix[47]. The hydrophobic behavior of GOFO composites:Fig. (12). Shown the air/water contact angle of pure epoxy and its composites. The measurement was performed at room temperature with three repetitions for each sample. From Fig. (12), the incorporation of GOFO increased the contact angle of all epoxy composites. The contact angle increased from 68.70 o  ± 1.73 for the pure epoxy to 83.53 o  ± 1.13 for 0.1 wt. % GOFO, 98.65 o  ± 2.49 for 0.3 wt. % GOFO, and 89.22 o ± 0.70 for 0.5 wt. % GOFO. The changes in the contact angle indicate that epoxy composites show more hydrophobic effects compared to pure epoxy [48]. The GOFO tends to immigrate to the surface of epoxy, due to the low surface energy of the fluorine atoms. They altered the surface energy and increased the hydrophobicity of the epoxy surface. But, with 0.5 wt. % GOFO loading, the contact angle decreased to 89.22 o ± 0.70, the aggregated GOFO nano-sheet at the surface can slightly reduce the polarity of the surface and increased the effects of the reaming oxygenated function groups of the graphene sheet.

Swot Target Corporation

SWOT Analysis Strengths †¢ Target Corporation is the second larges retailer after Wal-Mart in US. †¢ Huge market share in US. †¢ Large number of retail networks around 1500 stores. †¢ Increase sales after each year. †¢ Target stores have variety of products which includes clothing, shoes, jewelry, health and beauty products, electronics, compact discs, DVDs, bedding, kitchen supplies, sporting goods, toys, pet supplies, automotive supplies, and hardware supplies. †¢ It provides very good shopping environment for the customers †¢ Strong distribution channels. †¢ The most recognized corporate logos in United Stated, ahead of the Nike. Target Stores are more attractive then Wal-Mart. †¢ The top seller of Gift Cards in US. †¢ Target is committed to having their location accessible to many of their current and potential guests Weaknesses †¢ Target products are more expensive as compared to competitors. †¢ Limited visibility in In ternational Market. †¢ Target Corporation brand awareness is low as compared to Wal-Mart. Opportunities †¢ Increase market share †¢ To take on competitions plans (i. e. , Wal-Mart) and focus on opening stores in international markets †¢ New locations give Target the opportunity to be diverse in the market.More and more Targets are attaching to trendy malls in different market segments. Threats †¢ Fierce competition from Wal-mart and Costco. †¢ The current recession possibly divert the customer from high price products to low price products. †¢ In some markets, Target's prices are higher than competitors †¢ Terrorism is increasing; security is the main concern of the customers. ? Translate ke Indonesia kekuatan †¢ Target Corporation adalah pengecer kedua terbesar setelah Wal-Mart di AS. †¢ pangsa pasar yang besar di Amerika Serikat. †¢ Jaringan ritel yang besar sekitar 1500 toko. †¢ Penjualan terus meningkat dalam 5 tahun te rakhir. Target memiliki berbagai produk yang meliputi pakaian, sepatu, perhiasan, produk kesehatan dan kecantikan, elektronik, CD, DVD, tempat tidur, perlengkapan dapur, barang olahraga, mainan, persediaan hewan peliharaan, perlengkapan otomotif, dan perlengkapan perangkat keras. †¢ Menyediakan lingkungan belanja yang sangat baik untuk pelanggan †¢ Logo perusahaan yang paling diakui di Amerika Lain dalam perusahaan Retailer. †¢ Toko target adalah lebih menarik maka Wal-Mart. kelemahan †¢ Produk Target lebih mahal dibandingkan dengan pesaing. †¢ Brand awareness Target Corporation rendah dibandingkan dengan Wal-Mart. eluang †¢ Meningkatkan pangsa pasar †¢ Untuk mengambil rencana kompetisi (misalnya, Wal-Mart) dan fokus pada membuka toko di pasar internasional †¢ Lokasi Baru memberikan kesempatan untuk menjadi sesuatu yang berbeda di pasar. Target Semakin banyak melampirkan ke mal trendi dalam segmen pasar yang berbeda. ancaman †¢ Persaingan sengit dari Wal-mart dan Costco. †¢ Resesi saat ini mungkin mengalihkan pelanggan dari produk harga tinggi untuk produk harga `murah. †¢ Di beberapa pasar, harga Target lebih tinggi dari pesaing †¢ Terorisme meningkat, keamanan adalah perhatian utama dari pelanggan. Swot Target Corporation SWOT Analysis Strengths †¢ Target Corporation is the second larges retailer after Wal-Mart in US. †¢ Huge market share in US. †¢ Large number of retail networks around 1500 stores. †¢ Increase sales after each year. †¢ Target stores have variety of products which includes clothing, shoes, jewelry, health and beauty products, electronics, compact discs, DVDs, bedding, kitchen supplies, sporting goods, toys, pet supplies, automotive supplies, and hardware supplies. †¢ It provides very good shopping environment for the customers †¢ Strong distribution channels. †¢ The most recognized corporate logos in United Stated, ahead of the Nike. Target Stores are more attractive then Wal-Mart. †¢ The top seller of Gift Cards in US. †¢ Target is committed to having their location accessible to many of their current and potential guests Weaknesses †¢ Target products are more expensive as compared to competitors. †¢ Limited visibility in In ternational Market. †¢ Target Corporation brand awareness is low as compared to Wal-Mart. Opportunities †¢ Increase market share †¢ To take on competitions plans (i. e. , Wal-Mart) and focus on opening stores in international markets †¢ New locations give Target the opportunity to be diverse in the market.More and more Targets are attaching to trendy malls in different market segments. Threats †¢ Fierce competition from Wal-mart and Costco. †¢ The current recession possibly divert the customer from high price products to low price products. †¢ In some markets, Target's prices are higher than competitors †¢ Terrorism is increasing; security is the main concern of the customers. ? Translate ke Indonesia kekuatan †¢ Target Corporation adalah pengecer kedua terbesar setelah Wal-Mart di AS. †¢ pangsa pasar yang besar di Amerika Serikat. †¢ Jaringan ritel yang besar sekitar 1500 toko. †¢ Penjualan terus meningkat dalam 5 tahun te rakhir. Target memiliki berbagai produk yang meliputi pakaian, sepatu, perhiasan, produk kesehatan dan kecantikan, elektronik, CD, DVD, tempat tidur, perlengkapan dapur, barang olahraga, mainan, persediaan hewan peliharaan, perlengkapan otomotif, dan perlengkapan perangkat keras. †¢ Menyediakan lingkungan belanja yang sangat baik untuk pelanggan †¢ Logo perusahaan yang paling diakui di Amerika Lain dalam perusahaan Retailer. †¢ Toko target adalah lebih menarik maka Wal-Mart. kelemahan †¢ Produk Target lebih mahal dibandingkan dengan pesaing. †¢ Brand awareness Target Corporation rendah dibandingkan dengan Wal-Mart. eluang †¢ Meningkatkan pangsa pasar †¢ Untuk mengambil rencana kompetisi (misalnya, Wal-Mart) dan fokus pada membuka toko di pasar internasional †¢ Lokasi Baru memberikan kesempatan untuk menjadi sesuatu yang berbeda di pasar. Target Semakin banyak melampirkan ke mal trendi dalam segmen pasar yang berbeda. ancaman †¢ Persaingan sengit dari Wal-mart dan Costco. †¢ Resesi saat ini mungkin mengalihkan pelanggan dari produk harga tinggi untuk produk harga `murah. †¢ Di beberapa pasar, harga Target lebih tinggi dari pesaing †¢ Terorisme meningkat, keamanan adalah perhatian utama dari pelanggan.

The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 1. ENGAGED

No one is staring at you,I promised myself. No one is staring at you. No one is staring at you. But, because I couldn't lie convincingly even to myself, I had to check. As I sat waiting for one of the three traffic lights in town to turn green, I peeked to the right – in her minivan, Mrs. Weber had turned her whole torso in my direction. Her eyes bored into mine, and I flinched back, wondering why she didn't drop her gaze or look ashamed. It was still considered rude to stare at people, wasn't it? Didn't that apply to me anymore? Then I remembered that these windows were so darkly tinted that she probably had no idea if it was even me in here, let alone that I'd caught her looking. I tried to take some comfort in the fact that she wasn't really staring at me, just the car. Mycar. Sigh. I glanced to the left and groaned. Two pedestrians were frozen on the sidewalk, missing their chance to cross as they stared. Behind them, Mr. Marshall was gawking through the plate-glass window of his little souvenir shop. At least he didn't have his nose pressed up against the glass. Yet. The light turned green and, in my hurry to escape, I stomped on the gas pedal without thinking – the normal way I would have punched it to get my ancient Chevy truck moving. Engine snarling like a hunting panther, the car jolted forward so fast that my body slammed into the black leather seat and my stomach flattened against my spine. â€Å"Arg!† I gasped as I fumbled for the brake. Keeping my head, I merely tapped the pedal. The car lurched to an absolute standstill anyway. I couldn't bear to look around at the reaction. If there had been any doubt as to who was driving this car before, it was gone now. With the toe of my shoe, I gently nudged the gas pedal down one half millimeter, and the car shot forward again. I managed to reach my goal, the gas station. If I hadn't been running on vapors, I wouldn't have come into town at all. I was going without a lot of things these days, like Pop-Tarts and shoelaces, to avoid spending time in public. Moving as if I were in a race, I got the hatch open, the cap off, the card scanned, and the nozzle in the tank within seconds. Of course, there was nothing I could do to make the numbers on the gauge pick up the pace. They ticked by sluggishly, almost as if they were doing it just to annoy me. It wasn't bright out – a typical drizzly day in Forks, Washington – but I still felt like a spotlight was trained on me, drawing attention to the delicate ring on my left hand. At times like this, sensing the eyes on my back, it felt as if the ring were pulsing like a neon sign: Look at me, look at me. It was stupid to be so self-conscious, and I knew that. Besides my dad and mom, did it really matter what people were saying about my engagement? About my new car? About my mysterious acceptance into an Ivy League college? About the shiny black credit card that felt red-hot in my back pocket right now? â€Å"Yeah, who cares what they think,† I muttered under my breath. â€Å"Urn, miss?† a man's voice called. I turned, and then wished I hadn't. Two men stood beside a fancy SUV with brand-new kayaks tied to the top. Neither of them was looking at me; they both were staring at the car. Personally, I didn't get it. But then, I was just proud I could distinguish between the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy. This car was glossy black, sleek, and pretty, but it was still just a car to me. â€Å"I'm sorry to bother you, but could you tell me what kind of car you're driving?† the tall one asked. â€Å"Urn, a Mercedes, right?† â€Å"Yes,† the man said politely while his shorter friend rolled his eyes at my answer. â€Å"I know. But I was wondering, is that†¦ are you driving a Mercedes Guardian?† The man said the name with reverence. I had a feeling this guy would get along well with Edward Cullen, my†¦ my fiance (there really was no getting around that truth with the wedding just days away). â€Å"They aren't supposed to be available in Europe yet,† the man went on, â€Å"let alone here.† While his eyes traced the contours of my car – it didn't look much different from any other Mercedes sedan to me, but what did I know? – I briefly contemplated my issues with words like fiance, wedding, husband, etc. I just couldn't put it together in my head. On the one hand, I had been raised to cringe at the very thought of poofy white dresses and bouquets. But more than that, I just couldn't reconcile a staid, respectable, dull concept like husband with my concept of Edward. It was like casting an archangel as an accountant; I couldn't visualize him in any commonplace role. Like always, as soon as I started thinking about Edward I was caught up in a dizzy spin of fantasies. The stranger had to clear his throat to get my attention; he was still waiting for an answer about the car's make and model. â€Å"I don't know,† I told him honestly. â€Å"Do you mind if I take a picture with it?† It took me a second to process that. â€Å"Really? You want to take a picture with the car?† â€Å"Sure – nobody is going to believe me if I don't get proof.† â€Å"Urn. Okay. Fine.† I swiftly put away the nozzle and crept into the front seat to hide while the enthusiast dug a huge professional-looking camera out of his backpack. He and his friend took turns posing by the hood, and then they went to take pictures at the back end. â€Å"I miss my truck,† I whimpered to myself. Very, very convenient – too convenient – that my truck would wheeze its last wheeze just weeks after Edward and I had agreed to our lopsided compromise, one detail of which was that he be allowed to replace my truck when it passed on. Edward swore it was only to be expected; my truck had lived a long, full life and then expired of natural causes. According to him. And, of course, I had no way to verify his story or to try to raise my truck from the dead on my own. My favorite mechanic – I stopped that thought cold, refusing to let it come to a conclusion. Instead, I listened to the men's voices outside, muted by the car walls. â€Å"†¦ went at it with a flamethrower in the online video. Didn't even pucker the paint.† â€Å"Of course not. You could roll a tank over this baby. Not much of a market for one over here. Designed for Middle East diplomats, arms dealers, and drug lords mostly.† â€Å"Think she's something?† the short one asked in a softer voice. I ducked my head, cheeks flaming. â€Å"Huh,† the tall one said. â€Å"Maybe. Can't imagine what you'd need missile-proof glass and four thousand pounds of body armor for around here. Must be headed somewhere more hazardous.† Body armor. Four thousand pounds of body armor. And missile-proof glass? Nice. What had happened to good old-fashioned bulletproof? Well, at least this made some sense – if you had a twisted sense of humor. It wasn't like I hadn't expected Edward to take advantage of our deal, to weight it on his side so that he could give so much more than he would receive. I'd agreed that he could replace my truck when it needed replacing, not expecting that moment to come quite so soon, of course. When I'd been forced to admit that the truck had become no more than a still-life tribute to classic Chevys on my curb, I knew his idea of a replacement was probably going to embarrass me. Make me the focus of stares and whispers. I'd been right about that part. But even in my darkest imaginings I had not foreseen that he would get me two cars. The â€Å"before† car and the â€Å"after† car, he'd explained when I'd flipped out. This was just the â€Å"before† car. He'd told me it was a loaner and promised that he was returning it after the wedding. It all had made absolutely no sense to me. Until now. Ha ha. Because I was so fragilely human, so accident-prone, so much a victim to my own dangerous bad luck, apparently I needed a tank-resistant car to keep me safe. Hilarious. I was sure he and his brothers had enjoyed the joke quite a bit behind my back. Or maybe, just maybe,a small voice whispered in my head, it's not a joke, silly. Maybe he's really that worried about you. This wouldn't be the first time he's gone a little overboard trying to protect you. I sighed. I hadn't seen the â€Å"after† car yet. It was hidden under a sheet in the deepest corner of the Cullens' garage. I knew most people would have peeked by now, but I really didn't want to know. Probably no body armor on that car – because I wouldn't need it after the honeymoon. Virtual indestructibility was just one of the many perks I was looking forward to. The best parts about being a Cullen were not expensive cars and impressive credit cards. â€Å"Hey,† the tall man called, cupping his hands to the glass in an effort to peer in. â€Å"We're done now. Thanks a lot!† â€Å"You're welcome,† I called back, and then tensed as I started the engine and eased the pedal – ever so gently – down___ No matter how many times I drove down the familiar road home, I still couldn't make the rain-faded flyers fade into the background. Each one of them, stapled to telephone poles and taped to street signs, was like a fresh slap in the face. A well-deserved slap in the face. My mind was sucked back into the thought I'd interrupted so immediately before. I couldn't avoid it on this road. Not with pictures of my favorite mechanic flashing past me at regular intervals. My best friend. My Jacob. Thehave you SEENthis boy? posters were not Jacob's father's idea. It had been my father, Charlie, who'd printed up the flyers and spread them all over town. And not just Forks, but Port Angeles and Sequim and Hoquiam and Aberdeen and every other town in the Olympic Peninsula. He'd made sure that all the police stations in the state of Washington had the same flyer hanging on the wall, too. His own station had a whole corkboard dedicated to finding Jacob. A corkboard that was mostly empty, much to his disappointment and frustration. My dad was disappointed with more than the lack of response. He was most disappointed with Billy, Jacob's father – and Charlie's closest friend. For Billy's not being more involved with the search for his sixteen-year-old â€Å"runaway.† For Billy's refusing to put up the flyers in La Push, the reservation on the coast that was Jacob's home. For his seeming resigned to Jacob's disappearance, as if there was nothing he could do. For his saying, â€Å"Jacob's grown up now. He'll come home if he wants to.† And he was frustrated with me, for taking Billy's side. I wouldn't put up posters, either. Because both Billy and I knew where Jacob was, roughly speaking, and we also knew that no one had seen this boy. The flyers put the usual big, fat lump in my throat, the usual stinging tears in my eyes, and I was glad Edward was out hunting this Saturday. If Edward saw my reaction, it would only make him feel terrible, too. Of course, there were drawbacks to it being Saturday. As I turned slowly and carefully onto my street, I could see my dad's police cruiser in the driveway of our home. He'd skipped fishing again today. Still sulking about the wedding. So I wouldn't be able to use the phone inside. But I had to call___ I parked on the curb behind the Chevy sculpture and pulled the cell phone Edward had given me for emergencies out of the glove compartment. I dialed, keeping my finger on the â€Å"end† button as the phone rang. Just in case. â€Å"Hello?† Seth Clearwater answered, and I sighed in relief. I was way too chicken to speak to his older sister, Leah. The phrase â€Å"bite my head off was not entirely a figure of speech when it came to Leah. â€Å"Hey, Seth, it's Bella.† â€Å"Oh, hiya, Bella! How are you?† Choked up. Desperate for reassurance. â€Å"Fine.† â€Å"Calling for an update?† â€Å"You're psychic.† â€Å"Not hardly. I'm no Alice – you're just predictable,† he joked. Among the Quileute pack down at La Push, only Seth was comfortable even mentioning the Cullens by name, let alone joking about things like my nearly omniscient sister-in-law-to-be. â€Å"I know I am.† I hesitated for a minute. â€Å"How is he?† Seth sighed. â€Å"Same as ever. He won't talk, though we know he hears us. He's trying not to think human, you know. Just going with his instincts.† â€Å"Do you know where he is now?† â€Å"Somewhere in northern Canada. I can't tell you which province. He doesn't pay much attention to state lines.† â€Å"Any hint that he might†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"He's not coming home, Bella. Sorry.† I swallowed. â€Å"S'okay, Seth. I knew before I asked. I just can't help wishing.† â€Å"Yeah. We all feel the same way.† â€Å"Thanks for putting up with me, Seth. I know the others must give you a hard time.† â€Å"They're not your hugest fans,† he agreed cheerfully. â€Å"Kind of lame, I think. Jacob made his choices, you made yours. Jake doesn't like their attitude about it. ‘Course, he isn't super thrilled that you're checking up on him, either.† I gasped. â€Å"I thought he wasn't talking to you?† â€Å"He can't hide everything from us, hard as he's trying.† So Jacob knew I was worried. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Well, at least he knew I hadn't skipped off into the sunset and forgotten him completely. He might have imagined me capable of that. â€Å"I guess I'll see you at the†¦ wedding,† I said, forcing the word out through my teeth. â€Å"Yeah, me and my mom will be there. It was cool of you to ask us.† I smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice. Though inviting the Clearwaters had been Edward's idea, I was glad he'd thought of it. Having Seth there would be nice – a link, however tenuous, to my missing best man. â€Å"It wouldn't be the same without you.† â€Å"Tell Edward I said hi, ‘kay?† â€Å"Sure thing.† I shook my head. The friendship that had sprung up between Edward and Seth was something that still boggled my mind. It was proof, though, that things didn't have to be this way. That vampires and werewolves could get along just fine, thank you very much, if they were of a mind to. Not everybody liked this idea. â€Å"Ah,† Seth said, his voice cracking up an octave. â€Å"Er, Leah's home.† â€Å"Oh! Bye!† The phone went dead. I left it on the seat and prepared myself mentally to go inside the house, where Charlie would be waiting. My poor dad had so much to deal with right now. Jacob-the-runaway was just one of the straws on his overburdened back. He was almost as worried about me, his barely-a-legal-adult daughter who was about to become a Mrs. in just a few days' time. I walked slowly through the light rain, remembering the night we'd told him___ As the sound of Charlie's cruiser announced his return, the ring suddenly weighed a hundred pounds on my finger. I wanted to shove my left hand in a pocket, or maybe sit on it, but Edward's cool, firm grasp kept it front and center. â€Å"Stop fidgeting, Bella. Please try to remember that you're not confessing to a murder here.† â€Å"Easy for you to say.† I listened to the ominous sound of my father's boots clomping up the sidewalk. The key rattled in the already open door. The sound reminded me of that part of the horror movie when the victim realizes she's forgotten to lock herdeadbolt. â€Å"Calm down, Bella,† Edward whispered, listening to the acceleration of my heart. The door slammed against the wall, and I flinched like I'd been Tasered. â€Å"Hey, Charlie,† Edward called, entirely relaxed. â€Å"No!† I protested under my breath. â€Å"What?† Edward whispered back. â€Å"Wait till he hangs his gun up!† Edward chuckled and ran his free hand through his tousled bronze hair. Charlie came around the corner, still in his uniform, still armed, and tried not to make a face when he spied us sitting together on the loveseat. Lately, he'd been putting forth a lot of effort to like Edward more. Of course, this revelation was sure to end that effort immediately. â€Å"Hey, kids. What's up?† â€Å"We'd like to talk to you,† Edward said, so serene. â€Å"We have some good news.† Charlie's expression went from strained friendliness to black suspicion in a second. â€Å"Good news?† Charlie growled, looking straight at me. â€Å"Have a seat, Dad.† He raised one eyebrow, stared at me for five seconds, then stomped to the recliner and sat down on the very edge, his back ramrod straight. â€Å"Don't get worked up, Dad,† I said after a moment of loaded silence. â€Å"Everything's okay.† Edward grimaced, and I knew it was in objection to the word okay. He probably would have used something more like wonderful or perfect or glorious. â€Å"Sure it is, Bella, sure it is. If everything is so great, then why are you sweating bullets?† â€Å"I'm not sweating,† I lied. I leaned away from his fierce scowl, cringing into Edward, and instinctively wiped the back of my right hand across my forehead to remove the evidence. â€Å"You're pregnant!† Charlie exploded. â€Å"You're pregnant, aren't you?† Though the question was clearly meant for me, he was glaring at Edward now, and I could have sworn I saw his hand twitch toward the gun. â€Å"No! Of course I'm not!† I wanted to elbow Edward in the ribs, but I knew that move would only give me a bruise. I'd told Edward that people would immediately jump to this conclusion! What other possible reason would sane people have for getting married at eighteen? (His answer then had made me roll my eyes. Love. Right.) Charlie's glower lightened a shade. It was usually pretty clear on my face when I was telling the truth, and he believed me now. â€Å"Oh. Sorry.† â€Å"Apology accepted.† There was a long pause. After a moment, I realized everyone was waiting for me to say something. I looked up at Edward, panic-stricken. There was no way I was going to get the words out. He smiled at me and then squared his shoulders and turned to my father. â€Å"Charlie, I realize that I've gone about this out of order. Traditionally, I should have asked you first. I mean no disrespect, but since Bella has already said yes and I don't want to diminish her choice in the matter, instead of asking you for her hand, I'm asking you for your blessing. We're getting married, Charlie. I love her more than anything in the world, more than my own life, and – by some miracle – she loves me that way, too. Will you give us your blessing?† He sounded so sure, so calm. For just an instant, listening to the absolute confidence in his voice, I experienced a rare moment of insight, i could see, fleetingly, the way the world looked to him. For the length of one heartbeat, this news made perfect sense. And then I caught sight of the expression on Charlie's face, his eyes now locked on the ring. I held my breath while his skin changed colors – fair to red, red to purple, purple to blue. I started to get up – I'm not sure what I planned to do; maybe use the Heimlich maneuver to make sure he wasn't choking – but Edward squeezed my hand and murmured â€Å"Give him a minute† so low that only I could hear. The silence was much longer this time. Then, gradually, shade by shade, Charlie's color returned to normal. His lips pursed, and his eyebrows furrowed; I recognized his â€Å"deep in thought† expression. He studied the two of us for a long moment, and I felt Edward relax at my side. â€Å"Guess I'm not that surprised,† Charlie grumbled. â€Å"Knew I'd have to deal with something like this soon enough.† I exhaled. â€Å"You sure about this?† Charlie demanded, glaring at me. â€Å"I'm one hundred percent sure about Edward,† I told him without missing a beat. â€Å"Getting married, though? What's the rush?† He eyed me suspiciously again. The rush was due to the fact that I was getting closer to nineteen every stinking day, while Edward stayed frozen in all his seventeen-year-old perfection, as he had for over ninety years. Not that this fact necessitated marriage in my book, but the wedding was required due to the delicate and tangled compromise Edward and I had made to finally get to this point, the brink of my transformation from mortal to immortal. These weren't things I could explain to Charlie. â€Å"We're going away to Dartmouth together in the fall, Charlie,† Edward reminded him. â€Å"I'd like to do that, well, the right way. It's how I was raised.† He shrugged. He wasn't exaggerating; they'd been big on old-fashioned morals during World War I. Charlie's mouth twisted to the side. Looking for an angle to argue from. But what could he say? I'd prefer you live in sin first? He was a dad; his hands were tied. â€Å"Knew this was coming,† he muttered to himself, frowning. Then, suddenly, his face went perfectly smooth and blank. â€Å"Dad?† I asked anxiously. I glanced at Edward, but I couldn't read his face, either, as he watched Charlie. â€Å"Ha!† Charlie exploded. I jumped in my seat. â€Å"Ha, ha, ha!† I stared incredulously as Charlie doubled over in laughter; his whole body shook with it. I looked at Edward for a translation, but Edward had his lips pressed tightly together, like he was trying to hold back laughter himself. â€Å"Okay, fine,† Charlie choked out. â€Å"Get married.† Another roll of laughter shook through him. â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"But what?† I demanded. â€Å"But you have to tell your mom! I'm not saying one word to Renee! That's all yours!† He busted into loud guffaws. I paused with my hand on the doorknob, smiling. Sure, at the time, Charlie's words had terrified me. The ultimate doom: telling Renee. Early marriage was higher up on her blacklist than boiling live puppies. Who could have foreseen her response? Not me. Certainly not Charlie. Maybe Alice, but I hadn't thought to ask her. â€Å"Well, Bella,† Renee had said after I'd choked and stuttered out the impossible words: /Worn, I'm marrying Edward. Tm a little miffed that you waited so long to tell me. Plane tickets only get more expensive. Oooh,† she'd fretted. â€Å"Do you think Phil's cast will be off by then? It will spoil the pictures if he's not in a tux – â€Å" â€Å"Back up a second, Mom.† I'd gasped. â€Å"What do you mean, waited so long? I just got en-en . . .† – I'd been unable to force out the word engaged – â€Å"things settled, you know, today.† â€Å"Today? Really? That is a surprise. I assumed †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"What did you assume? When did you assume?† â€Å"Well, when you came to visit me in April, it looked like things were pretty much sewn up, if you know what I mean. You're not very hard to read, sweetie. But I didn't say anything because I knew it wouldn't do any good. You're exactly like Charlie.† She'd sighed, resigned. â€Å"Once you make up your mind, there is no reasoning with you. Of course, exactly like Charlie, you stick by your decisions, too.† And then she'd said the last thing that I'd ever expected to hear from my mother. â€Å"You're not making my mistakes, Bella. You sound like you're scared silly, and I'm guessing it's because you're afraid of me.† She'd giggled. â€Å"Of what I'm going to think. And I know I've said a lot of things about marriage and stupidity – and I'm not taking them back – but you need to realize that those things specifically applied to me. You're a completely different person than I am. You make your own kinds of mistakes, and I'm sure you'll have your share of regrets in life. But commitment was never your problem, sweetie. You have a better chance of making this work than most forty-year-olds I know.† Renee had laughed again. â€Å"My little middle-aged child. Luckily, you seem to have found another old soul.† â€Å"You're not†¦ mad? You don't think I'm making a humongous mistake?† â€Å"Well, sure, I wish you'd wait a few more years. I mean, do I look old enough to be a mother-in-law to you? Don't answer that. But this isn't about me. This is about you. Are you happy?† â€Å"I don't know. I'm having an out-of-body experience right now.† Renee had chuckled. â€Å"Does he make you happy, Bella?† â€Å"Yes, but – â€Å" â€Å"Are you ever going to want anyone else?† â€Å"No, but – â€Å" â€Å"But what?† â€Å"But aren't you going to say that I sound exactly like every other infatuated teenager since the dawn of time?† â€Å"You've never been a teenager, sweetie. You know what's best for you.† For the last few weeks, Renee had unexpectedly immersed herself in wedding plans. She'd spent hours every day on the phone with Edward's mother, Esme – no worries about the in-laws getting along. Renee adored Esme, but then, I doubted anyone could help responding that way to my lovable almost-mother-in-law. It let me right off the hook. Edward's family and my family were taking care of the nuptials together without my having to do or know or think too hard about any of it. Charlie was furious, of course, but the sweet part was that he wasn't furious at me. Renee was the traitor. He'd counted on her to play the heavy. What could he do now, when his ultimate threat – telling Mom – had turned out to be utterly empty? He had nothing, and he knew it. So he moped around the house, muttering things about not being able to trust anyone in this world___ â€Å"Dad?† I called as I pushed open the front door. â€Å"I'm home.† â€Å"Hold on, Bells, stay right there.† â€Å"Huh?† I asked, pausing automatically. â€Å"Gimme a second. Ouch, you got me, Alice.† Alice? â€Å"Sorry, Charlie,† Alice's trilling voice responded. â€Å"How's that?† â€Å"I'm bleeding on it.† â€Å"You're fine. Didn't break the skin – trust me.† â€Å"What's going on?† I demanded, hesitating in the doorway. â€Å"Thirty seconds, please, Bella,† Alice told me. â€Å"Your patience will be rewarded.† â€Å"Humph,† Charlie added. I tapped my foot, counting each beat. Before I got to thirty, Alice said, â€Å"Okay, Bella, come in!† Moving with caution, I rounded the little corner into our living room. â€Å"Oh,† I huffed. â€Å"Aw. Dad. Don't you look – â€Å" â€Å"Silly?† Charlie interrupted. â€Å"I was thinking more like debonair† Charlie blushed. Alice took his elbow and tugged him around into a slow spin to showcase the pale gray tux. â€Å"Now cut that out, Alice. I look like an idiot.† â€Å"No one dressed by me ever looks like an idiot.† â€Å"She's right, Dad. You look fabulous! What's the occasion?† Alice rolled her eyes. â€Å"It's the final check on the fit. For both of you.† I peeled my gaze off the unusually elegant Charlie for the first time and saw the dreaded white garment bag laid carefully across the sofa. â€Å"Aaah.† â€Å"Go to your happy place, Bella. It won't take long.† I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. Keeping them shut, I stumbled my way up the stairs to my room. I stripped down to my underwear and held my arms straight out. â€Å"You'd think I was shoving bamboo splinters under your nails,† Alice muttered to herself as she followed me in. I paid no attention to her. I was in my happy place. In my happy place, the whole wedding mess was over and done. Behind me. Already repressed and forgotten. We were alone, just Edward and me. The setting was fuzzy and constantly in flux – it morphed from misty forest to cloud-covered city to arctic night – because Edward was keeping the location of our honeymoon a secret to surprise me. But I wasn't especially concerned about the where part. Edward and I were together, and I'd fulfilled my side of our compromise perfectly. I'd married him. That was the big one. But I'd also accepted all his outrageous gifts and was registered, however futilely, to attend Dartmouth College in the fall. Now it was his turn. Before he turned me into a vampire – his big compromise – he had one other stipulation to make good on. Edward had an obsessive sort of concern over the human things that I would be giving up, the experiences he didn't want me to miss. Most of them – like the prom, for example – seemed silly to me. There was only one human experience I worried about missing. Of course it would be the one he wished I would forget completely. Here was the thing, though. I knew a little about what I was going to be like when I wasn't human anymore. I'd seen newborn vampires firsthand, and I'd heard all my family-to-be's stories about those wild early days. For several years, my biggest personality trait was going to be thirsty, it would take some time before I could be me again. And even when I was in control of myself, I would never feel exactly the way I felt now. Human†¦ and passionately in love. I wanted the complete experience before I traded in my warm, breakable, pheromone-riddled body for something beautiful, strong†¦ and unknown. I wanted a real honeymoon with Edward. And, despite the danger he feared this would put me in, he'd agreed to try. I was only vaguely aware of Alice and the slip and slide of satin over my skin. I didn't care, for the moment, that the whole town was talking about me. I didn't think about the spectacle I would have to star in much too soon. I didn't worry about tripping on my train or giggling at the wrong moment or being too young or the staring audience or even the empty seat where my best friend should be. I was with Edward in my happy place.

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Research Paper Example Street literature is a genre involving an insightful look into the ghetto life (Morris et al. 20). The stories of â€Å"Midnight: A Gangster Love Story,† â€Å"Midnight and the Meaning of Love,† and â€Å"The Coldest Winter Ever† all fall within this gangsta realism that makes readers experience the high price of ghetto life through the characters. Street literature typically involves people from the African-American descent, and the main characters are usually mid-teens to mid-20s in age. They are usually depicted as people who go through extraordinary struggles in life, and they survive through obstacles such as violence, racism, and severe poverty. The whole story is filled with ghetto language, and this is more formally known as the African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The setting is usually in urban areas, and hip hop culture is the dominant scenario. Themes usually revolve around prostitution, premarital sex, illegal sex, crime, drugs, abortion, viol ence, and other illegal activities. The three novels mentioned above circle around such themes, and they are set within the urban hip hop milieu. However, despite such seemingly negative backdrop, these stories could serve as cautionary tales, and one does not need to go through the same experiences to learn what the characters learn in their life's journeys. The morals involved in the narratives are usually insightful in terms of understanding the, and learning from, the high price of ghetto life (Wright 42-45). â€Å"Midnight: A Gangster Love Story† is authored by Sister Souljah. It discusses the life of Midnight, a Muslim black immigrant from Sudan. In the opening lines of the book, Midnight is described as a tall guy with a dominating personality. He is pure black, and even his eyes are jet black. He is also described as lean and muscular, and females want to always be near him. Midnight is such a strong character because he never feels intimidated or insecure. Midnight i s a fierce fighter inside and out. Being a fighter is one common characteristic among the main characters in the three street literature novels (Brooks and McNair 129-132). Midnight's young life goes through a process of being sheltered and protected under his father's care, to being vulnerable and open to the dangers of a foreign neighborhood. His character is developed by his experiences, and he bravely surpasses obstacles throughout his teenage years. First, due to hardship, he becomes home schooled, and he escorts his mother daily to and from her sweat shop job. Second, to develop himself, he learns martial arts, and he also becomes a talented basketball player. Third, to get over poverty, he begins to earn his own money through a fish market job, and he helps save up to purchase a bigger house for his family in a less dangerous neighborhood. He gets over hindrances towards his family progress and personal development, that is why even language barrier does not deter him from wi nning the heart of a Japanese beauty named Akemi. His character is shown even further development as he adheres to his strict Muslim principles while courting Akemi. It can therefore be said that surviving one hardship after another makes Midnight who he is in the novel, and makes him a striking protagonist in this street literature (A Gangster). As a further backgrounder, Midnight is a boy who flees Africa at

Policy frame work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Policy frame work - Essay Example This law only permitted marriage between two adults of different sex. (Cbc News, 2007)Argues that in 1965, a young man of 24 years confessed to the police that he had a strong urge for other men and that he had had sexual relationships with other men with fellow men long enough and he wasn’t willing to change .he was viewed as a law offender and was jailed for several years in Canada. In 1967, Pierre Trudeau proposed change on the general outlook of homosexuality in Canada. He wanted homosexuals to be seen as normal people and regarded the idea of the state meddling in the bedrooms of its citizens unnecessary. In December 16th 1977, Quebec was the first province in Canada to include homosexuality in its code of human rights. By 2001, almost all provinces of Canada except Alberta, island of Prince Edward and territories on the North West abolished criminal charges on homosexuality. In 1978, a press by the name of Pink Triangle was charged after being found guilty of possessing erotic material â€Å"men loving boys and boys loving men† for sale. It took them at least six years to solve this case at the courts and on 15th June 1982, a judge named Thomas Mercer gave a ruling that changed the view of homosexuality. "It is perfectly legal to advocate what in itself would be unacceptable to most Canadians." (Cbc News, 2007)The judge argued. In 1979, sexual orientation was added to the human rights act of Canada which was spearheaded by Canadian human rights commission. In Feb. 1981, at least 300 men were arrested in a crackdown by the police in Toronto and there was a mass action taken by about3000 people on the streets of Toronto to protest against the arrest.1985 saw the parliamentary committee release a report that stressed equality for all especially to the discriminated homosexuals. Homosexuals were treated with much despise, subjected to physical abuse, psychological oppression, and hate

Paraphrasing lab report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Paraphrasing lab report - Essay Example These values would allow clear differentiation as they are both known and largely differ with methyl salicylate melting at approximately -8 Â °C and pure salicylic acid at 159 Â °C. The melting point of the product was found to be approximately 160Â °C. Other parameters that were also assessed include the Rf of the substance which was found to be (0.35), as compared to the known Rf and co spot of methyl salicylate (0.75) and pure salicylic acid which is (0.33). In addition, the percent yield was determined to be 93,7%. In summation, the product was confirmed to be salicylic acid and not methyl salicylate due to the values obtained from the TLC tests and melting point. 2. The experimental data illustrated that the purified product has a melting point range of 157-161 Â °C; in addition, pure salicylic acid has a known melting point of 159 Â °C; as opposed to that of methyl salicylate which is -8 to -7 Â °C. The experimental data further illustrated that the melting point of the s ubstance was within the range of 159 Â °C Therefore, the known melting point of salicylic acid is 159 Â °C and it is in close range with that obtained in the experiment of 157-161 Â °C hence concluding that the purified product derived in the experiment was salicylic acid. ... In addition, the product obtained in the experiment is in a similar location to that salicylic acid in the xo spot. Therefore, the values obtained in the TLC and melting point experiments were substantial in concluding the product was salicylic acid not methyl salicylate. The data obtained in the experiments also illustrated that the experiment design was appropriate and the procedure was ideal as the results showed that the production of salicylic acid was successful due to the correlation between the experimental values of the product and the known melting points and Rf co spot values for salicylic acid. This also showed the purity level of the product as it was within the range of pure salicylic acid; hence showing the majority of the impurities had been alleviated from the final product in the recrystallization process. The percentage yield data gives an indication of the reaction and the amount of the product that is practically possible to obtain and isolate. The experiment had a good percentage yield of approximately 93,7% indicating that 6,3% of the product was lost during recrystallization and removal of impurities and vacuum faltering. Table 2. Rf values Compound Distance of Compound movement (cm) Distance of mobile phase movement (cm) Rf Pure salicylic acid 1.7 5.1 0.33 Product 1.8 5.1 0.35 Co-spot 1.7 5.1 0.33 Methyl salicylate 3.8 5.1 0.75 Figure 4. TLC plate 3. In the stationery phase the polarity of the compound determines the Rf value. Hence, salicylic acid will have the lowest Rf value as it has the highest polarity compared to silica gel which is also very polar, resulting in both compounds sticking together. However, non polar compounds such as

Introduction to UK graduate study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to UK graduate study - Essay Example This reflective essay is a personal reflection about a study module, i.e. introduction module of the UK graduate study and the aspects that I have learned from the module. In the module, I have studied about individual presentation and group presentation, direct and indirect quotation, report writing and essay writing and also about ‘how to write and use the different references’. This module has been of immense benefit and has helped in developing my basic concepts and understandings in various critical aspects that I will require to use not only throughout my graduate degree program but also throughout my life. The introduction to the UK graduate study module has helped me not only to gain practical knowledge and develop my skills related to various key facets such as individual presentation and group presentation method but has also helped to instil within me a sense of cohesion and group bonding. A study module is developed with an aim to provide module-specific skil ls, discipline specific skills and also personal and key skills. The aim of any module is to develop within an individual critical thinking ability, problem solving ability, ability to judge and analyse an available peace of research to correlate and integrate with actual requirement by judging the strengths as well as weaknesses of an available research. I have also been able to learn these key factors through the introduction module. Through the course related to individual presentation, I have been able to learn aspects such as self-management, independent studying capacity, problem solving skills as I had to integrate my learning in the module with the subject matter, i.e. topic provided (University of Exeter, 2011). The group presentation course also helped me to learn basic skills of giving presentation such as searching for relevant data for preparing the slides, preparing slides with relevant contents, distributing overall slides among entire group efficiently, using of verb al and non-verbal language as well as developing body language while speaking. I have also been able to learn and develop persuasive skills and strategies, time management skills, group behaviour skills through presentation course in my module which will be of immeasurable benefits throughout my career (McCarthy & Hatcher, 2002). Another extremely valuable learning that I have acquired through the module is related to report and essay writing. â€Å"Writing is a uni-directional process of recording pre-sorted, pre-digested ideas† (Taylor, 1981). Writing an essay is observed as ‘hi-directional movement’ between two aspects, i.e. content as well as written form. I have also been able to learn various facets on how to integrate my thought process in a written form. This has also helped towards improving my language and vocabulary skills along with my planning and coherent writing skills (Taylor, 1981). Report writing course has also helped me to learn and develop my written communication skills along with the ability to present and use appropriate data and content from various sources such as academic sources. The use of graphs as well as relevant statistics along with writing a report in a proper framework have been all learned by me within the course framework. Both essay and

Community Policing Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Community Policing - Research Paper Example COP creates unity between communities and officers but is not practical in lower economies where citizens focus on working to attain sustainability. POP focuses on problems that may recur and has the limitation of requiring technical knowledge for proper implementation. Crimes such as home burglaries, substance abuse and prostitution have been eradicated using both POP and COP. POP and COP entail officers working with the community to prevent evil. However, POP focuses on problems and how they can be solved after careful scanning, analysis, and assessments. Everyone in the community is involved in problem solving when COP is under implementation. Police departments encounter such challenges as inadequate resources, conservatism and lack of technical knowledge in implementing POP and COP. Definition, description, strengths and weaknesses of COP According to Palmiotto (2011), community-oriented policing is a philosophy that combines traditional aspects of law enforcement with deterrenc e measures, problem resolution, community engagement and partnerships. It seeks to unite the police and the public thus facilitates the identification of criminal issues and solutions. In this arrangement, police officers discover determinants of crime and disorder consequently solving problems in their communities. The strengths are evident when officers design a network of personal contacts by foot, bike, or horse patrol in and out of their departments. This supports the crime prevention efforts and teaches residents how to help themselves by reporting crime in the neighborhood. Citizens engage in regular patrols and awareness programs to achieve the goals of prevention. Community-oriented policing has the following weaknesses. Indeed, low-income communities are not able to achieve because adults work multiple jobs at odd hours. It is also challenging neighbors to know and care about each other comfortably (Palmiotto, 2011). Definition, description, strengths and weaknesses of POP According to Goldstein (2011), POP is a policing strategy that includes classification and scrutiny of precise crime and disorder activities to design effective response strategies accompanied by ongoing assessment. Emphasis is on research to prevent the re-occurring of crimes and involvement of public and private groups that are qualified to solve problems. POP Scanning-identification of problems, Analysis-asking questions to understand the problem, Response-after careful analysis; designing a suitable response, Assessment evaluating the problem and establish a suitable solution. The strengths of POP incorporate gaining popularity among police administrators and city officials because it is practical, winning public favor which results to job securities for administrators and elected officials. There is also increased communication with the public who influence police activities. POP enables officers to link with public and private agencies to help communities. Weaknesses of POP a re conflicts that arise when officers feel subordinated and get afraid of losing their jobs since they feel that other professionals involved in policing might replace them in service delivery. Furthermore, controversies between priorities of the community and what officers feel is important to them. This is because people feel that it is not their duty to prevent crime. There is also lack of expert knowledge to employ technical mechanisms involved in

ORGANIZATIONAL QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (QI) PLAN, PART I Research Proposal

ORGANIZATIONAL QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (QI) PLAN, PART I - Research Proposal Example This paper will specify the hospital’s vision-mission statements, its services and facilities available, the goal of the quality improvement plan, roles of consumers, and the quality indicators available for them. VA Medical Center Vision-Mission According to the Veterans Health Administration, the mission of any VA medical centers is to provide the best quality of medical care to the American veterans. Their vision is carried out through a patient-centered care administered by the teams, wherein the patients in the VA Montgomery are assured that â€Å"every single one gets the best care anywhere† (â€Å"V.A. Healthcare,† 2011) and for evidence-based services suitable for the patient’s medical needs. Accurate medical assessment is what the medical center targets to achieve at any time, in any patient such that they would be given appropriate care and medication. Services Offered and Facilities Available The G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center provide s major medical services for its patients which include â€Å"primary, second and tertiary medical, neurological and mental health inpatient care† (U.S. Department, 2010a). ... Department, 2010b). Goal of the Quality Improvement Plan This improvement plan shall address the challenges of this medical center in the past few years to further uplift its responsibility of providing the best medical care for the patients. Through this two-part plan, this paper aims to have quality services, assurance of safety, accurate medical delivery, knowledgeable line of staff, decrease of infection rate, increase of patient recovery, and continuous medical service for outpatients. Roles of Consumers in Quality Improvement The consumers specified in this plan do not only refer to the patients or the ones having the direct experience of hospital service, but this also looks at the importance a community-wide involvement. Families and persons with direct personal relationships with the patients particularly have roles in the fulfillment of this plan. For example, last year’s controversy about the hospital’s sanitation procedures for all its equipments was questio ned by U.S. Office of Special Counsel (â€Å"Mississippi VA,† 2010) could be negated or proved by the customers through the record of their personal experiences and certain evidences on how they perceive the medical center in its sanitation. External Quality Indicators for Consumers The medical center has provided several quality indicators available to consumers so that they would be able to have a personal assessment on the kind of service quality they are receiving while in the hospital vicinity or the quality of medical attention, in the cases of outpatients. Consumers can contact VHA via anonymous hotline, email, or direct contact with certain officers to

Plato's Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Plato's Argument - Essay Example One notable thing about the Allegory of the Cave is that it presents, although in brief form, a number of Plato’s philosophical assumptions. In this regard, I am referring to his belief that the way the world is revealed in our senses is not a replica of the real world but a very poor copy as such. This belief which forms one of the most prominent philosophical assumption is best manifested in the Allegory of the Cave by Plato’s likening of this state of unrealistic world view with chained prisoner’s who think that the shadows that they see behind their chained position is what constitute reality, which unfortunately is fundamentally wrong. There are those who might voice several objections on Plato’s allegory. First, they might question the huge gap that he draws between the intelligible and the invisible realm. It appear like to him it is either you are chained or not, but nothing in-between. Experience has shown me that the degree at which people acquir e Plato’s idea of ‘education’ is never in those two extremes that Plato describes in this allegory. Looking at real life, even the most simple-minded prisoner in this sort of a shadow interrogates the validity of what he/she sees while posing epistemological questions that point to a deeper understanding of the intelligible realm. Failing to undergo the entire painful transformation does not necessarily mean that a person is totally unaware or in denial of â€Å"reality and understanding†, as is the case with Plato’s prisoners. Perhaps we are supposed to understand that some people are further ahead of others in their exit from the cave, something that Plato capture perfectly when he acknowledge that a prisoner would require time to adjust before he/she get used to the world above (Kraut, 2011), which essentially suggests that enlightenment take time. However, he proceeds to paint a picture of two separate groupings; those who digest what they perce ive at face value and those others who strive to get truth and understanding via knowledge. I strongly believe that this allegory would have been more precise and easier to apply in today’s life if it had addressed the gray areas between somebody in the visible realm and the other completely immersed in the truth in the intelligible realm. Secondly, I fail to understand why enlightenment should end the moment a prisoner exit the cave. At first, the prisoner believed that the shadow of those artefacts that he/she saw constituted the truth. Since they were wrong in believing that, what assurance do they have that whatever they will see once out of the cave will be errorless? And as if to show that whatever the prisoners will see once out of the cave will not necessarily constitute the truth, Plato uses words like â€Å"truer and clearer† in describing the intelligible realm. According to me, it would make sense to assume that these prisoners, rather than being satisfied with â€Å"truer and clearer† world out of the cave, would be more doubtful of their observation of the world and

CIS 206 Research Assigment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CIS 206 Research Assigment - Essay Example el (2003)As a matter of fact, the article is keen on the fact that many accomplished technical professional with experience in in e-commerce, web application development, and Business Intelligence. The shell is a crucial element to UNIX in development as stated earlier and allows users to change directories. Since UNIX is not a GUI interface, it can take some adaptive learning to get acclimated to it. A cool functionality in which UNIX has become a ‘parent’ language is the ability to create custom directories which are crucial for managing file systems. Rachel (2003)One can conduct tasks and manage schedules in which CPU can carry that task in an efficient manner. Any UNIX system can have many users on a given time, hence managing files as a user can be utilized by manipulating the file directory. Rachel, S. G. (2003). The book of webmin; or, how I learned to stop worrying and love UNIX / practical UNIX & internet security / UNIX: Visual QuickStart guide.  Library Journal,  128(16), 109. Retrieved from

Histo-Bio Reading of the Farming of Bones Essay Example for Free

Histo-Bio Reading of the Farming of Bones Essay â€Å"Our motherland is Spain; theirs is darkest Africa, you understand? They once came here only to cut sugarcane, but now there are more of them than there will ever be cane to cut, you understand? Our problem is one of dominion. Those of us who love our country are taking measures to keep it our own†. This statement was memorized by both the Haitian and Dominicans prisoners tortured by the soldiers during the â€Å"Parsley massacre†, which was a clear illustration of the xenophobia the Tyrannical leader, General Trujillo had. Thus, a wave of genocide which decimates the Haitian emigre population is justified (Brice-Finch, 1999). Farming of the Bones, a novel of Danticat, does not only vividly reveal a detailed, fictional narration of what happened to the Haitians before, during, and after the â€Å"El Corte† or provide us a glimpse of the author’s life as a Haitian. The novel, considered to be one of the literary records of history of Haitians, was able to captivate the lives of Haitians in a land they partly owned. The Farming of Bones is a stark reminder of the massacre as well as a tribute to the valor of those Haitians who escaped the terror (Brice-Finch 1999). At that particular time, Haiti was being colonized by the Americans. This event pushed some of the natives to go to Dominican Republic and find work to be able to help their families left in Haiti. Most of them became cane workers, housemaids, houseboys, etc. as expected, most of them were being oppressed by their employers in different ways. Some of them were overworked but underpaid and some are physically abused. However, amabelle did not suffer the same fate as a personal maid since she was adored, if not loved by her employers. Papi and Donya Valencia, her patroness, never failed to treat her right. However, when the tyrant General Trujillo felt that the number of Haitians is continuing to grow, he felt it was high time to â€Å"cleanse† their land. After hearing news of the killings, Amabelle then decided to leave her patrons and go back to Haiti with her lover Sebastien and his sister. However, when she was about to leave, the cutting in 1937— a part of General Trujillo’s dictatorial regime, Donya Valencia bled—an event that made her stay at the house a little bit longer. Because of the slight delay, Amabelle was not able to meet Sebastien and Mimi by the church—the meeting place for those who will cross the border with Doctor Javier. It was said, nonetheless, that all those who were to meet in church were arrested by the soldiers together with the doctor and the priests. Amabelle then decided to go and find Mimi and his brother. She journeyed with Yves, a good friend of Sebastien. While they were on their journey, there were several instances of them having themselves almost killed by the Dominicans. Their companions, whim they met on the way, also died one by one and Yves and Amabelle were the only ones to return to their homeland. There, they attempted to have normal lives so they kept themselves busy; however, no matter what they do, it was very clear that the ghosts of the past would haunt them until death.the border region. These instances from the novel clearly mirror the 1937 Parsley massacre and had shown a very precise documentary of the said horrifying event. Such instances are as follows: First, General Trujillo was really the name of the tyrannical leader of Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961, who ordered to kill all the Haitians so that, generally, they could have their country only for themselves. In the novel, him despising the Haitians was clearly shown in his actions. He was the sole mastermind of the â€Å"cleansing† of their border and he was also the one to pay very small amount of money to all the victims after the almost one-week bloodbath. Second, the narration of the Parsley Massacre was exactly how the event happened in 1937. The trucks containing the Haitians were real. The â€Å"killing spree†, where the peasants are to line by six and jump off a cliff if they were not able to say â€Å"perejil† (parsley) correctly, since the color of the Dominicans and Hatians are almost the same, also happened the same way it was in the novel. A quote from Senyora Valencia illustrates this point: â€Å"And in the parsley he said ‘pewegil’ for perejil. The Generalissimo had him in plain sight and could have shot him in the parsley, but he did not because the Generalissimo had a realization. Your people did not trill their r the way we do, or pronounce the jota. ‘You can never hide as long as there is parsley nearby,’ the Generalissi mo is believed to have said. On this island, you walk too far and people speak a different language. Their own words reveal who belongs on what side.† In this particular event, Dominican troops killed between 10,000 and 15,000 Haitians in approximately 2-6 days, particularly from October 2nd to October 4th 1937 (Upchurch, 1998). Third, the River of Massacre is really the name of the river at the borderline of Haiti and Dominican Republic. The Massacre River was named for a seventeeth century bloodbath, but as Danticat makes clear, it has continued to live up to its name. The river divides the small Caribbean island of Hispaniola into the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Because the countries are so close, their fates have historically been intertwined. The Farming of Bones begins in the Republic, during the regime of General Rafael Trujillo (Upchurch, 1998). Fourth and last in the significant similarities in events in history and the novel was that even though the Dominican leader taught its people to be cruel and to have no mercy for the Haitians, some of them chose to defy the General and helped hide several peasants during the mass killing. Senyora Valencia was a great example of such Dominicans: â€Å"Do you truly understand? During El Corte, though I was bleeding and nearly died, I hid many of your people. I hid a baby who is now a student at the medical school with Rosalinda and her husband. I hid Sylvie and two families in your old room. I hid some of Donya Sabine’s people before she and her husband escaped to Haiti. I did what I could in my situation.† In history, however, it is believed that although we must acknowledge that the Haitian-Dominican conflict stemmed from the occupation of the Dominican Republic by Haiti, it would be dangerous, and unfair to the Dominican people, to attribute Trujillo’s acts and ideology entirely to the same origin. Most of the Dominican people did not participate in Trujillo’s massacre of the Haitians. In fact, Many Haitians were saved by good-hearted Dominicans who could not imagine and could not accept the killings of thousands of innocents for petty reasons. The best example of this fact is the Dominican politician, Jose Maria Peza Gomez, who is believed to be of Haitian descent, and who escaped the massacre because a White Dominican family adopted him. As for the author’s relation to the characters, I found Amabelle most likely to share the life of Edwidge Danticat. There are few similarities in them but if you would compare Danticat’s life to that of other characters, it is most likely that you would find it difficult. For one, Danticat had always wanted to be a writer ever since she was a child. Her parents, on the other hand wanted her to be a doctor. In Amabelle’s case, she had always been veering away from her parents’ love for giving birth and chose to just sew clothes and at the same time serve Senyora Valencia. Another, I think, is the point in her life when her parents transferred to New York to work there. She was very young then and yet had to live without her parents with her. Amabelle experienced this when her parents drowned while crossing the river at the border. Both of them were forced to live without their parents at a time when they need guidance, love, and care from the person who brought them into this world. Third and last point is when Danticat transferred to Brooklyn to live with her real family. Adjustment to this new family was difficult, and to make it worse, she also had difficulty adjusting at school, because she spoke only Creole and did not know any English. Other students taunted her as a Haitian, a boat person, or a refugee. This time, it’s not only Amabelle who experienced the same treatment from other people but all the Haitians in the Dominicans part of the land. As evident in the novel, most of them suffered greatly because of their race, social status, and language. Obviously, it is very apparent that the novel Farming of the Bones was a literary record of what had happened to the 1937 massacre and a bit of the author’s life. In fact, the massacre, Danticat told Mallay Charters in Publishers Weekly, is not just a part of our history, as Haitians, but its also a part of the history of the world. Writing about it is an act of remembrance. References: Brice-Finch (1999) A review of The Farming of Bones, in World Literature Today, Vol. 73, No. 2, p. 373. Munro, M. (2006) Writing Disaster: Trauma, Memory, and History in Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones. London: Faber and Faber Upchurch, M. (1998) â€Å"No Room for the Living,† in New York Times Book Review. Lancer, J. The Conflict between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Retrieved from http://www.allempires.com/forum/ Wucker, M. (1998) The River Massacre: The Real and Imagined Borders of Hispaniola Retrieved from: http://windows.on.haiti-the.river.massacre.files.html (2005) Edwidge Danticat. Retrieved from http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/danticat_edwidge.html (2009) 70 Years Ago in the Dominican Republic! Retrieved from http://fowomouvriye.org/Bulletins/001/TheHopeAct.html (2012) The Farming of Bones: Author Biography. Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/farming-bones (2012) Dominican Republic. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominica

Coordination Abilities In Humans Physical Education Essay

Coordination Abilities In Humans Physical Education Essay The word physical refers to the body, and indicates bodily characteristics such as strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, health coordination and performance. It seemingly contrasts the body with mind. The term education when used in conjunction with physical refers to a process of education that develops the human body especially, and the movement skills. Therefore, it transcends all misconceptions and misgivings about physical education as a field of teaching and an ingredient of general education. Human being is an integration of the body and mind. Both components through their combinations make him more successful. The mental process and the physical expression are beautifully interwoven in the mechanism of the whole man and his wholeness in no case should be made to suffer by separating mental and physical aspects (Kamlesh 1988). Mans life is a continuous flow of activity. Every moment he is doing something and his every activity is the result of the joint efforts of the body and mind; more integrated efforts yield more success to the individual. Things in this world, outside ourselves, come via the body (some organs) into our mind and things in our mind reach the world outside through the body (Sushil Chandra Gupta 1983). The concept of performance related fitness is an elusive term that has been studied extensively over the past several years, and it has been classified by some experts as an aspect of physical fitness. Balance, coordination, agility, speed of movement, and power are among the most frequently cited components of performance- related fitness (Ali 2005). Coordination motor abilities are particularly important at the initial stages of the sports development of a competitor (Zimmermann, Nicklisch,1981, Raczek, 1989, Ljach,1995, Raczek et al., 2002). A high level of coordination improvement since the earliest years makes it possible to make use of technical and tactical skills during a sports competion effectively (Szczepanik,1993, Ljach,1995, Sadovski, 2003, Starosta, 2003, Gierczuk, 2004). A well-formed basis of Coordination motor abilities in young sportsmen is maintained at a later age and is an important reason for faster and more accurate teaching of other, more difficult movement tasks (Raczek et al., 2002) Especially in sports, in addition to mobility, the coordinative abilities strength, endurance, speed abilities and constitutional conditions are the prerequisites for developing high athletic performance. Starting from a high level of coordinative abilities, athletes can learn and improve athletic motor abilities and techniques that are required for the specific sport more quickly and with a higher degree of quality. (Hartmann et al., 2002) Training of proprioception means primarily the training of balance ability. It aims specifically at the improvement of depth perception and the resulting reflex muscle activity and concerns partial aspects of the overall coordinative abilities. (Hafelinger and Schuba 2004) If human beings have to find their balance on an unstable surface, an intra- and intercoordinative reaction of the muscles occurs, which is necessary for maintaining balance. As with proprioception, balancing ability plays a very important role in overall coordination, because the control of movements would be seriously affected without it. This means that balancing ability is also improved and extended through training of proprioception, by being able to learn new movements (Hafelinger and Schuba 2004). Co-ordination means working of all the muscle groups of the body in union. It is of utmost importance in executing any movement with a predetermined objective. Between the muscles groups, co-ordination are divided into inter muscular co-ordination and intra muscular co-ordination. It means coordination between different muscle groups as well as between muscle fibres of the same muscle. Co-ordination is necessary to execute movements requiring speed and strength and more efficiently, therefore, with less expenditure of energy, showing a better performance over a longer time. A person starts losing coordination once he gets tired and vice-versa, a tired person cannot learn movements needing a high degree of co-ordination. Coordination is the ability to integrate separate motor systems with varying sensory modalities into efficient movements. The harmonious working together of the synchrony, rhythm, and sequencing aspect of ones movements is crucial to coordinated movement. Various parts of the body may be involved, such as eyefoot coordination, as in kicking a ball or walking upstairs. Eye- hand coordination is evident in fine motor activities such as bead stringing, tracing and clay modeling or in gross motor activities such as catching, striking or volleying a ball (Ali 2005). Hand-eye coordination is the ability of the vision system to coordinate the information received through the eyes to control, guide, and direct the hands in the accomplishment of a given task, such as punching or defending in combat sports. Hand-eye coordination uses the eyes to direct attention and the hands to execute a task. Fine motor skills are involved in the control of small muscle movements, such as when an infant starts to use fingers with a purpose in coordination with the eyes. Co-ordinative ability should not be equated with motor skills. Though both are inter related and inter dependent upon each other, they are determined by the motor co-ordination process. In a motor skill movement process of body parts are largely automatised for the execution of the particular movement. The co-ordinative abilities play a vital role to increase the efficiency. To acquire efficiency, we require skilled and efficient potentials, for skilled and efficient potential coordinative abilities are very important and a pre-requisite for performance. It will be useful to children for various sports techniques and for their continuous refinement and modification during the long term training process. Coordinative abilities are pre-requisites of athletics performance; these are mainly coordinated by motor control process. Athletes coordinative abilities help them in learning and perfecting technical skill in the training period; the coordinative abilities determine the speed of quality of learning, stabilizing and applying the techniques of sports in coordinative abilities which differ from technical skills that are prerequisite for several motor abilities (Harre, 1989). The optimal age for motor learning is difficult to define. The conditions seem the best up to early adulthood; however lifelong sensitivity allows motor learning process to continue throughout ones life, in the presence of frequent repetitions and appropriate motivation, depending on the difficulty of the learning task. The periods before puberty are nevertheless to be used particularly intensively for appropriate stimuli (especially with regard to co-ordination and speed), because it makes sense to influence the maturing functions. It has been also proved that co-ordination abilities can be trained particularly well at this age. However this does not mean that no effects can be achieved at more advanced ages. Broad co-ordination seems to be favourable for later success in motor learning (Hirtz Starosta 2002). In coordination ability, the control regulation processes are required to function in a particular manner, which is further automatised to a great extent during skill performance. Coordinative abilities have also important and strong links with the motor skills as motor coordination forms the basis of the both. Coordination abilities are understood as relatively stabilized and generalised patterns of motor control and regulation processes. These enable the sportsman to do a group of movements with better quality and effect. In fact coordinative abilities are understood as stabilized and generalized patterns of motor control and regulation processes. These enable the sportsman to do a group of movements with better utilization and effects. The development of coordinative abilities is important for all sports, but in particular for the technical sports, competitive games and for the combative sports. Seemingly, co-ordinative abilities have no essential significance in sports with standard structures of the movements and relatively constant permanent competitive conditioning. However, purposeful development of coordinative abilities in the given case is one of the determining aspects of sports functioning, on which above all depends the level of the sports technical and tactical mastery. If account is not taken of this, constant specialization in standard form of movement will lead to stagnant motor skills and will narrow the very possibility of their restructuring and renewal (L. Metveyev, 1981). Seven Coordination motor abilities were assessed on the basis of 14 indices. It was done with the use of sports-motor tests elaborated by various authors (Mynarski, 2000, Raczek et al., 2002). There are seven co-ordinative abilities identified. These are : (1)Orientation Ability (2) Differentiation Ability (3) Coupling Ability (4) Adaptation Ability (5) Rhythm Ability, (6) Balance ability and (7) Reaction Ability. All the co-ordinative abilities are important for learning of sports techniques and for their continuous refinement and modifications during long term training process. The motor learning ability depends to a large extent on the level of co-ordinative abilities (Hardayal Singh, 1982). Co-ordinative abilities are primarily dependent on the motor control and regulation process of central nervous system. For each co-ordinative abilities the motor control and regulation process function in a definite pattern when a particular aspect of these functions is improved then the sportsperson is in a better position to do a certain group of movements which for their execution depends on the CNS functioning pattern (Hardayal Singh, 1991). The theories of motor coordination, therefore, are the best for understanding the nature of coordinative abilities. For each coordination ability, the central regulation process functions in a definite manner. When a particular aspect of this function is improved, the sportsman is in a better position to do a certain group of movements which for the execution depends upon the type of the central nervous system function pattern (Hardayal Singh, 1991). Efficiency requires good coordination between the body and mind. Lack of coordination results in unskilled or poor movements which is dominated by cortical control that supersedes reflex and integrated mechanism (David W. et al., 1976). In technical sports beautiful and graceful movements are a product of well developed technical skills and co-ordnative abilities which to a great extent determine the maximum limits to which sport performance can be improved in several sports especially the sports which depend largely on technical and tactical factors (Hardayal Singh, 1991). When executing ,coordination assignments are determined first of all by the fact that they demand utmost concentration of attention, subtle differentiations and regulations considerable with, alertness, creation of new forms of movements, coordination and what is more restructuring of the firmly-formed coordination links present a rather difficult task for the nervous system. Naturally it is the best of all to tackle it at the beginning of the main part of the training session (Metveyev, 1981). The coordinate function of the central nervous system and the one of its properties which Ivan Pavlov called plasticity are given a leading role in physical treatment of the essence of coordinative abilities. The ability qualitatively to coordinate movements undoubtedly depends on the perfection of the function of the analyzers (Matveyev, 1981). Such training means can also be used as ancillary means of fostering the improvement of analyzers function while at the same time the athlete can stay relatively passive. The analyzers: as part of the whole neuromuscular system should be seen as a part of the Physisiological Sub- stratum of coordination. Their function co-determines the level of the coordinative abilities. This should be taken into consideration and these means only applied as an additional means to develop these functions ( Dietrich Harre, 1982). Insufficient training of coordinative abilities limits the performance ability specially at the higher level. On the contrary, better development coordination abilities provide essential base for faster and effective learning, stabilization and valuation in technique and their successful execution in game situation. The quality of performance of all fundamental mechanical skills, the rhythm, flow accuracy, amplitude etc. are improved by coordinative ability; it helps in developing very fine extra credible skills (Singh, 1991). Coordination is important for the development of combat sports; the coordinative abilities play a vital role during practice and competition situation. In Judo, Boxing and Wrestling, as we know, the performance is significantly based on coordinative abilities, like reaction time, balance, rhythm, orientation etc., in Judo during uchikomi (repetition practice) the rhythmic ability and coupling ability plays a major role as the technique to be perfected by repeating the movement a number of times. Kuzushi (off-balancing the opponent) is one of the pre- requisites for applying a successful throw which needs the attacker to be in good balance and posture. A learned judokas uses his reaction to get advantage of the opponents slow and improper attacks in applying counter throws. In the game of Judo, after each bout, a judoka fights against a new opponent of different height. Posture measurement add to some extent different weight (specially in open weight category) that enable him to adjus t and transform his grips, techniques, postures and movement depending on the opponent, hence to meet such situation, he requires a top class differentiation ability. During the osaewaza (ground work) there are numerous situations when a judoka tries to hold the opponent, and the opponent lying below is unable to see the movements and positions adopted by the inclination of weight and body parts of the opponent touching him; it is where he uses his orientation abilities to defend himself from holding, locking and chocking technique (Sisodia, 2000). Wrestling belongs to the group of sports disciplines with complex movement activities in which an essential role is played by coordination motor abilities. A high level of coordination improvement, since the earliest years, positively influences the process of learning new movements as well as enables to make a more effective use of technical and tactical skills during a sports fight. Therefore, the formation of coordination abilities, since the earliest years, is the condition of training young wrestlers effectively. The continuously changing life process creates different needs and emphasis for different individuals, as they grow older. There is an optimum level of fitness for different age groups, and for better understanding of physical fitness the components of physical fitness must be known. The components of physical fitness as listed by Lason and Yocomare: Resistance to diseases, muscular strength, muscular power, muscular endurance, endurance, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, speed, agility, co-ordination, balance and accuracy. An individual with a high level of motor ability, possessing the basic motor qualities necessary for achieving excellence in a number of activities, may still be unable to perform well in a particular sport unless he has developed specific skills for that sport through long hours of practices. In technical and combat sports, beautiful and graceful movements are a product of well developed technical skills and coordinative activities. The coordinative abilities, to a great extent, determine the maximum limits to which sport performance can be improved in several sports, especially the sports which depend largely on technical and tactical factors. Experts in training recently have been using the term technique, and coordinative abilities together as one performance factor (technique coordination or technique /coordination), since both are interrelated and interdependent. They have in common the process of the taking in and processing information for the regulation of action which enable the sportsman to direct and control his movement according to changing situation. Both these qualities postulate coordination of the nervous and muscular systems. The learning of motor movement has positive effect on coordination abilities necessary for the perfection of sports technique. Still these two qualities differ in the degree of their general training, methodic and the level of development. In case of motor skill, processes are largely automatised for the effective execution of a wide number of movements similar to each other. Coordinative abilities play an important role in quick changing of body position during game. In some sports, like combative sports, coordinative abilities are very essential for better and effective movement for any execution of movement. In sports, coordinative ability or the combination of various coordination abilities play a vital role for the execution of any skill or movement. The combination of various coordinative abilities is helpful for the execution of any movement or skill. The coordinative ability plays a significant role in learning consolidation and mastery of skills. Punch and defense occur frequently in boxing and it is assumed that these skills may have strong relationship with coordinative abilities. In other combat games like judo, wrestling etc, the player gets very limited time to perform, and enhanced reaction ability plays a vital role. Besides reaction ability, the other abilities, namely Balance, Rhythm, Coupling, Adaptation. Orientation ability, Balance ability play a vital role in the performance of skill in the combative sports. Motor coordination is a part and parcel of action regulation and is closely linked with the process of cognitive, psychic and movement execution aspect of an action. Coordination abilities have also important and strong link with motor skills as motor coordination forms the basis of both. Coordination has been one of the key factors in terms of performance skill in efficient manner. It is generally seen that top level players possess abundance of coordination for developing skill in a variety of ways. Combat sport Combat sport is a competitive contact sport where two combatants fight against each other using certain rules of engagement, typically with the aim of simulating parts of real hand of combat. Judo, wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts and fencing are examples of combat sports. The techniques used can be categorized into three domains: grappling, striking and weapon usage. Some rule- sets specialize in one area, while others allow overlap. Sports related to combat skills have been a part of human culture for thousands of years. The ancient Olympic Games were largely composed of sports that tested skills related to combat, such as armoured foot race, wrestling, boxing, pankration, chariot racing amongst others. This tradition of combat sports was taken even further by the Romans with gladiators who would fight with weapons, often to the death. Through the middle Ages and Renaissance the Tournament became popular, with the joust as a mine event. While the tournament was popular amongst Aristocrats, combative sports where practiced by the all levels of society. Combat sports occupy a significant place among sports and games. It is a game of anticipation and masterful skill, deception and concentration. It requires mental and physical attributes to be in the top gear to tackle all eventualities in a bout. A bout is won by the perfect amalgam of physical condition, skills, experience and most importantly, the coordination. Boxing Boxing is a combat sports between two combatants who use their fists to achieve supremacy over their opponent. Like wrestling, boxing has ancient roots, as it was well known to the cultures of Mediterranean Sea and Egypt before it was first included in the Greek Olympics in 688 BC. Boxing was later known as pugilism, a derivative of the Latin term for a fighter, from which comes the slang term pug. Boxing was first introduced in 1904 St. Louis, in the modern Olympic Games. It has remained a sport where the competition is organized along weight classification lines, as it is presumed in boxing, like other combat sports judo, and wrestling that the heavier competitor is generally the stronger competitor. With some variations as to categories, all professional boxing, as well as amateur competition, is determined by weight class. And in the year of 1951 New Delhi, it was first introduced into the Asian games in India. Boxing is mainly divided into amateur and professional two categories, and Amateur Boxing Association (A.B.A.) is the highest governing body of boxing. It was formed in the year 1885 in London. It controls the tournament in the Olympic Games, amateur Boxing, including Asian Games etc. In India; on May 13, 1948 the I.A.B.F. was formed at a meeting of provincial representatives who were in Calcutta for the Olympic trials. The only significant difference between Olympic and professional boxing is the length of the rounds in each bout and the use of protective gear. In Olympic competition, all fighters must wear protective headgear and each round is two minutes in duration, with one-minute intervals, and four rounds in total. Professional bouts can last from eight to 15 rounds, depending on the weight classification, and scoring in the sport of boxing is similarly varied between amateur, Olympic, and professional bodies, but the general principles are consistent across the sport. Boxing matches are scored by the referee who is in the ring to maintain order and to enforce the rules of the sport, as well as by three judges stationed outside the ring who assess the fight based on a scoring system. Each punch that, in the opinion of the referee, lands on the opponents head or body will score a point. Penalties may be imposed in the scoring system for such items as a low blow, which is a punch delivered below the belt line of the opponent; a head butt; or any other type of contact that is not permitted by the rules. When the fight is not concluded with either a knockout or a technical knockout at the end of the last round, the fighter with the highest number of points will be deemed the winner. If the points total is equal, the fight is declared a draw. The fighting stance is similar to the traditional athletic stance common to the execution of many sports, with the knees bent and the hips flexed to permit agility and the establishment of a stable position. In the fighting stance, the boxers hands are maintained in a defensive position in front of the head, to protect against punches aimed there. A counterpunch is a blow delivered in an immediate response to one received from an opponent. A combination is a series of two or more different punches thrown consecutively. The boxers footwork is of critical importance to the delivery of a strong punch from a balanced position. Footwork that permits the boxer to maintain balance as the blows are delivered and absorbed is the base on which an effective punch can be delivered; an ability to move gracefully and with agility will often permit a boxer to escape dangerous encounters with the opponent. The tactics employed in a boxing match are a combination of a particular boxers strengths, the opponents perceived weaknesses, and the status of the fight at a given time Boxing training is a very physically demanding process. Boxing is a sport that is anaerobic, in terms of the intervals of high intensity activity contained within each round; it is also aerobic in its requirements that the boxer builds a powerful physical recovery mechanism, to assist the body in returning to its natural balance between each round. Effective boxing programmes will make ample provision for the development of both energy systems. Boxers have traditionally employed skipping and running (road-work) to enhance their cardiovascular proficiency. Agility, lateral quickness, and hand-eye coordination are fundamental to boxing success. The mechanics of the delivery of a punch require the instant coordination of footwork with arm action. The physical risks of boxing are many; lacerations to the face, fractured noses, damage to the ear cartilage and similar injuries caused by punches to these areas are common to boxers. The most serious boxing injuries are those caused by a blow or a series of blows to the head, most commonly concussion and subdural hematoma. Concussion is a brain injury in which the brain is violently moved within the fluid that supports it within the skull (http://www.faqs.org) Judo Judo is an art and sports, founded by Jigaro Kano of Japan in 1882. He took the best of Jujitsu self-defence techniques and cut out those that were harmful. He modified others so that they could be practised safely. Judo uses skill and flexibility for attack and defence. Judo is known as Gentle Way. Strength is of course applied but it is even more important to know how to use it. In emergencies, Judo can be a form of self-defence (Goldman, 1986). Judo may be described as a science for the study of potential power of the body and mind and the way of applying them most efficiently in competitive activities. Hence, it is involved with the study of the laws of gravity, dynamics and mechanics as related to the function of human body. Efficiency in Judo is certainly a valuable assets, but the real value applied to life in the effects which the training produces on the state of the body and mind (G.Koizumi, 1960). Judo was first introduced into Olympic competition in 1964, and it has subsequently become accepted as a high level combat sport for both men and women. Judo has significant world wide appeal, both as a recreational club activity, with participants who seek a measure of improved physical fitness of an individual, and personal pleasure, as well as status as an elite level sport. Judo in wide sense, can be physical culture, in the narrow sense, a sport; as physical culture, it can be an entrance into a special form of physical experience of an intrinsic need, an increase of awareness of what the body is capable of doing. As a sport, the individual can participate in violent competition, experience the conflict of one skill opposed to another. As a man-made skill it can develop the bad and the good in any personality (Geof, 1988). Worldwide judo competitions are sanctioned through the International Judo Federation (IJF), an organization with national governing body members in most nations of the world. Judo is organized as a weight category competition, as larger athletes would possess a natural competitive advantage against smaller athletes, given the nature of judo and its physical requirements. Judo has a standardized ranking system for its participants, which may range from children under 10 years of age to persons in their 70s and beyond. Athletes are judged on their ability to execute various standard throws and holds; the athlete is awarded his judo belt with the colour of the belt signifying their level of proficiency. Black belts are reserved for the masters of the sport, known as dans a tenth level black belt is the highest level ever awarded in judo. The award of a belt is not necessarily related to Olympic or international competitive achievement. Judo is one of the combat sport of coordination, where strength, balance, flexibility, reaction and timing are employed to create tactical advantages. All judo participants wear an identical uniform, the judogi. The competitors wear no other clothing or footwear during the course of bout in competition. The objective of competitive judo is to defeat the opponent in one of the three ways to successfully throw the opponent onto his back; to hold the opponent on his back for a period of 25 seconds; to disable the opponent by way of a choke hold or an arm lock that prevents his further movement. Judo is the only Olympic sport where choking or the potential fractures of an opponents arm are legal techniques. Throughout the course of the contest, the judoka are scored in their movements by three judges, one of whom who is on the mat, the remaining judges are positioned on the edges of the competitive surface. The judges assess not only the raw numerical value of the score, but the quality or any impressive aspect of a single manoeuvre. Points are also scored through the award through penalty; points are not deducted from the offenders score, but added to the opponents tally. As a general rule, a judoka may attempt to knock over the competitor by attacking their legs, by sweeping the feet of the opponent from under them, or by performing one of the many permitted throws. Much of judo success is built upon the ability of a competitor to execute the desired throw while establishing a low centre of gravity through which to move dynamically across the mat. Many judo moves are also executed in mid-air, and the understanding by the judoka of the importance of maintaining a low centre of gravity is essential in landing in a stable position. The brute strength that athletes often develop through weight training may assist in judo, but will never likely be determinative to competitive success. Training exercises that emphasize balance and coordination movement within which the athlete is able to move explosively are the foundation of judo success. As the body of a judoka may be twisted and contorted by the application of opponent force during an event, stretching to achieve maximum flexibility and range of joint motion are essential to prevent fluid movement and to assist in the prevention of injury(http://www.faqs.org). Wrestling Wrestling is hand combat between two competitors subject to certain rules, during which each competitor tries to control the movement of the other through the complex technical- tactical moves and by using all their physical and psychological potential (Petrov, 1987). Wrestling is one of the worlds oldest forms of athletic competition. Many cultures had forms of wrestling as a component of their military preparation. The ancient Olympics included wrestling, with the competition first recorded as taking place in the Games of 708 BC. The recognized sport of wrestling is an athletic event, sanctioned by the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), and it is included as both an international and Olympic competition. More than 4000 years ago at the dawn of civilization, we find that wrestling was highly developed in Asia and Egypt, then introduced in Greece; wrestling was introduced in Rome in the last quarter of the second century B.C. Wrestling developed in England in an early era. China was the first in which wrestling was introduced among the Asian countries, in India history of wrestling can be traced as far back as 4000 years B.C. (Dubey, 1964). Wrestling is a sport involving two athletes engaged in a physical competition that is limited to a specified area defined on a mat. The general object of all types of wrestling is one wrestler attempts to force the shoulders of the opponent to the floor in a prescribed manner. The contest, a bout, is generally two rounds, each three minutes in duration. A wrestler wins a bout by either scoring a fall against the opponent, or by accumulating points through the s