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Motions in the Night Sky

ASTR 1010L

The goals of this lab are to build on what you know about the night sky by learning how the objects in the sky move.

Get out the planisphere you constructed in the Introduction to the Night Sky and set it to see the sky tonight at 9 p.m.

Review your answers to Questions 9 through 13 of Introduction to the Night Sky and make sure you are still happy with them.

Let’s go back to the two constellations that you chose that are nearest the eastern horizon and watch what happens to them as the night progresses.

Which two constellations did you choose (Question 11 of the Introduction to the Night Sky)?

Orion and Monoceros constellations

Move today’s date so that it is aligned with 10 p.m. What happens to the position of your constellations?

The Orion constellation has moved slightly near the northern part of the hemisphere along the Orion belt. The Monoceros constellation has moved slightly towards the Southern hemisphere near the Canis Major constellation

Move the date so that it is aligned with 11 p.m., observe, then move the date so that it is aligned with 12 a.m., observe, then move the date so that it is aligned with 1 a.m. Describe what happens to your two constellations over four hours (from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.).

The Orion constellation changes position from the Eastern hemisphere at 9 p.m, by 10 p.m, the constellation is close to the northern hemisphere. By 1.am, the Orion constellation is headed towards the North eastern hemisphere along the Orion belt. On the other hand, the Monoceros constellation moves slightly towards the Southern hemisphere near the Canis Major constellation at 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. the constellation is moving towards the South Western hemisphere. By 1.am. the constellation has moved towards the Western hemisphere.

Which of the constellations is closer to the zenith?

Ursa Major and Canis.

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Where is the other constellation?

While Ursa is slightly below zenith, Canis is slightly above zenith

Are the two constellations that were near the western horizon at 9 p.m. (Question 12 of the Introduction to the Night Sky) still visible?

They are no longer visible to the naked eye.

What happened to them?

They have moved quite far from the to the hemispheres further from the Earth.

Look again at the two constellations that started off (at 9 p.m.) on the eastern horizon. Where in the sky are they just before the sun rises at 6 a.m.?

Both the constellations have moved towards the western hemisphere. While the Orion constellation is in the North Western hemisphere by this time, the Monoceros constellation is moving towards the South Western hemisphere.

At 6 a.m., can you see either of the constellations that were visible on your western horizon at 9 p.m.? If so, where are they?

The constellations that were there at 9.pm. are now moving either to the northern or southern hemisphere by 6.am.

Take your planisphere back to 9 p.m. tonight. Now move the time from 9, to 10, then 11, 12, and 1 a.m., watching the constellations that were near your northern horizon at 9 p.m. (Question 13 of the Introduction to the Night Sky).

Describe their motion in the sky.

Constellations that were near the northern horizon are either moving towards the eastern or western hemisphere of the sky. By 10 p.m the constellations are either in in north eastern or not western hemispheres of the sky. Between 12 am. And 1.am. the constellations are headed towards either the eastern or western hemispheres.

Are they ever going to set in the west?

Yes, before 6.am, they would have settled at the west.

Slowly spin the star wheel all the way around so that tomorrow’s date is lined up with 9 p.m. What happens to these two constellations?

The two constellations return back to the same position they were at 9.pm the previous day.

Find Cassiopeia, if it wasn’t one of the two northern constellations you were watching. Sketch Cassiopeia below, paying attention to the orientation of the “M” that is shown on your planisphere when observing at 9 p.m.

Move your planisphere to 1 a.m., then sketch Cassiopeia again, again paying attention to the orientation of the “M” that is shown on your planisphere.

Move your planisphere to 5 a.m., then sketch Cassiopeia again, again paying attention to the orientation of the “M” that is shown on your planisphere.

Imagine you could observe Cassiopeia 4 more hours later, at 9 a.m. (It’s still there, but the daytime sky is too bright to see any stars except the Sun!) To do this, estimate getting today’s date and moving it around to where 9 a.m. would be on the planisphere. Sketch Cassiopeia again, again paying attention to the orientation of the “M” that is shown on your planisphere.

What do you notice about the orientation of your “M” compared with how it looked at 9 p.m.?

The orientation of “M” is less clear at noon compared to how it looked at 9 p.m.

Both the east-to-west motion of some of the stars as well as the “circling around” of the stars in the north is due to the Earth’s constant rotation. In order to visualize this, we’re going to utilize the online simulations you downloaded for the Introduction to the Night Sky lab. Open the NAAP Labs from UNL Astronomy (the downloads page is linked again in iCollege if you need it).

Choose “3. The Rotating Sky”, then open the Rotating Sky Explorer.

On the left is the celestial sphere view of the sky showing where you are standing on the Earth. Move the dot on the map in the lower left corner so that you are approximately in Atlanta (lat 34° N, long 84° W). You should see the celestial poles and celestial equator marked on the celestial sphere. There are also two circles shown that are perpendicular to the celestial equator; you may ignore these.

Add the Big Dipper, Orion, and the Southern Cross to your celestial sphere by clicking “star patterns…” in the Star Controls box in the lower right. Click “start animation”.

What happens to the celestial sphere (look in the “celestial sphere view” on the left) as the Earth rotates?

As the earth rotates, the celestial sphere rotates on the opposite direction of the earth’s rotation.

Why do you think this is?

It is because while the earth rotates round the sun from West to East, the celestial sphere rotates from East to West

Before proceeding with this animation, we need to understand the “horizon diagram view”. Go back to the NAAP labs main page and click on “Two Systems – Celestial, Horizon”. You are again seeing the celestial sphere view of the sky. You can’t control your location on the globe, but the

simulation places you at approximately the correct latitude. For what the simulation is trying to help you understand, though, your location doesn’t matter.

Click “switch”. What happens? How is the horizon view different from the celestial view? (You may want to switch back and forth a few times and watch.)

It is difficult to observe the whole celestial sphere from the Earth, as the horizon limits our view of it.

Go back to the first simulation (Rotating Sky). While the animation is going, watch Orion in the “horizon view”. Describe its motion.

I can see that the stars at the Orion constellation are moving from left (east) to right (west). Besides, at the horizon view, Orion is near the western horizon.

Which of the constellations that you named on your planisphere behave like Orion behaves in the simulation?

Lyra Constellations

Now watch the Big Dipper. What is similar and what is different about its motion as compared to Orion?

The Big Dipper moves around the Earth’s geographic North Pole. Unlike Orio which moves from east to west, the Big Dipper moves from west to east.

Which of the constellations that you named on your planisphere behave like the Big Dipper behaves in the simulation?

Ursa Major and Canis.

Finally, watch the Southern Cross. Compare and contrast its motion to the Big Dipper.

It moves like a big hour hand. It circles around the south celestial pole in a clockwise direction throughout the night.

Can you see the Southern Cross from Atlanta? Explain.

All right, back to our planispheres. As you spin the wheel over 24 hours, there is one star that hardly moves. Which star does it look like to you? Sketch the constellation containing the star, and circle which star you think it is.

Let’s go ahead and check your answer. The star that doesn’t move very much is at the end of the Little Dipper, labelled by its constellation name (Ursa Minor) on the planisphere. We call this star Polaris because it’s very close to the North Pole on the celestial sphere. This star is right under the S in Ursa Major on this planisphere.

Notice that this star is not very bright! The brightest stars in the sky are marked with s on the planisphere, while fainter ones are just dots.

You can find this star most easily by finding the Big Dipper in the sky, then using the two stars farthest away from the dipper handle to point to Polaris (also called the North Star). Sketch this below.

Polaris will not change position over the course of a night regardless of where a person is, but where Polaris appears in a person’s sky depends on where on Earth that person is located.

914400422488If you are on the North Pole (90° N latitude), Polaris will be directly over your head (at your zenith!) 90° above the horizon. If you are anywhere along the equator (0° latitude), Polaris will be 0° above the horizon – in other words, not really visible.

Look at the diagram below.

If you are somewhere near halfway between the equator and the North Pole – like we are in North America – where do you see Polaris (the North Star) in the nighttime sky? Add your position on the globe in the sketch above, and then draw a dashed line between you and Polaris (the North Star). Is Polaris over your head? On your horizon? Somewhere in between?

The Polaris is over my head on the since it is o n the north pole.

Does this agree with what your planisphere tells you about where Polaris is?

Yes it does since when the earth is rotating towards the sun in a clockwise motion, the Polaris remains at the north pole which is normally above at the horizon.

Stars and constellations that are close to Polaris – like Cassiopeia – simply circle around all day and all night without ever setting. These stars and constellations are called circumpolar. Which stars are circumpolar depend on where on the Earth you are located – the closer to the North Pole you are, the more stars and constellations that will be circumpolar.

What constellations are circumpolar in the latitudes for which the planisphere was designed (about 25° to 40° N)? (Watch the sky over 24 hours – which constellations never set?)

Ursa Major and Cassiopeia are circumpolar in the latitudes 25° to 40° N. The Big Dipper constellations never set.

How would you describe how the position of each of these constellations changes over the course of 24 hours?

After 24 hours, the Ursa Major and Cassiopeia are set and are at western hemisphere. However, the Big Dipper constellation continues to move, it does not set.

How would you describe how the orientation of each of these constellations changes over the course of 24 hours?

After 24 hours, the Ursa Major and Cassiopeia are set and are oriented same hemisphere as they were 24 hours earlier. However, the Big Dipper constellation continues to move, it does not set.

The circles the stars make around the pole is beautifully demonstrated in photography where the shutter is left open for a long period of time while the camera is pointed to the north.

Open “Circumstellar Star Photography” and look at the photographs. The top photo is a little distorted due to the wide angle lens being used, but the one halfway down the page is not distorted (the one captioned “The stars revolve around the North Star, which serves as the center of the great celestial clock.”). Roughly sketch something that looks like the photograph in the space below.

This article contains good information and animations – it’s a great resource to skim through to help you understand what you’re seeing with the planisphere!

Look at the diagrams in the “Circumpolar Stars in the Northern Hemisphere” image. Hopefully this will help you visualize why some stars rise and set and some never do – it depends on how close they are to the North Celestial Pole (or South Celestial pole, if you were observing from the Southern Hemisphere) and the latitude from which you are observing.

Take a few minutes to do your best to verbally summarize why some stars are circumpolar and why some stars rise and set, and what stars have the paths they do through the sky.

Circumpolar stars neither rise nor set, but stay up at all hours of the day, every day of the year. Even when you can’t see them when the sun is out and it is daytime.

Remember that how high in the sky the North Star (Polaris) is tells you your latitude. Where would you be if it were directly overhead?

In the north pole.

And if you were at the North Pole, all the stars and constellations you see would be circumpolar: you can only see down to the celestial equator, and nothing would ever rise or set because the sky would make a circle around the North Star which is directly overhead. The animated diagram “Circumpolar Stars at the North Pole” linked in iCollege shows this.

What about if you were on the equator of the Earth? Where in the sky would the North Star/North Celestial Pole be?

The North Star will be in the north direction.

What about the South Celestial Pole?

It will be overhead on the south pole.

So how many constellations would be circumpolar to you?

Two constelations

Check yourself by looking at the “Stars from the Equator” diagram on iCollege.

If you were in the southern hemisphere, your view of the sky would be different – you would see the stars that are above you “down there”.

Print out the “Southern Star Wheel”, if you did not do that when you printed out the planisphere.

Compare the two star wheels when they are NOT in the planisphere. What constellations are on both star wheels? (Note that the shapes of the asterisms may not look the same – this is because of the distortion of any two-dimensional map that represents three-dimensional space – it’s just like Greenland is distorted and looks huge on some map projections!)

At the “Southern Star Wheel” there are Ursa Major and Polaris. At the “Circumpolar Stars in the Northern Hemisphere” there are Big Dipper and Cassiopeia constellations.

You may also note that the order of months is opposite. If you had been given the whole planisphere for the southern hemisphere, you would see that the northern and southern horizon labels were reversed, so the eastern and western horizons would also be reversed. Stars still rise in the east and set in the west, but now they appear to rotate around the South Pole instead of the North Pole!

For our little project, though, you can just put the Southern star wheel into your planisphere. Notice that any constellations that are recognizable to you will be near the bottom of the visible window rather than near the top.

Rotate the star wheel around. Find the point that doesn’t appear to move in the sky as the stars rotate around.

Is there a star at this position?

Hopefully you noticed that there isn’t… There is no “southern Polaris” or “South Star”! Instead, to find true south, people in the Southern Hemisphere find what we in the Northern Hemisphere call the Southern Cross (we have our own “Northern Cross” that isn’t visible to them). They call it simply “Crux”. Crux is a small constellation. Find it.

Look for the two stars in Crux that are near the Cs in “CRUX” and “Acrux”, then draw an imaginary line from the one near the C in “CRUX” to the one near the C in “Acrux”, then keep going to the open space near Octans. The South Pole is along that line roughly above the C in “OCTANS”.

Either mark this spot on your planisphere or just watch it carefully as you spin the wheel around in time – do you see that it doesn’t move?

Yes, it does not move as I spin the wheel.

Another star of interest I’d like you to find is Alpha Centauri – this star system (containing three stars, including Proxima Centauri) contains the stars that are closer to our Sun than any others.

5923915-6731000Find the constellation of Centaurus. Alpha Centauri is one of the feet of the centaur – the one circled in the diagram to the right.

Is this a star you can see from the continental United States?

Yes, it is visible.

Why or why not?

It is visible because the star is in the southern hemisphere.

Ok, now back to the stars that we can see.

As you’ve seen, the stars that are visible to you change over the course of the night due to the Earth’s motion as it rotates every 24 hours. However, the stars that are visible to you also change over the course of a year as the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Put the Northern Hemisphere star wheel back in your planisphere.

Is there anytime during the night tonight (9 p.m. – 6 a.m.) that you would be able to see Orion?

It can be seen between 9 p.m. to 10.pm.

During what months would you be able to see Orion at 9 p.m.?

November to February.

Let’s look at why this is. The diagram below shows the Earth orbiting the Sun, then the celestial sphere of stars surrounding us. Of course in real life, the stars would be MUCH farther away – Alpha Centauri, the largest star in the closest star system, is a star a lot like our Sun. If you imagine putting it in the model you constructed for the first lab, it would be over 250,000 times farther away from us than the Sun is from the Earth!!!

265905742373837040613406174262187459362213655675622447846897799733229060304993Stars of Ophiuchus

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319341519939000 Earth in mid-June

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3846560-133903229060-13390Stars of Orion

The stars would also be in a big three-dimensional sphere instead of just a circle, but since the Earth orbits the Sun in a plane, just taking a slice of the celestial sphere near the ecliptic works just fine for our visualization. The stars are also varying distances from the Sun and Earth. However, just like with the size of the celestial sphere shown on the diagram, this doesn’t matter to understand about why you see some stars at different times of year.

The location of the Earth is shown in mid-June. Put another dot on Earth’s orbit where Earth will be in 6 months, in mid-December.

How do you know where to put your dot?

At the center of the circle.

According to the diagram on the previous page, can you see the stars that make up Orion when it is June?

Explain your reasoning.

The stars in Orion can only been seen between November and February for people in the northern hemisphere. Therefore, I will not be able to see the stars that make up Orion in June.

Remember that the Earth is rotating every 24 hours at the same time that it is revolving around the Sun. When you are on the part of the Earth facing the Sun, it’s daytime, and when you are on the part of the Earth away from the Sun, it’s nighttime.

If the Sun didn’t cause our daytime sky to be bright (blame the atmosphere for that – on the Moon you can see stars even when it’s daytime, as long as you don’t look in the direction of the Sun itself…), then when would the stars of Orion be right in “front” of you, according to the diagram? (This is equivalent to being close to overhead in the sky.) Noon, right?

Set your planisphere for today at noon. (Make today’s date be opposite 12 a.m.; “June” should be right where the planisphere says “Southern Horizon”.) Where is Orion?

Orion would be in the north pole. As the earth rotates round the sun, the position of Orion changes.

Based on the diagram on the previous page, at what time of night in mid-June will the stars of Ophiuchus be overhead? Hint: it’s when the Sun is completely behind you, roughly halfway between sunset and sunrise…

Set your planisphere for this time. Were you right? Explain how you know.

Yes, I was right, the stars of Ophiuchus in the planisphere were overhead at midnight .

Use your planisphere to determine what constellation will be overhead (or at least high in the sky) at midnight in mid-September. What is it?

Microscopium constellation

Use your planisphere to determine what constellation will be overhead (or at least high in the sky) at midnight in mid-March. What is it?

Canis Minor constellation

NOTE: Students often struggle with the last few and the next few questions. If you’re confused or unsure, please be in touch with Dr. Skelton by text or email!

In order to label the locations of these stars, you have to first label where the Earth is on its orbit in mid-September and in mid-March. To do this, you need to know that the Earth revolves around the Sun counter-clockwise, as seen from the top, on a diagram like the one on the previous page. So mid-September will be counter-clockwise from mid-June and halfway to mid-December. Mid- March will be counter-clockwise from mid-December and halfway to mid-June.

On the diagram on p.9, label Earth’s locations in mid-September and mid-March, then label the locations of the stars that make up the constellations that are overhead in mid-September and mid- March.

Set your planisphere back to tonight at midnight.

Can you see the constellations that were overhead in mid-September and mid-March?

Yes, though slightly not clear

Where in the sky is your mid-September constellation?

Southern hemisphere

Where in the sky is your mid-March constellation?

Northern hemisphere.

Use the diagram of the Earth, Sun, and stars to explain this – think about the fact that you can see half the celestial sphere at any given time.

The result of the Earth’s motion around the Sun is that over the course of months the stars would change position in the sky in a way that mimics the diurnal (daily) motion even if the Earth weren’t rotating.

To see this, choose Orion, Ophiuchus, or either of the constellations you wrote in Question 34 and locate it so that about half of the constellation is visible on the eastern edge of your planisphere.

What day of the year lines up with 9 p.m.?

274th day

Move the star wheel so that the day one month later lines up with 9 p.m. (For example, Ophiuchus is half visible at 9 p.m. on approximately April 15; for this question, move the star wheel so that May 15 now lines up with 9 p.m.) What happens to the constellation?

The constellation moves from the north western hemisphere to the northern hemisphere.

Continue to move the star wheel one month at a time (always lining up with 9 p.m.), stopping when the constellation is setting and only half visible on the western horizon at 9 p.m. Describe the motion of your constellation.

The constellation moves from the northern hemisphere to the north eastern hemisphere.

What month is your constellation only half visible on the western horizon at 9 p.m.?

June

How many months after it was half visible on the eastern horizon at 9 p.m. is this?

3 months

Does that number of months make sense? (Hopefully so…) Explain why.

Yes, 9.p.m is equated to the 274th day of the year which means the end of the third quarter of the years meaning there are only 3 months left before the end of the year.

5675630-16764000The combination of rotation and revolution of the Earth, however, means that over the course of a year of nights, all of the celestial sphere north of your southern limit (Question 43 of the Introduction to the Night Sky; should be about -55° declination) is visible. I have tried to show this in the diagram to the right; the dark circle represents the celestial sphere, the thin line shows the celestial equator, and the dashed line shows a declination of

-55°.

Based on this diagram, approximately how what fraction (or percent, if you prefer) of the celestial sphere would be visible over the course of a whole year to someone living in Atlanta (or similar latitude)?

Three quarters of the celestial sphere will be visible since Atlanta is in the southern hemisphere occupying a quarter of the hemisphere hence the part visible would be the remain three quarters of the hemisphere.

What if you lived at the North Pole of the Earth? What would your maximum southern declination be? (Don’t overthink this; it’s pretty straightforward.) Over the course of a year, what fraction or percent of the celestial sphere would be visible?

At the north pole, the fraction of the celestial sphere that will be visible would be three quarters of the entire sphere.

What if you lived at the equator? Over the course of a year, what fraction or percent of the celestial sphere would be visible?

At the equator, the fraction of the celestial sphere that is visible is half the sphere.

Now, let’s open Stellarium to confirm what we’ve been doing with the planisphere and watch it in the night sky. Make sure you’re set for tonight at 9 p.m.

To see the diurnal motion of stars, use the fast-forward button on the horizontal menu bar in Stellarium. It is toward the end of the horizontal menu bar and is called “Increase time speed” to make the celestial sphere advance faster through time.

What are at least three circumpolar constellations that you can see? Go ahead and advance the time a full 24 hours and image you could see the stars in the daytime.

What are at least three constellations that were visible at 9 p.m. but have set by 3 a.m.?

Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Cassiopeia.

What is different about the declinations of the constellations that are circumpolar and those that aren’t? (Remember you can click on a star to get its RA and Dec.)

All the constellations visible at this time are circumpolar hence there is no difference in declinations.

If you were to observe the sky from a location on Earth closer to a pole than where you are now, would you see more or fewer circumpolar constellations? Would you see a larger or smaller number of all constellations (circumpolar and non-circumpolar combined) over the course of a night?

What if you were to observe the sky from a location on Earth closer to the equator than where you are now, would you see more or fewer circumpolar constellations? Would you see a larger or smaller number of all constellations (circumpolar and non-circumpolar combined) over the course of a night?

At a location closer to a pole, I a more likely to see fewer circumpolar constellations since I my view will be obstructed by the close proximity of the pole. On the other hand, circumpolar constellations are more visible at the equator.

Now let’s focus on Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper part). Advance time over 24 hours and watch the position of both Polaris and the constellation overall. Describe how the position and orientation of the constellation changes over 24 hours.

Draw a sketch showing this. Let the dot below be Polaris; show the position and orientation of the Little Dipper every 3 hours starting at 9 p.m. You should have noticed that Polaris does not move significantly over the course of the night (technically, its declination is just over 89°, so it does make a tiny circle in the sky, but it’s not very noticeable when observing with the naked eye rather than a telescope), so you can use the same dot for Polaris for the sketches at each time. Label your sketches with the times.

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Now observe the Litte Dipper at the same time of the evening for an entire year. Describe its change in position and orientation throughout the year. To show the annual motion of the stars, go back to the Date and Time window on the vertical menu bar and use the up arrow above the month number to advance through the year. The time setting remains the same. You may want to click and drag down the Date and Time window so it doesn’t block your view of how the constellations change.

Next, draw a sketch showing this. Let the dot again be Polaris; show the position and orientation of the Little Dipper every 2 months, always at 9 p.m. Label your sketches with the months!

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Finally, let’s see how the planets change with time. In the Introduction to the Night Sky lab, you should have found that Venus is currently visible in the evening sky. Set the time to tonight at 9 p.m., then watch Venus’ position relative to nearby stars over the course of the night.Describe Venus’ motion and whether or not its position changes dramatically with respect to the nearby stars.

Venus is the slowest moving planet. It only moves once every 243 days hence its position is not going to change.

Set the time back to tonight at 9 p.m. Note Venus’ position relative to nearby stars, then change the date to a week from now, then advance another week, and another, and another. What do you see about Venus’ motion relative to the stars?

Venus is the slowest moving planet. It only moves once every 243 days hence its position is not going to change.

Because Earth and Venus both orbit the Sun (and at different speeds, as we will see in a later lab), our position with respect to the Venus keeps changing continuously. The same is true for the other planets as well. Therefore, we see the planets in front of different back drops (the incredibly distant, hardly changing patterns of stars) depending on where we and they are in our orbits of the Sun. In fact, the term “planetes” means “wanderers” in Greek. The study of the motion o

Adolescent Suicide in the United StatesName

Institution

Introduction

In 2006, the United States recorded comparatively high incidences of suicide among the young adults aged between 15-24. With 4000 mortality rates associated with adolescent suicide, it has become the third leading cause of death among the college-going teenagers aged between 12-18 years of age. According to the hospital discharge information from the Center of Disease and Control, more teenagers and young adults die from suicide than other ailments such as cancer, HIV/AIDs, birth defects and other chronic diseases. In a more break-down of the suicide death among these age groups, mortality statistics indicates that there are ten youth suicides in every 100, 000 each year in US. Between 2000-2010, the suicide rates among the young adults have been estimated to be 10.5 percent per 100,000 youths (Blum & Qureshi, 2011).

Although adolescent females will tend to commits suicide compared to the males, Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that 85 of suicide deaths are male young adults. The survey also indicated that different ethnic groups have suicide disparities with most suicide among the adolescents recorded on Hispanic youth and the Native Americans. Additionally, the survey shows that 13.8 percent of youth admitted to contemplating suicide in 2009, and 10.5 percent said that even had plans to commit suicide. Some of the methods used to commit suicide among the youth include firearms, suffocation, and poisoning (Blum & Qureshi, 2011).

For instance, reports from Indian adolescent suicide between 2006 and 2010 indicated that 53.9 percent of the young adults suicide died firearms, and 23 percent was as a result of suffocation. However, adolescent suicide has been a major concern for the pediatric population when providing Medicare and preventive measures to victims of suicide. The pediatricians are confronted with deal with the risk factors associated with adolescents suicide that include health problems, family factors, substance abuse, bullying and stress. It is important to note that due to cognitive and the development factors among the young adults, pediatrician should judge and assess the risk factors and provide immediate interventions (Blum & Qureshi, 2011).

Challenges Facing Pediatrician in Prevention of the Adolescent Suicide

Psychiatric Risk Factors

Psychiatric autopsy is the most significant and statistics indicate that 90 percent of all suicide among the adolescent have at least one diagnosis. Prevention and interventions measures are should be put in place by the clinicians especially for suicides associated with depression. Depression is most common in girls, but there have been other suicide attempts from young adults engaging in substance abuse. In addition, statistics shows that some suicide attempts are fueled by anxiety, combined with drug abuse, health problems and victimization by the peers (Garfinkel, 2014).

Family Factors

A family with a history of attempted suicide, drug abuse and sexual abuse can greatly influence the risk of attempted and contemplated suicide among the adolescent. Also, families that the history depression disorders or children have been physically abused have increased the risk of adolescent suicide (Garfinkel, 2014).

Stress Problem

The adolescent’s perception to events that bring stress can also contribute to suicide. For instance, the suicidal behavior is normally linked to the stressful events such as interpersonal conflicts, parent-child conflict and romantic problems among the old teens. Putting into mind how teens are impulsive, even small levels of stress can trigger suicide. Therefore, the pediatricians have a role to play in counseling and resolving conflicting parties among the adolescents (Garfinkel, 2014).

Evidenced-Based Programs for Suicide Prevention

In order to establish evidence-based interventions for preventing suicide among the adolescents, the Best Practice Registry (BPR) has implemented programs that borrow from two sources. They include National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREBPP) and SPRC/AFSP Evidence-Based Practices Project (EBPP). In addition, the literature research also provides a wide range of principles and processes that aim to create prevention interventions such as identifying risks and protective factors. Other changes include developing goals and objectives for monitoring cultures, setting up the language for counseling the target audience. The BPR planners must engage in systematic planning efforts to addresses the needs and the circumstances of the adolescent suicides and provide the necessary assistance (Garfinkel, 2014).

Changes Developed by the BPR for Effective Suicide Prevention Programs

Participating in the Systematic Planning Process

The systematic planning process includes community planning and multiple engagements of the stakeholders in assessing their needs and circumstances and creating interventions that match their problem. The goal of a systematic planning process is to identify the risk factors leading to adolescent suicide and conducting evaluation efforts for improvement of the intervention results (Capuzzi, & Golden, 2013).

Following Guidelines for Effective Prevention Practice

The suicide practitioners can benefit from a range of research work that focuses on prevention of problem related health and safety risks that lead to the adolescent suicide. For instance, prevention efforts identify the major areas of health and safety risk such as juvenile deliquescence and violence, school failures, substance abuse and the risk of sexual behavior. Furthermore, substance abuse has been divided into a number of domains for the ensuring best practice principles. They include community, family, peer, school, individual and the society at large (Capuzzi, & Golden, 2013).

Prevention Measure for Adolescent Suicide in United States

Strategies

The pediatricians can create awareness among the victims and communities that suicide is preventable and a public health problem. In addition, the practitioners can develop a broad-based support for adolescent prevention by selecting and training of medical workers to provide referral services to the suicide victims. They can also create strategies to cope up with the stigma that arises from the substance abuse and the mental health among the young adults. Through the prevention services, the practitioners can create connectedness and resilience with the victims and instill optimism in them (Capuzzi, & Golden, 2013).

Interventions

Direct talks

The World Health Organization encourage assessing the suicide thoughts by engaging the victims in a direct talk. Contrary to the misconception that trying to make the victims talk about their meditated suicide would lead to castigating the idea into action, the discussion is a way to show care and compassion. As such, the method gives assurance to the teenagers that other people care about them (Capuzzi, & Golden, 2013).

Nursing care in Adolescent Suicide Prevention

The Center of Disease Control reveals that the nurses are bringing positive changes in suicide prevention strategies. Nurses play an important role by evaluating the mental health of the suicide patients and providing the necessary care needed for a teen to open up their problems. In the United States, several prevention programs such as the Butler Foundation have engaged nurses in spearheading educational talks in schools such as in Ohio. For example, Cathy Strunk, who is the program coordinator the Surviving Teens in the United states, has developed train-the-trainer program to increase the number of nurses offering services to the suicide teen victims. The program was intended to link the teenagers and parents through the nurses in 2011 (Wood, 2011).

Conclusion

Many people often feel uncomfortable to talk about the issue of suicide because they are afraid that they will be blamed. Most suicide attempts remain behind the closed doors as the victims are usually not willing to share their problem. There is also the issue that talking about suicide can leave the families, and friends of the victim stigmatized. As a result, the problem of suicide is shrouded with secrecy and the victims do not receive interventions from the medical professionals. Nevertheless, research has uncovered a lot of information which can be used in prevention and intervention strategies.

References

Capuzzi, D., & Golden, L. (2013). Preventing adolescent suicide. Indiana: Routledge.

Blum, R.W., & Qureshi, F. (2011). Morbidity and Mortality among Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Retrieved from:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jhsph.edu%2Fresearch%2Fcenters-and-institutes%2Fcenter-for-adolescent-health%2Faz%2F_images%2FUS%2520Fact%2520Sheet_FINAL.pdf&ei=PMZYVPLZMozjO5OigagK&usg=AFQjCNHEsj9hyuQuxCqa9CazjfQmozi7hg&sig2=ZAPsNgkGBbZ2XaCy0Oh0eA&bvm=bv.78677474,d.ZWUGarfinkel, B. (2014). Adolescent suicide: Recognition, treatment, and prevention. New York,

NY: Routledge.

Wood, D. (2011). Nurses on front lines for preventing teen suicide. Nursing News. Retrieved

from: http://www.nursezone.com/nursing-news-events/more-news/Nurses-on-Front-Lines-for-Preventing-Teen-Suicide_37656.aspx

Adopted child adapting to new parents

Adoption is the transferring of parenting from the biological parents of the child to other people. The new parent takes all responsibility, rights and love and the role to take care of the child. Unlike guardianship, adoption has a permanent effect on the child so it requires societal recognition either through legal means or religious permit.

Children even young ones have a problem and difficulty adjusting to the new environment after being brought to a new home. Like other human beings children have emotions that get affected due to various changes in their environment. Children tend to retaliate from the new parents and new home; they refrain from showing affection and they mostly keep to themselves. Trust is an attribute that adopted children take very long to give to the new parent. Some of the children mostly those who have come from places where there is inadequate food, they tend to sneak food into their rooms.

Poor grades in school are another defect that adopted children face in school. This is mainly a psychological element. Most children have their minds occupied with their new home and get carried away by thoughts about home and their new family. Some have a problem coping with the school and learning since some may be street children who are not used to going to school. Others face challenges such as mockery from other children since they have been adopted. This usually creates a feeling of retaliation and they tend to push themselves away from other people and blame their new parents for being the cause of difficulty in their lives.

Children have a difficult time communicating and socialising with other people and are mostly retrogressive and introverts. Parents try to build up conversations but they still do not open up or share their troubles or joys with them. They have difficulty trying to make friends and getting along with new siblings if the new parents already had other children. This leads to psychological complications later on in their development. Some may grow to be mentally retarded, others may be totally unsocial.

Those children adopted at an older age usually have a negative and difficult relationship with their new parents (Clark, 9). They are usually not grateful to their new parents and usually show resentment, anger and lack of trust until the adoption is made and permanent. Mostly they test their parents and even after gaining their parents trust they still continue doing so. Acting out and being mischievous, getting themselves into trouble is also still a temporary issue that affects children that have been adopted.

It is vital to allow children to have more time to adjust to the new situation and trying to understand them is the only way to cope with them and trying to be there during challenging times helps build the bond between the parent and the child. Psychologist suggests some ways to help children to cope with the new environment. To most children the challenge comes when the parent is trying to show affection for the child but at the same time showing that he or she is responsible and has the right to correct the child if they do something wrong (Clark, 9).

Children that have had part of their lives under foster care usually have that bond to the caretakers and other children in the foster homes; they have mixed feelings towards adoption. They may be excited to have a new home yes but again they may be angry toward s their new parents for having taken them away from their ‘home’.

What can a parent do to help the child cope and adapt to the new home? Place familiar setting around them, something of resemblance they may see. For example, pictures of familiar faces, dolls or toys. Creation of a life book that explains where the child came from, where he or she has been gives them a sense of belonging in the new family. Older children may take more time to adapt than new born children. Children and parents go through a phase in adjustment, there is usually a ‘honeymoon’ period where the child is given freedom, and they tend to behave well, are usually happy with their new home and try to please their new parents. For parents that have children adopted from different countries, they must give the children time to adapt to the new environment and learn the new language. Children with special needs such as the disabled should get special care and attention from their new family. They should be ready to provide both physical and mental help to the child. Adoption is a more complex form of life for both the child and the parent but like other children they too need affection and to be happy (Brodzinsky,141).

Child adaptation to adoption is a long stressful and delicate moment. But it requires patience and understanding of the child for proper growth and development of the child.

Brodzinsky, David, and Anne Braff Brodzinsky. Children’s adjustment to adoption: developmental and clinical issues. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1998. Print.

Clark, Robin E., Judith Freeman Clark, and Christine A. Adamec. The encyclopedia of child abuse. 3rd ed. New York: Facts on File, 2007. Print.

Mother Archetype

The Always Present Mother “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man” (Gen. 2:23). History has shown us that the “Great Mother” archetype has been with society since the beginning of time. Through stories, songs, poems and thoughts, man has always found the need for the “Mother” and the women that make this archetype possible. Some are consider myths and legends, while others have been documented in history. Regardless of what they have done or thought to have done, they have made an impact on the way man foresees woman. I will discuss three women characters that play a role in the mother archetype, and explain why these rolls are important to their culture. Demeter will be the first goddess in this examination on the mother archetype, followed by Isis. These women are man-made stories, to try and help explain why certain things are the way they are. The last mother archetype I will discuss was a woman that is still worshipped today, and with the help of man-made stories, she has become immortal. This woman is the Virgin Mary.

Before this is discussed, I will explain what an archetype is and what traits and similarities one must have to become a “Mother Archetype”. The mother archetype is a term derived from a man by the name of Carl Gustav Jung. Jung was a predecessor of Sigmund Freud. “According to Jungian psychology the archetypes of the collective unconscious are manifested in similar mythological motifs which are universal…” (Trachy and Hopkins 166). Jung defines an archetype in many ways. Archetypes appear in conscious as a universal and recurring image, pattern or motif representing a typical human experience. Archetypal images come from the collective unconscious and are the basic concepts of religions, mythologies, legends and Arts…they emerge through dreams and visions…they convey a sense of transpersonal power which transcend the ego. (Jung 46) The ego is the center of the consciousness and the base of the individual’s experience of subjective identity. The mother archetype has definite qualities of her own, such as, life giving, wisdom, and nurturing traits. Not all the traits of the mother archetype are good. There is the evil side of the mother archetype as well, such as, darkness, witchery and death. All these aspects are taken into consideration when it come to the mother archetype. Which leads me to my first example, Demeter.

Demeter is from Greek mythology, and is known as the goddess of the harvest. Demeter is most known for the story of her daughter, Persephone, being taken away by Hades. Hades was the God of the underworld. The story is to explain why there are seasons and why these seasons are repeated each year. The myth is fairly simple, Hades takes Persephone away from Demeter. Demeter was so sad by this, that she neglected her duties as goddess of the harvest and all the vegetation died. Zeus, who was the God of all gods, demanded that Hades return Persephone to Demeter. Hades did do so, but not without first giving a pomegranate seed to her for her to eat. This seed would make Persephone return to Hades in the underworld for four months each year. Thus giving the world its four months of winter, when no harvest shall grow. Demeter goes through the same cycle of turmoil every time her daughter leaves. Although Demeter, as a woman, appears to have the ability to give life with the harvests and child, she also has the ability to take that life away. This is one of the greatest distinctions of the mother archetype. To associate Demeter with life giving qualities, one can only expect the opposite in return. Her depiction of power of the growth to the harvests is simply man’s representation of his own views on woman and their ability to give life and the awareness of taking that life away. The comparison of the seasons, with Demeter, is also man’s view on life. What man destroys, nature will help refurbish. Just as woman can continue to bring in new life to the world.

Here we see the goddess Isis of Egyptian Mythology. I am Isis, I am she who is called goddess by women I gave and ordained laws for humans which no one is able to change I divided the earth from the heavens I ordered the course of the sun and the moon I appointed to women to bring their infants to birth in the tenth month I made the beautiful and the shameful to be distinguished by nature I established punishment for those who practice injustice I am Queen of rivers and winds and sea I am the rays of the sun Fate hearkens to me Hail Egypt that nourishes me. (Engelsman) Obviously greatly admired in her time, which lasted until around 600 AD. Isis had all the qualities and more of the mother archetype. One particular quality she displayed was her mysteriousness. She was everything, so it seemed, but no one really knew why she was all of this. This question allows one to ask, why all of these traits as listed above, to one woman have. The answer is the one and the same with the story of Demeter. Man admires woman for what she can do and for what he will never be able to do. Give life, nurture life and in many ways control life. Isis is the apex of all the goddesses and the mother archetype. The Egyptian culture must have had great respect for their women at the time the story of Isis was developed. This is evident in all the complexion they gave to Isis. She was nature, and everything that attributed to it. While Demeter and Isis both have noteworthy mother archetypal qualities, they lack in some of the more virtuous aspects. Within the areas they lack in virtue and morality, the Virgin Mary, who is from Christian religions, make up for them.

The Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. Mary is not the wife of God though. She was chosen by God to give birth to Jesus. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:31). Mary represents everything good in the world. She has never been touched and is clean and pure. The Virgin Mary represents the woman that man wants. “She will conceive…a Son”. Mary is the subservient to man. She is not represented with any symbols, except for her pureness. She does not have any mystical powers, except for her conception of child without sex. The Virgin Mary is represented as a woman that has been graciously touched by God himself, and gives birth to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Yet she is still a “handmaid of the lord” (Luke 1:38). The church, the creator of this story, was apparently concerned with the idolization of the Virgin Mary and wrote: God came down from heaven, the Word clothed Himself with flesh from a holy Virgin, not, assuredly, that the Virgin should be adored, nor to make her God, nor that we should offer sacrifice to her name, nor that, now after so many generations, women should once again be appointed priests…Let no one adore Mary. (Epiphanius 49) Here we can see man coming into the monotheism, where Christian belief is today. The Virgin Mary does represent a mother archetype, although it is not as prevalent as Demeter and Isis. Mary’s character is more housed, in a way that can be controlled and can be put into guidelines. Just as times before, man wants what he cannot have. In Mary’s case, the forever virgin.

Man needs to realize that men and women are different, and each have wonderful traits. Though many of these archetypes are brought on by the unconscious mind, which is the portion of one’s psyche which is outside of awareness, those thoughts should be left at the realization that they are thoughts. These goddess or mother archetypes are brought into our societies to teach man and woman the values in each other. To restore balance in one’s lives. Demeter, she helped to explain strange occurrences in Greece as well as reveal the importance of woman’s traits to give life. Isis, she kept the Egyptian nation strong and united during her reign by being everything at once. Mary, she has had mercy brought into the Christian beliefs against the sometimes stern male God. All three characters are important throughout history, and have managed to keep their legends alive.

Bibliography:

Bibliography

Works Cited Engelsman, Joan C. The Feminine Dimension of the Divine. Pennsylvania: Westminster Press, 1997.

Epiphanius, Heresies. In Mary in the Document of the Church. Palmer, P.F. ed. London: Burns Oats, 1953.

Holy Bible. New King James Version.

Hopkins, P., & Trachy, C.L. The Study of Story. North Carolina: Hunter Textbooks Inc., 1996.

Jung, C.G. Collected Works, Volume 9, Part1, Archetypes & the Collective Unconscious. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968 (1933)

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Causes of Depression

Depression is a mental condition characterized by loss of interest and sadness. Depression is different from mood fluctuations that people go through in their daily life. Depression is an ongoing crisis. While some episodes last up to two weeks, others tend to last several weeks, months, or years. Every year, depression affects 1 in 15 adults, which is an estimated 6.7% of the population. One in six people tends to experience depression at some point in their life. While depression can kick in at any time, it first appears during teenagehood to mid-20s. Notably, women are more prone to depression than their male counterparts. This essay highlights the major causes of depression.

Although depression has no major known causes, some factors have been linked with the condition. Inherited traits are one of them. Depression tends to be more common among people that have relatives who have the condition (Abd Yusof, Chenghua, and Frank, 17). Researchers are still trying to identify a gene that causes depression. Another cause is biological differences. Individuals presenting with depression tend to display physical changes in their brains. While the relevance of these changes remains unclear, it may eventually explain the cause. Hormones are also linked with depression. Changes in the balance of hormones are likely to trigger depression. Hormonal changes result from pregnancy, postpartum delivery, menopause, thyroid problems, and other conditions (Klein, Gerard, Mascha, Steven, Burger, and Bockting, 227). Brain chemistry has also been linked with depression. Neurotransmitters occur naturally in the brain and play a role in depression. Recent studies show changes in the effect and function of neurotransmitters and the way their interactions with neurocircuits help maintain mood stability.

In closing, depression is a significant health issue today. Major causes of depression include inherited traits, biological differences, hormones, and brain chemistry. While women and teenagers are most prone to developing depression, it is advisable for people of all ages and gender to keep track of their mental health. People should seek professional help if they are grappling with depression.

Works Cited

Abd Yusof, Noor Fazilla, Chenghua Lin, and Frank Guerin. “Analysing the causes of depressed mood from depression vulnerable individuals.” Proceedings of the International Workshop on Digital Disease Detection using Social Media 2017 (DDDSM-2017). 2017.

Klein, Nicola S., Gerard D. van Rijsbergen, Mascha C. Ten Doesschate, Steven D. Hollon, Huibert Burger, and Claudi LH Bockting. “Beliefs about the causes of depression and recovery and their impact on adherence, dosage, and successful tapering of antidepressants.” Depression and anxiety 34.3 (2017): 227-235.

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Global warming

The earth is the only planet that records the existence of living organisms. Living organisms are all things that contain life namely plants and animals. Human beings are classified as the highest forms of animals making them responsible for the environment. As inhabitants of the environment, human beings have a responsibility of monitoring the activities of all living things. This responsibility has however been misused in that the environment continues to depreciate in value. One of the reasons for this depreciation is the existence of global warming. Global warming is caused by the change in normal temperatures of the globe. The change in the temperature is mostly triggered by the human activity which increases by the minute. Global warming has thus become one of the current environmental discussions. The solution to the question of global warming is evident in that individuals should practice safe keeping of the environment. This however is not the case in that people continue to undermine the seriousness of this situation. One of the ways of eradicating this issue is by imposing harsh penalties of primary offenders. This however is not enough to stop the abuse of the environment leaving the environment at the mercy of human beings (Maslin, p. 321).

The focus of this paper is to provide an analysis on global warming. The paper looks at different contributing elements to global warming. This involves the study of related issues that the environment experiences involving the climate. The paper forms its basis through the definition of significant terms in this area of study. This is followed by the discussion of the causes and effects of global warming to the environment. The paper further provides a concluding paragraph that summarizes the contents of the analysis.

Global warming is the change of the temperature of the due to the reaction of the greenhouse gases and the environment. The temperature of the earth is essential for the survival of the living organisms. This temperature is thus crucial to the extent that failure to maintain it can destroy the living organisms. There are several factors that contribute to global warming of the environment. Some of these factors are natural factors that are mostly cannot be avoided. Natural factors are not as dangerous owing to the fact that they are the least harmful elements of change. The other factor that contributes to the change in temperature is manmade activities. Manmade activities play a significant role as an agent of environmental change. Most of these activities are avoidable but remain to the biggest culprits.

Climate change has on several occasions been confused with global warming. This has in turn misleads the society on the true meaning of global warming. Climate change has a completely different meaning from global warming making both factors have different implications on the environment. Climate change is referred to as the change in temperatures, weather and seasons of the environment. Climate change varies from one location to another depending on conditions of the area. Like global warming, climate change is affected by both man made and natural factors (Maslin, p. 208).

Greenhouse gases Greenhouse gases are gases that inhibit solar radiation from penetrating to the atmosphere. Solar radiation is ideal for the maintenance of the environments radiation. The exposure of greenhouse gasses to the environment interferes with the activities of the solar radiation thus changing the normal climate. Some of the notorious greenhouse gases are carbon, choroflourcaborns and watervapour which are natural. Despite the fact that most of the greenhouse gases are natural, human activities have been known to trigger the creation of manmade gases. This has increased the level of gases in the atmosphere which as a result increases the rate of climate change in the environment. Most of the manmade gases are emitted from the burning of wood and coal which have a high concentration of carbon.

The ozone is an essential part of climate change and global warming. The ozone is vital to the sustainability of all living things. The ozone layer is significant in that it protects the earth’s environment from the harsh rays of the sun. The ozone layer is in gashouse state making it more difficult to comprehend. It is thus impossible to determine the location of the ozone due to its gaseous state. This situation worsens the condition of the ozone in that people are not able to see the extent to which the layer is destroyed. The ozone is situated between the atmosphere and the earth. The main aim of this location is to maintain the correct temperature of the environment. It does this by blocking the dangerous rays produced from the sun. Human beings play a significant role in the sustainability of the ozone layer. Over the years, the ozone has slowly been changing its formation due to human activity. The main agent of this change is the release of carbon gases to the earth’s environment. The continued release worsens the hole formed in the ozone layer which in turn increases the extent of the ozone depletion. Ozone depletion is made possible through the reaction of the carbon gases with the gases of the ozone layer. This activity exposes the environment to the harsh rays of the sun endangering the safety of all living things as a result. .

All these factors are related in that they all affect each other in one way or another. Failure to observe proper car of one factor affects the other negatively. This leads to the spiraling damage of the environment making it loose its value. One of the ways of controlling this rising issue is by creating awareness of the dangers of careless human activity. This can only be effective if society is aware of the implications that come of environmental damage. The concentration on global warming is ideal in that it is central to the management of the earth’s environment. Global warming will thus be looked at more critically owing to its effects on human life (Maslin, p. 163).

Beginning of global warming

The issue on global warming is not one that has been introduced in present day. Global warming dates from the time of the occurrence of the ice age. The earth was filled with an enormous amount of ice over 18, 000 years ago. These dynamics were changed when the ice in the earth succumb to the change in temperature. This resulted in the melting of the ice creating a warmer and sunnier environment. This gave rise to the creation of longer summers and the reduction of cold seasons. The temperatures stabilized for a long because of the controlled human activity and population. The temperatures have however been changing as a result of the introduction of different factors in the environment. One of the factors responsible for global warming is the activities of the greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gases comprise of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and water vapor. These gases are present in the atmosphere making it possible for them to trap the heat from the sun. The reaction of the gasses attracts the heat to the earth’s surface which in turn increases the temperature. The heat that gets into the atmosphere remains and changes the dynamics of the temperature. One of the disadvantages of the greenhouse effects is that the process cannot be reciprocated. This means that the temperature is change remains permanent.

Increased causes of global warming

As stated earlier, global warming involves the increase in temperature of the environment. This increase is caused by various factors which are either man made or natural. In order to control the dynamics of global warming, human activity needs to change. One of the ways of looking at the human activity in relation to global warming is the occurrence of globalization. Globalization is the increased interaction of different communities due to the existence of factors such as trade, communication and migration. All these elements are part and parcel of human activity and are therefore unavoidable. Globalization is recorded to have emerged from the ancient days. During this time, communities were keen on migrating so as to get better living conditions. This led to the interaction of different communities thus leading the exchange of social-cultural aspects. Globalization continued to evolve with the time by keeping up with the introduction of new factors. Some of this additions resulted into the creation of a new world that was highly reliant on chemicals for the provision of goods and services. The changes in the lifestyle of human beings led to the introduction of new ideas. One of the pivotal inventions involves the introduction of introduction and the industrial age. This consists of the use of technology in all aspects of life. Technology led to the introduction of urbanization which characterized the use of electronics to ease the workload of human beings. Household have since then adapted to the use of devices such as vehicles, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners on a daily basis. These electronics are responsible for releasing the most dangerous gases in the environment. The rate of urbanization continues to rise due to the increase of the rate of development. This in turn places the environment at risk owing to human beings dependant nature on all things electronics. The use of these commodities release gases in form of carbon dioxide to the earth’s stratosphere. These gases are responsible for the emotion of heat to the environments normal temperature. The change in temperature is not ideal for the sustaining the lives of plants and animals. This is due to the creation of a chemical imbalance between the natural gases and the emitted gases. The environment is not able to return the balance of the gases on its own. It is up to human beings to step in by talking control of the products that the expose to the environment (Maslin, p. 215).

Effects of global warming

Global warming brings about different effects on both human beings and plants. The analysis on the beginning of global warming shows that the process of global warming is inevitable. This process can be controlled if human beings change their lifestyle. Global warming is always associated with negative implications. This gives people a negative perception of the process. Global warming is however responsible for the sustainability of human living things. The temperatures that were present before the occurrence of the melting of the ice age were impossible to live in. Most of the animals could not exist in such conditions due to their body temperature. This is also relatable to plants in that plants need heat in order for their leaves to produce chlorophyll. The greenhouse gases are thus pivotal for the creation of warm temperatures suitable for both human and plant lives. Global warming can thus be credited for the creation of suitable temperatures in the environment.

The creation of global warming has been an advantage and disadvantage to the earth’s environment. One of the factors that earth continues to face is the continued reaction of the greenhouse gases with the sun. As stated earlier, once the heat from the sun is attracted by the gasses to the environment it cannot get out of the environment. This means that the temperatures of the earth are expected to rise in the next years to come. The greenhouse gases are naturally present in earth atmosphere. The problem arises due to the increased release of more greenhouse gases by human beings. This is triggered buy factors such as globalization, urbanization and innovation of more technology. The more the factors increase, the more the earth becomes subject to the release of the greenhouse gases. This has dangerous effects on the earth and its inhabitants in that temperature should be received in moderation. Excess heat is hazardous to the sustainability of all living things. The imbalance of the greenhouse gasses would mean lack of protection from excess heat and cold. Excess heat is dangerous for all living things in the surface of the earth. Global warming is responsible for the cause of conditions such as skin cancer. Skin cancer damages the cells of human beings making the body organs vulnerable to the outside environment. This condition can lead to death and is thus dubbed as one of the most vital skin conditions to date. Global warming is also dangerous in that exposure to the sun leads to the damage of body parts such as the eyes. Human beings are advised to limit their exposure to the sun due to the strong ultra violet rays that it relays. Increased temperatures would affect the eyesight of most human beings increasing the risk of getting blind as a result.

Global warming has some long time implications on the sustainability of the earth. The earth is the principle habitat of all things that breathe. Living things are thus at the mercy of the environment in that their existence is threatened if the conditions are unbearable. Research shows that if these conditions continue to escalate, the lives of living things will reduce by a great margin. Increased temperatures will mean that all organisms will be destroyed in the long run. This is alarming in that the lifespan of all living things continues to reduce when the temperature increase (Maslin, p. 346).

Control of global warming

Global warming is a controllable factor if the activities of human beings are monitored. The greenhouse gases are essential for the overall control of the temperature of the environment. The gases naturally occur in that they were present before the existence of mankind. The gases are thus able to regulate their temperature without the interference of human beings. One of the ways global warming can be controlled is the observation of activities of human beings. Human beings pose the most risk to the sustainability of the global temperatures. This is ironic in that they are the most affected by the effects of global warming. One of the ways human beings can control this spiraling issue is by observing their living conditions. The United States is one of the countries responsible for the increase of global warming. The country consumes the largest amount of fuel which in turn releases an enormous percentage of gases to the environment. This is dangerous due to the fact that the population continue to rise annually. The increase in population increases the demand of fuel which reflects on the increased temperatures. One of the ways that human beings can control this occurrence is by reducing the consumption of fuel. This is difficult in that fuel is responsible for the production of goods and services. Human beings should thus consume fuel carefully. Fuel saving methods can include carpooling so as to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. People can also opt for using alternative vehicles that are safe for the environment. Some of the vehicles in the market are the prius hybrid and the electrical cars. These options reduce the consumption of fuel which as a result makes the environment safe for living things to live in (Maslin, p. 238).

In conclusion, Global warming is one of the globe environment issues human beings face. Global warming was formed from the reactions of the greenhouse gases that changed the environmental condition of the earth. The greenhouses are responsible for the regulation of the earth’s temperature making them an essential part of human life. These gases are natural making them self reliant. Human beings are also responsible for the emission of gases to the earth’s environment due to their day to day activities. One of the ways that this is done is through the use of fuel which releases by products such as carbon dioxide and water vapor. These reactions attract sunlight from the ultraviolet rays which warm up the temperatures of the environment. There are several factors that contribute to the increase in temperatures of the environment. Most of these are brought about by the change in the lifestyle of human beings. Factor like globalization, technology and urbanization have a long-term effect on the environment in that they have become a way of life. It is difficult to decrease the occurrence of such factors making it to control the rate of global warming. One of the solutions that human beings have is to carefully monitor their activities so as to control the situation. This can only be successful if different countries educate their citizens on the vitality of this issue. The inability to monitor human activity reduces the sustainability of all living things. This in turn poses a risk to the future of fall things that call the environment home.

Works cited

Maslin, Mark. Global Warming. Stillwater, MN: Voyageur Press, 2006. Print.

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Week 1-Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

The main idea of the article Mother Tongue by Amy Tan is that people have different perspectives of the English language. The author is trying to pass across the point that people tend to look down on people that do not speak the perfect English language. This is seen in how the author’s mother is treated by the people she encounters. For instance, people pretended not to understand what her mother was saying at the bank and in stores because her English was broken. The primary purpose of this article is to sensitize the audience against unequal treatment of people based on the language they speak. This article calls out the behaviors of people who mistreat non-native English speakers. The article also aims to explain the author’s experiences and challenges that people who do not speak English as their first language go through. The article is about the conflicts that Amy Tan goes through in her daily life both as a writer and with the family. The language she uses in her profession is not the same language she uses to speak to her mother because it is complex and filled with vocabulary. Tan feels deeply about her mother tongue because she has experienced first-hand her mother being treated unequally because she speaks broken language. She has seen people ignore her presence simply because she cannot communicate as best as she would want to because of her Chinese accent. At times, she was forced to pick up her mother’s calls and pretend to be her.

A good thesis statement for this article would be “while language is important in communication, non-native English speakers struggle to be understood because of their mother-tongue interference making their communication experiences difficult.” The main message of this article is that it is our duty to be accommodative of each other as human beings. At the end of the day, no human is perfect, and as such, we should try to make life experiences of everyone as smooth as possible. The article is important as it addresses an important issue that people rarely talk about unequal treatment of people along the lines of the language they speak. I would describe Tan’s relationship with her mother as a considerate and loving one. Growing up, Tan helped her mother communicate with people by answering her calls. Even as Tan is writing her book, she says she wants to write a book that her mother would read and understand. This is very considerate of her. The target audience for this article is immigrants who do not speak English as their first language and members of the public who might be struggling with language. When giving the presentation, Tan realizes that her mother is part of her audience and so she might not understand everything that she says. This is because Tan tends to use more complex language filled with vocabulary, but when she speaks to her mother, she uses simpler language. The tone used in this article is relaxed and informative. The point of view of this text is that when giving a talk, speakers should assess their audience to ensure that they will understand what they say. Also, the article opines against unequal treatment of non-English native speakers.

Quote Sandwich

Quote 1: Tan writes “I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: so easy to read.”

Paraphrase: Tan explains that she knew she had succeeded when her mother finished reading the book and said it was easy to read.

Explanation: The explanation is that when writing her book, Tan had purposed to write a book that her mother could comfortably read and understand. Tan wanted to show that communicating does not have to be a challenging experience for non-native speakers. She knew she had achieved her goal when her mother confirmed that the book was easy to read.

Quote 2: Tan writes, “Why he don’t send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money.”

Paraphrase: Tan explains that her mother was not sent a check by her stockbroker and was angry that she lost money (Tongue, 2).

Explanation: Tan’s mother could not speak perfect English, so she had her speak to the stockbroker on the phone in her place. Her mother was trying to say that she was concerned that she had not received her check and was afraid that she had lost money. Although her mother could barely speak proper English, Tan understood everything she said.

Works Cited

Tongue, Mother. “Amy Tan.” The World is a Text: Writing, Reading, and Thinking about Culture and Its Contexts (2003): 291.

Summary of After the Adolescent Pregnancy

Parents, Teens, and Families

Life Span Development SC 506

University of West Alabama

Introduction

In the article, After the Adolescent Pregnancy: Parents, Teens, and Families author Benson provides information to help understand adolescent conditions and decisions during and after pregnancy. Benson focuses on five dimensions and frameworks that are associated with adolescent pregnancy. The five dimensions and frameworks include: pregnancy, abortion, childbearing, adoption, and teen parenthood. Benson addresses the role of social workers in helping adolescents deal with the issues mentioned above. Benson conducted an investigation to determine a solution to help adolescents deal with issues of pregnancy.

According to Benson (2004), most social workers will work with a pregnant or parenting adolescent sooner or later. Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood have many important consequences. Social Workers can provide valuable assistance to adolescents and their families as they deal with these life changing events. Being that most Social Workers have had many different areas of practice relating to the issue, they are able to be more helpful, and informing of the issues to guide adolescents to make healthy decisions. Social Workers play an important role with families concerning common problems, and they are the key concept to helping promote a good outcome.

Dimensions and Framework

The first dimension in the framework is pregnancy. During pregnancy the adolescents are often very stressed and depressed. The support of the family is important to help keep the stress level down. It is important to communicate and encourage good health during the adolescent’s pregnancy. Good health is extremely important for an adolescent, because their body is not fully developed to carry a baby and they have a greater risk of complications; therefore it is important for them to eat health for them and the baby.

The second dimension in the framework is abortion. Most adolescents want to have abortions because they feel their family will not support their decision to conceive a baby. This notion goes back to the first dimension, where it states the importance of family support. The dimension stated that if an adolescent chooses to have an abortion, she has to comply with the state law. It is important to help adolescents cope with the decision to have an abortion. If an adolescent chooses to have an abortion, it is important to support them in any decision they make.

The third dimension is childbearing and adoption. Childbearing for an adolescent is considering being associated with lower likelihood to finish school. Poverty could also contribute to early childbearing, because if an adolescent gets pregnant, and have the baby, she then may have to drop out of school to support them. As a result she will end up with a very low paying job or no job at all. Benson mentions that only 1-2 % of adolescents put their baby up for adoptions. If they don’t have the baby then they have an abortion. Most adolescents are provided with very little information on adoption.

The last dimension is parenthood. Becoming an adolescent parent changes the individual in society. The adolescent is put into a different view. The expectance of the adolescent change from a child to an adult.

Importance

The article is extremely important as it relates to my field of work. The article mentions the important roles of a Social Worker with adolescent pregnancy. Being that I am a Social Worker and I work with young adult’s everyday, I felt this was a very helpful article to gather information from and use as a resource for my clients in the near future. The article shared information about the different decisions an adolescent has, and the importance of family support. Not all adolescents will have family support, or support at all, and that is when my job as a Social Worker will come into play. Also it is important to be knowledgeable of the information in this article, because as a Social Worker we need to be aware of all options available for a client. As the article stated that most adolescent do not know about adoptions, so the Social Worker can share that information with them, and maybe they can use adoption as an option.

Personal

The article discusses the different dimensions of adolescent pregnancy. In my opinion the article was informative. The information from the article will now make me be sure that my clients are aware of all options that are available. I will teach the family the important of family support, and the importance of teaching the adolescent all she needs to know about the issue. The article did raise some questions for me, because it stated that most adolescent that choose to have the baby, will drop out of school. I believe that is when family support comes into play. If the adolescent has a baby, the family needs to work out a plan so that the adolescents life can stay as normal as possible.

Conclusion

Overall, the article provides information to help Social Workers understand conditions and decisions before and after pregnancy. The framework emphasizes individualization, family support, and future orientation. The article provided helpful information.

Reference

Benson, M. J. (2004). After the Adolescent Pregnancy Parents,

Teens, and Families. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21, 435-455.

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Cause and effect of mass movement in Hong Kong due to urbanization in 1948 1998(landslides)

Urbanization involves building of infrastructure so as to develop a community. Before the introduction of urbanization, countries were reliant on agriculture for the sustainability of their community. The introduction of the industrial revolution changed the dynamics in society. Communities now placed emphasis development of all things infrastructure leading to the creation of an urbanized community. One of the countries that has been affected to date is Hong Kong. During the early1940s, the country joined the rest of the world in the urbanization process (Waugh, p. 305).

The focus of the paper is to provide an analysis of the mass movement in Hong Kong. The paper seeks to look into the reason for the need to urbanize the nation at the time. This is followed with reasons explaining the causes and effects of the occurrence. Lastly, the paper provides a concluding paragraph that provides a summary of the paper and the way forward for the nation.

Causes of the steep slopes

The country was not geographically structured to sustain the rising population. One of the ways that the country could make up for its lack of space was the use of the stabilization technique. The government therefore adopted this method due to its success in Japan. This is one of the initial causes responsible for mass movement in the country.

The stabilization technique is known to work for a majority of the counties that have adopted the process. The occurrence of mass movement in Hong Kong was supplemented by other factors. One of the factors in this case is the impermeability of the surface. This makes the land vulnerable when exposed to substances like water and rainfall. This quality makes the stabilization unsafe for urbanization and development.

The fact that the country was reliant on mountainous areas for construction was hazardous enough. Another reason that placed the population at risk was the intense infrastructure constructed on the slopes. The slopes were sensitive and as a result added pressure to the surface of the ground. This situation was further worsened during the intense rainy that contributed to the soil erosion of the entire area.

Another cause of the mass movement was the overpopulation of the people in the affected area. The populous nation needed to cater for their needs by investing in the little land that they had. One of the ways of meeting these expectations was by overcrowding in a small area. Overcrowding of the communities encourages the deterioration of the surface. This in turn decreased the stabilization of the land placing the lives of the people at risk (Waugh, p. 215).

Effects of the steep slopes

The mass movement in Hong Kong affected each and every one in the country. The principal result of the occurrence was the loss of lives. The buildings in the slopes acted as shelter for a large percentage of the population at the time. The movement of the land can be compared to an earthquake. The sliding effect is dangerous to the health of an individual due to the strength of at which the force pushes. Most of the injuries were caused by the concrete used to construct the buildings reducing the chances of survival for the people present (Calcaterra and Mario, p. 125).

One of the effects of the mass movement in the country was the loss of homes of more than half a million people. The incident led to the displacement of a large number of families exposing them to more calamities. The country was thus faced with a national disaster in that its citizens had become homeless. Lacking shelter affected the production of the society thus affecting an aspect of their life apart from their livelihood.

The countries economy felt the effects of the mass movement in the country. Due to the destruction of an entire community, the population could not sustain their needs and wants. Most of the infrastructure housed businesses which contributed to the growth of the country’s GDP. The loss of these businesses thus had a direct effect on both the financial situation of the citizens and the county’s economy (Goudie, p. 134).

In conclusion, the movement of the land is one of the saddest events in the calendar of the people of Hong Kong. The loss of the lives of the people at the time led to the loss of a part of a nation. This weekend the strength of the community due to the reduction of the man power needed to sustain the country. Despite this, the occurrence acted as an educating factor to the world as a whole. Most of the countries that were in the same situation invested in protective measures to prevent a reoccurrence. The country came together so that they could reunite and move forward. This enabled for the fast recovery of the now successful nation. Despite the level of hurt that came with the movement of the land, the loss of lives of the people present at the time was not in vain.

Works Cited

Calcaterra, Domenico, and Mario Parise. Weathering As a Predisposing Factor to Slope Movements. London: Geological Society, 2010. Print.

Goudie, Andrew. The Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present, and Future. Malden, MA. [u.a.: Blackwell Publishing, UK, 2007. Print

Waugh, David. Geography: An Integrated Approach. Gloucester, U.K: Nelson Thornes, 2000. Print.

A man’s perspective

Adolescents who commit crimes should not be treated the same as adult offenders. This is because the maturity level of the two groups of people is different. Adults are more mature than adolescents and thus understand the consequence of their actions. Moreover, a teenage brain is not well developed like that of an adult. The absence of proper development of the adolescents brains, increases the likelihood of them committing crimes is very high. Since they have not developed well, sentencing them to adult prisons is likely to make them violent rather than deter them. If a teenager commits a crime, they should be rehabilitated to make them learn the evil associated with crime and how best to avoid it. Mental functions adolescent have been proven scientifically through the use of multiple testing like the MRI. The results of these tests have shown that teens have completely very different reactions to reason in stressful as well as fearful circumstances. Even though they are capable of doing the same crimes just like adults, underdevelopment of the an organ called amygdala in the brain causes teens to act more based on impulse and their reactions are through emotion rather than based on good reasoning. This therefore means that kids should have a separate court from that of adult offenders.

The treatment of the adolescent and adult offenders should not be the same even after considering the magnitude of the offence in question. This is because regardless of the magnitude of the crime, the circumstances present in the mind of an adolescent is the same regardless the nature of the crime he is engaging in. It would be very unreasonable to separate the crimes into two groups to either treat them as adults or not. What should be considered is the type of sentence that could be imposed in different circumstances.

A woman’s perspective

We should ask ourselves why kids below 14 and 15 years are not allowed to take alcohol, drive, and smoke, watch pornography, participate in voting, as well as enter into sexual relationship. Such kids cannot also enter into contracts that are legally binding. The reason for this state of affairs is that they dot glimpse the consequences of their actions and that they cannot be able to handle decisions just as well as an adult would do. If then we insist on treating them as adults, we should remove the above restriction as it is the only logical step to undertake. Adolescent brain is particularly very complicated to be understood. This means that a child’s prefrontal lobe is not fully developed until the child reaches early adult hood. This part of the brain coordinates the ability of a person to reason as well as be able to weigh the consequences of their decisions. This part also delays the gratification to make careful choices short-term as well as long-term ones. Children as compared to adults are less blameworthy. This is obvious especially in adolescence stage. In their bid to struggle with their immaturity as well as their decision-making ability which is undeveloped, impulsivity, absence of future orientation and likelihood of being caught in bad peer pressure, they are likely to make irrational decisions. These circumstances should therefore serve as mitigating factors for adolescents. It is true that children can differentiate right and wrong. However, they often opt for the wrong because of not considering the consequences that are bound to occur. This is because Children do not have the ability to appreciate fully the consequences of their action in the long run. This explains why teenagers engage in risky behaviors.

However, adolescent offenders should be treated as adults if they commit violent crimes. This is because these are crimes of big magnitude. For such big crimes, there should be put in place a system of hearing the case and to then make a as to whether they should be tried as adults or teenagers. The decision should be me after considering the basis of their intent. Crimes like murder rape as well as domestic violence should be treated the same for all offenders regardless of whether they are children or adults. Lesser degree crimes like theft should be tried in juvenile courts. For someone to form intent to kill someone it means they are fully aware of what they are doing and the kind of harm they are occasioning to the victim.

Reference

Kail, R. V. Cavanaugh, J. C. (2008). Human Development: A Life-Span View. Malden. M. A. United States. Cengage Learning;