American Flag :: essays research papers

The United States Flag is the third oldest of the National Standards of the world; older than the Union Jack of Britain or the Tricolor of France. The flag was first authorized by Congress June 14, 1777. This date is now observed as Flag Day throughout America. The flag was first flown from Fort Stanwix, on the site of the present city of Rome, New York, on August 3, 1777. It was first under fire for three days later in the Battle of Oriskany, August 6, 1777. It was first decreed that there should be a star and a stripe for each state, making thirteen of both; for the states at the time had just been erected from the original thirteen colonies. The colors of the Flag may be thus explained: The red is for valor, zeal and fervency; the white for hope purity, cleanliness of life, and rectitude of conduct; the blue, the color of heaven, for reverence to God, loyalty, sincerity, justice and truth. The star (an ancient symbol of India, Persia and Egypt) symbolized dominion and sovereignty, as well as lofty aspirations. The constellation of the stars within the union, one star for each state, is emblematic of our Federal Constitution, which reserves to the States their individual sovereignty except as to rights delegated by them to the Federal Government. The symbolism of the Flag was thus interpreted by Washington: â€Å"We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty.† In 1791, Vermont, and in 1792, Kentucky were admitted to the Union and the number of stars and stripes was raised to fifteen in correspondence. As other states came into the Union it became evident there would be too many stripes. So in 1818 Congress enacted that the number of stripes be reduced and restricted henceforth to thirteen representing the thirteen original states; while a star should be added for each succeeding state. That law is the law of today. The name â€Å"Old Glory† was given to our National Flag August 10, 1831, by Captain William Driver of the brig Charles Doggett. The Flag was first carried in battle at the Brandywine, September 11, 1777. It first flew over foreign territory January 28, 1778, at Nassau, Bahama Islands; Fort Nassau having been captured by the American in the course of the war for independence.

Teaching Philosophy :: Education Teaching Teachers Essays

Teaching Philosophy Throughout life I think everyone has a certain calling. God creates special gifts in people to be used to help others. Some people know right away what their calling is. I am sorry to say that it has taken me a few more years to figure out my love for teaching. I was a dance instructor for over fourteen years. During that time I attended College of West Virginia earning an Associates Degree in Business Administration. What was I going to do with that? I really did not like business, but my thinking was it would help in running my own dance studio one day. My real love was the involvement, interaction, and teaching of all my dancers. It was so rewarding to see the children learn the different movements I was teaching that day. The scaffolding method used in constructivism is very similar to how I taught dancing. Each week we would review the dance steps from previous weeks and then add on new dance steps. The children were learning dances that I had choreographed. Being a happy wife and a proud mother of a beautiful boy, I wanted to contribute more to the family financially. Although teaching dance is what I loved, it was not a job that paid well. How could I still do what I love, teaching, and bring in a little more money? That is when my husband encouraged me to go back to Concord College and get my Bachelor of Science Degree in Teaching Physical Education and Health Education. Physical Education and Health Education are two fields I feel very passionate about. Always being active throughout my life, I did not realize how sedentary and unfit our nation is. West Virginia ranks one of the highest states in the nation when it comes to being unfit and obese. I think education could place a more positive influence on this growing epidemic. The purpose of education is to help students gain knowledge to be used in their career, social, and personal lives. Education is important in teaching students the past and helping them make knowledgeable decisions for the future. As a teacher, I hope to be able to touch student’s lives in a way that when it comes to making a choice, they think of what I have taught them, and make a positive decision.

Effective Financial Policy and Procedures

Effective Financial Policies And Procedures Effective Financial Policies and Procedures Medical practices establish financial policies and procedures to control patient billing and the ability to collect money for services they provide. Successful billing practices start with thorough financial policies and procedures which explain patients’ payment responsibilities in terms that are easily understood. An effective medical office financial policy is one that both staff members and practice patients can easily follow and understand. Patients need to understand their obligations and staff members need to know what is expected of the patients. All possible situations should be addressed by a good financial policy. This includes financial arrangements and payment plans, payments for services not covered by the insurance company, and a variety of other circumstances. The basic elements of an effective policy should inform patients how particular situations will be handled. Collection of a patient’s copayment, deductibles and any past-due balances should be addressed; as should payment for services that are not covered by a patient’s insurance company. An effective policy should address how a practice handles prepayment for services they will provide and also any possibility for payment arrangements of unpaid balances on a patient’s account. If a practice offers charity care or discounts to patients with low incomes/financial need it should be stated in the financial policy. Finally, a practice’s financial policy should state their accepted forms of payment such as cash, checks, money orders, and credit or debit cards. Clear medical office procedures that are consistently followed by staff members help support the office’s financial policy. When administrative staff members collect appropriate copayments and other fees as stated in the financial policy, they are helping to support the policy. When staff members become lax in their collection duties and neglect to follow established office†¦

Prone to Clone essays

Prone to Clone essays The practice of human cloning is beneficial to society; therefore it must be legally endorsed. Since the cloning of Dolly, the sheep, the first mammal produced from an adult cell in 1997, the concept of attempting human cloning has become the subject of many debates. Parties in opposition to human cloning are simply frightened by the idea because it is a new and misunderstood science. A substantial benefit of human cloning is that with new technological knowledge, scientists are discovering means to generate entire separate organs and other tissues such as nerve and heart muscle cells without the creation of an entire person. At present, there is a great shortage of organs on hand for transplants, and persistent study in cloning of this nature may well eliminate this dilemma. According to an article in Scientific American: Once we are able to drive nerve cells from cloned embryos, we hope not only to heal damaged spinal cords but to treat brain disorders such as Parkinsons disease, in which the death of brain cells that make a substance called dopamine leads to uncontrollable tremors and paralysis. Alzheimers disease, stroke and epilepsy might also yield to such an approach. (Cibelli 3) An additional benefit of human cloning is that it can present couples that cannot reproduce with an opportunity to have children who are biologically related to them, whereas they otherwise could not. Current treatments for infertility are not very successful. Couples experience physically and emotionally painful procedures for a small chance of having children. Many couples are exhausted of their money and time without successfully having children. Reproduction through cloning is similar enough to other common reproductive techniques, such as in-vitro fertilization, that is should not be dealt with differently, and it must be presented as an option. Thomas H. Murray, Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio say...

Who Is the Admission Committee What Do They Look For

Who Is the Admission Committee What Do They Look For SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The admissions committee that decides whether or not you get into your dream school can often seem shrouded in mystery. Who, exactly, are these people? A group of soulless office workers who delight in stamping â€Å"Rejected† across applications? A team of well-trained robots who data-mine your application and input it into an algorithm? While it may seem like the admissions committee process is secretive, that’s actually not the case. Admissions committees are made up of real, live humans whose sole job is to put together the best incoming class possible for their college or university. Let’s learn a little more about college admissions committees. What Is an Admission Committee? A college admissions committee is a group of people who work together to make decisions about who is accepted as part of the next matriculating class. Admissions committees are made up of admissions staffers - university employees whose job it is to assess each applicant and decide whether or not he or she is a good fit for acceptance. Most highly selective schools are fairly secretive or nebulous about their admissions process, but many public schools have guaranteed admission for students who meet certain criteria, as well as offer specific information about expected scores and GPAs for applicants. The vast majority have multiple people read your application to decide whether or not you’ll be accepted. Who Reads My Admission Application? Your college application will likely be read by at least two groups of people - regional staffers and the wider admissions committee, which may be made up of deans, faculty members, and even current students. Regional staffers are college admissions employees who focus on your specific geographical region. They are typically the people who travel to college fairs in your region and may conduct interviews. You might have met them before, if you attended a college fair at your school or in your area. The rest of the admissions committee can be structured differently, depending on the college or university. Often, there are deans or other high-ranking members of the admissions office who participate in the second read-through of your application. If you’re applying to a specific school or program, faculty members who know their coursework may be part of the decision, as they have a good sense of who can handle their classes. Some schools include students on the admissions committee, who speak to whether or not applicants would be a good addition to the larger school community and student body. Over the past few months, the lawsuit against Harvard’s discrimination towards Asian students offered insight into the previously highly secretive process. The admissions committee at Harvard assesses the grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, intended majors, ethnicities, and regional background of every student. From this information, we can assume that other highly competitive and secretive schools use similar criteria. While you obviously can’t control your ethnicity or where you live, you can control the rest of your application, so it’s important to put as much effort in your grades, essays, and extracurriculars as possible. What Is a Typical Admissions Committee Process? Very few schools divulge what happens during their admissions process or give specific, data-driven criteria. That being said, schools like Harvard have released the questions that admissions committee members ask themselves as they’re reviewing your application. Here’s a sample of some of the questions Harvard admission committee members consider: Have you been stretching yourself academically and personally? How have you used your time? Do you have initiative? Are you a self-starter? Do you care deeply about anything - intellectual? Extracurricular? Personal? How open are you to new ideas and people? Will you contribute something to Harvard and to your classmates? Will you benefit from your Harvard experience? While the specific questions may vary from school to school, the basic gist is the same. Schools want to know whether or not you’ve been challenging yourself and how you’ll contribute to their campus and classrooms. Most college admissions committees have at least a two-step process for applicants. First, applications are read by regional staffers. These admissions committee members look over your application for basic qualifications like grades, test scores, and extracurriculars to make sure you match up to the standards of the typical matriculating student. If those qualifications match up, your application will be brought to the wider admission committee, made up of senior admissions faculty, deans, professors, and maybe even students. Together, that committee discusses your application and makes a decision on whether or not to admit you. Recap: Understanding the Admission Committee A college admissions committee is a group of people who read your application and decide whether or not you’ll be a good fit to attend their school. Considering that most colleges and universities have at least two read through of each student they consider a good fit, you want to make sure that your qualifications are obvious enough to pass through the first read and move on to the second. That means that your grades and test scores should be close to the middle range of scores for accepted applicants at your school so that you’ll be considered. You also want to make sure that the qualitative parts of your application are up to snuff as well. Consider what the admissions committee will be asking themselves about you. What does your academic, extracurricular, and personal record demonstrate? What story have you told about who you are and how you might contribute to the college or university of your dreams? What’s Next? Looking for application tips for some of the most selective schools? Read our complete guides to the University of California system and to the Georgetown application. Should you apply early or regular decision to college? Find out the pros and cons of early decision in this article. Not sure what to major in? Get expert advice in our guide to choosing a college major, and learn the five main factors to consider before you declare a major. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

Chelicerates (Chelicerata)

Chelicerates (Chelicerata) Chelicerates (Chelicerata) are a group of arthropods that includes harvestmen, scorpions, mites, spiders, horseshoe crabs, sea spiders, and ticks. There are about 77,000 living species of chelicerates. Chelicerates have two body segments (tagmenta) and six pairs of appendages. Four pairs of appendages are used for walking and two (the chelicerae and the pedipalps) are used as mouthparts. Chelicerates have no mandibles and no antennae. Chelicerates are an ancient group of arthropods that first evolved about 500 million years ago. Early members of the group included the giant water scorpions which were the largest of all arthropods, measuring up to 3 meters in length. The closest living cousins to giant water scorpions are the horseshoe crabs. Early chelicerates were predatory arthropods, but modern chelicerates have diversified to take advantage of a variety of feeding strategies. Members of this group are herbivores, detritivores, predators, parasites, and scavengers. Most chelicerates suck liquid food from their prey. Many chelicerates (such as scorpions and spiders) are unable to eat solid food due to their narrow gut. Instead, they must expel digestive enzymes onto their prey. The prey liquifies and they can then ingest the food. The exoskeleton of a chelicerate is a hard external structure made of chitin that protects the arthropod, prevents desiccation, and provides structural support. Since the exoskeleton is rigid, it cannot grow with the animal and must be molted periodically to allow for increases in size. After molting, a new exoskeleton is secreted by the epidermis. Muscles connect to the exoskeleton and enable the animal to control the movement of its joints. Key Characteristics six pairs of appendages and two body segmentschelicerae and pedipalpsno mandibles and no antennae Classification Chelicerates are classified within the following taxonomic hierarchy: Animals Invertebrates Arthropods Chelicerates Chelicerates are divided into the following taxonomic groups: Horseshoe crabs (Merostomata) - There are five species of horseshoe crabs alive today. Members of this group live in shallow marine waters along the Atlantic coast of North America. Horseshoe crabs are an ancient group of chelicerates that date back to the Cambrian. Horseshoe crabs have a distinct and unsegmented carapace (hard dorsal shell) and a long telson (a spine-like tailpiece).Sea spiders (Pycnogonida) - There are about 1300 species of sea spiders alive today. Members of this group have four pairs of very thin walking legs, a small abdomen, and elongated cephalothorax. Sea spiders are marine arthropods that feed on nutrients of other soft-bodied marine invertebrates. Sea spiders have a proboscis that enables them to obtain food from prey.Arachnids (Arachnida) - There are more than 80,000 species of arachnids alive today (scientists estimate that there might be more than 100,00 living species). Members of this group include spiders, scorpions, whip scorpions, ticks, mites, pseu doscorpions, and harvestmen. Most arachnids feed on insects and other small invertebrates. Arachnids kill their prey using their chelicerae and pedipalps. Sources Hickman C, Roberts L, Keen S. Animal Diversity. 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hill; 2012. 479 p. Ruppert E, Fox R, Barnes R. Invertebrate  Zoology: A Functional Evolutionary Approach. 7th ed. Belmont CA: Brooks/Cole; 2004. 963 p.

Should the new republic called Azawadi be recognized as an independent Essay

Should the new republic called Azawadi be recognized as an independent state - Essay Example As their rebellion failed, the fighters left for Libya and joined Libyan Army. However, as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was defeated in 2011, many of these fighters came back to the Azawadi region of Mali1. On coming back, many of these groups joined together and declared that they would be fighting for the liberation of all peoples of Azawad, including Songhal, Arab, Fula, and Taureg2. These various fractions joined together to form the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). According to its official website, MNLA consists of ‘old rebels from MFUA of 1990s, the members of 2006 MTNM, fighters who returned from Libya, volunteers from various ethic groups in northern Mali and various soldiers and officers who have let Mali Army (MNLA Website). MNLA started its armed agitation in January 2012. Soon, there were various attacks on various places including Anderamberkane, Menaka, Tessalit, Niafunke, and Aguelhoc. Soon, by March, bigger cities like Kidal, Gao, Tinzawaten , and Timbuktu were under the control of MNLA ((ibid). After capturing Timbuktu, almost the whole northern region of Mali was under the control of MNLA. ... More interestingly, the parties have failed to continue with the pact as MNLA has withdrawn from the same. as a result, presently, MNLA and Ansar Dine are in conflicts, and this resulted in the Battle of Gao on 27th June. Through this move, the Ansar Dine and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) drove MNLA out of Gao city. Soon, Ansar Dine declared that it is in total control of all the cities in Azawad. The reasons behind the rebellion In fact, the Tuaregs are semi-nomadic people in the Saharan and Sahelian areas of Southern Algeria, Western Libya, northern Mali, northern Niger, and northeast Burkina Faso3. According to present day census, their number is around 1.5 million. They possess a combination of Islam and tribal practices. Thus, they do not belong to pure Islamism that is monotheistic in nature. As colonisation came, the nomads lost their freedom movement from place to place as territories were strictly guarded. Also, these people became further isolate d from centres of power. Though they had constant conflict over issues of autonomy, there were repeatedly defeated by the military might of colonial powers. When Mali gained independence, Tuaregs were in more trouble as they allegedly faced discrimination from the part of the southern ethnic groups which governed Mali. Secondly, they feared that their culture would be diluted as modernisation comes. Thus, they continued their agitation on and off. As the Mali president Moussa Traore realised that a military solution would be too dearer to bear, he held discussions with the Tuareg and reached the Accords of Tamanrasset. According to the Accord, a cease-fire was to be established, prisoners