Money Market Mutual Funds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Money Market Mutual Funds - Essay Example Money market funds are viewed widely as investments that are as safe as deposits in the bank that provide returns that are higher than those of bank deposits are. Money market funds often store money that at the time is not in current investment due to the funds high liquidity. In the United States, the first money market fund was the brainchild Henry B. R. Brown and Bruce R. Bent in 1971 in the form of The Reserve Fund. It offered investors an opportunity of earning small rates on their cash, preserved in the fund (Scott-Quin). The rates were paid out in form of dividends to the investors. Many more money market funds sprung up in the United States thereafter. The Investment Company Act of 1940 of the Securities and Exchange Commission deals with regulating the money market funds within the United States. The act contains guidelines that restrict the maturity, diversity, and quality of money market funds’ investments. A money fund buys the debt that is the highest rated with a maturity of less than thirteen months. A weighted average maturity of at most 60 days and a maximum of 5% investing for every issuer excluding repurchase agreements and securities of the government constitute the portfolio (U.S Congress 21). A FIDC insured account is an account in a bank involved in the FIDC program that has met the required standards needed for insurance by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FIDC). There are a number of account types that can qualify for this program, ranging from money market deposit and certificate of deposit to savings, NOW, and checking accounts. Deposits made in these accounts are FIDC-insured deposits and a maximum of $250,000 for every account is insurable by the FIDC. These deposits have some similarities as well as differences to the money market mutual funds. Both money market mutual funds and FIDC-insured deposits have high liquidity and flexibility levels (Garman and Forgue 154). Access of the money in the accounts in both typ es of investments is possible through making ATM withdrawals and writing checks whenever the money has needs. Money market mutual fund shares are redeemable at any time on a daily basis, though the fund may require a minimum account balance. The funds also often allow shareholders to write checks reflected on their individual account balances availing the use of shares for transactions. The FDIC insured investments, also known as money market deposit accounts give access to money in the accounts to the investors without charging penalties for early withdrawals. The two investments are both considered investment options with low risks. The accounts pay an interest rate that is higher than that of a passbook savings account (Thomas 208). In case the investment goes wrong, the FDIC, in the case of FDIC insured bank deposits, steps in and compensates for the loss in terms of insurance payments. Though it is not an investor’s right, if the money market mutual fund investment fails , there is a rare occurrence called â€Å"Breaking the buck† where the dividend per share paid to shareholders is the standard $1 per share with the losses covered . The key difference between these two types of market accounts is the insurance of the accounts. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a government agency that insures banks and bank accounts. Money market deposits in banks that

Importance of Book of Romans to the History of the Church Essay Example for Free

Importance of Book of Romans to the History of the Church Essay The Book of Romans is the one of the Letters in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.The Writing is   simply reffered as the Romans and is currently one of the undisputed work of Paul.The book has been described as a masterpiece which overwhelms the reader by the sublimity and the density of the topic which are discussed,the justification of the gospel and the revealing of the uprightness and the grace of God to all the people ,both Jews and the Gentiles. The book is a letter which is written in a Greek first century traditional letter writing style. During this time the writers started by identifying themselves and then names of the person they were sending the letter and then followed by the greetings. The letters usually closed with the final greeting and blessings. The book of Romans followed the same style (Barth, K 1968) There existed a group of believers in Rome who trusted in Jesus as Messiah long before Paul had planned to visit this town. There was a conflict between the Christian Jews and the new group up to the point that the Roman Emperor expelled them from Rome. More often there was a disagreement between the Jews and the gentiles concerning what made one an acceptable person to God and the way the followers of the Christ should conduct their lives. Having noticed the differences that characterized the church in Rome Paul decided to shed some light as far as the differences were concerned. There were people who were going from door to door teaching doctrines which were confusing and misleading to the faithful. There are some who were saying that for one to be accepted in the kingdom of God one has to refrain from eating particular kind of food and had to strictly follow the Law of Moses. These are issues that the book of Romans aimed at addressing so that this confusion that existed in the church can be cleared. Therefore to the church in Rome the book was basically a tool of reference as far as what was expected of them was concerned. One of the reasons for Paul writing this book was to answer some of the question that emerged between the two groups. He boldly put it out in the book that the word of God was for all whether Gentiles or Jews. (Moo, D1996) The book of Roman is basically a treatise which is addressed to the church in Rome where Paul was introducing himself before he made his visit. Justification of the faith was the central theme for his letter. He was delivering the message that it is only through salvation that a man can have a good relationship with God. Anything else did not matter. What was expected from every Christian whether Jews or Gentiles was the faith in God and through this salvation will be achieved. He explained that the Mosaic Law was not enough to make the Christian righteous. This works serves as an eye opener to the early church as some of the issues that were controversial at this time were clearly explained by Paul. The differences that threatened to tear apart the church were tackled in this writing. To the Jewish Christians Paul explained that God had not completely broken his promise with them but he was working towards redemption of all the people in the universe.   For a long time Paul was planning to visit Rome but he was hindered from making such a move. Now he was determined to do it, he wanted to greet them and introduce himself before he made that journey. This visit was very important to him and the church in Rome as both were anxious. Paul was not sure how he was going to be received in this city and the some people there had criticized him before as they did not think he can be the leader of the church which was led by the Gentiles. The book of Romans serves as the assurance to the church in Rome that they are accepted in the kingdom of God like any other group despite them being Gentiles. Therefore Paul was mainly writing this book to assure this group that they also had a right and a share in the kingdom of God. He assures them that Jesus died for all regardless of their status. The most important thing for any Christian was repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ and leading a holy life. (Moo, D1996) Paul believed that the culture of Romans was very important as far as the church was concerned. It was the most powerful empire in the world and was located in the middle of the world at the time of Paul evangelism. This fact made the Church of Rome very important to the world at large. He understood the great effect this church would have on the rest of the world especially the so called civilized world of that time. He clearly saw the need of systematic and full presentation of the good news in this city. The people in Rome were looking forward to Paul visit in Rome as it would serve a great role as far as their church was concerned. This visit was taken as a formal recognition that a church that was led by the Gentiles. They had for a long time wondered how he can be an apostle of the church yet he fail to visit their church in Rome. This gave the church leaders an opportunity to gauge and judge his courage and honesty as far as the church was concerned. The book of Romans clearly explains the doctrines of the Christian faith. Paul in this book defended the gospel from those people who were claiming that salvation was for a chosen group. The church in Rome was to serve as a pillar where the Christianity would be spread to other regions in the world. The book clearly assures that the Roman church was as legitimate as the other despite the fact that it was led by gentiles. This served as a boost to this church as Paul was taken as the messenger of God and he was presenting the God word to the people who had chosen to follow Christ yet the society was not keen to respect them. Paul addresses them as his brethrens a clear indication that he had accepted them as one of them and they were on the right track as far as faith was concerned. (Moo, D 2002) The book of Romans had a great impact on the early church and the western civilization at large.Scholars has argued that the book is the most influential in Christian history. It is in this book that Paul gives a detailed exposition of the word of God. It is the most fundamental and systematic discussion as far as the whole plan of salvation is concerned. To the Romans the book touched on what they were supposed to do so that they can be saved. This applies to all the Christians and was largely quoted by the protestant reformers as they assured the faithful that the kingdom of god was reserved for all those who had faith in Him and they did not need the blessing of any man on earth for them to be allowed access into this Kingdom. The book was universal in application despite the fact that it was directed to the Church in Rome. (Moo, D1996) The book of Romans had greatly influenced many people in the history of the church. The prominent theologians like Martin Luther had studied the book making them aware of what God expected from them. Martin Luther found the teaching of salvation by the grace clear and he used it to spearhead the reforms in the church where he assured the faithful that it was through faith and grace alone that they were to be saved not from paying indulgences and other kind of injustices that existed in the church during the middle ages. (Dillenberger, J 1961) The protestant reformation was basically a recovery of the right and pure gospel which resulted in the increased gospel spread to the different parts of the world. It was a revival of the Apostle’s Paul work where he made a journey to various parts of the world taking the good news. Through studying the book of Romans Martin Luther’s life was completely changed and so is the history of the church. The protestant reformation was as a result of this great theologian reading the book as the teaching was made available to the public. Lives were changed as the message of hope and righteousness was spread far and wide. The book clearly states that there is no Christianity without Jesus, he who comes to know him shall be saved. Martin preached the same message that Paul wrote to the people of Rome and the early church. Martin Luther described the book of Romans as the purest gospel which is worth and every Christian should understand it clearly. He advises the believers not to take the word law in human terms as through doing this they will be confused as the people in the early church and they will be serving the church rather than living according to the will of God. He teaches them that God judges his people according to the heart. His law can not be satisfied by the works but rather on the inner most heart. He got these ideas from reading the work of Paul to the Romans. A book that he describes as full of inspiration to him and his search for the truth .Paul says that all people are sinners in the eyes of God and for us to be saved we have to seek the kingdom of God through following his teachings rather than following the law or the traditions as was the custom with the Christian Jews. If believers accustom themselves to the language described by Paul in the book of Romans Martin Luther says that they will find that there exists a difference between what the traditions of the church prescribe and what God really expects. (Dillenberger, J 1961) Through the inspiration he received from the book of Romans Luther was able to challenge the church. The evils that characterized the church at this time has made him very disturbed and he set out on a mission to discover what can bring him close to God. The message he got was derived from the book of Romans where he realized that it was only through the grace of God that all will be brought close to God. The church was extremely corrupt where things that were going on were contrary to God’s expectation. Through the inspiration he was able to revolutionize the church and brought the light just as Paul shed the light to the people of Rome concerning what God expected from them. Martin Luther described Romans as the main book in the New Testament .His wish is for every Christian to use the book as a guide in our daily lives. As the systems are bound to confuse them as far as their faith is concerned just like it happened during his time when the Roman Catholic Church used the teachings to justify some of the evil things that were happening. The letter of Paul to the Romans would serve as the guide to the church and the believers if they are interested in the righteousness. Luther says that people should be ready to confess Jesus with their mouth and in such a deed they will lead a righteous life as they will always aspire to do what God expects from them. Good deeds alone do not make a man righteous rather he should have faith in God. The book of Romans has been described as the one that changed the course of the church history right from the early church to the protestant reformation. Therefore it is in order to say that this book contains message which are inspirational and can bring a complete change in ones life. It changed the life of the Augustine together with John Wesley people who had led a life that was not pleasant before the eyes of God. They had struggled with the evils ways up to a point when the word was revealed to them changing their lives completely. John Wesley had set out to preach without being converted, after some years of struggling and failing he heard the teaching of Martin Luther describing the book of Romans. Listening to the true words of Luther the man was inspired and he was converted. He went to preach in many corners and has been described in the history of the church to have played a great role in the evangelical work of awakening the believers. (Moo, D 2002) The kind of life that God expects from every person is what has touched many people in the course of the church history. From martin Luther to John Wesley there was realization that God expects us to be righteous before his eyes as Paul maintained in the book. On the same line God’s wrath does not discriminate, it is expressed impartially to all the sinners neither does He discriminate between the Christian Jews and the gentiles. Before Paul sent the letter to the church in Rome the Jews prided to be the privileged people in the eyes of God but this notion was clearly explained by the book that set out to put the facts straight. On the same line the book of Romans came to be used in the protestant Reformation showing clearly that no one was too holy before the eyes of God to help in pardoning of the sins. Only God had the power to forgive the sins. The book as described by Luther addressed the issue clearly stating that no amount of payment towards indulgences was enough to forgive ones sins. (Moo, D1996) The book of Romans influence to the church has been enormous right from the time Paul wrote the letter to clear the differences that existed in the Church of Rome. It is as a result of that explanation that the Gentiles faith was strengthened after understanding what God stood for as far as righteousness was concerned. The book deals with the issues of sin, progressive sanctification, practical service and the gracious salvation issues that could have divided the church in Rome as Christian Jews and the Gentiles had different views regarding these issues. The book addresses God great plan for saving mankind by his grace. It clearly states that it is only through the grace of God that all those who believe in Him shall acquire this salvation. The book has been described as the comprehensive statement of faith and Christianity as a whole. It has been used by many believers to show what is expected of us and the church in general. The basis of the Christian faith is based on this book and this explains why the book has in many cases changed the course of the church history especially when some people are out to mislead the believers in the matter of faith. Martin Luther used the book to show how the church had turned to be evil and led a revolution that came to bring openness in the church allowing people to read the word for themselves. (Hodge, C 1994) The book of Romans importance to the Christian faith can not be underestimated; it has been relied on several occasions to shed light where misunderstandings have existed. The book has shaped the church making more responsive to the needs of a believer, trying as much as possible to reconcile the two issues of law and righteousness. The strong foundation of the Christian faith is found in this letter of Saint Paul to the people of Rome. Reference Dillenberger, J (1961) Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings, New York, Doubleday and CO Moo, D(1996)The Epistle to the Romans. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Moo, D (2002) Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Exposition, Michigan, Baker Academic Barth, K (1968) The Epistle to the Romans. Oxford University Press, 1968. Hodge, C(1994) Commentary on Epistle to the Romans. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Comparison of Public Health and Clinical Research Ethics

Comparison of Public Health and Clinical Research Ethics How Does Public Health Research Ethics Differ From Clinical Research Ethics? Zoheb Rafique INTRODUCTION: The field of biomedical ethics arose in late 1960s in the response to some emerging ethical dilemmas and issues of that era. This field for many years focused on dilemmas generated by the high technology medicine, rather than on the issues of the population health and the ethical problems of public health programs. The discipline Bioethics received the initial stimulus from abuses and issues of human subject’s research, also the emergence of patient’s rights movement, and the drama of high technology medicine. The Research involving human subjects has often been a central ethical issue and problem for the biomedicine for at least hundred (100) years now, and particularly since the World War 2. Just as the public health is broad in the scope, the range of the ethical issues in this field is uncommonly wide, and encompassing the ethics in the public health as well as ethics of public health (1). In past twenty (20) years, the research base of the clinical ethics has gaine d tremendous strength appreciably. However the main research opportunities didn’t come under broad heading of the clinical ethics, but instead through the specific programs such as human genome project and end of life movement (2). In this paper, I will discuss the differences between public health research ethics and clinical research ethics. DISCUSSION: The Public health research ethics include ethics regarding the community participation in the research, while the clinical research ethics include the ethics regarding the clinical patient research. This is major difference between these two scenarios, now I will discuss it in detail. Most of the research has focused on the clinical and the experimental medicine (efficacy, safety and the mechanism of action, and also regulatory issues to general neglect of the public health dimensions. The Public health ethics, which is defined as identification, analysis, and the resolution of the ethical problems occurring in the public health practice and also research, and it, has different domains than those of the medical ethics. The ethical concerns in the public health often relate to dual obligations of the public health professionals to apply and acquire the scientific knowledge that aimed at restoring and also protecting public’s health while respecting the individual autonomy. Ethi cs in the public health involves interplay between safeguarding welfare of individual, as in medicine, and the public health goal of protecting public welfare. Some other ethical concerns in the public health relate to need to ensure just distribution of the public health resources. The Public health ethics has broad scope that includes the ethical and the social issues arising in the health promotion and the disease prevention, the epidemiological research, and also public health practice. The main professional roles of the epidemiology are design and the conduct of the scientific research and public health application of the scientific knowledge. This includes reporting the research results and also maintaining and promoting the health in communities. Also in carrying out the professional roles, the epidemiologists often encounter many ethical issues and some concerns that require the careful consideration. Many of those issues have been highlighted and addressed in literature on ethics in the epidemiology and the public health including the ethics guidelines. The Ethical and the professional norms in the epidemiology have also been clarified in the ethics guidelines for the epidemiologists and often the public health professionals. The Ethics guidelines such as those developed for Industrial Epidemiology Forum, International society for the Environmental Epidemiology, and American college of the Epidemiology also provide useful accounts of the epidemiologists’ obligations to the research participants, employs, society, and colleagues (3). The Epidemiologic studies can provide the descriptive data that can lead scientists later to develop some intervention that can result in the reduction in morbidity and mortality; the health education program can be one of the multiple interventions that together reduce the risks and also ill health. The argument here, however, is that the public health programs, studies, or interventions, must be designed with the awareness of relationship between that program and ultimate reduction in the morbidity and mortality. The Public health programs may result in high employment, as well as some less tangible benefits such as coalition building and strengthening of the communities. Today, the public health practitioner use some tools in addition to the epidemiology to register their work, still aiming primarily on community wide, also typically prospective methods and approaches to improve health. In addition, the practitioners investigate the outbreaks, provide health education, conduct contact tracing, and also other preventive interventions, and organize research related to the public health (4). The Public health agencies require the identifiable health information for conducting different public health activities. The increasing number of the functions, including the public health Surveillance, and outbreak and incident investigations and program implementation, and some direct health services, s uch as the clinical public health activities and services and the research, maintenance, and the storage of the personal health information. The Successful execution of all these functions depends on the data quality and the accessibility. Heightened security is very necessary and paramount to maintain the public confidence; also good health care and it depends on the patients providing the accurate and sensitive information to their care providers in a very timely manner. Placing restrictions on the data acquisition, use, and the disclosure also poses some risks, particularly if those restrictions impede acquisition of the key surveillance data, which would otherwise be used to prevent the disease, investigate the causation, and enable the interventions to protect the exposed population. Additionally, electronic data could potentially permit real time public health Surveillance and also can facilitate the faster emergency response (5). Advances in the science, technology and the bi omedical research have pushed the boundaries of Belmont principles and stimulating the need for the communities to be involved in informed consent process. Changes in the Food and the Drug Administration regulations allow the waivers of the informed consent in life threatening emergencies. The rights of the unconscious participants are assumed to be accorded degree of the protection through mechanism of the â€Å"Community Consultation† which requires the prior consultation by the investigators and the institutional review board with the community representatives and public disclosure to affected community both before and after that research (6). Now I will discuss the clinical research ethics, and we will see how it is different from public health research ethics. Taking into account the sound and the increasing emphasis of recent years that the experimentation in man must precede the general application of the new procedures in the therapy, and also there is reason to fear that these requirements and the resources might be greater than supply of the responsible investigators. Medical schools and the university hospitals are increasingly dominated by the investigators. Every young man knows that he will never be promoted to some tenure post, and to a professorship in a major medical school, unless he has proved himself as an investigator. If the ready availability of the money for conducting the research is added to this fact, one can see how great the pressures are on the ambitious young physicians (7). A taxonomy was developed for the clinical ethics research, based on the method rather than the clinical area. This divided research in different terms of whether it used theoretical or any empirical methods. First, we will see the theoretical methods of the clinical ethics research. Philosophy (e.g., How should the decisions on setting the priorities be made legitimate and also fair?). Law (e.g., what practices in setting the priorities in regional hea lth authority might constitute discrimination?). Policy (e.g., what policy should the governments follow in funding the new technologies in medicine?). Now let’s see the empirical methods of clinical ethics research. Social Sciences (e.g., how do the regional health authorities in the developing countries make the decisions on setting the priorities?). Decision analysis (e.g., How do you trade-off considerations of equity and efficiency in the decisions on setting priorities?). Clinical epidemiology (e.g., what are the criteria used to allocate the liver transplant?). Health services research (e.g., how does the delivery of the cardiac surgery vary by patient gender and ethnicity?). Within empirical research (both in ethics and more generally), there is some growing recognition that the quantitative methods alone are not adequate. Since many of the phenomena examined by the ethics researchers are deeply entwined into fabric of professions, organizations, and the human lives, qualitative methods have begun to play an important role. For example, one investigator performed the observational research on how physicians discuss do-not-resuscitate orders and also advance care planning. The role of the qualitative methods is both increasing and broadening to include not only the content analysis but also grounded theory, the ethnography, and the case study designs. When we review the field of the clinical ethics a decade from now, we hope that the focus will have shifted from the ethics courses, committees and the consultants to an understanding on the part of most physicians and medical students that ethics is an inherent and inseparable part of the good clinical medicine. We hope that clinical ethics will have achieved its rightful place at the interstices of relations between the patients who are sick and physicians who profess to be able to heal and comfort them. Clinical ethics has made progress towards this vision in the past some years. The challenge re mains for the research into ethical issues to become a mainstream concern for the funding agencies around the World. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, it is stated that although public health research and clinical research are different from each other, but ethical dilemmas are faced by both and also they are same in many situations. While considering the public health research ethics, the researcher must show respect for community’s culture, also take community input on the protocol development, and ensure that research is useful to community, and should respect the community’s knowledge and the experience, and ensure that the informed consent is correctly taken before starting any of the research (8). While considering the clinical research ethics, two components are most important, the first being the informed consent. The statement that informed consent has been obtained has very little meaning unless the participant or his/her guardian is capable of understanding what is to be undertaken and unless all of hazards are made clear. If these are not known this, too, has been stated. Secondly, there is more reliable safeguard provided by presence of intelligent, informed, compassionate, conscientious, and responsible investigator. REFERENCES: 1. Daniel Callahan and Bruce Jennings. Ethics and Public Health: Forging a Strong Relationship. American Journal of Public Health 2002; Vol 92, No. 2: 169-176. 2. Peter A Singer Et Al. Clinical Ethics Revisited. BMC Medical Ethics 2001; 2:1. 3. Steven S Coughlin. Ethical issues in epidemiologic research and public health practice. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology. BioMed central 2006; 3:16. 4. Nancy E. Kass. An Ethical Framework for Public Health. Public Health Matters. 5. Julie Myers Et Al. Privacy and Public Health at Risk: Public Health Confidentiality in the Digital Age. American Journal of Public Health 2008; Vol 98, No. 5:793-801. 6. Sandra Crouse Quinn. Protecting Human Subjects: the Role of Community Advisory Boards. American Journal of Public Health 2004; Vol 94, No. 6:918-922. 7. Henry K. Beecher. Ethics and Clinical Research. The New England Journal of Medicine 1966; Vol 274, No. 24:1354-1360. 8. C. Weijer and E.J. Emanuel. Protecting Communities in Biomedical Research. Science. Policy Forum: Ethics 2000; Vol 289:1142-1144.

Globalization and Anthropology :: Outsourcing, Offshoring, Free Trade

1. We live in a world where nothing is sacred if selling it can make a buck. Be it â€Å"tourist† indigenous memorabilia or your own â€Å"extra† kidney, you can bet there’s a viable market, and someone’s willing to buy. Given the fantastic stealth of international transactions, globalized markets evoke particularly ominous possibilities for the marginalized in our capitalistic economy. Exposing obscure global issues from â€Å"tourist† art to bio-piracy, Schneider and Scheper-Hughes complicate our understanding of globalization by questioning one’s responsibility to the agency of others in an increasingly interrelated world. According to Schneider, defining â€Å"authenticity† is a battle between indigenous peoples and the tourists who purchase their arts and crafts. As â€Å"tourist† art grows with the realization of international tourism as means of development and economic growth in marginalized communities, foreign assumptions affect the perception of indigenous arts and crafts as â€Å"legitimately† indigenous. Indigenous peoples readily â€Å"transform† functional items into feasible commodities; â€Å"goods such as â€Å"indigenous blouses and shawls† easily become â€Å"alien place mates and pillow cases,† enabling indigenous peoples to survive (Schneider 80). Schneider asks, does this practice rob peoples of their culture, or simply generate a new kind of survival market culture? In seeking â€Å"to recognize and question Eurocentric imaginings of the world,† the discipline of anthropology complicates the right of tourists to judge the commodities of indigenous communities, as it questions the right of a global economy that forces peoples to produce such commodities to survive (Schneider 83). In her more gruesome study of organ theft in impoverished communities, Scheper-Hughes similarly demands that consumers understand the implications of â€Å"neo-cannibalism† on an international scale. Rejecting the idea of impoverished peoples as â€Å"uneducated and gullible informants,† Scheper-Hughes questions the meaning of doctors, organ brokers and prestigious anthropologists denying people voice about body-snatching (35, 39). Her research proves that â€Å"eviscerated bodies† do appear in allies and morgues, and verifies the accounts of poor peoples denied as mere â€Å"inventions† by authorities (36, 38).

Motivation Behind the Murder of Santiago Nasar’s Murder and Exploration of the Themes of Cultural Conventions and Women’s Societal Roles

This passage from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s, Chronicles of a Death Foretold, occurs at the end of chapter two shortly after Angela Vicario is returned back to her family in disgrace after her groom discovers that she had premarital sex with another man. In this extract Angela Vicario is beaten viciously albeit silently at the hand of her mother for shaming the family honor before her twin brothers force her to give up the name of the man whom she lost her virginity to, in which she names an innocent man, Santiago Nasar. Within this passage, the importance of honor is evident when the lost virginity of Angela leads to the disgrace of both her groom and her family as well as leading to the death of an innocent man in Santiago Nasar by consequence. It is also within this passage that readers find out the motive behind the murder of Santiago Nasar, which is discovered to be an unfortunate coincidence, which along with the other coincidences in the rest of the novel convey the idea that Santiago death was indeed a death foretold. This passage is significant because it reveals two central themes in the – the problems with outdated conventions of a society, and the idea of fate- as well as revealing one of the most crucial aspect of the novel, the motivation behind the murder of Santiago Nasar. In this novella, Marquez attempts to express the conventions of a South American society. From this passage alone, it is clear how important the purity of a woman and honor is for a family. Bayardo San Roman returns Angela on the same night of their wedding because he discovers that she lost her virginity to another man before their marriage. The humiliation of having a wife whose virginity was taken away from her by another man is cast upon San Roman because of the customs of the society which forces him to return her despite his love for her. Marquez unveils the customs of the society in situations such as San Roman’s refusal of an impure Angela in order to subtly criticize them. San Roman breaks his marriage to a woman who he loves because of the fact that in their society it is shameful to not be the one who takes the virginity away from the wife. This is done again within the passage, when the twins â€Å"trembling with rage† (Marquez 47) force Angela to â€Å"tell [them] who it was† (Marquez 47) who took her virginity so that they may avenge her lost of honor. This forces her to them Santiago Nasar’s name, who is most likely innocent, in order to protect the identity of the true perpetrator. Through this sequence, these time-honored conventions of the society are shown once again to be poor, when an innocent man, Nasar, must be sacrificed in order to redeem the honor of a family. Along with the theme of conventions of society, Marquez integrates the theme of women in this society to further criticize the outdated customs that are present. Pura, the mother, upon receiving her daughter back in disgrace, beats her with such â€Å"rage that [Angela] that she was going to kill [her]† (Marquez 46). In this violent beating, the painful emotions within Pura are seen; her daughter has dismantled her honor. Pura represents the model woman in this society, one who â€Å"devoted herself with such spirit of sacrifice to the care of her husband and the rearing of her children that at times one forgot she still existed† (Marquez 31). She, herself, has lived a life of suffering because of the societal conventions of women roles, and she raised her daughters with the same demeanor. Through the return of her daughter, her reputation has been tarnished and she feels as though she has failed. The manner in which she beats Angela â€Å"with such stealth that her husband†¦ didn’t find out anything until dawn† (Marquez 46) reinforces this idea of her life as sacrificing for her husband that in even moments of anguish she allows her husband to have his rest while she deals with the problems. From the perspective of Angela, she defies the conventions of society and has premarital sex and does not deceive her husband into believing that she is a virgin. She faces the consequences when she is returned but at the end of it feels â€Å"as if the drowsiness of death had finally been lifted† (Marquez 47). She is relieved that she does not have to live life any longer in fear of someone finding out that she is no longer a virgin. This passage, the characterization development of Angela can be seen as becoming more independent and stronger as the weight of the her lost virginity is lifted off her shoulders. Nevertheless, the customs of treating disgraced women in this society are shown and the severe consequence of lost family honor is demonstrated through the outdated conventions of the South American society. In addition to expression of cultural conventions, this passage also sustains the idea of a death foretold. In the novella there are many circumstantial coincidences that all ultimately lead to the murder of Santiago Nasar, such as the Mayor checking his game of Dominoes which delay him from stopping the twins from murdering Nasar, Cristo Bedoya having to help a sick man when trying to warn Nasar and Placida Linero, Nasar’s mother, shutting the door to the house believing Nasar was inside which prevented Nasar from escaping the assault of the twins. The naming of Nasar as the man who took Angela’s virginity is no different. From the passage, it is clear that Nasar is innocent and that it was misfortune that his name was given. When demanded for the name of her perpetrator, Angela â€Å"looked for it in the shadows† (Marquez 47) and â€Å"found it at first sight among the many, many easily confused names from this world and the other† (Marquez 47). The many, many names represent the possible men that came across Angela’s mind before she gave her answer, the fact that they are easily confused in the mind of Angela suggest that it she did indeed give a false answer to protect that man who took her virginity as she would not have forgotten the name of that man. The narration describes the naming of Nasar out of all the potential names by Angela as her â€Å"[nailing] it to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has always been written† (Marquez 47). The comparison of Santiago’s situation after being named as the one who dishonored Angela and the situation of a butterfly pinned by a dart to a wall with no will is Marquez’s way of explaining that from that moment Nasar was as good as dead. Like a butterfly pinned to a wall, Nasar’s fate has been pinned by the naming from Angela, he cannot escape the vengeance of the Vicario brother. Moreover, in this naming of Nasar, the motivation behind his murder is finally revealed. A false claim has that was forced to be given led to the death of an innocent man. Not only is this significant to the plot, as it reveals why Nasar was murdered even though he himself did not know upon his death, but it helps to magnify some of the themes in the novella. Themes such as honor and outdate conventions are strengthened by learning the motive behind the murder of Santiago Nasar. The importance of honor and the conventions of the culture are evident when the Vicario brothers learn that it was Nasar who dishonored their sister. They are forced to murder Nasar against their will for redemption while the rest of the society condones this and even encourages it because its is what is expected in the culture. This extract which is taken from the end of the second chapter in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s, Chroncles of a Death Foretold, is significant because it reveals the motivation behind the murder of Santiago Nasar, an innocent man, and expresses the author’s thoughts of fate and outdated customs of the South American society. Within this passage, Angela names Santiago Nasar’s as the man who took away her virginity for an unknown reason, which alongside with many other coincidences crystallize the idea that it was a death foretold and that it could not have been stopped. Along with this theme of fate, the role of women in this society can be seen through both Angela who represents one who defies the conventional role of women and Pura who epitomizes the role of women. Angela’s defiance of the conventional woman’s role leads to her being returned back by her groom in disgrace, not only is she shamed but the family name has been stained. Marquez’s use of magical realism to portray Angela’s thoughts before naming Nasar and the use of the butterfly simile at the end of the passage infer the extremities that must be carried out in the society for a family to regain their honor. Word Count: 1492 Work Cited Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Chronicles of a Death Foretold. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: KNOPF, 1982.

A Freelance Writers Basic Guide to SEO

A Freelance Writers Basic Guide to SEO A Freelance Writers Basic Guide to SEO A Freelance Writers Basic Guide to SEO By Colin Hands up all those freelance writers who, when scanning the job boards recently, have seen writing gigs looking for copywriters with SEO experience? (should be everyone). Keep your hands up if you don’t understand what SEO is, or if you do, were confused the first time you saw it used? (should still be everyone). And now keep your hands up all those freelancers who have since realised how easy it is to make money writing SEO articles, or who would like to know what it’s all about? (Everyone should still have their hands up). Yes it’s true, SEO seems like one of those fancy modern phrases, that only applies to tech-minded people, but the reality is very different. SEO has been around for a while; it’s only since the Google revolution has it been defined as an entity. Get your head around SEO, and it can be the source of many lucrative writing jobs. This article will give you the low down on SEO, what it is, and how you can earn from it. What is SEO? SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation. It is the term to describe the methodology used to boost a website’s rating when it is searched for on an Internet search engine, and the resulting page rank it receives in relation to other related websites. This is achieved through the use of web content and articles enriched with keywords, and meta tags in the structure of the webpage. Why is it Relevant? SEO is relevant in the world of e-commerce and online business, and for those involved in the creation of web sites and web content. Because most Internet users don’t browse past the first page of search results they are offered, the higher a website can rank for a given keyword or phrase, the better its chances are of bringing in new customers. Research has shown most users only ever click on the top 5 to 10 results. Yahoo, MSN, and in particular Google, account for over 70% of all search engine traffic on the Internet, so for an online business this avenue of attracting customers is highly valued. What is a Page Rank? Page rank is a way of determining a websites importance dependent on its desirability and exposure. The term was derived by Google, who developed an algorithm to calculate rankings. When this algorithm is executed, it determines the number of links pointing to a website, the amount of relevant content it contains, and then assigns it a number between 1 and 10; 1 being the lowest level of rank, 10 being the highest. The higher a page rank, the better chance a website has of appearing at the top of an Internet search result page. What is a Keyword? A keyword is a word or phrase an Internet user will enter into a search engine when trying to locate something, i.e., a product or information. For example, a website selling herbal tea will list keywords such as, â€Å"herbal,† â€Å"tea,† and â€Å"tea bags,† etc. What is Keyword Density? Keyword density is the numerical factor derived from dividing the number of words on the page of a website, by the number of keywords that are used within it. The more keywords used throughout a web page (and ultimately the entire site), the better the website will rank for that keyword or phrase. Websites that have too high a density tend be considered as spam by search engines, and may be excluded. Cant Website Owners Pay For A Higher Ranking? It’s not possible to purchase search list rankings, because they are free and calculated through algorithms. Instead, a website must earn its rating over time, and through the use of Internet links and keyword relevance. It is possible to pay for promotion based on specific keywords or phrases, however these are separate to the free results offered when running a standard search, and usually appear as sponsored adverts. What Has All This To Do With Freelance Writing? For freelance writers, this means the appearance of more and more writing gigs looking for writers who are able to write dedicated SEO-rich web copy, related articles, and blogs. All these methods are aimed at attracting hits and links to a website, thus boosting its rankings, and pushing it up the search ladder. There are two main methods you might be hired to do this. The first is through the writing of web content for the target site. The aim of this is to attract interested users directly into a website via a landing page. For example, a user will search for the term â€Å"herbal tea,† and find their way onto a website that sells it. They will then be able to read all about it and order their favourite brand before they leave. The second method is through the writing of articles and blogs that are external to the website, but show up in search engine results and guide users towards the main website at the centre of the business. So for example, somebody might search for â€Å"Lemon tea† and discover an article written by a freelance writer on the physical benefits herbal tea promotes. The article will contain a by-line or other links throughout it, that direct the reader to the main website so they can purchase lemon tea. Where there are websites looking for business there will always be a need for writers. Fresh and attractive articles that are written using SEO techniques, and are enriched using keywords in a subtle and sensitive approach, are becoming more in demand. Master SEO writing, and you will never be short of work. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! 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