Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Teen_pregnancy-why_do_teens_want_to_have_babies Research Paper

Teen_pregnancy-why_do_teens_want_to_have_babies - Research Paper Example gnancies are usually because of socio-economic factors, lack of sex related services and decreased contraception but nowadays this view is challenged by many as all these aspects have been overcome by the growing society (Kost et al 2010). It is shown by many researches that teens have an increasing desire to have babies because of their boyfriend’s aspiration, their desire to have unconditional love, lack of education including sex education and low income level. Bleakley observes that teen pregnancy in the United States is on the decline, falling from 20% in majority of the states since 1991. The highest decline was noted beginning from 1996 when the welfare reform law was enacted, leading to the commencement of the abstinence education program (Bleakley 2006). This was a strategic approach that emphasizes the avoidance of sex among teenagers until marriage. It is a program that promotes good morals through counseling and mentorship. The program delays the onset age for sex connected with allowing teens to make informed decisions regarding sex when they have to attain maturity. They are taught on coping strategies that help them to deal with the pressure of having sex at an early age. Teens are made to understand that sex is an affair of married people. They are also educated on the physical and emotional stress associated with teenage sex. In essence, abstinence- only policies are significant in the derailment of the onset age. It is noticed that many teens want to get pregnant for the reason of unconditional love and care. A study conducted by the University of Alabama showed that females belonging to low income groups were more wanting to have a child at an early age. Susan Davies on this instance proposed that the income of females was a factor which was affecting their child bearing activities. In another study in the journal of Health, Education and Behaviour it was seen that the desire of having a child by females was greatly affected by their

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Hydrotherapy for Post-Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) Patient

Hydrotherapy for Post-Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) Patient Hydrotherapy, in its broadest term, is the use of any one of the varying forms of water (i.e. liquid, ice or steam) to facilitate either a specific treatment, or to aid with overall health promotion (Mooventhan Nivethitha, 2014). One systematic review (Geytenbeek, 2002) looked at some of the available literature regarding the effectiveness of various hydrotherapy treatments. The review found that the majority of the research available was focused primarily on musculoskeletal conditions and concluded there was little research that was pertinent to the use of hydrotherapy in the specific treatment of neurological pathologies. However, since this systematic review was published there have been numerous pieces of research that do have a primary focus on the benefits of liquid-based hydrotherapy interventions for the treatment of neurological disorders. This literature review will aim to evaluate the current available evidence, with a specific focus being on the effectiveness of those hy drotherapeutic interventions that have the purpose of improving balance, quality of life and gait re-education in post-cerebrovascular accident (CVA) patients. The term CVA would be more commonly recognised as a Stroke and it can be medically defined as an interruption of the blood supply to a specific area of the brain (WHO, 2017). The region of cerebral tissue that has been affected by this interruption will largely dictate both the severity of the CVA and the symptoms that are then suffered by the patient. Water-based interventions have been used for hundreds of years for both pain relief and to treat numerous pathologies. It was Vincent Priessnitz however, who is credited as the founder of modern hydrotherapy after opening the first hydropathy clinic in Grà ¤fenberg, Czech Republic in 1826 (Metcalfe, 1898). Since then a greater understanding of the effects of hydrotherapy has been developed, in particular the numerous physiological changes that can occur during submersion in water. For example, submersion up to the sternal notch is now known to cause an increase in cardiac output and stroke volume, which can then further increase along side a rise in the water temperature (Grady, 2013). With this in mind the search strategy for this literature review was to include the terms cerebrovascular accident, CVA and stroke, and then also hydrotherapy, aquatic therapy and water based therapy with a date limitation set to only include research published since 2008. The search was conducted using the databases AMED, CINAHL, Medline and Medline with full text and returned 51 results when searching for linked full text only. There were several duplicate journals in the results and those remaining included various different types of research from across the hierarchy of evidence, ranging from case studies to randomised control trials. Seven journals were selected from the search results as the only publications that specifically focused on hydrotherapy interventions for the treatment of post-CVA patients (see Appendix A) and this literature review will therefore seek to critically evaluate these and summarise any common findings. In order to successfully validate a hypothesis it is important that the research clearly identifies which hydrotherapeutic intervention is being tested and also the control intervention that is being used for comparison. Three of the seven journals that were selected (Noh et al., 2008; Tripp Krakow, 2014; Park et al., 2016) used Halliwick Therapy as their primary intervention and then land-based physiotherapeutic programmes as the control group. The Halliwick concept was initially designed to help teach disabled children how to swim and is a ten-point programme that has a heavy focus on mental adjustment and body control within the water (Gresswell, 2015). This initial concept has then been further developed into Halliwick Aquatic Therapy, which has a holistic approach to neurorehabilitation that uses the support provided by the water to increase confidence in the patient and therefore also increase their participation in the exercise programme. The exercises themselves are designed to improve postural control and reduce muscle stiffness, with the overall aim to facilitate motor re-learning that can then be translated to on-land functional tasks (Weber-Nowakowska et al., 2011). This specificity of Halliwick Therapy, with regards to functional rehabilitation for neurological disorders, makes it ideally suited as a therapeutic intervention in such cases, however, only one of the papers listed above (Tripp Krakow, 2014) applied a specific functional outcome measure to their results. Another hydrotherapy technique that was used in one of the reviewed papers (Cappadocia et al., 2016) is known as the Bad Ragaz Ring Method. This utilises ring shaped floating devices that are typically placed around the patients neck, pelvis and peripheral joints, such as elbows and knees. The therapist is then able to fix their own position and use the peripheral limbs as levers to facilitate the patients trunk muscles and to encourage increased range of movement in the peripheral joints (Dutton, 2012). Unlike Halliwick Therapy this method does not have a focus on the transference of any benefits gained into more functional tasks. Instead it uses proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) techniques to enhance the patients active and passive range of movement and this can then hopefully be transferred into a more functional neuromuscular pattern of movement.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Immigrant Experience: The Anguish of Becoming American Essay

The Immigrant Experience: The Anguish of Becoming American Immigration from the Early 1990's still affects America today. The people who came to America from different countries brought their traditions, their families, and their culture. These three things stuck with them through thick and thin and are still thriving parts of what America is today. Many immigrants came with literally nothing in their pockets and had to work their way to success. The Immigrant Experience by Thomas Wheeler tells the story of nine different immigrants' trials and tribulations of coming and living in America. Each immigrant went through different experiences of becoming American but they also had their similarities. Four things that attributed to the assimilation of the immigrants are: language, money, religion, and ambition. Each immigrant experienced their individual trials, but they still all had several similarities. Almost all of the immigrants in this book came to America without being able to speak English, except for the immigrant from London. Alan Pryce-Jones came to America able to speak English and this put him at an advantage over the other immigrants because he could communicate with Americans. Also, he came to America after he established his writing in Europe. He came with money and wisdom which set him far above the other immigrants. The immigrants who couldn't speak English had to take classes and settle for low paying jobs because they could not communicate with their bosses. If they weren't working for someone else, they entrepreneured their own business. William Alfred, the Irish immigrant, was raised by a grandmother who owned her own business. This made it a little easier for him to find a job, and bring in money. J... ...America and living here made them American. But, they all brought over their own traditions and culture that still affect families today. Americans all have the outer candy coatings, but each peanut inside is different. The peanuts make the M & M's what they are. The outer appearance is the same but the inward structure is not. The peanuts do not affect the way the M & M looks but they sure do affect the way they taste. Next time you go to eat an M & M think about what America is. Is it a group of people who are all the same and have conformed to each other so that you cannot distinguish one from another? Or is America like a bowl of peanut M & M's where you can see how every one is similar but each individual is different on the inside? They may look American. They may act American. They may very well be American, but they cannot neglect their ancestry roots.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Technological Advances and their Effects on Media of Art

Some people find comfort in being involved in art. For them, their creations are the product of self-expressions that have no other better way of being expressed than through art. Some feel that they connect to the world or to their surroundings and arouse feelings through art. There may be some people whose passions center on art. For whatever reasons, art has become one of the areas where changes took place. Particularly, the media of art changed through the many technological advances that were introduced into the public. Art can be defined in many ways.There were traditional and contemporary definitions of art (Adajian). Generally, art refers to creative human endeavors. It also refers to any product of a creative impulse. Although it usually refers to visual arts, art also includes music, plastic arts, performing arts, and decorative arts. Moreover, art has many forms, including music, sculpture, painting, literature, performance art, drawing, and architecture. With the changing times and new technologies, art has included other forms such as conceptual art, computer art, photography, comics, video art, and film (WordIQ).All of these forms of art evolved as the world slowly became modernized. Recent technological advances have also placed great burden on some of the traditional media of art such as pencil and canvas. Many people think that along with hi-tech devices such as computer and camera, the use of pencil, coloring materials, ink or paint would become obsolete. Other technological advances that affected the media of art will be discussed as follows. The Quantel Paintbox The Quantel paintbox, which was launched in 1981, is a computer system which aids in manipulating video and in creating graphics.Through Quantel paintbox, the production of television graphics was further developed and improved. Quantel paintbox can now be run on workstations, unlike before when only hardware can run it. Moreover, professionals use Quantel paintbox up to this day for TV production. It was used extensively in creating artwork for the â€Å"Painting With Light,† which was a 1986 BBC series. Additionally, the Quantel was used in Arte, a European Network which created original TV designs. There were also new designs made for Quantel, namely: the Paintbox, Paintbox gQ, and QPaintbox (BroadcastEngineering).Computer Computer impacted the media of art in such a way that no traditional art media is needed to create art. For instance, with just the mouse, an artist can create cartoons and visual effects, unlike before when artists really must use pencil and paper. Artists before used materials for creating a film and sometimes these materials were unstable. For instance, images were placed in cels, or sheets of clear plastic. To avoid creating brushstrokes, colors must be manually painted from the back of the cel.Artists also used substances such as cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate during the early 1900s. But today, artists are spared from using materials that decompose (Worth). Moreover, the ease of using computer and saving the works in it is an advantage that traditional medium cannot compete with. An artist can make use of visual or special effects with just a few clicks. A lyricist can write his songs in the computer. There is even software which allows the recording of songs. The invention of the computer has encouraged artists to use it for art purposes.Animation Software We see it on movies. From The Lion King to Bolt. There are even movies where humans and cartoon characters were incorporated as though the world of humans and that of the cartoons are one. Thanks to animation softwares that are of much help, everything can be possible today. The implementation of animation softwares among artists has also affected the media of art in major ways. With these softwares, it is much easier for artists to make animations. However, traditional media of art is still used.For instance, an artist creates a storyboard us ing pencil before the output can be fed into the computer for further changes or improvements. In another instance, character designs are created first by animators or artists. Then these designs would be produced on Model Sheets (or photographic stats) before distribution to the other artists (Worth). Camera Camera was first invented in 1841 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce. It has evolved from the machine that only takes images from the dark to the high-tech ones today (ShotAddict). With the invention of the camera, photography became the â€Å"in† thing.As time passed by, many more persons added features to the first camera. There was the invention of film, and now there are digital cameras which do not use films. It is also much easier to print out pictures taken by a digital camera. With the appearance of digicams, the traditional cameras slowly become obsolete, although there are still some artist which prefer using ones that they can manipulate Paints From the paints that we re used on canvas, now there are paints that can be used for clothing, foils, and specialty papers.With these paints, artists can turn any flat surface into printable surface. These paints have affected paint as a traditional medium of art because now paints are not only limited to paper or canvas (ArtMedia). With the fast paced world, art has been under a lot of changes, particularly in its media. Pencils, markers, paints and the other materials that were used before were now substituted with more hi-tech materials such as computer, camera, and animation softwares. However, despite the technological advances, art has always been there and man continually seek art.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Business Communication Skills

Faculty of Business, Computing & Information Management Business Communication Skills Coursework- Critical review & Personal Development Review Module Coordinator: Mr. Phil Vellender Module Code: BBS-6-BCS Course: MBA (FT) By Mahalakshmi Table of Contents Critical Review Do shareholders own the company? 1. 1 Introduction This is a critical review of an article published on the website of The Financial Times on 20 April 2012. This article was published in The Financial Times newspaper on 21 April 2012.The title of the article is ‘Shareholders lose patience on banker’s pay’ by Dan McCrum and Kate Burgess from New York and London respectively. The purpose of choosing this article is of my personal interest on banking industry, for its interesting information about shareholders, significance and ornate style of writing. This review begins with an analysis on the reading and writing context of the article, followed by a brief summary of key points, a critical evaluatio n of language used, content analysis and a conclusion. References and the article itself are also included at the end of the review. . 2 Context As mentioned before, this article has been taken from the newspaper publication ‘The Financial Times’, which is one of the largest business news and information company in the world. It offers vast news, comments, data and analysis to business community globally. It is known worldwide for its reliability, authority and accuracy(http://www. ft. com/home/uk). The article relates to current affairs on the importance of investors’ vote on the company’s pay. The writers of this article discuss the same on different banks in United Kingdom and United States.Moreover, it brings different predictions based on the impact of the investor’s vote on pay package. 1. 3 Summary First, the writers of the article begin with the information on how the chief executive of Citigroup suffered a loss because of lack of its shareh olders’ support on their â€Å"pay package†. Furthermore, they also discuss that the board of directors look back to their pay levels questioning themselves on what makes the investors lose their temper and found that poor returns of the bank’s investment to be the reason for losing shareholders’ patience.Second, the authors stress on the point that it is shareholders’ responsibility to query the company board of directors about their financial position, performance and their management strategy. They also state that due to the governance pressure on investors, it is mandatory to hold an advisory â€Å"say on pay† vote for all US registered companies. They also show evidence on how company’s pay changes depending on the investors support by giving the statistical data on two companies like Jacobs Engineering Group and Beazer Homes. Third, the authors compare the US listed companies votes with that of UK registered companies votes.They have chosen Barclays bank in London as an example. According to the article, the investors have decided to vote for Barclays for its plan but still many are threatened to vote no. Even though, Mr Diamond is ready to give away half of his bonus and share higher profits to shareholders, still some of the investors does not agree to provide â€Å"say on pay† vote. Finally, the writers conclude that the executives who fail to respond their shareholders will have to face its consequences and pay a bulky price. 1. 4 Language Analysis The language of the article fluctuates between idiomatic language and editorial style.An example of editorial style can be found in the beginning of fourth paragraph:† Boards looking at their own pay scales†¦.. confined to the banks† and also in the fifth paragraph:† Investors are have been fraying for some time†. The writers uses certain spoken style and furthermore raises direct questions like for example,† Is it e nough? † thereby attracts the reader’s attention. Moreover, evidence of academic style usage can be noticed in few paragraphs. For instance, idioms like † came out of the blue† and â€Å" rubbed salt into their wounds† arouses the reader’s sympathy on the chief executive.Paragraph length is not too long with clear and appropriate separation of ideas thereby making this article easy to read and understand. Sentences vary from short to medium or rather not too long but there is a combination of simple and complex in their structure. No subheadings have been used in this article. The title â€Å"Shareholders lose patience on bankers’ pay† raises an issue and grabs the attention of the readers. Consequently, this will also boost the audience to continue reading because they will want to know what the subject is about and the reason for the problem.The writers provides visual of Vikram Pandit, chief executive of Citigroup, who is shock ed and looks very perplexed, thinking on why shareholders denied to accept on his pay package. However, the vocabulary range is reasonably wide and standard with a little informal and business language. For example, â€Å"aberration†(meaning abnormal), â€Å"assertive† (meaning confidant), both in the 4th paragraph and â€Å"abstentions†(meaning the act of self-denial) in the 18th paragraph shows the evidence of use of formal words. The writers also use some oral vocabulary like â€Å"said† and â€Å"says†.Business vocabulary crops up throughout the text for example â€Å"shareholders†(line 1), â€Å"pay package†(line 8),†say on pay†() or â€Å"profits†. The text type of this article seems to be argumentative as the writers raise an query to the readers on whether the shareholders has the right to play role on deciding the pay package for the executives of the company and take initiative on accepting or avoiding the remuneration committee. In addition, this article was also informative as it provides details on how the shareholders are affected by different banker’s pay package and their bonus without attaining actual success. . 5 Content Analysis The content of the article is well-organised and simple to understand for readers who are more interested in financials due to its business language and strong points. As a student who is interested in finance, this article seems to be interesting and informative one as it provides the current news on shareholders role on a company (here is the case of banks) and discusses the consequences of losing company’s shareholders’ support and their advisory on ‘say on pay’ vote at annual meetings.This article partially carries new knowledge for frequent readers of this magazine about the significance of the company’s shareholders support. On the other hand, this article conveys a series of interesting awareness and hy pothesis where he falls back with valid proof. As an American and British, the authors show an evidence of good knowledge on the financial performance and series of events of different firms that take place in every company annual meeting. The way the writers build up the controversy is simple to follow and understand.The authors have explained from their point of view on shareholders setting up remuneration committees and re-elections in the UK and US economy. No alternative point of view is displayed. Some of the statistical data from the article are assumed to make it believable but perhaps it is major claim to integrity for me is that I completely agree with the author’s point of view. 1. 6 Conclusion In conclusion, the article presents an interesting viewpoint on shareholders responsibilities and right to take the leading role in terms of reimbursement.With clear examples, the article demonstrates the effects on investors’ vote on banker’s pay. The authors conclude by stating that the decision made on Barclay will come to know only after the meeting. The language range is typical of the publication, widespread, normal and with ample of business terms. In my opinion, the article is a good choice for finance and marketing students in comprehending more about the investor’s role. Overall, it provides a clear perspective on an emerging marketing trend in the world today. 2. Personal Development Plan Review 2. 1 IntroductionAny individual will want to establish their personal goals and make them practicable within a specific period of time. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to prepare a ‘Personal Development Plan’(PDP). According to the guidelines for HE progress files, PDP is defined as â€Å"a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development†. Being one of the modules in my course, I have been asked to prepare my personal development plan for communication skills.In this review, it starts with the four step model used for my PDP and ends with a conclusion. 2. 2 Four-step Model In order to set up my personal development plan, I have used a simple model, as recommended in our business communication skills module guide. This model consists of four steps which are as follows: 1. Identify what you need to develop/ improve * Enhance my academic writing skills * Develop my speaking style, improve on my vocabulary, tone and pace while giving an oral presentation * Learn how to do speed reading * learn how to make proper notes- note taking 2. Identify how you can achieve your aims To improve my academic writing skills, I will practise writing essays, read books about academic writing and pay attention to the lectures on the same. * Listen to news and radio, communicate with my classmates and show active participation in group discussion in order to build up my style of speaking * Will make a list of new words, linkers, learn synonyms and practise some academic vocabulary exercises * Pay attention to my colleagues’ way of performing their oral presentations, make a note of their strengths and weakness, thereby improving my oral presentation skills i. . tone and pace * Will read lot of books as possible, journal papers to develop speed reading * Will use the concept mind mapping whenever I take notes 3. Identify when you will do the activities described in 2. above * Week 2-9: * Answering discussion questions in managerial economics and follow-ups for the same * Week 2-8: * Review my colleague’s oral presentation and practise my presentation in front of mirror * Week 8-9 and during Easter holidays: Practise taking notes using mind mapping while reading core text books * Read and practise exercise from the following books: Bailey, S. (2011) Academic Writing for International Students of Business, Routledge Bennie , M. (1998)(4th ed) Mastering Business English –how to improve your Business Communication skills, Oxford 4. Check yourself- how will you recognize you have accomplished your aims? My main assessment strategy will be by observing my marks and feedback I get for my assignments and oral presentation.With the help of mind mapping, I was able to complete some of my coursework one week earlier than the actual deadline. The marks and feedback for the same are due in the next few weeks. Alternatively, I will also be monitoring myself on specific areas like speed reading. My marks have been very satisfactory till now. 2. 3 Conclusion Overall, I could make out that the decent marks and encouraging feedback has given me confidence about my knowledge of English language has improved. I feel that my speed reading and speaking style also has improved.I am very sure that these progresses will support in the coursework ahead and my final dissertation. I will also make sure that I will conti nue to develop these qualities in near future too. 3. References * Guidelines for HE progress file [Online] Available from: http://www. qaa. ac. uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/progfile2001. pdf [Accessed 1 May 2012] * Financial Times : http://www. ft. com/home/uk * Thesaurus : http://thesaurus. com/ * Word Hipo : http://www. wordhippo. com/

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Decision Tree Essay

Decision Tree Essay Decision Tree Essay Chapter 9 Structuring System Requirements: Logic Modeling True-False Questions 1. Data flow diagrams are designed to show the detailed logic of processes. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 282 2. Structured English is useful for representing the logic in information system processes. Answer: True Difficulty: Easy Reference: p. 282 3. Structured English represents the three fundamental structured programming statements: choice, repetition, and sequence. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 282 4. Reference, linking, and selection programming statements are represented in Structured English. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 282 5. Decision tables allow you to represent a set of conditions and the actions that follow from them in a tabular format. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 282 6. Data flow diagrams are adequate for modeling all of the complexity of an information system. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 283 7. Data flow diagrams are not adequate for modeling all of the complexity of an information system. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 283 8. Logic modeling represents the internal structure and functionality of the processes represented on data flow diagrams. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 283 9. In the analysis phase, logic modeling reflects the structure or syntax of a particular programming language. Answer: False Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 283 10. Logic modeling is an activity associated with requirements structuring. Answer: True Difficulty: Easy Reference: p. 283 11. Although logic modeling represents a process’s structure, it cannot represent the temporal dimensions of systems. Answer: False Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 283 12. In structured analysis, the primary deliverables of logic modeling are structured descriptions and diagrams that outline the logic contained within each DFD process as well as diagrams that show the temporal dimensions of systems. Answer: True Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 283 13. Logic modeling deliverables may take the form of new entries into the project dictionary. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 283 14. For each primitive process, the analyst should develop Structured English, decision table, and decision tree representations. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 283 15. State transition diagrams, sequence diagrams, and activity diagrams are types of logic models. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 285 16. Structured English is a process modeling technique. Answer: False Difficulty: Easy Reference: p. 285 17. Structured English is a modified form of the English language used to specify the logic of information system processes. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 285 18. The Unified Modeling Language is a modified form of the English language used to specify the logic of information system processes. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 285 19. Structured English relies heavily on adjectives and adverbs. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 285 20. The standard version of Structured English is called the Unified Modeling Language. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 285 21. If and case are two types of conditional statements. Answer: True Difficulty: Easy Reference: p. 285 22. Referencing Structured English, terms that specify logical comparisons are spelled out rather than represented by their arithmetic symbols. Answer: True Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 287 23. When preparing Structured English statements, the analyst includes statements to initialize variables, open and close files, and find related records in separate files. Answer: False Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 288 24. Structured English resembles a programming language. Answer: False Difficulty: Med Reference: p. 288 25. Structured English is a communication technique used for analysts and

Monday, October 21, 2019

Theodore Roosevelt Essays - United States, Schuyler Family

Theodore Roosevelt Essays - United States, Schuyler Family Theodore Roosevelt THEODORE ROOSEVELT Theodore Roosevelt was more than just the 26th president of the United States. He was a writer, historian, explorer, big-game hunter, soldier, conservationist, ranchman and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It is not surprising that his life was known as The Strenuous Life. Theodore was born into a wealthy and socially prominent New York family in 1858. Although with a quick mind he was not blessed with a strong body. He suffered from life-threatening asthma attacks throughout his childhood. Spurred on by his father, Theodore began to build up his body by strenuous exercise, and by adulthood he had become a model of physical courage and toughness. Early Political Life. As a young man Roosevelt decided on a dual career; law and politics. At the time, New York politics was dominated by men involved in machine politics. Yet he persisted in getting to know and understand them, while at the same time attending Columbia Law School. Eventually he secured the friendship of a man named Joe Murray who was able to get him nominated as a 21st District State Republican Assemblyman. Together, with Murray's contacts and knowledge of machine politics and his own family and social connections, Roosevelt was able to easily win the election. He was 23 and in Albany. Theodore served three terms in the New York Assembly. Roosevelt was a delegate to the Republican convention, and as a matter of principle he vigorously opposed the leading candidates - James G. Blaine and President Arthur. Roosevelt supported a reformer, Senator George F. Edmunds. In the end Blaine won the nomination, and this put Roosevelt in a difficult position. He did not believe that Blaine was honest, yet if he followed the example of other progressives and did not support him he realized he would be through in the Republican party. He supported Blaine. When Blaine lost Theodore received no political position, and his political career was over. Ranchman Roosevelt not only suffered political defeat in 1884 but deeply personal defeats as well. On the same day both his mother and wife died. These disappointments led to a radical change in Roosevelt's life. He decided to move to the Dakota Badlands to become a rancher. At the time many people thought that this was a good way to become rich. The Dakotas were not like the East - life could be a little wild and woolly. Resolution of disputes was done at the end of a gun, and thieves were often hanged as soon as they were caught. Roosevelt excelled at this rough and tumble way of life and earned the respect and devotion of the men around him. Roosevelt, however, did not excel at making money. He lost about half of his entire capital in ranching. But what he gained was, in the long run, of much greater value. The men he met there were to later join the famous Rough Riders whose exploits were the major impetus to his political success. In 1886 Roosevelt returned to New York to marry a childhood friend - Edith Carow. Together they had a very successful marriage and produced five children in addition to Alice, Roosevelt's child by his first marriage. Politics was still the place that Roosevelt wanted to be, but there were not many opportunities since his party was out of power. In order to support his family Roosevelt spent his time writing. This was not a new vocation for Roosevelt. Equally at home hunting for a book as hunting for a bear he wrote his first book The Naval War of 1812 while in law school and running for the New York Assembly. By the end of his life he had written and published dozens of books. Reformer In 1888 Roosevelt saw his chance to jump back into politics by campaigning for the election of Benjamin Harrison. When Harrison won he appointed Roosevelt to be a Civil Service Commissioner. It was with this job and later as Police Commissioner that Roosevelt made his reputation as a reformer. At the time both the Civil Service and the New York Police Department had serious corruption problems. Roosevelt did his best to clean up the corruption and make things work fairly. For