Targeting Teenagers Essay Example for Free

Targeting Teenagers Essay When taking a look around at the night life of any city of the western culture we may come to a conclusion that pubs and party places are stuffed with under aged children below 20 or even 18. These kids need more energy to survive the rush of the nightlife therefore it is not unusual to see them drinking energy drinks – or even mixing it with alcoholic beverages. Do the producers and marketers of such energy drinks like Red Bull or Monster think of the unhealthy effects of these drinks on adolescents? A perception can be made that such beverages are highly effecting and endangering the health of their consumers – teenagers and adults – however, their producers are targeting at the most vulnerable and willing to spend audience – the teenagers of the western cosmopolitan cities. The long term goal of producers and marketers of energy drinks is not less but to own as high percentage of the market share as possible, using any kinds of marketing tools, without taking into consideration ethics and the health risks caused by energy drinks. Health Effects. It is a well-known fact that energy drinks such as Red Bull or Monster contain ingredients that could be harmful not only for teens but for adults as well in the long run. According to pharmaceutical studies of Clauson et al. (2008) ginseng, taurine, guarana, bitter orange, and caffeine – key ingredients of energy drinks – may interact with each other in a way that can cause symptoms varying from headache, insomnia, high blood-pressure, stroke, or even heart attack. Various sources from the Internet show evidence that teenagers‘ health was harmed after consuming energy drinks. In Colorado Springs, several high school students last year became ill after drinking Spike Shooter, a high caffeine drink, prompting the principal to ban the beverages. In March, four middle school students in Broward County, Florida, went to the emergency room with heart palpitations and sweating after drinking the energy beverage Redline. (Parker-Pope, 2008) ‘Three years ago, Ross Cooney, 18, from Ireland, died after he shared four cans of Red Bull and played in a basketball match. ‘ (Nordqvist, 2004). In the mean time it must be mentioned that not only the ingredients can be harmful and risky for the teenage consumers but the lack of responsibility during drinking energy drinks plays an important role as well. While adults are – or should be – able to keep their limits, teenagers act in the most unexpected ways. ‘But the biggest worry is how some teens use the drinks. Some report downing several cans in a row to get a buzz, and a new study found a surprising number of poison ­center calls from young people getting sick from too much caffeine. ‘ (Johnson, 2006). Other sources underline that another factor effecting adolescents is strongly in connection with their behaviour. Energy drinks may negatively affect those teenagers, who are more aggressive by nature, ‘High consumption of energy drinks is associated with toxic jock behavior, a constellation of risky and aggressive behaviors including unprotected sex, substance abuse and violence. ‘ (Parker-Pope, 2008) Based on the above risk factors and several other additional ones numerous countries and states have already banned – or attempted to ban energy drinks, however, they were not able to sustain the state of rejection for a longer time span. For instance France, Denmark and Norway have banned Red Bull for a certain amount of time – the ban was upheld by the European Court mainly because the caffeine levels were considered to be safe and negative effects of other ingredients were not supported. The European Union enforced Red Bull and other energy drink providers to warn their consumers of the high caffeine content (Nordqvist, 2004). In the United States there have been several attempts as well to ban energy drinks – to protect adolescents, but the law does not make any restrictions possible. Energy drinks, which are classified as dietary supplements, are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That means they dont have to follow the same strict limits that the FDA places on potentially harmful ingredients such as caffeine (a primary component of energy drinks) that soda makers must follow. (Park, 2011) Based on the above studies a conclusion can be made that even though energy drinks contain ingredients that can be harmful if consumed un-responsibly, the level of ingredients are still considered to be safe. Teenagers must be taught that consumption of such beverages should be kept below a certain limit or should be avoided. Attracting Teenagers Why is it so attractive for teenagers to consume Red Bull, Hell, Burn, Monster, or any other energy drinks? Most probably because these drinks are considered to be the drink of popular, young, successful people – mostly sportsmen. Goodman’s video about The Merchants of cool (2001) describes this situation clearly – being cool is essential to teenagers to be in the spotlight. Marketing cool became very popular these days, due to the well known fact that teenagers of metropolitan cities tend to use – eat, drink, wear – whatever they believe is cool and in the mean time their parents are willing to pay for these items. In the sudden a product becomes mass or becomes un-cool according to these teenagers, they are not willing to purchase them anymore. The teenagers who are willing to pay for the products represent a strong and rich audience. Therefore marketers should keep this in front of their eyes when designing new marketing strategies, mostly when talking about brands that tend to target the teenagers. If we take a look at what the energy drink brands represent, it is visible that they are either committed sponsors of extreme sports, other popular sports, (Ho, 2006) or position themselves in the centre of leisure and parties (Arlidge, 2004). This certainly is cool amongst adolescents. It can be stated that Red Bull, Monster, or other beverages are the representatives of cool. Which cool teenager would not like snow boarding, skate boarding, monster trucks, air shows, Formula-1, cross motors, car racing or any other dangerous extreme sport like skydiving? (Helm, 2005) Therefore these producers target teenage buyers exactly they way they should be targeted. Does this seem unfair, or is this an example of perfect targeting? It must me mentioned that these energy drinks give the message to teens never to rest and always do something – to be always on the move. Today a usual American watches television approximately 4 hours 45 minutes per day (Shea et al. 2010, p. 165) hours per day. By the age an average teenager reaches the age of 21 he or she has watched more than 20 000 hours of television already. Most teenagers use the Internet throughout the day, however, only 28% of them looks for fitness and health tips (Oblinger, 2005). It is also stated that over 155 million children are overweight world wide, similarly in the United States and in the European Union, approximately 35% of adolescents are considered to be overweight or obese. (Shea et al. 2010, p. 166) Red Bull spends annually billions of dollars on not only sponsoring sports, but also building its own sports teams (Ho, 2006). Varying from numerous different sport categories, Red Bull attracts millions of teenagers towards these sports. For instance skate boarders Ryan Sheckler, Zered Bassett, Joey Brezinski, or Nick Dompierre are well known endorsers of Red Bull. They have millions of fans worldwide and hundreds of teenagers started skate boarding because of them. We can mention thousands of examples where an energy drink brand sponsored sport idol became the hero of teenagers. Because of these idols teenagers later on started doing sports instead of just sitting at home. Should parents thank Red Bull or Monster for doing this? Red Bull can easily reach its target audience through showing them how popular and trendy it is to drink their beverages. In the mean time they give the message to teenagers never to rest, and to do some sports, therefore they can become the cool and popular actors of their environment. Etical Behaviour After seeing what product Red Bull offers to teenagers, and knowing how these adolescents are reached, it is essential to take into consideration whether marketing tools of energy drink providers are ethical or not. The American Marketing Association clearly defines what is considered to be ethical from marketing point of view, however, it must be mentioned that acting ethically is always relative, it depends on the values and norms what a certain individual, or what the society tends to understand as ethical. American Marketing Association states that norms are the following: do not harm; foster trust in the marketing system; embrace ethical values; while ethical values are: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency, citizenship (American Marketing Association, n. d.). Let us take a look at these one by one through the actions of Red Bull. Do not harm: ‘This means consciously avoiding harmful actions or omissions by embodying high ethical standards and adhering to all applicable laws and regulations in the choices we make. ‘ (American Marketing Association, n. d. ) We have seen that even though we cannot state clearly that energy drinks are harmful for teenagers, they could have negative effects if they are consumed un-responsibly. Red Bull strongly covers its decisions of the ingredients of beverages through a legal perspective. Currently the amount of caffeine and taurine are below the unhealthy limits, therefore Red Bull cannot be questioned from legal point of view. On the other hand if we take a look at a can of Red Bull it is not described clearly how many milligrams of caffeine or taurine could or should be consumed per day, or how many cans of energy drink can an adult drink without risking his or her health. Just like on the package of cigarettes or alcoholic beverages it should be mentioned in a visible, obvious way that drinking more than one can of energy drink per day could have harmful effects on health. Red Bull does not harm its buyers, however, the consumers should be educated more about the beverage. In return for this action Red Bull could be representing the care towards consumers. Foster trust in the marketing system: This means striving for good faith and fair dealing so as to contribute toward the efficacy of the exchange process as well as avoiding deception in product design, pricing, communication, and delivery of distribution (American Marketing Association, n. d. ). Red Bull communicates towards customers that their drinks will ‘Give you wings‘. They position themselves in the centre of extreme sports and parties where extra energy is essential. The picture they have built throughout the years is representing values of the company in an obvious, clear, and fair way. When we take a look at the price of a can of Red Bull it also represents that this beverage somehow stands out from other non-alcoholic drinks such as Coke or Sprite (Helm, 2005). Therefore they clearly give the message that this drink is something special and should be consumed only when the human body needs extra energy and wants to be on the top. Embrace ethical values: ‘This means building relationships and enhancing consumer confidence in the integrity of marketing by affirming these core values: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency and citizenship. ‘ (American Marketing Association, n. d. ) Red Bull’s target audience is the male population, from teenagers to 25-30 year old adults (Helm, 2005), however, when looking at teenagers, those who really purchase – or pay for – the drinks are mostly their parents, of which Red Bull is confident, therefore they should give a message to the parents as well about honesty, responsibility, fairness, etc. Right now – according to previous studies of this paper – parents are the ones who trust the least these energy drinks and are scared of its negative effects on their teen children. Red Bull is honest, since what they state is true. Their beverage contains a high amount of taurine and caffeine that gives more energy and ‘wings‘. On the other hand it is hard to say they are responsible. They do not focus on telling their teen consumers that the drink can be harmful, and in the mean time they drag the adolescents to dangerous extreme sports. These surely will not win the trust of parents. Red Bull and other energy drink providers should win the trust of parents by either not letting teenagers drink their beverages, or create a certain type of drink that is – even if consumed un-responsibly – cannot have any negative effect on adolescents. All in all Red Bull’s actions of marketing are legally covered and they cannot be mentioned as an unethical company, however, certain restrictions and actions would make them appear in a much more positive scene. Conclusion and Recommendations We have come to the final conclusion that energy drinks contain ingredients that can be harmful for consumers – teens, adolescents, or adults – however; they are endangering health only if they are consumed irresponsibly. It is truly visible that the target audience of the highly caffeinated drinks are male adolescents (age 18-25), who tend to use more energy, or show the society how popular and cool they are. Sources have underlined that energy drinks are consumed by even younger teenagers, whose drinking habits may become dangerous, since they do not tend to focus on the healthy consumption of energy drinks. Red Bull and other similar beverage providers should put more focus on teenagers and provide them more details on how the energy drinks should be consumed. Marketers of Red Bull and other energy drinks focus obviously on gaining the highest market share possible, however, they are keeping all the necessary limits to be legally covered. Besides the possible unhealthy effects of the beverages these firm focus on sponsoring sports, which can help the health of teenagers in the long run, and attract them towards sports. The more they can effect teenagers to start doing some sports, the more helpful they can get for parents – therefore the presence of energy drinks on the market causes controversies. To avoid confrontation with parents in the future energy drink producers should focus more on educating consumers how to drink their beverages, and state clearly on the cans the ingredients of their products. The best possible solution would be to mention on the packaging visibly that teenagers below 18 should not consume energy drinks, or to create a product for younger teens that can be consumed without limits, at any time of the day. List of References American Marketing Association (n. d. ). Statement of Ethics. Available at: http://www. marketingpower. com/AboutAMA/Pages/Statement%20of%20Ethics. aspx (Accessed: 1 November 2011) Arlidge, J. (2004). How Red Bull woke up the teen market. The Guardian, 5 December [Online]. Available at: http://www. guardian. co. uk/media/2004/dec/05/advertising. formulaone (Accessed: 31 October 2011) Clauson et al. (2008). Safety issues associated with commercially available energy drinks. Pharmacy Today 14 (5), pp. 52–59. Conway, C. (2011). A Sports Marketing Success Story. Available at: http://www. sportsnetworker. com/2011/03/08/a-sports-marketing-success-story/ (Accessed: 29 October 2011) Helm, B. (2005). Energy Drinks Build Their Buzz. Bloomberg Businessweek, 5 January [Online]. Available at: http://www. businessweek. com/smallbiz/content/jan2005/sb2005015_8196_sb017. htm (Accessed: 29 October 2011) Ho, M. (2006). For Red Bull, Its Here, There and Everywhere. The Washington Post, 23 August [Online]. Available at: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/22/AR2006082201516. html (Accessed: 28 October 2011) Merchants of Cool, The (2001). Directed by Barak Goodman [DVD]. A Report on the Creators Marketers of Popular Culture for Teenagers. s. l. , PBS Nordqvist, C. (2004). French ban on Red Bull (drink) upheld by European Court. Available at: http://www. medicalnewstoday. com/releases/5753. php (Accessed: 29 October 2011) Oblinger, D. G. (2005). Educating the Net Generation. s. l. , s. n. Olson, J. (2011) For some kids, drinks can pack a risky punch. Star Tribune, 13 February [Online]. Available at: http://www. startribune. com/lifestyle/wellness/116136804. html (Accessed: 1 November 2011) Park, A. (2011). Energy Drinks May Harm Health, Especially for Children. The Time, 14 February [Online]. Available at: http://healthland. time. com/2011/02/14/energy-drinks-may-harm-health/#ixzz1cRphxGJE (Accessed: 28 October 2011) Parker-Pope, T. (2008). Energy drinks linked to risky behavior among teenagers. The New York Times, 27 May [Online]. Available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2008/05/27/health/27iht-27well. 13247828. html (Accessed: 28 October 2011) Sarasalin, K. , Watthanachai T. (2009). The internationalization process of Red Bull from the perspectives of global expansion. Master Thesis. Malardalen University. Shea B. , Harvey-Berino J. , Johnson R. (2010). Watching television: how does it influence the dietary quality of children?. Nutrition Bulletin 35(2) pp. 165-171. Academic Search Complete [Online]. Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com (Accessed: 1 November 2011) Sonneville K. , Gortmaker S. (2008). Total energy intake, adolescent discretionary behaviors and the energy gap. International Journal Of Obesity 32 (19-27). Academic Search Complete [Online]. Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com (Accessed: 1 November 2011).

Gain Enhancement of Multiband Microstrip Radiating Structure

Gain Enhancement of Multiband Microstrip Radiating Structure Gain Enhancement of Multiband Microstrip Radiating Structure using Curve Tooth CSRR with Two Different Substrate Material Muktesh P. Shah1, Shobhit K. Patel2, Mayank A. Ardeshana3, Jigar M. Patel4 Abstract—In this paper Microstrip radiating structure with Complementary Split Ring Resonator (CSRR) using Curve Tooth with two different substrate material for Multiband applications in S band and C band is designed and analyzed. We have introduced Curve Tooth in CSRR to improve Gain in comparison with simple CSRR based design. Also, The same design with two different substrate material like FR4 and Teflon is compared and analyzed. Here, Patch of dimension 44Ãâ€"44mm2 is analyzed. The FR4 based design of Curve Tooth in CSRR has five working bands centered around 1580 MHz, 3180 MHz, 3600 MHz, 4580 MHz, 7190 MHz and Simple CSRR Design has three working bands with center frequency 1560 MHz, 3150 MHz and 3540MHz. The Teflon based design of Curve Tooth in CSRR has five working bands centered around 2250 MHz, 4560 MHz, 5150 MHz, 6540 MHz, 8310 MHz and Simple CSRR Design has four working bands with center frequency 2213 MHz, 4508 MHz, 5050MHz and 6395 MHz. Design results of VSWR, R eturn loss S11 and Total Gain of all four design is shown and compared in this paper. Also, Design results shows improvement in Gain in Curve Tooth CSRR design. The dimensions of substrate height is 1.57 mm, Patch and Ground height is 0.035 mm which are similar to actual Antenna dimensions. Design results are obtained by a HFSS 13 (High Frequency Structure Simulator) which is mostly used for simulating microwave passive components. Index Terms— Curve Tooth, CSRR (Complementary Split Ring Resonator), Substrate Materials, Multiband, Microstrip. I. Introduction Nowadays, Multiband antenna is a popular choice because same antenna can be used for many applications [12][15][17][18][19]. Microstrip patch antennas are widely used because of their many merits, such as the low volume, light weight, low cost etc. [1-8] However, Patch antennas have a main disadvantage: narrow bandwidth while others are low gain, low power handling capacity etc. [1-8] Still there is a need to design Multiband antenna with improvement in Gain. Metamaterial may solve this need. In Recent Scenario, Microstrip patch antennas are widely used in wireless devices and other compact sizes with multiband antenna operation. The irregular shape of the developed planar antenna achieves multi-band (Broadband) performance [11]. In traditional planar antennas, the distances between the edges are fixed and therefore, the antennas dominant mode resonates only at a single frequency [11]. In contrast, the irregular shape of the current antenna facilitates, its broadband character by allowing the structure to have more than one degenerate mode that resonate at more than one frequency, based on the irregularity introduced [11]. In general, multi-sided patches are excellent candidates for broadband operation, since many closely spaced resonant modes can be excited using the different edges of the patches [11]. This property makes them uniquely suited for multi-band operation in wireless applications. There has been a considerable amount of recent interest in the class of artificial material which is known as Metamaterials that possess simultaneously negative permeability and permittivity, according to a negative index of refraction [1][2]. Such type of metamaterial is known as a double negative material (DNG). To increase the power radiated from electrically small antennas, an application of DNGs has been suggested by Ziolkowski and Kipple [3]. But in this paper a negative permittivity material complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) which is a dual counterpart of split ring resonator (SRR) originally proposed by Pendry have been loaded into the patch. CSRR is composed of two concentric metallic ring slots with slits etched in each ring at its opposite sides. Apart from double negative materials, single negative materials where only one of the material parameters has a negative real value also possess interesting properties and can be used to produce novel devices. In particula r the complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) which establishes a negative-permittivity at resonance, is an example of a single negative media (SNG) that can be used to make microwave devices [4]-[6]. Here, we have incorporated curve tooth CSRR to further improve the results of CSRR. The properties of SNG can also be manipulated to increase filter shape factor, improve filter rejection and can also applied to antennas to reduce the spurious effect and increase antenna gain and antenna size reduction [7][9][16][17]. This paper is based on the microstrip radiating structure which integrates a Curve Tooth CSRR design into the ground to provide good return loss and improved gain. The CSRR is a commonly used resonator etched on the Metal plane. An effective negative permittivity and negative permeability could be introduced in microstrip devices by loading CSRR [17][18]. In this article, we have etched the CSRR in the ground plane of a microstrip patch underneath the substrate. The CSRR structure model is shown in Figure 1. If the effects of the metal thickness and losses, as well as those of the dielectric substrate are ignored, a perfectly dual behavior is expected for the complementary screen of the SRR. Thus, whereas the SRR can be mainly considered as a resonant magnetic dipole that can be excited by an axial magnetic field, the CSRR (Fig. 1) in essence behaves as an electric dipole (with the same frequency of resonance) that can be excited by an axial electric field. Fig. 1 shows the unit cell structure of SRR model and CSRR model with its equivalent electrical circuit. Fig. 1 (a) SRR unit cell, (b) Equivalent electric circuit of SRR unit cell, (c) CSRR unit cell, and (d) equivalent electric circuit of CSRR unit cell. [15] II. Design and Simulation In this section, we will introduce the design of our antenna. First the conventional patch length and width is designed. After designing the patch, we have taken out five slots from the patch to improve the radiation path. Basic length and width is designed with the use of following equations [5]. Width of the patch can be designed using the equation (1), here f0 is the resonance frequency, ÃŽ µr is relative permittivity of the dielectric substrate and c is speed of light. Length of the patch can be designed by using the equations (2-5) [5]. Here‘t’ is the thickness of substrate. Using these equations we have derived length and width of conventional patch. We designed square patch so length and width are same and it is 44 mm, so a square patch is 44Ãâ€"44 mm2 over here which is shown in Figure 2 (a). We have taken out five slots from the patch to increase the Radiation path and to improve the results as shown in figure. The slots taken out have dimension of 8Ãâ€"8 mm2. A. Design 1 The top view of the Simple CSRR design and Curve tooth with CSRR Design is shown in Figure 2 (a) and 2 (b) respectively. Both the design has outer and inner ring is of 1 mm. Gap between the two rings is 1.5 mm. Table: 1 Material used for Design1 Design 1 Material Patch Copper Substrate Teflon with ÃŽ µ = 2.1 Table 1 shows details about the material. Patch is of copper material. Substrate is of Teflon material with ÃŽ µ = 2.1. The base material is also of copper. Fig. 2 (a) HFSS Model of Simple CSRR Design Fig.2 (b) HFSS Model of Curve Tooth CSRR Design For simulation we used HFSS 13 (High Frequency Structure Simulator) of Ansoft, which is very good simulator for simulating microwave passive components specially RF antenna. Figure 3 (a) and 3 (b) shows the Return Loss (S11) in dB for both the designs. The minimum return loss which we are getting for Simple CSRR design is -31 dB for the band centered around 4.508 GHz and for Curve Tooth CSRR design, it is -37 dB for the band centered around 4.56 GHz. Figure 4 (a) and 4 (b) shows the VSWR plot for both the designs. Fig. 3 (a) Return Loss (S11) plot of Simple CSRR Design Fig. 3 (b) Return Loss (S11) plot of Curve Tooth CSRR Design Fig. 4 (a) VSWR plot of Simple CSRR Design Fig. 4 (b) VSWR plot of Curve Tooth CSRR Design B. Design 2 Here, We have used same design but only substrate material is changed. In this Design we have used FR4 epoxy material for substrate. Table: 2 Material used for Design1 Design 1 Material Patch Copper Substrate FR4 epoxy with ÃŽ µ=4.4 Fig. 5 (a) Return Loss (S11) plot of Simple CSRR Design Fig. 5 (b) Return Loss (S11) plot of Curve Tooth CSRR Design Fig. 6 (a) VSWR plot of Simple CSRR Design Fig. 6 (b) VSWR plot of Curve Tooth CSRR Design Figure 5(a) and 5(b) shows Return loss plot of both CSRR and Curve Tooth CSRR design. Figure 6(a) and 6(b) shows VSWR plot for both the design. III. Comparative Analysis A. Design 1 In this design, we used Teflon as a substrate material in which Curve Tooth design has five working bands while Simple CSRR design has four working bands. Table 3 shows comparison of Return loss and VSWR of the both the design. Table 3 : Comparison of S11 and VSWR for both design Band Design Frequency in GHz Minimum Return Loss (S11) in dB VSWR First CSRR 2.213 -18.8 1.2601 Curve tooth CSRR 2.25 -17 1.331 Second CSRR 4.508 -31 1.0549 Curve tooth CSRR 4.56 -37.6 1.0268 Third CSRR 5.05 -15 1.4183 Curve tooth CSRR 5.15 -14.8 1.4434 Fourth CSRR 6.395 -27.7 1.0862 Curve tooth CSRR 6.54 -24.7 1.1243 Fifth CSRR Curve tooth CSRR 8.31 -12 1.6624 By using curve tooth in CSRR, we have an extra working band and also return loss and VSWR values are very good. We got VSWR of 1.0268 using curve tooth which is nearer to 1. Figure 7(a) and 7(b) shows Total Gain plot in 3D view for CSRR and Curve tooth CSRR design respectively. Fig.7 (a) Total Gain plot in 3D view for simple CSRR design Fig.7 (b) Total Gain plot in 3D view for Curve Tooth CSRR design Simple CSRR design has Total Gain of 2.6609 dB while Curve Tooth CSRR design has Total Gain of 2.9264dB. So using Curve tooth in CSRR we have improved gain. B. Design 2 In this design, we used FR4 epoxy as a substrate material in which Curve Tooth design has five working bands while Simple CSRR design has four working bands. Table 3 shows comparison of Return loss and VSWR of the both the design. By using curve tooth in CSRR, we have two extra working bands and also return loss and VSWR values are very good. We got VSWR of 1.0931 using curve tooth which is nearer to 1. Figure 8(a) and 8(b) shows Total Gain plot in 3D view for CSRR and Curve tooth CSRR design respectively. Simple CSRR design has Total Gain of -0.2895 dB while Curve Tooth CSRR design has Total Gain of 3.0368dB. So using Curve tooth in CSRR we have sufficiently increased the gain. Band Design Frequency in GHz Minimum Return Loss (S11) in dB VSWR First CSRR 1.56 -23.6 1.1407 Curve tooth CSRR 1.58 -27 1.0931 Second CSRR 3.15 -18 1.2780 Curve tooth CSRR 3.18 -19 1.2429 Third CSRR 3.54 -25 1.1197 Curve tooth CSRR 3.60 -24 1.1318 Fourth CSRR Curve tooth CSRR 4.58 -13.9 1.5070 Fifth CSRR Curve tooth CSRR 7.19 -17 1.3172 Table 4 : Comparison of S11 and VSWR for both design Fig.8 (a) Total Gain plot in 3D view for simple CSRR design Fig.8 (b) Total Gain plot in 3D view for Curve Tooth CSRR design IV. Conclusion Here Microstrip patch antenna is designed for multiband applications using five rectangular square slots in the Patch and CSRR in ground. Curve Tooth is also implemented in CSRR to improve the results. Two designs with different substrate material is designed and analyzed. This antenna is compared with simple CSRR design. The result of Design 1 which has Teflon substrate, indicates the five working bands for Curve Tooth CSRR design, 2.25 GHz, 4.56 GHz, 5.15 GHz, 6.54 GHz and 8.31 GHz so the antenna can used for S and C Band Applications while Simple CSRR has four working bands. VSWR is very good for 4.56 GHz frequency which is 1.0268 near to 1. Also, Gain has been improved with Curve Tooth CSRR which is 2.9264 dB compare to Simple CSRR design which has gain of 2.6609 dB. Design 2 which has FR4 substrate, provides five working bands for Curve Tooth CSRR while CSRR design has three working bands. Also, Gain for Curve Tooth CSRR has 3.0368 dB compare to -0.2895 dB for simple CSRR design . So, by using Curve Tooth in CSRR improves results. Also, Dimensions of all Designs are similar to Actual Antenna so when we fabricate the antenna, we will get similar results. References V.G. Vesalago, â€Å"The Electrodynamics of Substances with Simultaneously Negative Values of Permittivity and Permeability†, Sov. Phys. 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Beano, et.al, â€Å"Microwave Filters with Improved Stop Band Based on Sub Wavelength Resonators† IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech, 53, No. 6, pp. 1997-2006, June. 2005. J.J. Max, Y. Cao and T. Liu, â€Å"Design the Size Reduction Patch Antenna Based on Complementary Split Ring Resonator, â€Å"ICMMT 2010 proceedings. Hui Zhang, You-Quan Li, Xi Chen, Yun-Qi Fu, and Nai-Chang Yuan, â€Å" Design of Circular Polarization Microstrip Patch Antenna using Complementary Split Ring Resonator†, 978-1-4244-2609-6, IEEE 2008. D. Laila, R. Sujith, V. Deepu, C.K., Vasudevan Aanandan and P. Mohanan, â€Å"Compact Csrr Based Patch Antenna for Wireless Applications†, 978-1-4244-4819-7, IEEE 2009. N. Ortiz, F. Falcone, M. Sorolla, â€Å"Dual Band Patch Antenna Based on Complementary Split Ring Resonator†, 978-1-4244-2802-1, IEEE 2009. Zygmond Turski, Aly E. Fathy, David McGee, Gary Ayers, and Sridhar Kanamaluru, â€Å"Compact Multi-Band Planar Antenna for Mobile Wireless Terminals,† IEEE, 2001. M.P.Shah, S. K. Patel, M.A.Ardeshana, J.M. Patel, â€Å"Design of Multiband microstrip Radiating Structure for C band Applications,† IJARCCE, Vol.2, Issue.12, Dec 2013, pp. 4560-4563. S. K. Patel, J. Bhalani, Y.P. Kosta, S.S. Patel, â€Å"Design of microstrip meandered patch antenna for mobile communication,† Proceedings of International conference on Advances in Information Technology and Mobile Communication (AIM 2011), Springer, 2011, pp. 184–189. S.K. Patel and Y.P. Kosta, â€Å"E-shape microstrip patch antenna design for GPS application,† Proceeding of Nirma University International conference on Engineering (NUiCONE 2011). IEEE, 2011, p. 1-4. S.K. Patel and Y.P. Kosta, â€Å"Meandered multiband metamaterial square microstrip patch antenna design,† Waves in Random and Complex Media, in press, 2012(DOI: 10.1080/ 17455030.2012.723837). S.K. Patel and Y.P. Kosta, â€Å"Size reduction in Microstrip based radiating structure with artificial substrate,† International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, in press, 2012. S.K. Patel and Y P Kosta, â€Å"Investigation on radiation improvement of corner truncated triband square microstrip patch antenna with double negative material,† Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, 2013, Vol. 27, No. 7, 819–833. S.K. Patel and Y P Kosta, â€Å"Triband microstrip–based radiating structure design using Split ring resonator and complementary split ring resonator,† Microwave And Optical Technology Letters / Vol. 55, No. 9, September 2013, Wiley periodicals. J. M. Patel, S. K. Patel and F. N. Thakkar, â€Å"Defected Ground Structure Multiband Microstrip Patch Antenna using Complementary Split Ring Resonator,† IJETEE, Vol. 3, Issue. 2, May 2013. S.K. Patel and Y.P. Kosta, â€Å"Design of Truncated microstrip radiating structure loaded by SRR,† International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, in press, 2012. S.K. Patel and Y.P. Kosta, â€Å"Dual band parasitic metamaterial square microstrip patch antenna design,† International Journal of Ultra Wideband Communications Systems 2, no. 4, pp. 225-232 2012. J. M. Patel, S. K. Patel and F. N. Thakkar, â€Å"Comparative analysis of S-shaped Multiband Microstrip patch antenna,† IJAREEIE, Vol. 2, Issue. 7, July 2013. J. M. Patel, S. K. Patel and F. N. Thakkar, â€Å"Design of S-shaped Multiband microstrip patch antenna,† NUiCONE, IEEE, 2012.

My Mother, My Hero Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

My Mother, My Hero In 1859 Henry Ward Beecher said, "the mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom." I believe that statement because of experiences I’ve had with my own mother. I have learned more about life from her than from my 15 years of schooling. Over the last 20 years my mother has taught me many valuable lessons just by being a living example of compassion, thoughtfulness, and generosity. She is an angel that has protected and carried me throughout life. In the book, One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, Iyanla Vanzant said, "a truly compassionate person is one who can feel what you feel because they are one with you in mind, body, and spirit, not out of obligation or a false sense of responsibility. A compassionate person is one who understands what you are going through and, rather than joining you in your suffering and fear, sees for you the blessing and the victory at the end. A compassionate person does not join in the victim mentality of blaming others; instead they will stand strong with you, supporting you through the acceptance of the situation. The compassionate person knows with you, for you, and when necessary in spite of you, that all things work together for your good." That quote is like a mirror image of my mother because she encompasses all those traits. She showed me the utmost compassion when I was in high school. I was very sick with a chronic disease. I couldn’t walk and I was in constant pain. Though I couldnâ €™t see it at the time, my mother saw for me how lucky I was. She consistently pointed out that I was lucky that we could afford the doctors I needed. I was lucky that Fibromyalgia wasn’t deadly. And I was lucky that I had family and friends who were there for me. She saw for me the positive thi... ...s Thanksgiving she donated money to Bethel Mission to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. And every Christmas she buys presents for the underprivileged. As the saying goes, "no one stands as straight as when he stoops to help someone." My mother is my hero because she has taught me to treat others with compassion, thoughtfulness, and generosity. She taught me that those values were important in the best way, by living her own life according to them. She didn’t just tell me about values she felt were important, she lived by them. I have always admired my mother and felt so blessed to have her in my life. I know I am a better person for having her for a mother. Works Cited: The Giant Book of American Quotations. Carruth, Gorton and Ehrlich, Eugene. Portland House. New York. 1988. Vanzant, Iyanla. One Day My Soul Just Opened Up. Fireside. 1998. My Mother, My Hero Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing My Mother, My Hero In 1859 Henry Ward Beecher said, "the mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom." I believe that statement because of experiences I’ve had with my own mother. I have learned more about life from her than from my 15 years of schooling. Over the last 20 years my mother has taught me many valuable lessons just by being a living example of compassion, thoughtfulness, and generosity. She is an angel that has protected and carried me throughout life. In the book, One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, Iyanla Vanzant said, "a truly compassionate person is one who can feel what you feel because they are one with you in mind, body, and spirit, not out of obligation or a false sense of responsibility. A compassionate person is one who understands what you are going through and, rather than joining you in your suffering and fear, sees for you the blessing and the victory at the end. A compassionate person does not join in the victim mentality of blaming others; instead they will stand strong with you, supporting you through the acceptance of the situation. The compassionate person knows with you, for you, and when necessary in spite of you, that all things work together for your good." That quote is like a mirror image of my mother because she encompasses all those traits. She showed me the utmost compassion when I was in high school. I was very sick with a chronic disease. I couldn’t walk and I was in constant pain. Though I couldnâ €™t see it at the time, my mother saw for me how lucky I was. She consistently pointed out that I was lucky that we could afford the doctors I needed. I was lucky that Fibromyalgia wasn’t deadly. And I was lucky that I had family and friends who were there for me. She saw for me the positive thi... ...s Thanksgiving she donated money to Bethel Mission to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. And every Christmas she buys presents for the underprivileged. As the saying goes, "no one stands as straight as when he stoops to help someone." My mother is my hero because she has taught me to treat others with compassion, thoughtfulness, and generosity. She taught me that those values were important in the best way, by living her own life according to them. She didn’t just tell me about values she felt were important, she lived by them. I have always admired my mother and felt so blessed to have her in my life. I know I am a better person for having her for a mother. Works Cited: The Giant Book of American Quotations. Carruth, Gorton and Ehrlich, Eugene. Portland House. New York. 1988. Vanzant, Iyanla. One Day My Soul Just Opened Up. Fireside. 1998.

Faith in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings Essay -- Enormous Wings Es

Faith in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings      Ã‚   In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," an unexpected visitor comes down from the sky, and seems to test the faith of a community. The villagers have a difficult time figuring out just how the very old man with enormous wings fits into their lives. Because this character does not agree with their conception of what an angel should look like, they try to determine if the aged man could actually be an angel. In trying to prove the origin of their visitor, the villagers lose faith in the possibility of him being an angel because he does not adhere to their ordered world. Marquez keeps the identity of the very old man with enormous wings ambiguous to critique the villagers and, more generally, organized religion for having a lack of faith to believe in miracles that do not comply with their master narrative. In order to keep the origin of the old man a mystery, Marquez uses a technique known as magical realism. This combination of reality and fantasy helps to remove some of the grandeur behind the potential angel. When the old man is first introduced he does not descend from heaven in a blaze of light and glory, but rather lands in a "stew of mud and rotten shellfish" (313), during a storm that had lasted for three days. To investigate the "moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard" Pelayo "had to go very close to see that it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn't get up, impended by his enormous wings" (313). This description is hardly the image that one would conjure up when visualizing an angel coming down from the heavens. Rather, Marque... ...age people are able to rationalize that the angel is mortal, and just an annoying part of their everyday life. When the villagers cannot determine the true nature of the angel, they condition themselves to ignore what is standing before their very eyes. Only after the angel finally flies away becoming "an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea" (317) does anyone pause to look at the angel. Works Cited and Consulted Chanady, Amaryll. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed.Louis Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C: UP, 1995: 125-144. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." The Norton Introduction Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty.N.Y. : W.W. Norton and Company, 1996.525-529. Sandner, David. The Fantastic Sublime. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996. 51-55.

Children of Polygamy Essay

With reasonable guidelines in place to prevent human right violations, should polygamy be legal in Canada? First of all, a clear definition of the term is required: â€Å"Polygamy occurs when one husband is married to two or more wives† (Ozkan,M et al,215) . This scenario is not common in North America however has been known to occur in the past. To gain an insight to the world of polygamy, it seems that research has been undertook investigating its effects in areas of the world where it is more common, for example, the Muslim world. The decision as to whether Polygamy should be legal in Canada will be based on the research found on the effects of Polygamy on both the children of the senior and junior wife. â€Å"A senior wife is defined as a woman who was followed by another wife into the marriage. A junior wife is the most recent wife joining the marriage† (Al-Krenawi,447). In-depth research has taken place into the emotional, psychological and behavioural effects on children from polygamous families, as well as the effects on academic achievement compared to that of monogamous families. Most experts agree that children from Polygamous families are negatively affected by polygamy in terms of their academic achievement, behaviour, and their emotional and physiological stability. Therefore, Polygamy should not be legal in Canada, in order to protect children from the harmful effects associated with it. An Investigation into the effects on education on Bedouin-Arab school children showed significantly higher scholastic achievement in the children from monogamous families when compared with children from polygamous families, based on grades in Hebrew, Arabic, Arithmetic and reading comprehension, recorded in their school files. (Krenawi & Lightman, 350) As for behavioural problems, Krenawi, Graham et al describe how the â€Å"Competition for support and resources among wives in polygamous families may lead to tensions between co-wives and between the children of different co-wives† (456). The conflicts between the wives are often fuelled by jealousy which, in turn, increases the chances of conflict between the siblings of the wives. The increase in conflict and violence is likely to result in earlier drop out from school and higher probability of succumbing to other social problems such as drugs. (Krenawi & Lightman,353). Al-Krenawi’s journal links the children’s behavioural problems with their emotional state: â€Å"Jealousy, competition and fighting among the different wives leads to the children regarding the children of the other wife not as siblings but as enemies. The resulting hatred and hostility affected the children both emotionally and socially. † (37). Research has shown that â€Å"Such problematic maternal psychosocial dynamics, in turn, may adversely influence adolescents’ self-identity, self-esteem and psychological well-being† (Shek 159). Self-esteem is looked at in great deal throughout the research. Krenawi and Graham define self-esteem as a wish to think well of one’s self; It also relates to self-respect and the person’s perception of worth. Children from polygamous families are especially prone to this, due to low-interest from their fathers, especially children of senior wives. Studies showed lower parental interest, lower interest when compared with other siblings contributed to low self-esteem among children in polygamous families. (457). Another table from this journal has results which show children from Polygamous families scored higher in areas including depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation and psychotism and scoring lower in family functioning (which includes relationships, functioning and communication within their family) as well as the self-esteem test. (452), We see that these psychological problems that polygamous children face are the major contributor to their lack of academic achievement, it is not as first thought a direct consequence of polygamy. It is more of an indirect consequence of polygamy. Observing from another perspective, evidence is found by Cherian that reveals â€Å"A positive and statistically significant relationship was found between parental interest and children’s academic achievement, regardless of whether the family was monogamous or polygamous† (736). Throughout the research into polygamy there were occasions where interviews were conducted with members of polygamous families, first hand evidence can be very powerful however we see contrasting views here first we will look at those in favour of polygamy. In the paper ‘Polygamy and its Impact on the Upbringing of Children’ by M. Khasawneh et al, we see a mother asked about the impact of polygamy, to which she answers â€Å"Did not affect the children† (577). There is also a statement from a child who states â€Å"Polygamy is a very appropriate process†. Clearly displays that both the mother and a child of polygamy both seem to support polygamy. However, if we look at the experts’ opinion of the mother Khasawnehs’ paper, we see that they believe that the wives views may not be accurate. Since the families would be aware of their responses, it made it difficult for the wife to make an honest declaration, as this could negatively affect her family life (572). Although there is little doubt that the child’s statement was not an honest one, we see that there are other responses which do not show the children in favour of polygamy. Although a number of children believed that their fathers did not discriminate between or separate them, several also did not approve of polygamy and seen it as â€Å"something they were forces to adapt to† (572). This view is further supported by a child who is asked their opinion and views on polygamy to which he answers: â€Å"Polygamy is for necessity only, and with conditions to be just and fair. I do not support polygamy at all no matter what the reasons are. † (577). Another child answers the same question with: â€Å"I encourage polygamy because there is a large number of girls. † (577) This brings up the condition which is very important for polygamy: If there is an imbalance in the ratios of male to female then it is a valid argument that polygamy is a solution to spinsterhood. However Referring back to the question on Canada, we find from Statistics Canada online that the population of males and females is approximately equal 17. 6 to 17. 3 million (StatCan) . As for the argument on education, although we have observed that parental interest influences both monogamous and polygamous children’s academic achievement, equally, it is clear that other behavioural, emotional and physiological factors contribute and can potentially have a harmful effect on academic achievement too. In conclusion it is clear, from studies on Polygamy in Muslim countries, that there is overwhelming evidence to show that Polygamy has a detrimental effect on the upbringing of children, and this is made clear in the research surrounding its negative effects on the wives, the senior wives in particular. Krenawi and Graham make that point that in order to reduce problems which associated with polygamy arising, early interventions by school officials and other services may help improve academic achievement, socioeconomic status as well as improved family functioning. (455) . Referring back to the idea of parental interest being a big contributor to the academic achievement of the children no matter what family structure they belong to however it is clear to see that a father will have a certain about of time available to give to his children if this time which was once for one family alone is not split between 2 families in 2 different households, it becomes obvious that it will become impossible for the father to give an equal amount of his time that he was able to give in the past. Therefore even with reasonable guidelines put in place ,possibly similar to the one practiced in Muslim countries, where the husband must prove he can financially look after his wives and children, I still feel there are a far greater number of disadvantages to this and therefore it should not be made legal in Canada. Word Count (1,442) Bibliography Al-Krenawi,A. Graham. J. R & Sonim-nevo, V. (2002) Mental Health Aspects of Arab-Israeli adolescents from polygamous versus monogamous families. Journal of social Psychology, 142, 446-460. Al-Krenawi, S. Lightman, (2000). Learning, Achievement and Family conflict Among Bedouin-Arab children from polygamous and monogamous families. The journal of social psychology 140(3), 345-355. Cherian,V. I. (1993) . The Relationship between Parental interest and academic achievement of Xhosa Children from Monogamous and Polygamous families. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133, 733-736. M. Khasaweh,o,Y. Hijazi, H. Salman. N( 2011). Polygomy and Its Impact on the Upbringing of children. A Jordanian Perspective, Journal of Comperative Family Studies. 563-577 Ozkan,M,Altindag,A. ,Oto R & Sentunali,E (2006) . Mental Health Aspects of Turkish Women from Polygamous Versus Monongamous Families. Turkey. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, (52), 214. Shek,D. T. L (1998) A Longitudinal Study of the Relation between Parental-adolesent conflict and adolescent psychological well-being. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 159, 53-67.

Introduction to Psychological Testing Paper Essay

The field of psychology is one of those broad and exciting fields. Though various psychologists tend to work in a diverse array of fields one of the common aspects that they all share is that they all study behavior and associate its results to some specific measurements. Psychological tests are some of the common tests that are carried out in this field of psychology. The tests are carried and analyzed then the results are interpreted in such a way so as to attain different attributes for various individuals. One of the interesting things is that these results may vary in accordance with various factors which may either have a positive or negative impact on the tests. These tests have found their way into a number of applications with individuals being tested to determine whether they are up to task to ascertain their levels of performance in a diverse array of fields. The term test in psychology testing is one that has to be defined first in order to determine the workability of the process and the results that should be expected. According to a renowned psychologist Anatasi (1997) the term test as used in the field of psychology, is defined as â€Å"an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior†. This very definition tends to bring three core elements of psychology testing. The term objective tends to generally give the idea on how the test score is interpreted meaning that it is as a result of an objective criterion instead of subjective judgment by the examiner. The term standardized in the definition means that the results will be uniform independent of any qualified examiner. The term sample in the definition shows us that the test is drawn from previous collected inferences and results. Most of the psychological tests are categorized into a variety of groups depending on the results and the individuals involved. These tests may be administered to an individual that is one person at a time and they are known as â€Å"individual tests† as compared to â€Å"group tests† which are administered to more that an individual. See more: how to start an essay From time in memorial various psychologists have used three main criteria’s to distinguish various abilities that individuals possess. The tests may differ in that they may be grouped as either â€Å"ability or personality tests†. A personality test is described as one that is related â€Å"to the overt and covert dispositions of the individual† (Kaplan and Saccuzzo, 2008). This means that these types of tests will generally measure an individual’s typical behavior. These types of tests will then be divided into two distinctive groups of either structured or objective personality tests. The structured type of tests require the individual to choose from a variety of two options such as â€Å"true† and â€Å"false† or â€Å"yes† and â€Å"no†. Objective personality tests on the other hand are more complicated in that an individual is required to provide spontaneous responses. This type of testing generally assumes that the individual will tend to produce unique characteristics. The main concept behind these tests is actually to evaluate differences or variations that various individuals may exhibit. One of the assumptions that these tests tend to be pegged upon is that the resultants are actually the real differences among individuals. With this it can then be said that the most important aspect of testing is to generally differentiate among those individuals taking the tests (Domino and Domino, 2006). The three, aptitude, achievement and intelligence are used to determine the types of tests to be performed so as to determine their degree in an individual. Achievement in contrast to aptitude refers to previous learning while aptitude refers to the potential that an individual inhibits to do more. Intelligence on the other hand is distinguished from both achievement and aptitude in the sense that it refers to the general potential an individual has to â€Å"solve problems, adapt to environments and profit from experience†. The three however are believed to be interrelated in one way or another and a term that has been coined up to describe this situation is the term â€Å"human ability† (Kaufman and Kaufman, 2004). Two of these tests; achievement and aptitude tests have found their way in educational and most of the times employment institutions where they are used to deduce an individual’s ability. These tests are used to determine how much an individual knows about a certain aspects such as calculations, spellings or masterly of certain material objects such as practices and the like. Intelligence tests on the other hand try to measure an individual’s ability to basically understand the world and its environment analyze its functionality and use the acquired knowledge to improve the quality of the individual’s life. A renowned psychologist by the name Alfred Whitehead (1929) describes intelligence as having the potential to â€Å"enables the individual to profit by error without being slaughtered by it†. However the measurement of this ability has come under close scrutiny with critics arguing that most tests do not provide clear cut results or fail out rightly. The field of psychological testing is mainly governed by two major principles that is; validity and reliability. The term validity as it used in this field means that the tests and results are useful in whatever the reason they are carried on. On more technical terms the term can be said to represent the degree in which â€Å"certain inferences or interpretations† can be considered to be appropriate (Kaplan and Saccuzzo, 2008). Reliability on the other hand refers to the degree in which the tests and results obtained are free from errors. It refers to the accuracy, consistency, dependability of the test results. Although the concept of psychological testing is becoming an important phenomenon in today’s modern world, controversies have in some cases dogged the otherwise noble idea. One of the aspects that come into play is that most of the tests are usually administered by counselors and if the training is not adequate then the validity and reliability of the tests may be somehow substandard. The issue of ethics also comes into play and when monetary aspects are considered then the issue of ethics may just be thrown out of the window. This is especially true considering the number of individuals especially in the internet who purport to be offering an array of tests which their authenticity does not weigh the balance. Some social and theoretical issues have arisen with the fragile issue of race finding its path to those who vehemently criticize this process. However since nothing will ever be perfect, a compromise is often reached whereby the positives of this process outweigh the disadvantages and thus the process is preferred and applied in many institutions.

At the Turn of a Dime

The only thing I could think of as I stood at the end of the vault runway were my sweaty feet. As a nervous habit, I fidgeted, making it obvious that I felt a little uneasy. It seemed silly that I had trained so many demanding hours to perform this one vault skill, and that I was still anxious. Once I saluted the judge indicating I was ready, I thrust all negative thoughts to the back of my mind and launched into an aggressive sprint hurtling towards the vault. The next two seconds consisted of me holding my breath as I pushed off the vault table and completed a full 360 degree flip until I landed on my feet almost with ease. Immediately, I felt joy swell inside of me as I knew I had just performed the best vault I had ever done in my entire gymnastics career. As I walked back to the end of the running strip, my teammates clapped me on the back giving encouragement and support. The exhilaration I had felt after my first vault supplied me with adrenaline. When I began my second vault, I pounded down the runway with new energy and power. However, once I was in the process of flipping, I knew something was wrong. I ended up landing short, causing my ligaments to jam and tear within my left ankle. The audience that was once before bubbling with exuberance, instantly became deflated and silent as I lay there motionless on the mat. But I didn’t cry, I just gritted my teeth. I didn’t scream, I just shook my head. And I didn’t get up, I just sat there clutching my ankle with one hand while resting my head on the other, face down. Sharp pains exploded through my ankle and I could feel everyone’s stares burning a hole right through me. Needless to say, I probably scared the pants off my parents. From success to disappointment, I had learned that life could change on a dime. After this incident, I dedicated my time to my recovery and I began to understand that in the real world, people experience ups and downs too. Whether it may be about losing a job or going through a heartbreak, it’s the recuperation process that helps strengthen our character. While I was frustrated at first with my injury, I learned to cope with it and began to feel optimistic about how it could help me in the long run. I was determined to not let this slow me down, but rather build it up as a motivation and an extra push. Gymnastics has been my building blocks for life that I will continue to carry with me into the future. All the countless hours toiling away in the gym have given me the basic fundamentals for achieving accomplishments in life. I have been able to utilize these skills that I have learned, such as determination, perseverance, and time management, and use them to my advantage in school and work experiences. Getting home at a late hour every night has forced me to efficiently get my homework done since I know I don’t have a minute to spare, and when I help my parents in their flower shop, I make good use of my time. The principle of time management has been drilled into my head after so many years of steadily keeping my busy schedule on track. I have attained the qualities of patience, dedication, and focus patience in the way that I can accept the drawbacks along the way to achieve something greater, dedication in the way my willingness can persevere challenges without giving up, and focus in the way I can accomplish anything by being mentally tough. I intend to employ these attributes that I have gained from gymnastics as I begin my quest into the real world.