Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Personal statement - Essay Example I have been a part of many activities at my university due to this quality and confidence. I have many hobbies in life- ranging from reading to many kinds of sports. I have set several goals for myself, professionally and personally. One of my goals is to become a very successful professional in life. My academic area of interest has always been accounting and finance therefore I wish to work in the field of accounts and finance. Finance and accounting is considered to be the backbone of every business because of which CEOs acquire degrees in this field more than any other field. I wish to take this course since it is very broad in nature and offers open doors to many fields like public accounting, government jobs, private sector jobs etc. I have always been efficient with numbers and figures which is a good quality for a person in this field. I think that accounting and finance requires a person to have good analytical skills and logic. I have studied accounts and finance before as well, therefore possess basic knowledge about the concepts that are involved in it. This h as allowed me to enhance my analytical skills and directed me to explore more in this field on my own. My grades in mathematics have always been commendable that have helped me to develop logic and reasoning skills. The prevailing times of the global recession demands the knowledge of accounting and finance so that companies can cut their costs to the minimum. Such tasks are possible by strict accounting in the company. Companies are now fully aware of the fact that efficient internal controls should be deployed in the company to take care of their accounting and finances. Due to this fact, I feel I would be able to contribute a lot to my future organization if I have the knowledge of finance and accounting. I find this field of work challenging and exhilarating since

Health Care Enterprise (IHE) implementation Essay - 1

Health Care Enterprise (IHE) implementation - Essay Example Some studies conducted in practices of surgery and others in out-patient clinics (Littman, 1991). At the beginning of the literature reviews of search strategy to enhance the process of thinking regarding the focus and topic of the most important literature (Hunnicutt, 2010). The research conducted using the keywords; non-attendance rate, patient not turning up, no-shows, preoperative education, did-not- attends theatre utilization and preoperative teaching (Gupta, 2009). For the search to be refined techniques such as Boolean connectors (AND, OR), ex â€Å"preoperative patient education† quotations (â€Å"x†), ex. (non-attendance rate and theatre utilization) were applied. This aided in the achievement of the exact or accurate information and also saved time. Furthermore, this forwarded the search used to track the publishing of information by examining the lists of references that selected studies preferred and looked at the citations (Malika, 2005). Scott sought for non-attendance reasons from patients and a barium enema was requested. Literature proves the reasons of non-attendance as generally classified as multi-factorial (Wicker, & Oneill, 2010, 249). They differ in healthcare practices, settings, and/or times (McLaughlin, 1994). The impression given to the reader is that results change according to other factors. The validity and reliability of the used measures are reported clearly and precisely (Woodhead, & Wicker, 2005, 141). The overviewed literature is quite replete with evidence of the importance of improving the patient-hospital communication (Dickson, 2008). The communication was improved by the interventions of reminders from telephone and personal contacts with the patients (Stolt, 2009, 5). The interventions were used in most studies and shown the effectiveness in reducing the rates of non-attendance (Stolt, 2009,

The Acoustic Phonetics English Language Essay

The Acoustic Phonetics English Language Essay The chapter Vowels, acoustics events with a relatively open vocal tract deals with the examination of the various acoustic properties that can result when the vocal tract is in relatively open configuration. The chapter discusses primarily the sounds produced when the narrowest point in the vocal tract is not sufficiently constricted for modes of vibration for which the average airflow is not large enough to cause a significant pressure drop at the constriction. This configuration is normally associated with vowel sounds. The author explains formant bandwidths for vowels by describing the vocal tract as a pole or a tube and when this has no branches or cross modes and the source of sound is a volume velocity source at the glottis, the transfer function to the volume velocity at the mouth opening is an all pole function. When the shape of the vocal tract is changed due to the position of the body of the tongue or any other structure the frequency at the glottis also changes. at occasi ons there are acoustic losses in the vocal tract and these are due to various reasons such as vocal tract walls, viscosity, heat conduction and radiation. The author has used a graph to explain the acoustic loss caused by these factors, and it also measures the frequency. The data in the graph was obtained from sweep-tone measurements, in which estimates of the transfer function were made by applying a transducer to the neck surface and measuring the sound pressure radiated from the mouth using a sinusoidal source. The glottis were closed when the measurements were made. From the graph it is under stood that there is a difference in frequency between male and female and radiation casuses the most of acoustic loss. The two figures also show the average values of the bandwidths of the first three formants for several vowel configurations were 54 , 65, 70 Hz respectively, with the first formant band varying from 39 to73 Hz for different vowels. In the high frequency range above about 2 000 Hz , a major contributor to the bandwidth is acoustic loss is radiation but there is also considerable variability in the format bandwidths at these frequencies depending primarily on the size of the mouth opening and the cavity affiliation of first format frequency. High vowels: A number of acoustic, physiological and auditory factors combine to define a category of vowels that are produced with a high tongue body position and a low first formant frequency. The impedance of vacal tract walls contributes to stability of first format, the tongue surface in the lateral direction can be shaped to produce a stable acoustic output (atleast tongued body positions) that is insensitive to the degree of contraction for the muscles controlling tongue height and the auditory responses to sound with a low with a low f1 appears to have distinctive properties. Front back distinction We find a common acoustic consequence of front back displacements of the tongue body independent of tongue height. Forward movement of the tongue body causes an increase of the second formant-frequency to maximum value consistent to the types of constrictions that are possible for the different tongue heights. This maximum value is higher for the high vowels than for the low vowels. For the highest tongue body position, and, to some extent for the intermediate position, the third and fourth formants combine with the second to produce a center of gravity of the higher frequency spectral prominence that is higher than F2. front vowels then are always characterized by a broad minimum or empty space in the spectrum in the mid frequency between F1 and F2. For a back tongued body, on the other hand ,F2 is displaced to value that is maximally low and close to F1 for a proper selection of the tongue body position. In the case of the non low vowels, a value of F2 that is lowest and closest to F1 and can be reached by rounding the lips. An acoustic consequence of an F2 value that is low is low and close to F1 is that the amplitudes of higher frequency peaks in the spectrum are low relative to the amplitudes of F1 and F2 peaks and probably do not play a significant role in determining vowel quality. Electeomyographic data show a sharp distinction in the muscle activity involved in producing front and back vowels. Data reported by Baer et al. show that all back vowels exhibit activity of the stylogloccus muscle, which is oriented to displace the tongue body backward and upward. This muscle is specially active for non low back vowels. Front vowels on the other hand, show no activity of the stylogloccus muscle. A neutral vowel is defined as a vowel produced by a vocal tract configuration that has uniform cross-sectional area along its entire length. Whilst no vowel articulation can actually meet this requirement accurately, the vowel in heard and some productions of schwa can approximate this configuration. For such vowels, and only for such vowels, the vocal tract can be treated mathematically as a single uniform tube closed at one end (the glottis) and open at the other (the lips) for the purposes of calculating the resonances of the vocal tract. The acoustics of vowels are fairly well understood. The different vowel qualities are realized in acoustic analyses of vowels by the relative values of the formants, acoustic resonances of the vocal tract which show up as dark bands on a spectrogram. The vocal tract acts as a resonant cavity, and the position of the jaw, lips, and tongue affect the parameters of the resonant cavity, resulting in different formant values. The acoustics of vowels c an be visualized using spectrograms, which display the acoustic energy at each frequency, and how this changes with time. The first formant, abbreviated F1, corresponds to vowel openness (vowel height). Open vowels have high F1 frequencies while close vowels have low F1 frequencies, as can be seen at right: The [i] and [u] have similar low first formants, whereas [É‘] has a higher formant. The second formant, F2, corresponds to vowel frontness. Back vowels have low F2 frequencies while front vowels have high F2 frequencies. This is very clear at right, where the front vowel [i] has a much higher F2 frequency than the other two vowels. However, in open vowels the high F1 frequency forces a rise in the F2 frequency as well, so an alternative measure of frontness is the difference between the first and second formants. For this reason, some people prefer to plot as F1 vs. F2 F1. (This dimension is usually called backness rather than frontness, but the term backness can be counterintuitive when discussing formants.) In the third edition of his textbook, Peter Ladefoged recommended use of plots of F1 against F2 F1 to represent vowel quality. [4] However, in the fourth edition, he changed to adopt a simple plot of F1 against F2, [5] and this simple plot of F1 against F2 was maintained for the fifth (and final) edition of the book. [6] Katrina Hayward compares the two types of plots and concludes that plotting of F1 against F2 F1 is not very satisfactory because of its effect on the placing of the central vowels, [7] so she also recommends use of a simple plot of F1 against F2. In fact, this kind of plot of F1 against F2 has been used by analysts to show the quality of the vowels in a wide range of languages, including RP British English, [8] [9] the Queens English, [10] American English, [11] Singapore English, [12] Brunei English, [13] North Frisian, [14] Turkish Kabardian, [15] and various indigenous Australian languages. [16]Rounding is generally realized by a complex relationship between F2 and F3 that tends to reinforce vowel backness. One effect of this is that back vowels are most commonly rounded while front vowels are most commonly unrounded; another is that rounded vowels tend to plot to the right of unrounded vowels in vowel charts. That is, there is a reason for plotting vowel pairs the way they are. The usual description of vowels in respect to their phonetic quality requires the linguist to locate them within a so-called vowel space, apparently articulatory in nature, and having three dimensions labeled high-low (or close-open), front-back, and unrounded-rounded. The first two are coordinates of tongue with associated jaw position, while the third specifies the posture of the lips. It is recognized that vowels can vary qualitatively in ways that this three-dimensional space does not account for. So, for example, vowels may differ in degree of nasalization, and they may be rhotacized or r-colored. Moreover, it is recognized that while this vowel space serves important functions within the community of linguists, both the two measures of tongue position and the one for the lips inadequately identify those aspects of vocal tract shapes that are primarily responsible for the distinctive phonetic qualities of vowels (Ladefoged 1971). With all this said, it remains true enough that a lmost any vowel pair of different qualities can be described as occupying different positions with the space. Someone hearing two vowels in sequence and detecting a quality difference will presumably also be able to diagnose the nature of the articulatory shift executed in going from one vowel to the other. Esophageal talkers may have reduced intelligibility due to both time domain and frequency domain variability. The unpredictable nature of esophageal speech can cause problems when automatic procedures are used in applications such as long-distance telephone messages. The current study compared a standard coding algorithm (LPC-10e) with a novel approach to determining voiced periods (vocal tract area functions) in the speech of esophageal talkers. The results of the study showed that the sentences synthesized with the vocal tract area function algorithm were more intelligible than those synthesized with the standard LPC-10e algorithm. Supplemental information, such as vocal tract area functions, may be useful in determining voiced epochs when variability in vocal parameters is high. In the last 40 years, many vocal pedagogy authors have written about the need for appropriate vowel modification. Modification involves shading vowels with respect to the location of vowel formants, so that the sung pitch or one of its harmonics receives an acoustical boost by being near a formant. The goals of such modification include a unified quality throughout the entire range, smoother transitions between registers, enhanced dynamic range and control and improved intelligibility. Elite singers, whether they consciously recognize they are modifying vowels or not, become experts at making subtle changes in vowels as they sing, or they do not have consistent careers. Modification concepts which have been widely accepted are summarized below: Although there is a strong correlation between voice classification and formant frequencies, due to subtle articulation and anatomical differences, formant frequencies are unique to each individual. The amount of modification needed varies with the size of the voice, the weight of the voice, the duration of the note being considered, the dynamic level, and how the note in question is approached. Sensitive singers report that the amount of modification they need may vary daily and also during the day, depending on how much they have warmed up. Vowel formants are frequency bands, not one specific pitch. Precise tuning of each note in a piece is not very practical nor is it acoustically beneficial. During a rapid passage, a singer may not have enough time to adjust for optimal resonance on each vowel on each note; moving on to the next note in the passage smoothly is a greater priority than exact tuning of each tone. Males and females tune differently. In general, males seek to match harmonics above the fundamental to a formant, while females, especially in the upper voice, tend to reinforce the fundamental itself by matching it to the first or lowest formant. Several general rules for modifying vowels exist (as summarized by Titze): (a) formant frequencies lower uniformly by lengthening the vocal tract (either by lowering the larynx or protruding the lips or some combination of both); (b) formant frequencies are lowered uniformly by lip rounding and raised by lip spreading; (c) fronting and arching the tongue lowers the first formant and raises the second formant, while backing and lowering the tongue raises the first formant and lowers the second formant; (d) opening the jaw raises the first formant and lowers the second formant. Vocal fold vibration for voicing is achieved by the combined efforts of muscular tension, tissue elasticity and aerodynamic forces. The vocal folds are initially drawn together by the activities of the various laryngeal adductor muscles. As the folds come together the velocity of air passing through the glottis increases which results in a pressure drop between the medial edges of the folds (Bernoulli effect) causing them to be sucked together. Pressure then builds up below the closed glottis until the folds are forced apart and the cycle repeats (Van den Berg, 1958; 1968). One necessary condition of voicing is that subglottal pressure exceeds supraglottal pressure (the transglottal pressure difference) (Ohala, 1983; Sawashima and Hirose, 1983). The activity of the larynx during phonation causes the airstream flowing out of the lungs to be broken up into a rapid series of puffs due to the opening and closing of the vocal folds . Each burst of compressed air escapes through the glottis at high speed and collides with the column of air inside the vocal tract. This causes an acoustic shock wave which is propagated to the outside. The spectrum of the periodic glottal waveform is a line spectrum comprising harmonics which occur at multiples of the fundamental frequency. According to theoretical calculations (Fant, 1960; Rosenberg 1971), the glottal tone for normal phonation has a spectrum that falls off at about 12dB per octave. Other phonation types, as described by Laver (1980), display different glottal tone characteristics. Vowel sounds are most frequently described with reference to their formant characteristics which provide an indication of the resonance positions and hence the articulatory shape for the vowel production. Early speech perception studies (Delattre, Liberman, Cooper and Gerstman, 1952; Miller, 1953) showed that the frequencies of first three formants were the most important cues to vowel identification. These findings have been supported by several subsequent analyses (Fox, 1985, Kewley-Port and Atal, 1989; Klein, Plomp and Pols, 1970; Rackerd and Verbrugge, 1985; Shepard, 1972; Terbeek, 1977). The first formant has been shown to be associated with the auditory quality of height and the second formant with the auditory impression of the front/back dimension, or, more correctly, degree of constriction and point of maximal constriction . Ladefoged, De Clerk, Lindau and Papà §un (1972) remind us that degree of lip opening, or protrusion, pharyngeal width and larynx height also contribute to modifications of acoustic output. Lindblom and Sundberg (1971) found that all formants were lowered by lip rounding but that for palatal configurations, F3 was particularly affected. Hà ¶gberg (1995) also found that lip area was an important factor in the determination of F3 for the front vowels. When the first two formants are plotted on axes with certain directional and scaling characteristics, the vowel relationships closely resembles the traditional auditory vowel map . Such vowel spaces, with axes F1 and F2, rely on the concept of the vowel target which is the part of the vowel least influenced by its surrounding phonetic context. The vowel target is where the articulators, and therefore the formants, are moving the least and is referred to as the steady-state component of the vowel. The target is considered to be either a point in the time course of the vowel or else a section of time during which the vowel position remains stable. A single point is often used to provide an estimate of the target position, and for most vowels this can be assumed to be approximately mid way though the nucleus . Several authors have noted the problems inherent in the target theory for vowels citing the difficulties often encountered in establishing steady state components by eye or by automatic extraction procedures (Benguerel and McFadden, 1989; Nearey and Assmann, 1986). Van Son and Pols (1990), however, examined five different methods of identifying vowel targets and found that the use of the different methods made little difference to the results of their experiments. The conventional method of depicting the F1/F2 does not adequately represent the multi-dimensional nature of vowel quality. Delattre et al. (1952) showed that the third formant influenced listeners judgements of vowel quality and more recent experiments have determined that the higher formants have a combined influence on vowel perception. The combined upper formant is referred to as F2 prime (F2) (Bladon, 1983; Bladon and Fant, 1978; Carlson, Fant and Ganstrom, 1975; Paliwal, Lindsay and Ainsworth, 1983). Delattre et al. (1952) suggested that the ear averages formants that are close together. Carlson, Ganstrom and Fant (1970) tested this hypothesis for Swedish vowels concluding that all vowels could be effectively synthesised using two formant approximations. Chistovich and colleagues found that formant averaging or integration occurred only if two formants were situated within a critical distance of 3 to 3.5 bark (Chistovich and Lublinskaya, 1979 and Chistovich, Sheikin and Lublins kaya, 1979). More recent studies have examined global spectral features suggesting that the F3 F2 difference is a more accurate way of identifying vowel frontedness. Syrdal and Gopal (1986) have shown that the separation between back and front vowels is more closely linked to the F3 F2 difference than the F2 F1 difference. It is important to recognise, however, that F3 and F4 vary more than F1 and F2 as a result of speaker characteristics whereas they are relatively stable across vowel categories in contrast to F1 and F2 which vary greatly as a result of vowel quality. The higher formants are therefore less effective carriers of phonetic information than the lower formants (Harrington and Cassidy, 1999). Vowels can be described in terms of the centre frequencies of the first three formants at the vowel target (or targets for diphthongs). Vowel duration and other dynamic spectral information contribute to a more complete description but the extent of this contribution remains unclear. Contextual environment as well as suprasegmental factors plays an important role in the ultimate realisation of the vowel phoneme and so such characteristics must be carefully controlled in phonetic research. Physiological differences between speakers also affect vowel characteristics and such effects must be accounted for in phonetic research and minimised if necessary. One method of minimising physiological effects is to use one of the many normalisation procedures available to reduce variance but care must always be taken when manipulating data to ensure that phonetic accuracy is preserved. The question of sex specific articulations remains open as researchers have been unable to adequately model male to female vowel behaviour. Acoustic data provides an accessible means for hypothesising about articulatory behaviour and it is customary, in phonetic discussions of vowel characteristics, to use articulatory labels to refer to auditory and acoustic properties (Ladefoged and Maddieson, 1990). Articulatory discussions provide convenient global labels for describing acoustic effects, however, specific articulatory detail should not be ascribed to acoustic vowel data.

Essay --

Rudyard Kipling’s seminal poem, â€Å"The White Man’s Burden† resonated amongst American policymakers in the aftermath of the War of 1898. For a price of twenty million dollars, the Spanish relinquished their control of the Philippines to the United States, thereby transforming America into an overseas empire. As statesmen in Washington considered their new Pacific possession, they viewed the archipelago as a moral liability rather than a strategic asset. The first formal evaluation of the prospects for Filipino independence came in February 1900, when President McKinley dispatched the â€Å"Philippine Commission† to Manila to compile a report on the subject. In this paper I consider their assessment through a social lens. I argue that while McKinley’s emissaries strove for objectivity, preconceived notions of national identity, race, and civilization influenced their judgment. Ultimately, the Commission viewed American-ness as a prerequisite for i ndependence. Background The Spanish had maintained colonial authority over the Philippines since Ferdinand Magellan laid claim to the islands in 1521. For over three hundred years the Spanish government, aided by friars from the Catholic Church, used Manila as a naval base and cultivated the hinterland as a source of cotton. Filipino aristocrats across the archipelago learned Spanish, and helped to disseminate the Catholic faith to the majority of animists and sabians — worshippers of the moon and stars. Although many friars were seriously engaged in helping the Filipino peasants, over time they gained a reputation for exploitation and corruption. In response to these grievances and to an absence of representation in the colonial legislature, community political leaders began in the early 19... ...mission rejected the prospect of Philippine independence primarily because the population deviated from the western concept of the â€Å"nation.† The masses of the people are without a common speech and lack the sentimentality of a nation. The Filipinos are not a nation, but a variegated assemblage of different tribes and peoples, and their loyalty is still of the tribal type (pdf one 192). . . their lack of education and political experience, combined with their racial and linguistic diversity, disqualify them, in spite of their mental gifts and domestic virtues, to undertake the task of governing the archipelago at the present time . . . should our power by any fatality be withdrawn, the Commission believes that the government of the Philippines would speedily lapse into anarchy The Filipinos are not a nation, and there can be no political being that we call a people,

Byzantine Art

At first, it is very obvious that these two structures; the Dome of the Rock, and the Great Stupa in Sanchi, are physically very different form their local surroundings. They are both in the shape of a typical Byzantine martyrium, something that is designed to house Godly relics, and that is exactly what they were both orginally designed to do. The Dome of the Rock is covered with Gold, a symbol of wealth and honor, and can be seen for miles.Its round top was something somewhat unconventional at the time, and difficult to build, so this also showed the builders their commitment to setting up something worthy or worship. Like the Stupa, it is covered with passionate inscriptions pertaining to how their prophet inspired them. Both structures are covered with the patrons’ favorite quotes, or passages from their holy books, and detailed with many ornate and intricate artworks that details how the patrons loved and contemplated their belief systems.The rounded structure also carrie s sound better than a square building, so speaking inside one of them would be more effective. Unlike the Stupa, that basically immortalizes Buddha; the Dome represents all 3 major religions. The Muslims built it, they consider it theirs. They also believe that it is the place where Mohammed ascended into Heaven. It fell into the hands of Israeli’s after the 6 Day War, and they consider the building site the original ‘Holy of Holies’ mentioned in the Old Testament, and think it is an abomination that Muslims would try to force God’s hand by rebuilding a Temple before God does.It also fell into Christina hands at some point, and they embedded their own inscriptions on the wall, trying to claim it as their own as well. Buildings that were originally meant to be places of rest and reflection have eventually become a place that breeds hostility, such as the Dome, and a place that is left in disrepair as in the Stupa. In the end I can only conclude the true rel igion resides inside of the person who embraces it. Honour, Hugh & John Flemming. The Visual Arts: A History (seventh Edition) Place of Publication: XXX , Publisher, Year of Publication.

Freedom in our time Essay

In times of war or in times of peace, in prosperity and in difficulty, United States has always seen from abroad as the embodiment of liberty. This has been the nation that, with its mistakes and wise moves, has eagerly defended freedom in the world. In spite of how different we might seem because of our skin colors, religions or backgrounds, freedom is the value that we all cherish most in our lives and it permeates every aspect of our society. Throughout history, many American men and women have valiantly fought and died for their freedom and the freedom of others. Like the American patriot Patrick Henry declared in his speech in 1775 â€Å"Give me liberty or give me death†, he wanted to let people know that he would rather die than live under tyranny and oppression. Read more: Dbq how did the constitution guard against tyranny essay In the seventeenth century in Europe, there was no religious freedom, Jews were persecuted in the old world and in England you belonged to the Church of the country or you went to jail. Immigrants came from across the globe in the nineteenth century to be free from religious oppression; they came to America, the country where a man could be himself. Albert Einstein, who emigrated from Germany in 1933, stated that â€Å"as long as he had any choice, he would stay in a country where political liberty, toleration and equality of all citizens before the law were the role† (56). Freedom is the ability to act as you choose; it is the right to do as one pleases, but always keeping in mind the popular saying of â€Å"my rights end when yours begin†. We have to respect the freedoms of others. Even if we do not agree with some people’s opinions, we still should respect and listen to them. But the truth is no one is absolutely free, government and even ourselves set limits to our freedom. In our daily life, we stress out over many things such as our jobs, careers, family and more; we live afraid of failure, loneliness or death. People cannot act freely when they are subjected to a constant fear of being punished, censured or abused. As long as there is something in our lives that perturb or bother us, we are no longer free. No matter how free we believe we are, there is always an invisible chain that fetters us. Slavery in our time (even if it does not have that name) shows when a person renounces to being himself and allows others to manipulate him or decide for him. The slave does not decide for himself about what he wants or what is better for him. He acts because he is told to do so, without questioning the orders he receives, even if his actions go against his principles or harm people they care about or society. In the nations, governments control freedom through laws that citizens have to follow. Law is connected with human responsibility for his actions and it is a way to ensure that our society is fair to all. In order to make it possible for all of us to live in harmony, the law restricts some people’s freedoms, in order to allow others to enjoy it. Freedom is a privilege that people too often take for granted. We seem no to value the lives that men and women sacrificed in battle for freedom and our rights. Without them, none of what we have now would be even possible. But when something is given to you, it does not mean as much to you if you would have earned it yourself, and in our case we were born with our freedoms handed. Our society has changed tremendously throughout history, and the meaning of liberty has done it too. Nowadays, women for example, have freedoms that by trivial they might seem, we did not have before, like the right to vote, to choose the person we want to marry or to go to college and study whatever we decide. We can now develop our talents and be what we want to be. The U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights bestow Americans freedoms and rights. I think today people are more likely to know the most popular songs, than the freedoms the Bill of Rights grants them. We cannot protect something that we do not understand and many Americans do not have an understanding of the freedoms they regularly enjoy. Defending our rights is a primary responsibility of being citizen. The ignorance, the lack of education and knowledge make a lot of people to blindly accept all the values and doctrines that others want to impose them. We should exercise our freedom to its fullest extent. One example of this is voting. We are not obliged to do it, but what better way to get involved in our community than by participating in the electoral process? Every single vote counts and it is our duty as citizens to choose our own leaders. The Bill of Rights, guarantees, in words, freedoms Americans didn’t want to be without. The free speech is guaranteed in the first amendment, and most people agree that is one of the most important freedoms we have. It allows us to express ourselves and speak our minds. In some countries, a person cannot say what he or she thinks because it will be considered a threat to government and will have to face the consequences. Freedom of speech and choice make people responsible for their words and actions. The freedom of the press exists in almost every country, although few nations have a press as free as the USA’s. This freedom is not possible when people cannot own the printing, paper and ink like in Cuba, where the freedom of the press is substantially restricted. The radio stations and television cannot exercise liberty when the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to the State and the license might be revoked. Neither can freedom prevail when the Government buys the silence of the media with state propaganda or the justice permits thieves to sue journalists that denounce corruption. Americans enjoy the right to express themselves and to be informed about how they are being governed. There are many facets to the meaning of freedom, but compared to other countries United States is blessed with it, even though the dualism of limitations and freedom will be always present. CITED WORK Einstein, Albert. The world as I see it. New York: Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2006, p. 56.