Describe and compare the economies of the UAE and France Essay

Describe and compare the economies of the UAE and France - Essay Example The tourism sector of the country is very well-developed. The country enjoys the third largest income from this sector (CIA, 2014). The economy of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) is also a global member of multiple organizations like, OPEC, United Nations and Gulf Cooperation Council. The population of the country is 5,628,805 and 76% of the population is Muslim. The economic growth of the U.A.E. could be mainly attributed to its oil sector. However, recently, the government is trying to promote industries other than oil and involvement of private sector in the economy has increased. The financial crisis of 2008 had affected economic growth of the country in recent times (CIA, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to compare these two countries on terms of key economic indicators like, GDP growth rate, GDP per capita, level of unemployment, level of investment and balance of payment position, besides analyzing causes of difference in the level of their performance. In order to compare the level of growth of two countries, GDP growth has been used. Rate of GDP growth is widely employed as an indicator to measure the level of economic growth in a country. GDP can be considered as a summary measure of overall performance of an economy and can facilitate international comparison. The following table tabulates the GDP growth rate of France. The above graph plots the GDP growth rate of France. It can be seen that the country has been adversely affected by the financial crisis, thereby experiencing negative growth rate in 2008 and 2009. The economy has begun to recover since 2010. However, there is still volatility in the GDP growth. It is seen that the level of GDP growth in the U.A.E. has been adversely impacted by the financial crisis in 2008. A negative growth rate in the GDP is noticed in 2009. From comparing the values in above two figures, absolute level of GDP in France is found to be higher than that of the U.A.E.; but in terms of GDP growth rate,

Critical Response of Aflaq, al-Husri, Rida, Khalidi Essay

Critical Response of Aflaq, al-Husri, Rida, Khalidi - Essay Example This term simply refers to according much patriotism to one’s ethnic, as well as the tribal community, other than the government (Hobsbawn 48). Therefore, this script will keenly address the issue of protonationalism according to Hobsbawm. In addition, it will further illustrate the elements of protonationalism identified by Khalidi among Palestinians in 19th and 20th century, together with their contributions to their later nationalist identity formation. The paper will further examine the existence of a unified Palestinian peasant identity. In his endeavor to understand the issue of protonationalism among communities, Hobsbawm starts by wondering why such an association should occur in any given societal setting. For instance, he wonders, why people from a similar state ought to form some communities, as well as associations that make them view the rest as strangers. Hobsbawn explains the concept of protonationalism to have its origin from the existence of feelings resulting to the growth of interests that result to a feeling of a collective belonging (Hobsbawn 49). The current literature that explains the origin, the expansion, as well as the effects of protonationalism has identified two main distinct examples of the above concept. The first example of protonationalism, known as the Supra-local, does not entail the circles in which individuals from a given setting spend their lives. It goes beyond the family setting, and immediate towns, popular to a region’s inhabitants (Khalindi). The second type of protonationalism is the political bonds. Khali located several proto-nationalist elements among the Palestinians. For instance, he listed some of them as language, ethnicity, religion, icons, and awareness of belonging to a long-lasting political distinctiveness (Suleiman 206).Hobsbawn says that, â€Å"for language was merely one, and not necessarily the primary way of distinguishing between cultural communities† (Hobsbawn 58). A language is significant in the nationalist identity formation. First, it acts as an avenue of communication in both the political, as well as the cultural activism. In addition, Hobsbawn reveals ethnicity as another element of proto-nationalism. Hobsbawn say that, â€Å"ethnicity in the Herodotean sense was, is and can be something that binds together populations living on a large territories. ’’ (Hobsbawn 64). The identification of an individual with a certain ethnicity has a basis on assumed common lineage. Hobsbawn concludes that,â€Å" where an elite literary or administrative language exists, however a small number of its actual user, it can become an important element of proto-national cohesion† (Hobsbawn 59). The acknowledgment by others as a separate cultural group is often a contributing aspect to developing this link of recognition. Religion brings people to a common belief system. This is attributable to customs and beliefs that unite people and keep them at peace. Hobsbawn argues that, â€Å"religion is paradoxical cement for proto-nationalism and indeed for modern nationalism’’ (Hobsbawn 64). Ethnic groups are often united by universal culture, basis of social integration, social change, as well as the social control. It directs people towards a certain direction. It also provides conditions and restrictions that serve to limit people’s behavior. Therefore, people are limited in their actions because no entity is supposed to

Vietnam and Iraq Wars Essay Example for Free

Vietnam and Iraq Wars Essay American involvement in Vietnam has roots which preceded the actual deployment of troops, just as the current chapter of the Iraqi War has roots that reach, some would argue, at least as far back as the end of World War II. These two arenas, where America chose to enforce its foreign policy at gunpoint, have many similarities, though ostensibly they appear to be radically different. The two wars began with two very different American presidents telling the Big Lie to the American people and their duly elected representatives, though there are subtle differences in how they came to be told. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident supposedly occurred when two American cruisers, operating within a few miles of the North Vietnamese coast are said to have come under fire by North Vietnamese gunboats. This fabricated incident led Congress to grant Johnson powers to prosecute the war. According to reports released under the Freedom of Information Act it is seriously doubtful as to whether such attacks actually occurred. The 21st century continuation of the Persian Gulf War of the 1990s began with an American president telling the American people and their duly elected representatives another Big Lie. He said, while in possession of reports to the contrary, that the leader of Iraq had amassed weapons of mass destruction, meaning, it was assumed, either nuclear devices or chemical and/or biological weapons. He further stated, knowing it was not likely, that the Iraqi leader was involved in the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center. For their own reasons, Lyndon Johnson and George Walker Bush both chose to obfuscate facts in furtherance of their political agenda. In Vietnam the American fighting men never lost an engagement with the enemy. They won every battle, yet lost the war. Some say the war was lost in the streets of America, victim of bad publicity. The French had held the Vietnamese in colonial slavery since the 19th century, and were only driven out by the Japanese in 1941. At the end of World War II the French decided that they had the right to return as feudal lords. The Viet Minh challenged this assertion, and in 1954, at the battle of Dien Bien Phu, they drove home their point. The French commander committed suicide before the garrison fell to the guerillas under command of the brilliant tactician, General Giap. France pulled out once again, but instead of letting Vietnam unify and hold elections, the U. N. partitioned it. This set the stage for North Vietnam’s president Ho Chi Min to begin to unify his nation by force, which the Americans inexplicably chose to challenge, culminating in Lyndon Johnson lying to get his war powers act through Congress. This war, which seemed to be the sole business of the Vietnamese people, became a quagmire to the Americans, and cost Johnson his presidency in the end. It brought shame and disrepute on the United States as Bush’s Iraqi War has done in the 21st century. Bush lied to obtain the needed powers to wage a war in Iraq. The Iraq War began with Americans watching U. S. Military power raining destruction from the air on the people of Iraq. The American president screamed, â€Å"Bring it on! † to taunt the enemy, and after a short time landed on an American carrier ship, greeted by a banner proclaiming, â€Å"Mission Accomplished†. Unfortunately that was another deception. Now Iraq, like Vietnam, is a quagmire and Bush has no more of an exit strategy then did Lyndon Johnson. Of Vietnam, Pete Seeger, the folk singer sang, â€Å"Waist deep in the big muddy, and the big fool said to push on† (Seeger 1967). The big muddy was, naturally, Vietnam, and the big fool giving the order to keep marching was Lyndon Johnson. Few march today in protest of an equally un-winnable war and no one but the loyal opposition calls Bush a big fool. Still the parents of America fatalities know that their sons and daughters are just as dead as those who died in Vietnam, for the same lame reasons, in wars justified by lies. In declassified documents released in late 2005, Robert Hanyok, a National Security Agency Historian said, â€Å"that a second attack, on August 4, 1964, by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on U. S. ships, did not occur despite claims to the contrary by the Johnson administration (Prados 2004). Prados, a NSA archivist has said he believes it is vital to have this information come to light, saying that the Johnson Administration, â€Å"used this claim to support retaliatory air strikes† (ibid). There are disturbing parallels between the lie concerning the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and the ‘manipulated’ intelligence used to justify the Iraqi War, according to the historian. It is only due to public pressure that the secret agency allowed the documents to be declassified some forty years after the fact. The Bush Administration did not want the truth out for the obvious reason of the comparisons that can be made to his untruths concerning Iraq. John W. Dean, former White House counsel to Richard Nixon, said in 2003, that, â€Å"[George W. Bush] made a number of unequivocal statements about the reason the United States needed to pursue the most radical actions any nation can undertake acts of war against another nation. †¦Now it is clear that many of his statements appear to be false† (Dean 2003). Dean posed the rhetorical question of whether lying to start a war is an impeachable offense against a sitting U. S. President. It is only rhetorical because of the fact the lying chief executive’s party had sufficient control of the legislative branch of government. The party apparently believed that lying about sex is impeachable but lying to start war is simply presidential politics. Bush began a series of misstatements, obfuscations, diversions and lies beginning in 2002 as he began to beat his war drum across the United States. In speech after speech he made wilder and wilder claims regarding the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised (Bush, G. W. 2003). He even sent his Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on the speech circuit, saying (Rumsfeld) personally knew where these weapons were located. They were never found. They never existed. It was all a lethal charade foisted on America by the Bush/Cheney regime. It was argued that Vietnam was fought in defense of the Domino Theory. It has also been suggested that the Iraq War is being fought for the Haliburton Theory, in which American troops have seized Iraqi oil to increase the profits of an American corporation under the control of the sitting vice-president. What is proven is that the Iraq War, like its predecessor, the Vietnam War, was begun with a Big Lie for which the liar has not been called to account. Intelligence sources’ reports exposed each set of lies for what they are, yet neither Johnson nor Bush has been held accountable. References Bush, G.W. Iraq: Denial and Deception (speech) Mar. 17, 2003     Retrieved 5-10-08 From: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html Dean, J. 2003   Missing Weapons of Mass Destruction Retrieved 5-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   11-08 from: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.html Prados, J. 2004  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tonkin Gulf Intelligence ‘Skewed’ Retrieved   5-10-08 From:

Eternal Light Essay Example for Free

Eternal Light Essay Another â€Å"wayfarer† is Victor Frankenstein, who is striving for â€Å"eternal light,† but in another aspect. He is the â€Å"Modern Prometheus,† longing to â€Å"pour a torrent of light into our dark world,† while creating a human being – a deed, which is intrinsic to God (26). His creation is the third participant in the â€Å"journey† to â€Å"eternal light. † He is unnamed, or more often called the creature, the monster, the wretch, or the one with â€Å"unearthly ugliness† (55). Victor’s creation also dreams for â€Å"eternal light† in the meaning of pure love or happiness, but he is compelled to follow the contrary direction – to â€Å"darkness and distance† (134). The three meet each other at the â€Å"land of mist and snow,† where their â€Å"journey† ends, where the border between possible and common lies, between dream and reality, between genius and mankind, between God and mankind, between â€Å"a country of eternal light† and â€Å"darkness and distance. † The character, accountable for the novel’s drama, is Victor Frankenstein, a student in humanities. â€Å"A possible interpretation of the name Victor derives from the poem Paradise Lost by John Milton, a great influence on Shelley (a quotation from Paradise Lost is on the opening page of Frankenstein and Shelley even allows the monster himself to read it). Milton frequently refers to God as ‘the Victor’ in Paradise Lost, and Shelley sees Victor as playing God by creating life† (Wikipedia). As a god Victor is determined to endow mankind: â€Å"Yet my heart overflowed with kindness, and the love of virtue. I had begun life with benevolent intentions, and thirsted for the moment when I should put them in practice, and make myself useful to my fellow-beings† (50). Moreover, as Prometheus, he gives the world â€Å"a spark of being† (28). Furnishing the world with such extreme power Frankenstein should take the responsibility of creator and help his gift be useful not destructive. However he mishandles it. When he is fifteen, he witnesses â€Å"a most violent and terrible thunderstorm,† which â€Å"utterly destroys† an â€Å"old and beautiful oak† (18). This event could be interpreted as an allusion to how pestilential this â€Å"spark of being† could be. As Miglena Nikolchina contends, the â€Å"serious ailment† is â€Å"in the man alone, undertaking the ‘godlike’ function to be a creator, but in many respects immature for it† (57). The concrete reason for the creature being â€Å"spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on† is his physical ugliness (133). Why Frankenstein’s creation is ugly? According to Cvetan Stoyanov, â€Å"Ugliness is in fact alienation, drifting away from the vital principle – organic could not be ugly, transgressing and killing it is ugly† (206). Something, often cited in connection to Shelley’s work is a sentence in which the perfect artist is described as a morally perfect man, as a â€Å"second creator, faultless Prometheus under the sky of Jupiter† (Shaftsbury 207). In this respect Miglena Nikolchina considers Frankenstein as an untalented artist, because he is not â€Å"morally perfect† and shows this as a reason for the monster’s ugliness. She claims that the Frankenstein’s morality is not one of a creator, but one of an ordinary man. â€Å"Frankenstein has not even fancied that love – namely love and only love his creation wants – is the first characteristic of creator. † â€Å"Ugliness turns out the sign, left behind by the creator who infuses life, but does not manage to come to love it and thus calls forth death, for it is not possible the fated for living to be made without love, and has no vitality what is deprived of the mercy to be loved† (Nikolchina 79-82). Victor’s blindness about the monster’s innocent nature is more harmful than the physical blindness. The blind De Lacey is the only man who perceives the monsters good resolutions. About the structure of the novel Nikolchina offers an interesting definition. It is â€Å"constructed as if of concentric circles of ice. The sailing to the North Pole is the outer circle, which serve as a frame of Frankenstein’s story. The conversation between the monster and Frankenstein among the sea of ice near Chamounix is the frame of the monster’s story, which is the core of the novel† (Nikolchina 86). The central part of his story is when after burning down the cottage of De Lacey he wonders: â€Å"And now, with the world before me, whither should I bend my steps? (80). Hereafter he starts hunting for his creator and begins alienating from his natural innocence. The creature wends his way toward â€Å"darkness and distance. † The changing nature corroborates his moral collapse: â€Å"I travelled only at night, fearful of encountering the visage of a human being. Nature decayed around me, and the sun became heatless; rain and snow poured around me; mighty rivers were frozen; the surface of the earth was hard, and chill, and bare, and I found no shelter† (81). â€Å"Advancing into experience,† Miglena Nikolchina explains, â€Å"is entering into a core of cold as well† (87). She suggests two aspects in analysing the role of ice. First it could be seen as â€Å"a supreme, unapproachable, unsusceptible to changes reality. It elevates Frankenstein ‘from all littleness of feeling,’ it fills him with ‘a sublime ecstasy that gives wings to the soul, and allows it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy’† (Nikolchina 87). Such an eternal and infinite is the picture before Robert Walton too: â€Å"†¦the region of beauty and delight. †¦the sun is for ever visible; its broad disk just skirting the horizon, and diffusing a perpetual splendour. The explorer’s hopes are so great that they turn out fantasies – he imagines an absolutely unreal North Pole: â€Å"†¦there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe† (2). The Modern Prometheus chooses the â€Å"wi ld and mysterious regions† to â€Å"the tamer scenes of nature† (11). He goes beyond the potentialities of ordinary people, however, aiming not at admiring of the Great Nature, but at gaining the divine secrets. While Elizabeth contemplates â€Å"with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things,† Victor delights â€Å"in investigating their causes. † Elizabeth follows â€Å"the aerial creations of the poets† and â€Å"in the majestic and wondrous scenes† she finds â€Å"ample scope for admiration and delight,† while Victor is â€Å"capable of a more intense application,† and is â€Å"more deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge† (15). He elevates his intellect, but not his soul. He does not realize that new born (for his creation emerges in a completely unfamiliar world) needs love and attendance. Striving to eternal light,† he encounters â€Å"impenetrable darkness. † Night is closing around,† †dark are the mountains,† â€Å"heavens are clouded† (40-41). The â€Å"spark of being† turns out a hideous abortion. â€Å"Thick mists hide the summits of the mountains† (54). Frankenstein falls into â€Å"deep, dark, deathlike solitude† (50). Suffering â€Å"the eternal twinkling of the stars weighed upon him,† instead of delighting â€Å"eternal light,† he exclaims: â€Å"Oh! stars, and clouds, and winds, ye are all about to mock me: if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness† (87). The magnificent scenes give way to appalling â€Å"dusky plain† (124). The other aspect of the ice, according Nikolchina, is â€Å"something barren and lifeless; like a power, which is hostile to life; like muteness† (88). Longing revenge, Victor departs from land and â€Å"pursues his journey across the sea in a direction that leads to no land,† â€Å"†¦the snows thicken and the cold increases in a degree almost too severe to support†¦ The rivers were covered with ice and no fish could be procured† (123). The nature seems to be inspirited and acts against Frankenstein: â€Å"Immense and rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage, and I often heard the thunder of the ground sea which threatened my destruction† (124). It seems he has stepped on some unseen border that can not be crossed. â€Å"When he appears almost within grasp of his foe, his hopes are suddenly extinguished, [ ]. The wind arises; the sea roars; and, as with the mighty shock of an earthquake, it splits and cracks with a tremendous and overwhelming sound. The work is soon finished: in a few minutes a tumultuous sea rolls between him and his enemy, and he is left drifting on a scattered piece of ice, that is continually lessening, and thus preparing for him a hideous death† (124). â€Å"Walton is also surrounded by mountains of ice which admit of no escape and threaten every moment to crush his vessel† (127). The situation with the â€Å"unearthly† creature is however different. The stream of his spiritual development is contrary to the ones of Frankenstein and Walton. Through the epithet â€Å"unearthly† Shelley differentiates him from mankind. While Walton and Victor aim â€Å"wild and mysterious regions,† the creature seeks an intimacy with common world. The monster is â€Å"immaculate in a quite literal meaning – he is empty, tabula rasa† (Nikolchina 72). Every scene and every feeling he touches to are admirable for him. Everything is for the first time. He is a child. The monster meets the civilization, for the first, through the agency of fire, which is an allusion to a new Promethean deed. However he encounters some strangers’ fire. The â€Å"new born† learns everything from the outside world, from accidental circumstances. There is no one to guide him, no one to show him what is worth learning. According to A. A. Belskee, Shelley displays â€Å"the destructiveness of individualism, the tragedy of compulsory desolation, the intangibility of happiness without associating with others† (Belskee 303). Every approach to human society brings a lot of suffering to the creature, notwithstanding he sees â€Å"the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy† (65). Despondently speaking to Walton he describes himself as â€Å"the miserable and the abandoned, [†¦] an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on† (133). The only possible interrelation with the surrounding world is violence. His crimes are a natural reaction, a rebel against the complete solitude. Otherwise the monster â€Å"could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, [†¦] when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing† (68). He clearly declares: â€Å"I was the slave, not the master, of an impulse which I detested, yet could not disobey† (132). The wretched interprets his lot as worse than Satan’s from Milton’s Paradise Lost, for â€Å"Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred† (74). He is the only one of the tree, the only one in the world, who completely rejects society with its gall, the only one who crosses the â€Å"border,† laid by society, and fades in â€Å"no land. † He fades for there will be no one to see him. The â€Å"eternal frosts† have frozen all the hatred into his â€Å"ice-raft† and he is â€Å"soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance† (143). The hopes of â€Å"poor† Frankenstein also fade with his death. He remains at the icy border, between â€Å"eternal light† and â€Å"darkness and distance. † The only thing he succeeds in is revealing these two possibilities for the future human nature: â€Å"Seek happiness in tranquillity and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed.

An Analysis of Dickinson’s I Felt a Funeral in My Brain Essay example -

An Analysis of Dickinson’s "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" Emily Dickinson was a poet who used many different devices to develop her poetry, which made her style quite unique. A glance at one of her poems may lead one to believe that she was quite a simple poet, although a closer examination of her verse would uncover the complexity it contains. Dickinson’s poem " I felt a Funeral, in my Brain", is a prime example of complicity embodied by simple style and language. In this piece, Dickinson chronicles psychic fall. The use of many different devices such as sound, repetition, and metaphors, all help to develop the theme of the poem. Perhaps the best way for the reader to uncover the meaning of the poem at hand is to have a glance into the world of the poet. Emily Dickinson lived alone (emotionally) in a world she filled with her poetry and letters. Dickinson rejected her upbringing and religious background which, in turn, acted to sever her ties with the other people in her society. Much of her poetry served her as a type of therapy in which she could record and sort her thoughts and feelings. She did not write for an audience. This is an important fact to know when one reads her intimate poetry and tries to make sense of it. It could be implied that she did not feel the world was in any way constant, and it is as if her poetry was a reflection of this. Much of her poetry is about a reaction to a certain situation, and there is a great deal of contradiction in her work. Dickinson’s poem "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain" records an intimate battle within herself. The first stanza of the poem serves as an introduction to the reader. It tells of how the poet invisions her men... ...iety in which she lived, and her rejection of it had consequences. Poems such as the one at hand illustrate the occurrence of church in all aspects of life, and even though she chose not to accept it, it was still a part of her. Her outward resentment towards the church left a void in her life which, one could assume, acted as a catalyst for the mental breakdown that she depicts in this poem. Emily Dickinson was a poet that was very different from other poets of her time. The fact that she withdrew herself from society and that she was a woman made her poetry quite unique. Because she had no contact with other poets of her time, her style was quite original. Because she was not writing for an audience, many of her poems are deeply personal. It is up to the readers of Dickinson’s poetry to remove themselves from reality, and escape into the many corners of her mind.

Identity and Culture Essay -- Cultural Identity Essays

When we think about our identity we often think about the way we look. Such features as hair color, eye color, skin tone, height and weight come to mind. Whilst these features are part of our identity, there are many more complex factors that make us who we are. Whilst psychological issues are paramount to the formation of our identity, I will be addressing the nature of our identity in relation to socio-cultural factors (Austin, 2002, p.9). During the course of this essay I will be discussing the term of Identity and some of the axes of identity, including Race, Class and Gender. It is important to understand some of the significant issues of identity so that we have more of an understanding of who and what we are, which in turn may help us to begin to better understand others. Identity The New English Dictionary (1999) defines identity as "the distinguishing characteristics of a person." Our identity makes us who and what we are. It could be described as a sense of belonging and about having things in common with others (Weeks, 1990, cited in Austin, 2002, p.1). "Identity is a dynamic feature of social life. That is, it is something that is constantly evolving and changing. For some people, identity can change rapidly and dramatically, of course, but for most of us our identities evolve slowly and imperceptibly" (Livesey, n.d., p.1). There are many factors to consider in understanding the process of identity formation. Structuralists believe that we are the product of our society. Therefore there are many environmental and social factors that go into the formation of an identity. For example children that grow up in the bush will have different influences in their lives to children that grow up in the cit... ...d.). "A" Level Sociology, Teaching Notes for Students. Culture and Identity, 6. Sources of Identity. World Wide Web: http://freespace.virgin.net/chris.livesey/cculture.htm [2002, July, 24]. MÃ ¡rquez, C (1999). Empowering Chicanos Through Self-identity. Faculty Mentor: Olga Vasquez, Ph.D., Department of Communication. World Wide Web: http://www.communication.ucsd.edu/LCM/ectsi.html [30 July, 2002]. Weeks, J. (1990). The value of difference. In J. Austin (Ed.), Culture & Identity (pp.1-3). NSW: Pearson Education Australia. Woolfolk, A.E. (1998). Educational Psychology. Seventh Edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. McDonald, Kevin (2000). Pressing Questions: explorations in sociology. Issue two. Pearson Education Australia Pty Ltd.

Diabetes Mellitus :: essays research papers fc

Diabetes mellitus has a long historical record dating back to second century AD. The word "diabetes" was first used by the Greek physician Aretaeus. The word diabetes means "siphon". It was first used to describe patients with excessive thirst and urination. In the 17th century, the word mellitus, meaning "like honey", was added when diabetes patients' urine was noticed to be sweet. However, the disease is not directly related to urine, but instead to the pancreas. Today many other symptons and complications of the disease are known. Although, the disease has many complications there are also simple treatments to follow to avoid serious problems. Diabetes is a familiar health problem that affects millions of people world wide. Diabetes results from the failure of the pancreas to produce a sufficient amount of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that regulates the body's use of glucose. Therefore, the excess gluce remains in the bloodstream and passes out the body in urine. In some cases, the pancreas produces a sufficient amount of insulin, but the insulin is blocked from the body's cells and cannot be used. This causes diabetes patients to have abnormally high amounts of sugar in their blood and urine. Diagnosing a patient with diabetes is more complicated than measuring the glucose level of urine only one time. Instead the diagnosis involves several hours of glucose-tolerance tests. These tests measure the rate in which sugar is removed from the bloodstream. After the test are complete, a high glucose level indicates insufficient insulin and the patient is diagnosed with diabetes. There are several symptoms and complications involved with diabetes mellitus. The symptoms are excessive thirst and urination, unusual hunger, a lot of weight loss, and fatigue. The complications are heart attack and stroke, chronic kidney disease, lower-extremity amputations, blindness, and death. Arteriosclerosis is a condition caused by prolonged high levels of blood sugar that causes the walls of small blood vessels to thicken. This condition results in heart disease and stroke. Kidney failure may be caused by inadequate blood circulation. Poor circulation in the legs leads to gangrene which may require amputation of the toes or the legs. New cases of blindness in adults between the ages of 20 and 74 are caused by diabetic retinopathy. This condition causes hemorrhages in the capillaries of the eye's retina resulting in a loss of vision. Pain or a loss of feeling in the arms or the legs is caused by neurophathy which damages the nerves.

Osmosis in Potato Tissue

Biology Aim: My objective is to plan and conduct an  experiment from which I should be able to draw a firm conclusion that  will either prove or disprove any predictions I make. This essay aims to assess and investigate the effect of various solution concentrations on the activity of osmosis in plant tissue. Background scientific theory: Plants exchange gases (CO2 and O2) in maintaining vital respiratory processes and in carrying out photosynthesis; they absorb certain minerals and sugars so to use as a source of energy and eradicate wastes in order to maintain specific requirements for survival.Large amounts of water are absorbed by root hairs and are then distributed across the cells of plants by the process of osmosis; water being essential to life, assists cells in executing crucial chemical processes. Molecules travel by two means; active transport or passive transport. Active transport is the movement of a substance from a low to high concentration against the norm concentr ation gradient. Hence, the process requires expenditure of energy, and the support of a carrier protein. Passive transport, however, does not require energy but occurs spontaneously instead.It is a form of transport by which molecules move along a concentration gradient, from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. Passive transport includes osmosis and facilitates diffusion. Osmosis is a special case of diffusion; it describes the passage of a solvent from a weaker solution, where there is higher water potential, to that of a more concentrated solution that has a lower water potential through a partially permeable membrane in order to achieve the state of equilibrium. A partially permeable membrane acts as a barrier to some substances but allows others to penetrate through freely.Within any plant cell the cytoplasm and cell sap within the vacuoles are of a variety of substances such as salt, sugars and proteins. In theory, water will diffuse into the cell by osmosis if the solution surrounding the cell is weaker but when enclosed by a stronger more concentrated solution than its contents than water is drawn from it by the same process. As a result it becomes flaccid; the turgor pressure falls, the vacuole collapses and the cytoplasm shrink away from the cell wall. This may result in its wilting or death. Plant cells have a cell wall as well as a plasma membrane.The cell wall is a strong and rigid structure that is used by the cell to create osmotic pressure within the cell. This pressure can build because of the rigidity of the cell wall. The cells within a plant that contain high water pressure act as the plant supportive structure, helping to give it its shape. When gaining, the vacuole will expand and press outwards on the cytoplasm and cell wall but since this cannot be over stretched there is a resistance on the inflow of water by the un-stretchable cell wall. This resistance results in turgor pressure exerted by the vacuole on the cell walls.When the vast majority of the cells within the leaves and stem of plant are turgid, its stem will be firm and upright and the leaves straight therefore providing mechanical strength. Similarly a flaccid celled leaf will be limp and the stem will droop; such plants are thought to be wilting. Factors that affect the rate of osmosis (potential variables) The rate of osmosis is much dependent upon a number of factors; the temperature, the nature of the solute, the difference in concentration of solute on either side of the membrane, and any external pressure applied against the direction of flow.Concentration: – The  concentration  of a chemical  solution  refers to the amount of solute  that is dissolved in a  solvent. The concentration of any solution or plan tissue is directly linked to its water potential; the higher the concentration the lower it water potential. Water potential is a measure of the potential of water to enter or leave. Within a di lute solution there is a higher proportion of free water molecules hence water will flow from the dilute to concentrated solution; it is said to have a higher water potential.The maximum water potential is nil; an example of which is within pure water hence water molecules will flow from it to any other aqueous solution regardless of how dilute it may be. There are three possible concentrations of solution. The first, a hypertonic solution, has a higher solute concentration than that of the cell and as a result the water will leave the cell resulting in collapsed vacuoles in plant cells. A hypotonic solution, however, has a lower solute concentration than the solute concentration inside the cell and hence the net movement of water inside the cell is at its maximum.Whilst an isotonic solution is when the concentration of solutes is the same inside the cell as it is outside of the cell; in such as case the cell would not lose nor gain any water. This state is otherwise recognized as d ynamic Equilibrium where the molecules are randomly distributed despite there still being a rapid net movement of water across the cell membrane in both directions; water movement in opposing directions occur at the same rate and thereby ‘cancel’ each other out.Larger differences between the concentrations or water potential of the solutions results in a steeper concentration gradient, meaning a faster rate of osmosis. In effect the concentration outside of any cell is proportional to osmosis rates and therefore the higher the concentration of the solution the higher the net movement of water. Concentration is the factor which is to be assessed in the following experiment; it can be altered by diluting the solution with distilled water whilst keeping the volume constant, (i. e. a 0. 8 molar sucrose solution would consist of 2cm? f distilled water with 8cm? of sucrose solution equivalent to 10cm? of a mixture. ) Temperature: – The rate of Osmosis is also reliant u pon the kinetic energy of the particles being diffused. Since energy is directly related to heat, temperature governs the amount of kinetic energy the particles have. The general temperature of the room in which the experiment takes place will influence measurements of mass of the potato; hence it is important that we ensure that it remains ambient throughout our experiment in order to increase the reliability of our measurements.Ultimately as temperature increases or decreases, the rate of osmosis should also increase or decrease in relative, causing the potato chips to lose/gain mass at a faster/ slower rate. Temperature is therefore directly proportional to the rate of osmosis. Surface area to volume ratio- Additionally the surface area of the plant tissue or in this case the potato will also influence osmosis; the larger the surface area, the more cells are directly exposed to the liquid solution; therefore more water can transfer through the membranes of the cells at any one ti me resulting in a more massive net movement of water by osmosis.Size of Potato;- A large sized potato is likely to contain more  substances. Therefore it is likely to contain more water, which can  affect osmosis as there will be an increasing concentration of water,  which, as the potato's size increases affecting the overall movement  of water depending on the concentration of solution that the potato is  kept in. All potato chips shall be approximately at the same mass initially (1. 6g ± 0. 2g) Plant Tissue:-Where the potato was sourced from will also greatly affect the osmosis rates that are observed by its change in mass also whilst some may be old others may be fresh. In theory osmosis rates will be considerably more efficient in newer than older potato strips for the reason that in older ones its cells may be more damaged or be on the verge of decay. Hence the permeability of the potato can too be determined by its age; its age and permeability to the larger exten t are in inverse proportion therefore.Type of solution:- Different solution types ( i. e. sucrose, glucose, potassium chloride and sodium chloride) will differ from one another in that the size of the molecules of the solute may be larger in one that the other. this will affect osmosis rates within the plant tissue in that smaller molecules will be able to penetrate through the partially permeable membrane with far more ease than larger ones ; hence the smaller the molecules of the solute the faster the rate of osmosis. Time; –The time given in which the plant tissue was immersed within the solution would also affect the experiment, as we would expect that with a longer duration, there would be more time for osmosis to occur. Pressure; – The pressure on one side of the membrane can increase or decrease the rate of osmosis by pushing the solution against the membrane. Selecting a factor â€Å"An independent variable is that which is presumed to affect or determine a de pendent variable[1]†. It can be changed as required, and its values do not represent a problem requiring explanation in an analysis, but are taken simply as given.More generally, the independent variable is what someone actively changes; while the dependent variable is what changes as a result. The constant variable or otherwise known as controlled variable, however, is never changed during an experiment as it remains ‘constant’. During my experiment I shall be measuring the change in mass of the potato chips as the dependant variable in order to investigate the effect of different concentration of sucrose solution (independent variable) on osmosis.Other factors such as the room temperature, type and volume of solution, form and size of plant tissue shall remain ambient through out my investigation as controlled variables or otherwise ‘constants’. Qualitative, Quantitative and Testable Hypothesis Osmosis is defined as being the net movement of water f rom a region of high concentration to that of a low concentration. This  movement must take place across a partially permeable membrane such as  a cell wall, which allows only explicit molecules to penetrate through but obstructs the pathway of others.Diffusion will continue until the area in which the molecules are found  reaches a state of equilibrium where molecules are  randomly distributed throughout solution. By my scientific background knowledge I can make a number of predications; I hypothesize that the rate of osmosis will differ in all test tubes depending on the concentration of solution, resulting in some either gaining mass in becoming turgid, others remaining the same whilst the rest lose mass and being flaccid after being immersed in solution subsequent to a fixed period of time.I hypothesize that plant tissue immersed in solution of higher concentration than that within the cell itself (hypertonic solution) will loose mass because there will be a net movement of water through the partially permeable membrane outside the cell where there is a considerably lower water potential. The plant cell becomes flaccid and as a result of the ell membrane shrinking and pulling away from its cells walls, it said to have been plasmolysed. Likewise, I predict that if the plant cell is placed in a hypotonic solution where the concentration of solution is lower than that of the cell than water is absorbed by osmosis.The plant cell swells and shall become turgid to the extent that the pressure within the cell matches the internal or turgor pressure. The turgor pressure shall prevent further uptake of Water preventing it from rupturing. More generally the concentration of the sucrose solution in the flasks is inversely proportional with the plant tissues change in mass; as you increase the concentration of the solution, both the mass and the length of the potato chip will decrease.This I shall prove by measuring the mass of the plant tissue before it being and subsequent to being submerged in solution. Data collected shall be handled and substituted into the following equation . . . . Final mass (g) – initial mass (g) X 100 = Percentage Change Initial mass (g) A negative percentage change will signify that water has been lost by its net movement through the partially permeable membrane whilst a positive one will suggest that there has been a gain. I predict that my findings when transferred onto a graph will have a similar trend as in the one shown below.Preliminary The main objective of carrying out four preliminary experiments was to inform me as to which instruments would be most efficient in its use, gain first hand practice and recognize suitable methods in order to conclude specified measures which I will be using in ensuring that my final investigation is of highest standards in its reliability. |Concentration (Mole)|Mass(g) |Percentage change of | | | |mass (% to 1 d. ) | | |Before |After |Change | | |1. 000 |2. 32 |1. 97 |0. 35 |15. 0 | |0. 500 |2. 30 |2. 24 |0. 06 |2. 60 | |0. 250 |2. 28 |2. 23 |0. 05 |2. 20 | |0. 125 |2. 32 |2. 59 |-0. 27 |-11. 60 | Preliminary experiment 1 – Equipment: ? cork bores (5mm) potato ? glucose solution ? ruler ? tissue ? distilled water ? scalpel ? pipette ? test tubes x4 ? measuring cylinder ? scales Key: outlier Experiment 1 varied the concentration of the glucose solution; from the readings observed a clear correlation can be identified as a result of measurements being wide ranging- as the concentration of the glucose solution reduced by half each time the mass of the potatoes reduced too and hence there is a proportional correlation between the independent and dependant variable.Such readings are scientifically explanatory and correspond with my initial prediction produced in the previously discussed section of the hypothesis. One major setback of this investigation was that I used too few solutions with varying concentrations and hence the readings ava ilable in giving evidence of any judgments on my findings or when proving/disproving my initial predictions are limited.Hence, if I were to further develop this investigation as my final one I intend on using 5 different concentrated solutions that range from 0. 2 to 1 molar with increments of 0. 2moles. In this investigation we failed to use distilled water but instead opted for tap water because we had forgotten; this is much likely to have reduced the reliability of my results because any dissolved substances within the water will have affected the rate of osmosis by changing the solutions proposed concentration.In the final experiment we shall therefore use distilled water. However, I believe that my readings from the first preliminary experiment are reasonably fair and reliable because no outliers which contradict the key identified trend can be found and the mass of the potatoes previous to and subsequent to the experiment was accurate to 0. 01 of a decimal place. The potato w ith which we worked with was . . . . . . Preliminary Experiment 2 Equipment: cork bores (5mm) ? Swede ? sucrose solution ? ruler |Temperature (C °) |Length (mm) |Percentage change in | | | |length (% to 1d. p ) | | |Before |After |change | | |45 |3. 5 |3. 3 |0. 2 |5. 7 | |0 |3. 5 |3. |-0. 2 |-5. 7 | |25 |3. 5 |3. 5 |0. 0 |0. 0 | ? tissue ? distilled water ? scalpel ? pipette ? test tubes x3 ? measuring cylinder Key: outlier The second of my preliminary experiments was to see the effect of change in temperature on the rate of osmosis; the cell membrane remained at constant as Swede which was immersed in a 10ml sucrose solution at 1 mole.It is different from other preliminary experiments by the fact the Swede cylinders were 40 mm in length; however as suggested by the data there is no significant change in my measurements. The measurements that were collected were few; by 45, 0 and 25 degrees acting thereby as a disadvantage because we are restricted in the amount of data available in proving the trend. It is suggested that the higher the temperature the higher the osmosis rates; our observations are fully explainable, expected and scientifically conventional.It is known that temperature has a direct relationship to the movement of particles across a membrane; therefore as temperature increases, the rate at which particles move across the membrane should increase too as its molecules will be more excited in having more kinetic energy. Nonetheless if the temperature were to rise too high the selective permeability of the membrane can be damaged due to becoming denatured hence permanently collapsing the process of osmosis; this could be investigated by experimenting with temperature at or over 60 degrees.If I were to further develop this investigation with temperature being the independent variable I would take 4 measurements with increments of 20 degrees with minimum values of -20 to 60 degrees. My results here are less accurate by my use of only an average the rmometer as it is corrected to the nearest centigrade measured; consequently if I were to develop this experiment I would prefer to use a data logger which will give me values that have been rounded to the nearest decimal place with a considerably smaller error tolerance.In all of our preliminary investigation there was a reaction time of 30 minutes given; this however in my opinion is unreasonably low because the process of osmosis may have not yet reached its maximum capacity or equilibrium; hence in the final experiment there will be 45 minutes given for each set of vegetable cylinders. We did not use a stop watch or any other means of measuring and setting the reaction time other than the classroom clock and our best estimates; this may have hindered the reliability of our measurements so I shall use an stop watch in the final experiment which is accurate to

DBQ: Reign of Terror Essay

â€Å"The execution of Louis XVI marked the beginning of the 18 month period of the French Revolution that has come to be called ‘The Reign of Terror’†(49). It was led by no other than Robespierre, in an attempt to start a new government, which proceeded to execute large numbers of people. The 18 months was a blood pouring event during the French Revolution. These events were unnecessary and the whole Reign of Terror was unjustified because it was a sin to kill, they went against what other through and what was right, and they went beyond what was necessary. Not only was the Reign of Terror a big part of the French Revolution but it was a very unjustified event, creating sins among the people. They treated the dead as heads and bodies of simple animals rather than thinking of them as once humans. â€Å"Carried it mockingly, upside down on a cart, offering it to passers-by to spit on†(59). The people then went against the churches abolishing holidays which were important to many people and their beliefs. They also killed thousands, â€Å"many of these people were guillotined†(63). They would cut the heads of criminals and even innocent without trial. The guillotine began very popular through these months, becoming the number one way of killing. â€Å"The guillotine became one of the most powerful symbols of the French Revolution†¦ It had a sharp, angled blade, which dropped quickly on a guided track†(65). These months were very gruesome for the people of france and many families, to where no one felt safe. These murders were sins, killed without reason or trial making the Reign of Terror unjustified. They were also unjustified because they were out of control and gave no trial to those who were sent to death. â€Å"The tribunal followed a formalized legal procedure, but gradually broke down â€Å"(63). They soon after gave in and stopped following their word, stopping all the trials. â€Å"The tribunal were out of control and kill thousands of innocents and accused men and women†(63). These deaths soon became a public view to anyone to witness, a view no one could forget, yet something to celebrate. â€Å"The public guillotines were memorable events†¦ laughing and chatting familiarly as if they were at a festival†(65) The people screamed of joy once the Kings blood poured from his headless body for they had finally killed him off. Louis XVI  was killed for the unjustified killing of many without a fair or given trial. The unjustification also included the Reign of Terror causing an unnecessary amount of deaths and beyond what was called for. People dropping without trial, without justification why at some points. â€Å"historians estimate that between 20000 and 40000 people were killed by the guillotine during the Reign of Terror†(65). The Committee soon hired many to spy making the areas hard to be trusted, they were always searching for if they were being watched. â€Å"a careless word of criticism spoken against the government could put on in prison or worse†(63). This made no one safe from imprisonment or death, this was unnecessary, against what we now have the right to speech. This was beyond what was needed or called for these people were killed over an unjustified event, just if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This shows how the Reign of Terror was unjustified and brutally unfair to the people of the times. Thousands killed without trial but guillotine decapitating them. â€Å"In mid- 1794 the Reign of Terror came to a rather abrupt end. Robespierre himself was executed and a more conservative government was put in place†(49). These times ruined families and homes across france, killing innocent men without trying them on trial in front of a fair jury. These 18 months became the bloodiest months of the French Revolution creating a huge impact on our history and government now showing how unjustified it was. The Reign of Terror was a against sin, unnecessary, and went beyond limits.

Do we have a defensible account of what is to be a person?

To support the assertion that a person exists as a person in their individual unique position and that, they do not, cannot and can never occupy the space and position of another person must be proven using unchallengeable, unquestionable or unchanging evidence. Before we begin answering this question, we must first of all establish who and what a person is: i.e. what are the basic and universal characteristics of a person?Where does the definition of a person begins and ends along the continuum that is occupied by all species – they could be hominoids – monkeys, baboons, apes, chimps, or non-person species etc†¦.† When does a person cease being a person to become a non-person? Is this a reversible process – if so, why? If not, why?According to Wiktionary a person is a human being, then a human being is defined as man, the characteristics of man are identified from the later â€Å"human being† being signifies existence, human means belonging to the species of Homo sapiens some of the characteristic that would be associated to this is ability to express, feel, all humankind characteristics like being weak or fallible. Where then do we find the person in the human being is it the physical body of an individual being?Aristotle says man is a logical â€Å"word using† animal and a featherless two footed animal. These however, are not the only differences.A lot of other animals share these characteristics for instance insects and apes though remotely but it emerges that people are distinctly quite distinctive, befitting account of what it is to be a person could give the core of this distinction hence illustrating why certain characteristics are important and the others but incidental John Haugeland Noà »s, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1982.We are told, that modern philosophers and Christians interpreted Aristotle’s â€Å"logical† as â€Å"rational† thus proposing this rationality as our principle differentia, th erefore Descartes maintains that people can talk because they reason and he could have stated the same on other characteristics.Contrary to other animals humans have a highly developed brain with an ability to reason abstractly, use words and examining thoughts, it is due to this mental capacity together with their body structure that allows their upper limbs to make more use of tools than other animals. Human beings are social by nature a characteristic of most primates; nevertheless they are more skillful in using systems of communication for self-expression, interaction, exchange of ideas and planning.Man has put in place social structures made of competing and cooperating groups such structures are, families marked by blood relations and other relations, nations originating from geographical boundaries, social groups and so on.These interactions between humans have put in place a wide variety of traditions, rituals, ethics values laws and social norms which are the foundation of a human society. Man has a clearly noticeable recognition for beauty and tastefulness which is compounded by the human desire for self-expression has given rise to cultural inventions and innovations such as art, literature and music.Humans are distinct for their desire to understand and influence the world around them, man seeks to explain and manage natural occurrences by science, mythology, philosophy and religion, this curiosity in man has led to development of tools and skills, this may be one of the most significant characteristic of human beings. It is by these characteristics:Anatomical structures, mental abilities, social responsibility, cultural norms, conscious and unconscious will and freedom of choice, innovativeness that we define a person. This may be the basic and universal characteristics of a person.

Animal Experimentation

Animal Experimentation Free Online Research Papers Animal experimentation is a big part of medical progress. Opponents of animal testing point out the amount of animals used and the different types of animals used but if you look at it, it’s all for a good reason. Animal experimenters don’t do this just to do it. It’s for a purpose. There are thousands upon thousands of medical situations that couldn’t have been done without animal experimenting. Animal suffering is pointed out but for the most part animals go without feeling any pain. Animal experimentation has helped advance us so much medically that no matter what extent of suffering you find or what type of alternatives you find, it will never fully disappear. Animal experimentation is not a recent event. It‘s been around for thousands of years. â€Å"The earliest references to animal testing are found in the writings of the Greeks in the third and fourth centuries BC, with Aristotle (384-322 BC) and Erasistratus (304-258 BC) among the first to perform experiments on living animals† (Wikipedia, 14 Oct. 2006  ¶4). Erasistratus was a student at Aristotle’s school in Athens. It was there that he got the name â€Å"The Father Of Physiology† due to the work he did on the studies of the circulatory system and the nervous system on animals (Paul and Paul, 2001 p 24). Another person of great influence with the history of animal experimentation is Galen of Pergamum. During his time it was illegal for anyone to dissect a human therefore he had to move to animals for his learning and observations. â€Å"He put pigs, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, bears, mice, monkeys, and even an elephant all under his knife; in doing so, he ‘put animal research on the map, not only for his contemporaries but also for the next fifteen centuries.’† (Paul and Paul, 2001 p 25). There are numerous types of experiments that were performed after animal testing was first discovered. After Galen, there were many other highly intelligent and important people who followed him in his ways of working on animals for medical purposes. One being William Harvey (1578-1657). His â€Å"discovery that blood circulates through the body, a discovery that has been called ‘the greatest physiological advance of the seventeenth century, and perhaps of all time,’ was based almost exclusively on animal experiments† (Paul and Paul, 2001 p 25). An English clergyman named Stephen Hales â€Å"used only a mare to develop techniques for measuring blood pressure and the capacity of the heart. He did this by inserting a long glass tube into one of the horse’s arteries and, with each heartbeat, measuring the rise and fall of the blood in the tube† (Paul and Paul, 2001 p 25-6). By performing experiments on animals during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were many important medical benefits formed. In 1798 William Jenner worked with two deadly diseases, cowpox and horsepox. In doing this he was able to develop the smallpox vaccination which is incredibly important to human health today. â€Å"Louis Pasteur turned his attention to the diseases of humans and the higher animals, and to the elaboration of preventative vaccines. Together with his brilliant students Èmilie Roux, Charles Chamberland, and Louis Thuillier, he launched a series of experiments that resulted first in a vaccine for chicken cholera ? an economically damaging disease† (Paul and Paul, 2001 p 26-7). From there he was also able to make a vaccination for anthrax which was tested on sheep, goats, and cows. Another vaccination formed by Pasteur which was tested on animals was the rabies vaccination, another extremely important benefit to humans. Later on throughout the years we have had humans experience some painful, depressing, and fatal medical situations which have in most cases been helped to become less extreme with the help of animal testing. Some of the more important medical areas being helped by using animals is cancer, AIDS, and psychological issues. In some cases animal experimentation is the only logical way to find cures or vaccinations for these diseases or problems in human health. When it’s looked at that way, it needs to be decided which is more important, human health or the well-being of animals. Although cancer isn‘t the main reason for animal testing, it‘s become one of the most helped by animal testing. â€Å"It is of interest to see how important animal models have been in obtaining these [cancer treating] results†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 133). About 12% of animal experimentation is done involving cancer research (Baumans, 2004 Figure 2). In order to test anticancer agents liver microsomes are needed. Therefore if you were to use in vitro testing, using cells instead of an actual body of an animal, you wouldn’t be able to have that due to the fact of not having a real, living animal. â€Å"Major advances in cancer chemotherapy have come from the use of drugs in combination and from the use of optimum does schedules for each anticancer agent†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 136). â€Å"Because of the larger number of variables involved the tumor bearing animal is the only possible model to study complicated drug c ombinations and dose schedules† (ibid). Tumor bearing animals are most helpful in ranking doses by how effective they are. You could do this by in vitro but on the contrary if the experiment becomes too difficult it wouldn’t work as well as using a live animal. The whole AIDS experiment on animals started with scientists wanted to know what exactly caused A IDS. Wanting to know that led them to use many different species including chimpanzees. These animals were inoculated with blood from AIDS patients. These experiments weren’t much help and kind of seemed a waste of time due to the fact of getting no usable result. The scientists then did numerous experiments in the laboratory to figure out that a retrovirus, HIV, was the cause of AIDS. They then inoculated different species, including rabbits and chimpanzees, to see what would be the outcome. â€Å"Of the nonhuman primates only chimpanzees and gibbon apes could be infected with HIV in such a way that the virus could reisolated from the inoculated animals and that antibodies were produced against HIV proteins† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 153). The chimps were then observed for 4-6 years and nothing seemed to be wrong therefore â€Å"it seemed warranted to state that c himpanzees are relatively resistant to the pathogenic action of HIV† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 154). â€Å"Although animal experiments have not contributed to the discovery of HIV nor to the solution of the AIDS problem, there is a great need for animal models for some burning questions in AIDS research† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 154). Some of these questions being â€Å"What is the cause of the T helper cell depletion in AIDS patients? What is the cause of presenile dementia in HIV-infected individuals? Do microbial factors have an influence on the development of AIDS?† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 154-5). Animal experimentation has really helped finding solutions when it comes to having problems in the brain. A drug was discovered called Chlorpormazine. It was supposed to be used for allergy disorders but became looked at more closely when it caused â€Å"unusual sedative action on animals† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 52). Scientists did a few trials with this drug and found it to have â€Å"remarkable effects on the human mind† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 51). Tests led scientists to discover that the cause of these effects was dopamine, a key neurotransmitter in this situation. Animal experimentation has also helped us advance in finding help for Parkinson’s disease. â€Å"When treated with large doses of these drugs [antipsychotic agents] the animals become immobile and could be placed and remained in the most awkward positions† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 51). About a month later it was discovered that a shot of DOPA could prevent this immobility from occurring. Knowing this then led to scientists seeing that the cause of Parkinson’s disease was caused by lack of dopamine. From there a treatment was formed, L-DOPA. Animal experimentation also helps with understanding the oxygen intake and metabolic activity of different parts of the brain. There are certain techniques that can be done to see how the brain replies to different stimuli. â€Å"To develop these imaging techniques animal experiments are necessary. For example, radioactive precursors or ligands for receptor studies have to be tried out in animals before they can be used on man.† (Garattini and Van Bekkum, 1990 p 52). Most opponents of animal experimentation point out how much that animals are suffering. In most cases they are quite over exaggerators. â€Å"Many claim that animals are tortured, and another frequent complaint is that animal research is all about profits. But it is hard to see how anyone would make a profit from torturing animals, or why medical research charities, who are trying to find curs for debilitating illnesses like cancer or AIDS, would spend their money torturing animals† (Festing, 2005  ¶ 9). Over half of the animals feel little to no pain at all. â€Å"According to the 2000 USDA Annual Report, 63% of animals experienced slight or momentary pain, such as an injection. 29% of the research procedures employed anesthesia and postoperative painkillers. In 7% of the procedures, neither anesthesia nor pain medication could be used, as they would have interfered with research results† (The Foundation of Biomedical Research, 2003  ¶ 3). â€Å"In many countries its mandatory by national law to grade the level of discomfort for animals in experiments in minor, moderate, and severe† (Baumans, 2004  ¶ 3). The welfare of animals included in these experiments is important to scientists even thought most opponents of animal testing would disagree. â€Å"One argument is that consideration of pain and suffering for animals should be legally equivalent to the considerations for humans† (Wikipedia, 14 Oct. 2006  ¶ 3). For the most part animals are treated reasonably well. Small animals are kept in plastic boxes that are either clear or white, slightly bigger animals are kept in containers about twice the size of a shoebox, and the large animals are kept in wire cages. The cages need to be in livable conditions, clean, and warm. They also need to have veterinary care available. There are a variety of different animals used in animal testing. Examples being invertebrates, rodents, rabbits, dogs, non-human primates, and cats. The invertebrates used usually consist of fruit flies and nematodes. â€Å"These animals offer scientists a number of advantages over vertebrates, including their short life cycle and the ease with which large numbers can be studied† (Wikipedia, 14 Oct. 2006  ¶11). They, also, tend to be cheaper than any other animal used in experimentation. The most common species of rodents is mice. They are the most popular â€Å"because of their availability, size, low cost, east of handling, and fast reproduction rate† (Wikipedia, 14 Oct. 2006  ¶13). Mice are known to be the best model of inherited human disease and share 99% of their genes with humans. Albino rabbits are used to check eye irritancy tests since they tend to have less flow of tears and lack of eye pigment. Another test rabbits are used in are for skin irritancy test . The main type of dog used is beagles due to the fact of them being gentle and their friendliness. They are used in toxicity tests, dental experiments, and surgeries. Non-human primates include baboons, macaques, marmosets, and chimpanzees. These animals are mostly used in research for â€Å"HIV, neurology, behavior, cognition, reproduction, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, malaria, respiratory viruses, infectious disease, genetics, xenotransplantation, drug abuse, and also in vaccine and drug testing† (Wikipedia, 14 Oct. 2006  ¶24). There are many animal rights activists that would say there are numerous amounts of alternatives for animal experimentation. Two examples being the â€Å"3 R approach† and using in vitro situations instead of in vivo. The â€Å"3 R’s† stand for refinement, reduction, and replacement. Refinement refers to lowering animal suffering and/or death and to increase animal welfare for the ones still used in experimentation. Reduction refers to decreasing â€Å"the number of animals used and the number of experiments performed to obtain or confirm a particular result† (Paul and Paul, 2001 p 198). Replacement refers to using non-animal experiments instead of animal ones if you can achieve the same result. The problem with refinement is that it would cost too much money whereas reduction could save money, although, in some cases it may be necessary to use more animals to get an accurate figure to make vaccines or help curing diseases. Some of the non-animal experimen tal methods would be using in vitro studies. In vitro is using animals models or cells of animals instead of using the entire animal body. â€Å"Others say that they [in vitro cell culture techniques] are unlikely to ever provide enough information about the complex interactions of living systems† (Wikipedia, 14 Oct. 2006  ¶79). Animal experimentation is a must when it comes to medical advancements. It doesn’t seem fair for people to say animal experimentation is wrong because if you think about it, if animal experimentation is wrong should we all become vegetarians? We slaughter cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys to make food for ourselves but that’s OK? Therefore any opponent to animal experimentation that isn’t a vegetarian shouldn’t have the right to speak about animals testing as being wrong if they’re willing to kill animals for themselves. Using cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys for food is necessary for most people in the same context that using mice, rabbits, dogs, and monkeys to help cure diseases is necessary. References Animal testing. ASPCA. animaland.org/asp/realissues/testing.asp (14 Oct. 2006). Animal testing. Wikipedia.com. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Animal_Testing (14 Oct. 2006). Baumans V. 2004. Use of animals in experimental research: an ethical dilemma? Gene Therapy. 11: S64-6. nature.com/gt/journal/v11/n1s/full/3302371a. html (9 Oct. 2006). Festing S. 2005. The animal research debate. The Political Quarterly. 76.4: 568. http:// www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2005.00720.x (15 Oct. 2006). Garattini S, Van Bekkum DW, editors. The importance of animal experimentation for safety and biomedical research. Boston (MA): Kluwer Academic Publishers; 1990. Paul EF, Paul J, editors. Why animal experimentation matters: the use of animals in medical research. New Brunswick (USA): Transaction Publishers; 2001. Quick facts about animal research. The Foundation of Biomedical Research. fbresearch.org/survivors/quickfacts.htm (14 Oct. 2006) Research Papers on Animal ExperimentationGenetic EngineeringStandardized TestingEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenBringing Democracy to AfricaMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesQuebec and CanadaDefinition of Export QuotasThe Spring and AutumnArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Personal Experience with Teen Pregnancy

Social Media Essay

Social Media Essay Social Media Essay Michael McDaniels Professor- Pamela Yates English- 1301/63004 8 April 2015 Social media pros and cons How much social media is to much for an adolescent? If we surveyed a hundred people, we will probably get a hundred different answers. The truth of the matter is, we will never know the exact number, but we can determine the pros and cons of the internet. According to Brent Staples, â€Å"the internet was billed as a revolutionary way to enrich our social lives and expand our civic connection†.(Brent Staples, page 445) The internet is diminishing a lot of the social skills of our younger generation. Todays youth will prefer to play video games and surf the web, instead of working out and playing sports. In 10 years from now, we will have more kids obese and less socialable due to social media. Too much social media can take away from family time and will cause problems within the household. Families that engage in frequent activities tends to be more happier and stable. Social media can also have an negative impact on your self esteem. People are always searching the web for ways to improve themselves, whether physical or mentally. People are always trying to be someone else, beside their self and a lot of it has to do with social media. Females are exposing their bodies on instgram and facebook, just for attention. Kids are not reading books anymore, because everything is only a click away on the internet. By failing to read, we are failing to learn. The internet has made everything so much easy in life. Overuse of the internet will hamper your critical thinking skills and people skills. Just like the internet can be bad, it can also be a good thing. Kids who uses the internet for educational purposes have a tendency to develop better learning skills. They will be more advance than their counterpart and more qualified for employment opportunities. The internet is a good way of networking with family and friends you have not seen in a while. The internet can teach you so much in a shorter period of time than any book. To understand a book, you will have to read it entirely, but you can go to the internet and type in summary of that book and it will provide it for you. The internet can be your friend or foe, it all depends on the user. â€Å"According to consumer reports from from 2011more than 7.5 million American kids under the age of 13 have joined Facebook, which technically requires users to be 13 years old to open an account.†(CNN News May 21, 2012). Study has also shown that â€Å"Teenagers text an average of 3,400 times a month†(CNN NEWS May 21, 2012). The report also says that â€Å"too much hypertext and multimedia content has been linked in some kids to limited attention span, lower comprehension, poor focus , greater risk for depression and diminished long- term memory.†(CNN NEWS May 21, 2012) Social media has been helpful in taking criminals off of the streets. People get so caught up Social Media Essay Social Media Essay Social Media At first, Facebook was on board with the experiment. Google (GOOG) was testing a new tool that would let Web sites add a host of new social networking features. Using Google Friend Connect, for example, fans of indie pop musician Ingrid Michaelson could invite their friends, via their Facebook accounts, to join her Web site. Google's tool would let them import their Facebook contacts and then send out the invites to their friends' Facebook feeds. But just days after the trial began on May 12 2011, Facebook "suspended" access for Google Friend Connect, saying it violated privacy terms in its user agreement. Though Facebook says it has "reached out to Google several times about this issue" to work out a solution, the abrupt about-face underscores some of the growing tensions- and blurring lines- between social networks and traditional Web portals, both of which are angling to capitalize on the presumed advertising riches that will come from social media. Indeed, it's been nearly three years since News Corp. (NWS) acquired MySpace, and still no one's answered that $64 gazillion question about who's going to make the real money from the social networking phenomenon. Uncovering the answer will only get harder as sites across the Web add social features, making the definition of social networking ever fuzzier. "In two to three years, the entire Internet is going to be more social," says Brad Garlinghouse, senior vice-president for communications and communities at Yahoo! (YHOO). MySpace and Facebook have, in fact, taken steps that would have you think they're cool with this widening of social media beyond their network walls. In the coming months, both may be aiding and abetting the likes of Google and Yahoo in allowing users to access their profiles, friend lists, and other data for purposes that would steer their ad-viewing eyeballs elsewhere on the Internet. The reasoning behind this apparent openness is simple: Just as AOL's and Prodigy's subscribers ultimately stormed beyond those gated online communities, social network users may not care to confine their socializing to one service. "I think the days of

How do religion, culture and ethnicity affect the success or failure of a global enterprise in China

How do religion, culture and ethnicity affect the success or failure of a global enterprise in China There are many factors that would tend to have a significant impact to the success or failure of global enterprises or businesses operating in international scenes. As a matter of fact, these factors are highly regarded in every segment of the modern business world, considering their significant impact on businesses.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on How do religion, culture and ethnicity affect the success or failure of a global enterprise in China? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These factors would tend to serve as perfect guidelines for global entrepreneurs in their business plans, especially when they intend to venture into new markets or when planning to expand their businesses to other regions. There is no doubt that these factors form part of the most important things that global entrepreneurs would consider when laying planning for their businesses. This paper observes some of the ways in which factors such a s religion, culture and ethnicity affect the success or failure of global enterprises. In order to offer valid information of how these factors may influence global enterprises, China is used in this paper as the country to research. The paper also highlights the factors that could impact upon the decision making of the global entrepreneur in the selected country. Cultural and ethnic diversities in China and their Impact on Global Enterprises China is not only recognised as the fastest advancing economy in the world, but also as one of the most multicultural countries in the world today. The multiculturalism of China would come as a result of globalization and other factors that would include technological changes, an aging workforce and high demand for knowledge and skills in various areas. Globalisation simply refers to the constant process through which different cultures, societies and economies interact with each other on global scales. Globalisation is said to be synonymous wi th the economic development and success of a nation, and this is evident in China where various aspects of globalisation have continued to play a significant role in transforming every sector of the economy (Combs et al. 2006, p. 517). Ever since the era of globalisation, China has undergone a massive social and economic transformation. The industrial revolution was arguably one of the most important periods in the globalization timeline. This period would see a significant improvement in the quantity and quality of commodities in various regions of the world. This, in turn helped to improve global business relations between countries through exports of products. The first phase of globalisation would come to an end after World War I. This war had brought adverse implications on the economic scenario, leading to a number of major crises that would affect the world in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of these crises are the gold standard crisis and the Great Depression..Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Globalisation in the modern era, which occurred after World War II, has had a greater impact to the global business scenario, compared with the previous phase of globalisation. The global leaders had used this opportunity to enhance economic ties between countries allover the world. More importantly, it was also in the course of this time when many major countries came to attain their independence. Following this significant advancement, the involved countries would start their own bilateral systems which served as avenues for economic relations with the rest of the world. These developments helped to strengthen the global economic situation, thus leading to improved trade relations among countries. Other significant developments whose occurrence had been facilitated by globalisation include the establishment of the United Nations Organization (UNO), the World Trade Organization, creation of global corporations, and blend of tradition and culture across the nations. These factors played a key role in making China a multicultural country as people of different ethnicities found their way into the country mainly for economic-related reasons. As various scholar and researchers have concluded, the largest impact of globalisation on countries would occur in the course of the modern age. For example, it was during this era when widespread development would take place in all sectors of China’s economy. This has further contributed to increased interactions between China and other countries, and in that case, sharing of cultural aspects, ideas, and traditions would occur, putting a direct influence on the country’s globalisation process. In a matter of decades, China has changed from a determinedly Chinese nation to one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. As it would be observed, the aspect of cultural diver sity has had far-reaching implications for the Asian country. China’s diverse cultures have significantly continued to impact many aspects of the way the nation relates with other countries around the world, especially in matters to do with business and commerce. Multiculturalism is a construct that would tend to bring significant implications to societies (Cox Balke 1991, p. 57). There is no doubt that this social construct has played a crucial role in promoting the current economic success currently enjoyed by China. As we all know, culture means a shared, system of values, attitudes, and beliefs that influences people’s behaviors and perceptions in life. Basically, culture is shared by all members of a particular society, and in that case, people within a particular society will tend to live in patterned ways as they are adopted through a continuous process of social interaction. There is no doubt that multiculturalism in China has continued to play a crucial role in their economic development over the years.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on How do religion, culture and ethnicity affect the success or failure of a global enterprise in China? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Today, China is ranked position two among the biggest economies of the world after the United States. For this reason, other countries around the world, particularly the developing ones, have increasingly continued to look to China as a successful model that they can emulate in all aspects. There are numerous ways in which multiculturalism in China has continued to impact the success of global enterprises in the country. For example, talking about ethnicity, China claims over 55 different ethnicities from different parts of the world. This diversity has continued to bring many opportunities to the Asian country, in terms of international business and marketing. By migrating from their home countries and bec oming part of China, these diverse communities have helped to enrich the entire Chinese society, since they tend to allow people experience different ways of dealing with various processes of life. China had long discovered the benefits that can be realised from cultural diversity, and in that case, it opened its borders to foreign investors from all parts of the world. The country has always shown great concern in encouraging its diverse population to always appreciate each other’s culture in the society for the benefit of the country’s economy. Launching an enterprise in global scale presents many challenges to entrepreneurs, especially if the targeted countries are ethnically homogenous. As it would be observed, global enterprises will tend to be successful in multi-ethnic countries than in ethically homogenous countries. As a multi-ethnic nation, China offers a great economic equality to foreign investors regardless of their backgrounds, and this makes it easy for global enterprises to thrive in the country. As it would be observed, language differences between nations are one of the more obvious challenges that global enterprises must come across when venturing new regions. This, however, has never been the case with China where cultural diversity has helped to increase cross-cultural interaction and communication. Moreover, diverse cultural countries have a variety of people from different ethnicities and this helps in promoting a friendly business environment for global enterprises (Lockwood 2005, p. 4). Through effective management of the cultures, China has managed to attract a large pool of investors into its business organizations. This brilliant approach would see the country benefit a lot from diverse ethnicity.Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The effects of cultural diversity on organizational performance can never be overestimated. Numerous studies have shown cultural diversity to have had a positive impact on the overall performance of organisations that have embraced cultural diversity as a significant tool for business success (Bhatia Chaudary 2003, p. 79). Being a multi-ethnic nation, China provides a promising basis for all the benefits that can be associated with racial diversity. Some of these benefits include, but are not limited to, improved productivity, enhanced team cooperation, performance effectiveness, and improved consumer markets with a wide exposure to labour markets. Other notable benefits here include enhanced employer images, improved motivation and commitment, and enhanced effectiveness of complex organisational aspects. All these aspects of a well-managed cultural diversity can be observed in a country such as China which is an ethnic diverse nation, and they play a very crucial role in ensuring that global enterprises survive in the country with very minimal challenges, compared to what would happen in a scenario where homogenous diversity applies. This, however, yields significant commercial benefits to global enterprises interested in venturing the rapidly changing business environment of China. Impact of religion on global enterprises in China Like culture and ethnicity, religion has had a significant impact on global enterprises operating in China. In the period before globalisation, Confucianism and Buddhism would have a strong impact on China’s economy for a very long time. Being part of the Chinese culture, these two philosophies had a significant role to play in almost every aspect of Chinese life. This will have the meaning that, the two philosophies seriously influenced the way Chinese people lived. As it would be observed, both Buddhism and Confucianism aimed at promoting harmony in China, and their teachings emphasised for inner peace in the country. In short, the two philosophies set out the right path which people should follow in ensuring that peace and harmony were preserved in the society. Due to the strong values of the philosophies, global enterprises venturing China would face fewer challenges if any. Since the two philosophies governed every relationship and operation including trade affairs, this would see the Chinese economy start integrating into the global economy in the year 1978, when the country opened up to the world (Lee Peterson 2001, p. 412). China’s economy has been growing rapidly in the past few decades. However, this economic success is closely associated with the two philosophies, among other factors as it has been shown in previous chapters of this work. More importantly, the Chinese business community in the global market, which has also been very successful, reflects the two philosophies in their organisational structure. Being a multicultural nation, China enjoys a wide range of different religi ons drawn from all parts of the world. In this case, even though global enterprises may sometimes face stiff challenges from some indigenous Chinese cultures whose teachings may tend to contrast their business values, things cannot be so complicated with the multi-ethnic construct of the country’s population. China’s ethnic diversity is a clear indication that the country boasts of a great number of religions. Obviously, there is a religion for every culture that exists in China and even more religious groups and subgroups for people coming from different national identities. In this regard, the many tribes in China serve as a cushion for global entrepreneurs intending to invest in the country who are likely to come across their own religions or other religions whose teachings may be in line with their business values. The place of Women in Chinese society In China, as in all societies nowadays, the controversial question of the position that should be taken by women s till remains a matter of debate across different social units. As it would be observed, the role of women in the country would tend to differ greatly across the social borders. Women in modern China may not be repressed any longer by the strong cultural values and beliefs that were practiced in the country for centuries, but they are currently experiencing pressures from social settings and limitations in some areas of accountability. This means that women in China are still facing discrimination and prejudice in the workplace. This, however, has been a common practice which has been enhanced by the traditional values of the Chinese and philosophical views such as Confucianism, which berated strong women in the society. Even though the position of women in Chinese society has dramatically changed over the years, probably as a result of the country’s recent development in terms of economy, the power granted to women has not extended beyond family affairs (Ralston et al. 2005, pp. 24). This can be explained in the sense that, women in China continue to face glass ceiling barriers despite the increased employment and business opportunities for all. Even though the country’s rapid development has changed the lives of women in the society, women still assume a relatively subordinate position to their male counterparts in diverse sectors of the economy. These challenges and limitations do not only affect Chinese women, but they also serve as significant barriers for global female entrepreneurs intending to invest in the country. Conclusion As it has been observed in this paper, religion, culture and ethnicity are significant factors that can influence the success or failure of global enterprises. These factors are just among the key things that global entrepreneurs will tend to put into consideration when venturing into a business in a foreign country. Among these factors, culture and ethnicity are observed to have a massive influence in all areas of t he economy as it is in this example about China. These factors may be either favourable or unfavourable to global entrepreneurs depending on the nature of the country they intend to venture. For instance, in this particular case about China, culture and ethnicity appears to favour global entrepreneurs in all aspects. However, the place of women in the society is still a matter of question in China, as in all societies, and this can affect the decision making of a global entrepreneur, especially if they are women. Recommendations Religion, culture, and ethnicity are important factors that would tend to have a significant impact on businesses. These factors can lead to business success or failure, depending on the way they are applied. In this regard, developing countries should follow the example of China and try to ensure that these factors are tailored to fit the needs of global entrepreneurs to enhance their development. It will also be necessary for global entrepreneurs to determ ine how these factors would apply in their areas of interest, for this will make them come up with the right business decisions, thus sparing them future embarrassments and disappointments. In regard with discrimination and prejudice against women because of gender-based reasons, it is time countries focused more on the economical benefits that could be realized by giving women a fair treatment in all levels of the economy. With about 46% of its labour force constituting of women, China serves a good example for other countries that still hold the perception that women cannot hold the same positions as their male counterparts in the society. However, the country should ensure that there are no glass ceilings for this category of people when it comes to promotions and sharing of responsibilities and benefits in the workplace. Reference List Bhatia, S., K Chaudary, P 2003, Managing Cultural Diversity in Globalization- Key to Business Success of Global Managers- Insights and Strategie s, Deep Deep Publication Pvt Ltd, New Delhi. Combs, J., Liu, Y., Hall, A, Ketchen, D 2006, ‘How much do high†performance work practices matter? A meta†analysis of their effects on organizational performance’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 501-528. Cox, T Balke, S 1991, ‘Managing Cultural Diversity: Implications for Organizational Competitiveness’, Academy of Management Executive, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 55-59. Lee, S. M Peterson, S. J 2001, ‘Culture, entrepreneurial orientation, and global competitiveness’, Journal of World Business, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 401-416. Lockwood, N 2005, Workplace diversity: Leveraging the power of difference for competitive advantage, Society for Human Resource Management, New York. Ralston, D., Holt, D., Terpstra, R, Kai-Cheng, Y 2008, ‘The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China’, Journal o f International Business Studies, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 8-26.

Hawk Roosting Unseen Poetry Essay

Hawk Roosting Unseen Poetry Essay Hawk Roosting Unseen Poetry Essay `Hawk Roosting` Unseen Poetry Essay This essay will discuss and explain certain techniques Ted Hughes uses, such as personification, in his poem `Hawk Roosting`. To add to this, it will also discuss and try to elaborate upon how this poem is structured and how the way that it is written contributes towards the effect of the poem upon the reader. A main technique that Ted Hughes uses in this poem is personification. There are many examples of this throughout the poem, one of them being `my eyes closed`. This is taken from the second half of the first line of the poem. This is a clear example of personification as it is written in the first person. The word `my` shows this. To add to this, Ted Hughes, in many places puts a pronoun in the first person directly before a part of the body. For example `my hooked head` or `My feet` are both instances where this particular technique within the broad technique of personification is used. The fact that the author includes body parts which are only from the human body makes the hawk seem even more human. If Ted Hughes had written about body parts such as talons or claws, it would have made the creature less human as humans do not have talons or claws. The use of personification also makes the hawk seem very ignorant as if it was in charge. This is so, by the repetitive use of the words `I` and `Me`. Through the duration of the poem the readers are always reminded that the fowl is in charge and can do what it wants. An example of this would be `I kill where I please because it is all mine.` This shows that the hawk thinks that he is in charge, not only through the use of the word `I` but the fact that he says `it is all mine.` Another word which shows this is the word `inspection`. This word is located in the final line of the second stanza. Generally, inspectors are people with quite a high rank as they get to see whether everything is to their liking or not. In other words, they are utterly in charge, and because the hawk is, in this case, comparing itself to an inspector, it again shows that he thinks of himself very highly and that he also thinks that he is totally in charge of everything. The hawk has a slight oxymoronic value to itself aswell, as it says `My manners are tearing off heads`. This is oxymoronic as manners are associated with good things such as saying please and thank you. In this case, the oxymoronic bird thinks of manners in a totally different way. `Tearing off heads` is obviously a bad thing to do, but this hawk associates `tearing off heads` with `manners` when the two words totally contrast. This also again goes back to the point about the hawk being in charge of everything as it is `tearing off heads` and there is no one or nothing which will go in the hawk`s way, and try to prevent it from doing so. In this poem, Ted Hughes makes nature is brutal: it ‘kills’ and ‘eats’. What’s slightly disturbing is that the hawk views these as ‘perfect’ and ‘rehearses them’. This almost gives the feel of a psychopath, yet he is only fulfilling his natural function. The repetition of ‘hookedâ€℠¢ from his head to his feet creates a feel of being captured, evoking his sharp, deadly beak and claws. These are the parts that the hawk emphasizes when he describes himself. The hawk deals in ‘death’. Ted Hughes uses the metaphor of the bird flying directly ‘through the bones of the living’. The uneasy juxtaposition of bones with living creates an unsettling effect, and makes the bird seem almost supernaturally powerful: as if he exists beyond this one moment in time. The hawk lists natural features: ‘sun’, ‘air’ and the ‘tree’, which he thinks exist only in as much as they are of ‘advantage to me’. He also says it took ‘the whole of Creation’ to produce his ‘feather’ and ‘foot’: the juxtaposition of something so huge and old, and biblical against a tiny foot/feather, shows how magnificent the bird thinks he is: as if he is the reason creation exists. This is interesting because it