Thursday, October 31, 2019
Ancient Egypt Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Ancient Egypt - Annotated Bibliography Example Being a professor at American University in Cairo, having published many works, and studied at Bryn Mawr College for Bachelor in Egyptology and Archeology, University of Cambridge for her Masters and PHD in Egyptology and Museum studies make her a credible expert on this topic. There are no scholarly sources cited in the article but the author makes an allusion of scholars work stating ââ¬Å"scholars believe the valley had from about I million to 4 million peopleâ⬠(ââ¬Å"Ancient Egypt, Par. 5). The authorââ¬â¢s thesis in the article is that Ancient Egypt was the ââ¬Å"birthplace of one of the worldââ¬â¢s first civilizations (ââ¬Å"Ancient Egypt, Par. 5â⬠). The author believes that one of the worldââ¬â¢s first civilizations began 5,000 years ago alongà the River Nile and lasted for over 2,000 years making it the longest lasting civilization ever. The author uses three main points as a measure of backing up her thesis on Ancient Egypt being the earliest civilizations in history. These three points are ââ¬Å"Ancient Egypt created the worlds first national government, basic forms of arithmetic and a 365-day calendarâ⬠(ââ¬Å"Ancient Egypt, Par. 2â⬠). To back the above main points the author uses other illustrations to strengthen the thesis including the creation of a form of picture writing known as hieroglyphics, invention papyrus a writing material, development of religion on life after death, and the building of great cities from which arose skilled doctors, architects, painters, sculptors, doctors, and engineers. The author uses the main points to strengthen the thesis through writing on the history and life of Ancient Egypt. The author writes aboutà the start of civilization when King Menes United Lower and Upper Egypt around 3100 B.C. forming the worldââ¬â¢s first government. King Menes also made Memphis, present day Cairo, as the capital of Egypt depict the earliest national government backing the main thesis in the article. The author uses the
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Is the Criminal Justice System Bias Essay Example for Free
Is the Criminal Justice System Bias Essay Abstract This paper will ask several questions and hopefully answer most of those questions. Questions like is the criminal justice system bias against the poor and is the criminal justice system bias against minorities. We then explore some of the possible solutions to the problems that could cause biases. We then look at a study done on several communities where relations between police and the public had repaired their relationship. Body Itââ¬â¢s easy to understand why people see the criminal justice system as biased. Our of all of our states prisoners forty percent can not even read; and sixty-seven percent did not have full-time employment when they were arrested. So there are more uneducated people in prison then there are educated people. This seems like then that our system of criminal justice is operated on an unequal system against poor or uneducated people. However, one of the problems we run into when we try to compare the wealthy lawbreakers to poor lawbreakers is the wide difference between the amount of wealthy people and poor people we have in our population. ââ¬Å"In 1989, the wealthiest one percent of United States households owned nearly forty percent of the nationââ¬â¢s wealth. The wealthiest twenty percent owned more than eighty percent of the nationââ¬â¢s wealth. That leaves precious little for the restâ⬠(Cole, 2000). This isnââ¬â¢t just true with adults, but with children and teenagers too. The number of poor/under-funded schools in America far outweighs the number of wealthy schools in America. Thatââ¬â¢s probably the main reason our system appears to be unfair against the poor. The reason that any pole or nation wide research will be bias against the poor or lower class is because there is a much larger poor/lower class population than a wealthy/high class population. Most Americanââ¬â¢s will probably not want to believe that our criminal justice system is not operated on equality. Afterà all our nations Supreme Court even has the saying ââ¬Å"Equal Justice Under Lawâ⬠written above the entranceway. There are several very famous Supreme Courtââ¬â¢s decisions that uphold equality for the poor. In Gideon v. Wainwright they made it a law that the state must provide a lawyer to all defendants who have been charged with a serious crime and cannot afford a lawyer. In Miranda v. Arizona the Supreme Court decided that police must provide all suspects with an attorney. These court decisions might be a little misleading since both were decided during the time of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who was strongly liberal and very supportive of economic equality. Since then the principles of equality from both decisions for Gideon v. Wainwright and Miranda v. Arizona have been cheated and twisted so that neither decisions are upheld to the full extent that they were intended (Cole, 2000). Thatââ¬â¢s enough bashing our court system. There are actually many things that police officers do witch can be biased. For example the Fourth Amendment says that we have a right against unlawful searches and seizures. However, police officers all the time and request their consent to search them or their belongings (without ever having any basis for suspicion) without ever informing them of their right to refuse the search. This isnââ¬â¢t necessarily a bias against the poor but it makes sense to me that an officer would judge somebody on appearance. There is also the means of transportation we have to consider if law enforcement is bias to the poor. Say hypothetically some wealthy person is traveling across the country to a birthday party. How are they going to travel? Most wealthy people would probably travel across country like that by means of flying. While flying, people do not come in contact with that many police officers nor are they in many positions where they would normally break the law. However, say there is a poor person who is traveling the same distance to the same party but does not have the money to fly. The cheapest mode of transportation is definitely by way of buss. While traveling by buss there is definitely a larger chance of contact with the police than when traveling by air. There are also many more opportunities for crime to be committed while traveling on a buss. Again we have the situation where itââ¬â¢s not necessarily that the poor are treated differently but are maybe just in environments where c rime is committed more often, which would explain why it seems that the system is biased against them (Rothwax, 1996) So I feel like we could come to anà agreement now that the criminal justice system is not necessarily biased against the poor at the law enforcement side of the criminal justice system. However, the courtroom side of the criminal justice system seems indirectly biased against the poor, simply because each trial can be different depending on how much money they defense and the prosecution have available to them. Now lets talk about other ways that the criminal justice system could be bias. What about race? Are people treated differently depending on their ethnicity? Most people probably agree that there are some ethnic groups who are treated differently than other ethnic groups in the criminal justice system. Statistically minorities are disproportionately victimized by crime. ââ¬Å"African Americans are victimized at a rate of 150 percent higher than whitesâ⬠(Cole, 2000). Blacks are typically more involved in almost every kind of crime more so than whites. These crimes can include rape, aggravated assault, and armed robbery. Homicide is actually the number one leading cause of death among young black men. Most crime is interracial and so it could be argued, just as it can with the topic of biases against the poor that the reason for higher crime rates for black is because most poverty stricken areas, or the inner city, have majority black populations. Therefore the criminals would be black, the victims would be black, and all the statistics that came from that area would rate blacks more prone to commit crime than whites. Now lets look at some cases. For instance the videotaped beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Department officers was a huge eye-opener for most of America. It was said of that beating that for many blacks saw that as trea tment they expected from the police. They were not surprised by that beating what so ever. Curtis Tucker, a California Assemblyman, was quoted saying at a subsequent hearing on Los Angeles Police Department practices, ââ¬Å"When black people in Los Angeles see a police car approaching, they donââ¬â¢t know whether justice will be meted out or whether judge, jury, and executioner is pulling up behind them.â⬠There was even this one officer who earned the nickname ââ¬Å"the Mechanicâ⬠because he would ââ¬Å"tune people upâ⬠which apparently is police slang for beating up people. This ââ¬Å"Mechanicâ⬠once testified that the beatings were widespread. When asked the question of weather he beat up people whom he arrested he replied, ââ¬Å"No. We just beat people up in general. If theyââ¬â¢re on the street, hanging around drug locations. Justââ¬âIt was a show of forceâ⬠(Rothwax,à 1996). The officer even admitted that the majority of the beating victims were either black or Hispanic; although he claimed that the attacks were not motivated by racial tension. There have been very disturbing patterns of corruption and brutality in the police force of almost every high-crime area studied. These corrupt acts include stealing from drug dealers, engaging in unlawful searches, seizures, and car stops, even dealing and using drugs. If instances like this is what our police force has come down to then our country is far worse off then I ever realized. I do however believe that this is probably a much smaller percentage than what some statistics would lead us to believe but it is not a problem that I believe can be overlooked. So what can be done? Can something be done? Are we as a country so far gone that we can come back? I believe we can. I believe that we have become to far separate from the community. We have to bridge the gap that has grown between law enforcement/the criminal justice system and the public lower class people. How do we do that? ââ¬Å"The thing we need most is perspectiveâ⬠(Walker, 1980). One thing that could be the answer to our problem is community based policing. In Canada they passed the Police Services Act of 1990 that might be a good refere nce for our current agencies to look back on. What the Police Services Act did was make the Chief of Police responsible for community-oriented policing (Kuck, 2004). ââ¬Å"Community based policing is both a philosophy and an organizational strategy that allows the police and community to work together in new ways to solve problems of crime, disorder and safety. It really only has two elements: changing the methods and practice of the police and taking steps to establish a relationship between the police and the publicâ⬠(Groenewald, 2004). The Philosophy of community based policing is based off of the idea that the public has a right to give their input on policing. It also relies on the idea that to find a solution for community problems both the police and the public must look past individual crimes and incidents, and instead try to find ways of confronting the more important community problems. What does community based policing look like though? Community based police officers need to be much more than mere crime fighters and must be public servants in many ways. Reforming the police alone, however, is not enough. Community support and assistance are also necessary. Community based policing therefore encompasses strategies to reorient the public who, forà good reasons, have been leery and distrustful of the police. Building partnerships between the police and communities is a major challenge that not many people or organizations have every really attempted. The philosophy of community based policing asks both the police and the public to take a leap of faith and a commitment to change. It would be a long process that would require drastic action to be taken at multiple levels meaning that there would be detailed planning necessary to turn philosophy into reality within the police and among the public. There was a study where Kuotsia Tom Liou from the University of Central Florida and Eugene G. Savage from Florida State University looked at the impact of community policing by looking at three neighborhoods in West Palm Beach, Florida before and after the implementation of a community oriented policing program. Lets take a look at what they found. They had 3 communities with the first consisting of mainly white residents, mainly single-family homes, apartments, and small businesses. The second community was primarily black consisting of a concentrated public housing project, single family homes, apartments, small businesses, several churches, and a public middle school. The last community consisted of whites, Hispanics, blacks, and Haitians. The community was made up of single family homes, apartments, small businesses, and several churches. It was their goal to find out how community policing affects difference types of communities. The results of their study showed that after the community based policing had been going on sixty-eight percent of surveyed citizens felt that crime had decreased. All age groups, race groups, and all three neighborhoods shared the belief that crime had decreased. Even if the crime rates had not gone down in reality it would still really help relations with police officers just that the citizens believe it had. In addition to the feeling like crime had gone down they also asked in their survey how they felt about the relationship after six months of the community policing. Among the respondents to the survey eighty-eight percent felt that the relationship between the police and their communities as getting better. We started this paper with the question of is the criminal justice system bias. We talked about the relationship between law enforcement and the public. We talked about one of the possibilities of how we could rebuild that relationship. We then looked at some research where a relationship was made better by use of community policing.à Hopefully we can use research like this to help make this world a more perfect world. Reference Page: Cole, D. (2000). No equal justice, race and class in the american criminal justice system. New York: New Press, The. Rothwax, H. (1996). Guilty: The collapse of criminal justice. New York: Random House. Walker, S. (1980). Popular justice. New York: Oxford University Press. Kuck, H. (2004). Racial pride and consciousness trilogy: Addressing hate crime and racial discord through community policing. Canadian Journal of Police and Security Services. Dec. 2004: 243. Criminal Justice Collection. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. Groenewald, H. and Peake, G. (2004). Police Reform through Community-Based Policing. New York. Liou, Kuotsai. and Savage, Eugene. (1996). Citizen perception of community policing impact.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Importance of biofuels
Importance of biofuels Abstract World demand for energy has been projected to double by 2050 and be more than triple by the end of the century. Since industrial revolution in the 1850s, the human consumption of fossil fuels has been one of the growing causes of international concern and unease among some industrial nations. The reasons for which can be attributed to the rapidly depleting reserves of fossil fuels. Over the past few decades, with the successes achieved in genetic engineering technology, advances made in the field of biofuels offer the only immediate solution to fossil fuels. Presently, most of the ethanol in use is produced either from starch or sugar, but these sources have not proven to be sufficient to meet the growing global fuel requirements. However, conversion of abundant and renewable cellulosic biomass into alternative sources of energy seems to be an effective and promising solution. But for this technology to become viable there is a need to develop cheap and sustainable sources of cellulases along with eliminating the need for pretreatment processes. The review thus aims to provide a brief overview about the need and importance of biofuels particularly bioethanol with respect to the growing environmental concerns along with an urgent need to address the existing problems about cost-optimisation and large scale production of biofuels. 1.0 Introduction Biofuels are liquid fuels derived from plants. Currently, first generation biofuels are extensively being produced and used. These are generated using starch, sugar, vegetable oils and animal fats using fairly expensive conventional technology. In recent years, the fact that production of ethanol from cellulosic and lignocellulosic material is being hindered due to inadequate technology to enable efficient and economically viable methods to break down the multipolymeric raw material has gained wide popularity (Verma et al, 2010). Therefore, there is a need to develop efficient systems for the production of cellulases and other cellulose degrading enzymes. Lignocellulosic biofuels are thus likely to be seen as a part of the portfolio of solutions being offered to reduce high energy prices, including more efficient energy use along with the use of other alternative fuels (Coyle, 2007). 1.1 Importance of biofuels: Factors like the finite petroleum reserves and constantly rising demands for energy by the industrialised as well as the highly populated countries (on their Way to industrialisation) like India and china have made it absolutely necessary to look into alternate and efficient methods to replace these fuels in future (Stephanopoulos, 2008). Also, concerns like steep rise in fossil fuel prices in the recent years, increasing concerns about climate change like global warming, insecurity and unrest among governments due to their depleting natural reserves are just a few factors that define an urgent need for a sustainable path towards renewable fuel technology development (Stephanopoulos, 2008). Among the various types of alternative fuels considered (liquid fuels from coal and/or biomass with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS)), biofuels derived from lignocellulosic biomass offer the most clean and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels essentially because of their cost compet itiveness as opposed to the current expensive methods of ethanol production from sugarcane and corn (Stephanopoulos, 2008) (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009). The global production and use of biofuels has increased tremendously in recent years, from 18.2 billion litres in 2000 to about 60.6 billion litres in 2007. It has been estimated that about 85% of this amount is bioethanol (Coyle, 2007). This increase is primarily a result of the reasons stated above along with rising concerns about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions due to excessive fossil fuels usage since biofuels are carbon-neutral and reduce green house emissions (Sainz, 2009). Also, one of the factors contributing to the viability of biofuels as an alternative transportation fuel is their ease of compatibility with our existing liquid fuel infrastructure (Sainz, 2009). An important step in the production of biofuels is the breakdown of cellulose fibres by the enzymes capable of degrading it. But the production of these enzymes is still an expensive task due to their production in large microorganism bioreactors. One method for the inexpensive production of these enzymes is the use of transgenic plants as heterologous protein production systems (Danna, 2001; Kusnadi et al., 1997; Twyman et al., 2003). Plant based enzyme production offers advantages over the traditional bacterial and fungal cultures by being commercially viable and particularly attractive since in plants, the desired protein can be made to accumulate at high levels i.e. at even greater levels than 10% of total soluble protein (Gray et al, 2008). Another major economic advantage of plant-based protein production over one that is microorganism-based is in the scale-up of protein expression. Whereas scale-up of microbial systems implies large purchase and maintenance costs for large fermentors and related equipment, scale-up of plant-based protein product would only require planting of more seeds and harvesting of a larger area (Gray et al, 2008). Cellulase expressing transgenic plants may thus offer significant capital cost savings over more traditional cellulase production via cellulolytic fungi or bacteria (Gray et al, 2008). Ethanolis an alcohol fuel currently made from the sugars found in grains, such as corn, sorghum, and wheat, as well as potato skins, rice, sugar cane, sugar beets, molasses and yard clippings. Currently, there are two methods employed for the production of bioethanol. In the first process, sugar crops or starch are grown and fermented to produce ethanol. The second process, naturally oil producing plants like Jatropha and algae are utilised to produce oils which can directly be utilised as fuel for diesel engines after heating them to reduce their viscosity. However, currently, it is majorly being produced from starch (Corn in US) and sugar (Sugarcane in Brazil) sources. According to the latest statistics (in 2008), USA and Brazil (fig. 1) were the major producers of fuel ethanol by producing 51.9% and 37.3% of global bioethanol respectively (http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/statistics/#E). Brazil especially produces ethanol to a large extent from fermentation of sugarcane sugar to cater to one-fourth of its ground transportation needs (Sticklen, 2008).Similarly, to meet part of its own needs; United States produces ethanol from corn. Unfortunately, inspite of being breakthrough developments, the production of ethanol by this method is not cost-effective and barely manages to meet less than about 15 % of the countrys demands (Sticklen, 2008). Their use as energy crops is thus posing to be inappropriate since these are primary food sources, and are unstable from the viewpoints of long-term supply and cost (Sainz, 2009). The restrictions on available land and the rising price pressures would soon limit the production of grain and corn based ethanol to less than 8% in the US transport fuel mix (Tyner, 2008). Similarly, in spite of a predicted increase to 79.5 billion litres by 2022 in ethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil, this technology would eventually be limited by the same agro-economic factors affecting the grain and the corn based ethanol production (Sainz, 2009). For e.g. the use of corn for production of ethanol has led to an increase in the prices of livestock and poultry since it is the main starch component of the animal feed. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new and sustainable technologies for a significant contribution of biofuels towards the progress of renewable sources of energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases (Sainz, 2009). Thus, the benefits of a high efficiency of carbohydrate recovery compared to other technologies and the possibilities of technology improvement due to breakthrough processes in biotechnology, offer cost-competitive solutions for bioethanol production, thus making the second generation or lignocellulosic sources the most attractive option the large scale production of biofuels (Wyman et al, 2005). 3.0 Potential of cellulosic bioethanol Cellulosic ethanolis abiofuelproduced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants. It is a type ofbiofuelproduced frombreaking down of lignocellulose, a tough structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants and provides them rigidity and structural stability (Coyle, 2007). Lignocellulose is composed mainly ofcellulose,hemicelluloseandlignin (Carroll and Sommerville, 2009). Another factor that makes the production of cellulosic bioethanol a promising step in future is that unlike corn and sugarcane, its production is not dependent on any feedcrop since cellulose is the worlds most widely available biological material that can be obtained from widely available low-value materials like wood waste, widely growing grasses and crop wastes and manures (Coyle, 2007). But production of ethanol from lignocellulose requires a greater amount of processing to make the sugar monomers available to the microorganisms that are typically used to produce ethanol by fermentation. Bioethanol is one fuel that is expected to be in great global demand in the coming years since its only main requirement is the abundant supply of biomass either directly from plants or from plant derived materials including animal manures. It is also a clean fuel as it produces fewer air-borne pollutants than petroleum, has a low toxicity and is readily biodegradable. Furthermore, the use of cellulosic biomass allows bioethanol production in countries with climates that are unsuitable for crops such as sugarcane or corn. For example, the use of rice straw for the production of ethanol is an attractive goal given that it comprises 50% of the words agronomic biomass (Sticklen, 2008). Though cellulosic ethanol is a promising fuel from an environmental point of view, its industrial production and commercialisation has not been progressing successfully. This can mainly be attributed to the high cost of production of cellulose degrading enzymes -Cellulases (Lynd et.al, 1996). Yet another very important factor is the pretreatment of lignocellulosic content in the biomass to allow cellulases and hemicellulases to penetrate and break the cellulose in the cell wall. These two steps together incur very high costs and are a hindrance in efficient production of cellulosic bioethanol. Thus plant genetic engineering is the best alternative to bioreactors for an inexpensive production of these enzymes (cellulases and hemicellulases). It can also be used to modify the lignin content/amount to reduce the need for expensive pretreatment (Sticklen, 2008). 4.0 The abundance and structure of cellulose Photosynthetic organisms such as plants, algae and some bacteria produce more than 100 million tonnes of organic matter each year from the fixation of carbon dioxide. Half of this biomass is made up of the biopolymer cellulose which, as a result, is perhaps the most abundant It is the most common organic compound on Earth. Cellulose comprises about 33 percent of all plant matter, 90 percent of cotton is composed of cellulose and so is around 50 percent of wood (Britannica encyclopaedia, 2008). Higher plant tissues such as trees, cotton, flax, sugar beet residues, ramie, cereal straw, etc represent the main sources of cellulose. This carbohydrate macromolecule is the principal structural element of the cell wall of the majority of plants. Cellulose is also a major component of wood as well as cotton and other textile fibres such as linen, hemp and jute. Cellulose and its derivatives are one of the principal materials of use for industrial exploitation (paper, nitrocellulose, cellulose acetate, methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) etc.) and they represent a considerable economic investment (Pà ©rez and Mackie, 2001). Cellulose and lignin are the majorcombustiblecomponents of non-foodenergy crops. Some of the examples of non-feed industrial crops are tobacco, miscanthus, industrial hemp, Populus(poplar) species and Salix(willow). Celluloseserves as one of the major resistance to external chemical, mechanical, or biological perturbations in plants. This resistance ofcelluloseto depolymerization is offered by its occurrence as highly crystalline polymer fibers (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009).it occur in plants in two crystalline forms, I-aand I-ß(Nishiyama et al, 2002) (Nishiyama et al, 2003). The crystal structures of both these forms suggest that hydrogen (H) bonding plays a key role in determining the properties ofcellulose (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009).Thechemical formula of cellulose is(C6H10O5) n. It is apolysaccharideconsisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand ß (1?4) linkedD-glucoseunit (Crawford, 1981) (Updegraff, 1969). This tough crystalline structure of cellulose molecules is proving to be a critical roadblock in the production of cellulosic bioethanol as it is difficult to breakdown the microfibrils of crystalline cellulose to glucose (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009). 4.1 Primary structure of cellulose The main form of cellulose found in higher plants is I-ß. The primary structure of cellulose as shown in figure 2, is a linear homopolymer of glucose residues having theDconfiguration and connected byß-(1-4) glycosidic linkages (Sun et al, 2009). Essentially, the occurrence of intrachain and interchain hydrogen bonds (fig. 3) in cellulose structures has been known to provide thermostability to its crystal complex (Nishiyama, 2002). Intrachain hydrogen bonds are known to raise the strength and stiffness of each polymer while the interchain bonds along with weak Wander-Waals forces hold the two sheets together to provide a 2-D structure. This arrangement makes the intrachain bonding stronger than that holding the two sheets together (Nishiyama, 2002). The chain length and the degree of polymerisation of glucose units determine many properties of the cellulose molecule like its rigidity and insolubility compared to starch (Shigeru et al, 2006). Cellulose from different sources also varies in chain lengths, for e.g. cellulose from wood pulp has lengths between 300 and 1700 units while that from fibre plants and bacterial sources have chain lengths varying from 800 to 10,000 units (Klemm et al, 2005). Cellulose, a glucose polymer is the most abundant component in the cell wall. These cellulose molecules consist of long chains of sugar molecules. The process of breaking down these long chains to free the sugar is called hydrolysis. This is then followed by fermentation to produce bioethanol. Various enzymes are involved in the complex process of breaking down glycosidic linkages in cellulose (Verma et al, 2010). These are together known as glycoside hydrolases and include endo- acting cellulases and exo-acting cellulases or cellobiohydrolase along with ß-glucosidase (Ziegelhoffer, 2001) (Ziegler, 2000). In the cellulose hydrolysis process, endoglucanase first randomly cleaves different regions of crystalline cellulose producing chain ends. Exoglucanase then attaches to the chain ends and cleaves off the cellobiose units. The exoglucanase also acts on regions of amorphous cellulose with exposed chain ends without the need for prior endoglucanase activity. Finally ß-glucosidase breaks the bonds between the two glucose sugars of cellobiose to produce monomers of glucose (Warren, 1996). Presently, two methods are widely used for cellulose degradation on an industrial scale: Chemical hydrolysis: This is a traditional method in which, cellulose is broken down by the action of an acid, dilute and concentrated both acids can be used by varying the temperature and the pH accordingly. The product produced from this hydrolysis is then neutralised and fermented to produce ethanol. These methods are not very attractive due to the generation of toxic fermentation inhibitors. Enzymatic hydrolysis: Due to the production of harmful by-products by chemical hydrolysis, the enzymatic method to breakdown cellulose into glucose monomers is largely preferred. This allows breaking down lignocellulosic material at relatively milder conditions (50?C and pH5), which leads to effective cellulose breakdown. 6.0 Steps involved in cellulosic ethanol (bioethanol) production process The first step in the production of bioethanol, involves harvesting lignocellulose from the feedstock crops, compaction and finally its transportation to a factory for ethanol production where it is stored in a ready form for conversion. The second step is the removal of lignin present in the feedstock biomass by using heat or chemical pre-treatment methods. This step facilitates the breakdown of cell wall into intermediates and removes lignin so as to allow cellulose to be exposed to cellulases, which then break down cellulose into sugar residues. Currently, cellulases are being produced as a combination of bacterial and fungal enzymes for such commercial purposes (Sticklen, 2008). This is then followed by steps like detoxification, neutralisation and separation into solid and liquid components (Sticklen, 2008). The hydrolysis of these components then takes place by the enzymes like cellulases and hemicellulases that are produced from micro-organisms in the bioreactors (Sticklen, 2008).and finally; ethanol is produced by sugar fermentation. The figure below (fig. 4) depicts the main steps in the production of bioethanol:à 7.0 Major cell wall components and the key enzymes involved in their breakdown 6.1 Cellulose and cellulases: About 180 billion tonnes of cellulose is produced per year by plants globally (Festucci et al, 2007). In the primary and secondary cell walls, about 15-30% and 40% dry mass respectively is made up of cellulose (Sticklen, 2008). Till date, it is the only polysaccharide being used for commercial production of cellulosic ethanol because of the commercial availability of its deconstructing enzymes (Sticklen, 2008). As described above, three types of cellulases are involved in the breakdown of cellulose into sugars namely, endoglucanases, exoglucanasees and ßglucosidase (Ziegler, 2000). 6.2 Hemicellulose and Xylanases: xyloglucans and hemicelluloses surround the cellulose microfibrils. So in order to break cellulose units, specific enzymes are first required to first remove the hemicellulose polysaccharide. Hemicelluloses are diverse and amorphous and its main constituent is ß-1, 4-xylan. Thus, xylanases re the most bundant type of hemicellulases required to cleave the endo-and exo-activity (Warren, 1996). These are mainly obtained from the fungi Trichoderma reesei, along with a large number of bacteria, yeast and other fungi which have been reported to produce1.4 ß-D xylanases. 6.3 Lignin and Laccasses: The major constituent of plants secondary cell wall is lignin. It accounts for nearly 10-25% of total plant dry matter (Sticklen, 2008). Unlike cellulose and hemicelluloses, the lignin polymer is not particularly linear and instead comprises of a complex of phenylpropanoid units which are linked in a 3-D network to cellulose and xylose with ester, phenyl and covalent bonds (Carpita, 2002).à White rot fungi (esp. Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Trametes versicolour) are thought degrade lignin more efficiently and rapidly than any other studied microorganisms (DSouza, 1999). P. Chrysosporium produces laccases like ligninases or lignin peroxidase, which initiate the process of degradation of lignin and manganese dependent peroxidises (Cullen, 1992). 8.0 Production of cellulases and hemicellulases in tobacco chloroplasts Protein engineering methodologies provide the best answer to concerns regarding production of improved cellulases with reduced allosteric hindrance, improved tolerance to high temperatures and specific pH optima along with higher specific activity (Sainz, 2009). The table below (table 1) lists different type of cellulases and hemicellulases that have been expressed in plant chloroplasts: Chloroplasts are green coloured plastids that have their own genome and are found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms like algae. The targeted expression of foreign genes in plant organelles can be used to introduce desired characteristics in a contained and economically sustainable manner (fig. 5). It also allows us to combine various other advantages like easy and efficient scalability along with being entirely free of animal pathogens. Unlike most other methods of plant genetic engineering, the major advantage with chloroplast transformation is their characteristic of transgene containment i.e. transgenes in these plastids are not spread through pollen (Verma and Daniell, 2007). This implies that chloroplast genetic transformation is fairly a safe one and does not pose the risk of producing herbicide resistant weeds (Ho and Cummins, 2005). Chloroplast transformation involves homologous recombination. Thisnot only minimises the insertion of unnecessary DNA that accompaniestransformation of the nuclear genome, but also allows precisetargeting of inserted genes, thereby also avoiding theuncontrollable, unpredictable rearrangements and deletions oftransgene DNA as well as host genome DNA at the site of insertionthat characterises nuclear transformation (Nixon, 2001). Another advantage of chloroplast transformation is that foreign genes can be over-expressed due to the high gene copy number, up to 100,000 compared with single-copy nuclear genes (Maliga, 2003). While nuclear transformants typically produce foreign protein up to 1%TSP in transformed leaf tissue, with some exceptional transformants producing protein at 5-10%TSP, chloroplast transformants often accumulate foreign protein at 5-10%TSP in transformed leaves, with exceptional transformants reaching as high as >40%TSP (Maliga, 2003). Research is needed to determine the stability of the biological activity of extracted plant-produced hydrolysis enzymes in TSP when stored under freeze conditions for different periods of time before their use in hydrolysis (Sticklen, 2008). Two other important and related areas for further research are increasing the levels of production and the biological activity of the heterologous enzymes (Sticklen, 2008).Many cell wall deconstructing enzymes have been isolated and characterised and more need to be investigated for finding more enzymes that can resist higher conversion temperatures and a range of pHs during pretreatment. Serious efforts to produce cellulosic ethanol on an industrial scale are already underway. Other than the Canadian Iorgen plant, no commercial cellulosic ethanol plant is yet in operation or under construction (Sticklen, 2008). However, research in this area is underway and funding is becoming available around the world for this purpose, from both governmental and commercial sources. For example, British Petroleum have donated half a billion dollars to US institutions to develop new sources of energy primarily biofuel crops (Sticklen, 2008). 10.0 Conclusion The fact that corn ethanol produces more green house gas emissions than gasoline and that cellulosic ethanol from non-food crops produces less green house gas emissions than electricity or hydrogen, is one of the factors that highly favour production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass (Verma, 2010). However, biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials is a challenging problem because of the multifaceted nature of raw materials and lack of technology to efficiently and economically release fermentable sugars from the complex multi-polymeric raw materials (Verma, 2010). After decades of research aimed at reducing the costs of microbial cellulases, their production is still expensive (Sticklen and Oraby, 2005). One way of decreasing such costs is to produce these enzymes within crop biomass. Although some important advances have been made to lay the foundations for plant genetic engineering for biofuel production, this science is still in its infancy (Sticklen, 2008). A general challenge is to develop efficient systems for the genetic transformation of plant systems for the production of cellulose degrading enzymes. Research is particularly needed to focus on the targeting of these enzymes to multiple subcellular locations in order to increase levels of enzyme production and produce enzymes with higher biological activities (Sticklen, 2008). A huge potential exists to produce larger amounts of these enzymes in chloroplasts, and exciting progress has been made in terms of the crops for which the chloroplast can now be genetically engineered. More effo rts are however needed towards the development of systems to genetically engineer chloroplasts of biomass crops such as cereals and perennial grasses (Blaschke, 2006). Some of the key aims of the project would be: To characterise cell wall degrading enzymes Overexpression of cellulose cDNA in pET30 vector systems Induction and characterisation of proteins in different conditions The use of tobacco plant as means of producing cellulases through chloroplast genetic engineering to simultaneously addresses the most important question of shifting the agricultural land from feed crops to biofuel crops (like corn and sugarcane at present) along with the cost-effective large scale production of cellulose degrading enzymes.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Robert Browningââ¬â¢s My Last Duchess and The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Sai
Dramatic Monologue in Robert Browningââ¬â¢s My Last Duchess and The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxedââ¬â¢s Church The general public knows Robert Browning as the writer of ââ¬Å"The Pied Piperâ⬠a beloved childrenââ¬â¢s tale, and the hero of the film The Barrettââ¬â¢s of Wimpole Street. Most recognize him for little else. The literary world recognizes him as one of the most prolific poets of all time. However, his grave in Westminster Abbey stands among the great figures in English history. At his death at age seventy-seven, Robert Browning had produced volumes of poetry. He had risen to the heights of literary greatness. Robert Browning received little acknowledgement for his work until he was in his fifties. ââ¬Å"He had been following a blind alley. Now he had reversed his direction, and by so doing, had come in sight of his true destination, the dramatic monologue. In the dedication to Strafford he had correctly analyzed the bent of his genius; it was to treat Action in Character, rather than Character in Actionâ⬠(Johnson 4). Browning used the dramatic monologues as his artistic vehicle. In ââ¬Å"My Last Duchessâ⬠and ââ¬Å"The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxedââ¬â¢sâ⬠he presented characters with varying degrees of sympathy or satire as he took incidents from the past and made them come alive through his skillful use of the dramatic monologue. He rose to his position from rather modest beginnings in the south London village of Camberwell. Browning was born in 1812, to middle-class parents, his father, Robert, Sr., was a clerk for the Bank of England, and had refined artistic literary tastes. His mother Sarah Anne Widedemann, a devout Christian, pursued interests in music and nature. Browning read at age five and composed his first poetry ... ...wn.edu/victorian/books/alienvision/browning/2.html. Karlin, Daniel. The Courtship of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. New York: Oxford University, 1985. Langbaum, Robert. ââ¬Å"The Dramatic Monologue: Sympathy versus Judgment.â⬠Modern Critical views Robert Browning. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1985. 23-44. Odden, Karen. ââ¬Å"Robert Browning.â⬠World Poets. Ed. Ron Padgett. Vol. 1. New York: Scribnerââ¬â¢s, 2000. 163-173. Ryals, Clyde de L. ââ¬Å"Browningââ¬â¢s Irony.â⬠The Victorian Experience: The Poets Ed. Richard A. Levine. (1982): 23-46. Rpt. In Poetry Criticism. Ed. Robyn V. Young. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 90-97. Wagner-Lawlor, Jennifer A. ââ¬Å"The Pragmatics of Silence, and the Figuration of the Reader in Browningââ¬â¢s Dramatic Monologues.â⬠Victorian Poetry. 22 Apr. 2001. http://vp.engl.wvu.edu/fall97/wagner.html.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
B2B Organizational Marketing
Present day market leaders confront a number of challenges in securing new orders and customers. These challenges may take the form of a larger number of players influencing the customer decision process, increased buying criteria, greater expectations of faster feedback, and more expectations from the customers that the sales force understand the customerââ¬â¢s requirements. The customers have become more demanding and the competitors have become more productive which have also increased the challenges being faced by the businesses.The businesses are expected to possess the characteristics of flexibility, speed, easiness in dealing, fast, resilience, customer focus, and human warmth in their dealings (Rick Wolfe). Being a business based on the impulse and moods of the customers, the leisure cruise business needs much of these factors to be integrated into them for being successful in attracting more and new customers.This paper attempts to make a detailed report on the marketing techniques and business issues relating to the Carnival Cruise Lines and Crystal Cruise Lines who are the players in the same line of business with different marketing approaches to the business. Carnival Cruise Lines ââ¬â A Background The evolution and growth of Carnival Cruise Lines marked the redefining of the leisure cruise industry. The company approached a diverse market adopting a novel theme of ââ¬ËFun Shipsââ¬â¢ adequately supported by competitively low pricing.There was increased pressure from competition which forced the company to have a relook into its ââ¬ËFun Shipââ¬â¢ brand, without disturbing the equity content of the brand already developed by the company. From the points of view of the customers the cruise lines do not have any differentials. Hence it became necessary for the Carnival Cruise Lines to differentiate them to the customers by providing upgraded product features, efficient service, and a brand image which is not only convincing but also sophisticated.The 2,974 passenger capacity 110,000 ton Carnival Liberty was set to sail in July 2005. Built at $ 500 million the ship was the twenty first vessels in the fleet of Carnival Cruise Lines and it gave the company more passenger carrying capacity than any other cruise lines. The company arranged cruises covering more than three million guests during the financial year 2004 and the companyââ¬â¢s revenues were in the region of $ 9. 73 billion, with net earnings of $ 1. 85 billion in the year 2004.The company has been maintaining its principles to adhere to the term ââ¬ËFun Shipsââ¬â¢ throughout the year and a time has come when the top leaders of the company have to have a rethinking on the level of customer service so that they can still maintain the brand image. This was due to the fact that there have been increased expectations and renewed competition in the industry. Marketing Strategy of Carnival The company had to develop its marketing strategy purely out of necessity. At a certain point of time Carnival did not have to make an advertising campaign to promote its cruises.In fact at that time no cruise lines made any efforts to advertise. During the start up years which were lean the onboard product was limited. The customersââ¬â¢ expectations were also limited as the cruise products that were available were still relatively new to the market and to the customers. The ââ¬ËFun Shipsââ¬â¢ concept of marketing was set in motion by Dickinson for the first time in the 1973 when he took charge as the vice-president sales of Carnival. He was inspired by the concept of ââ¬ËHappy shipââ¬â¢ promoted by Commodore Cruise Lines.This promotion started at a time when the cruise marketing focused its attention on the destinations covered by the cruises rather than the ships that were used for the cruises. The cruising during these times was promoted as a highbrow, luxurious experience. However Carnival adopted a different marketing strat egy by reasoning that ââ¬Ëfunââ¬â¢ was what people really wanted to experience in a vacation. The company promoted the cruise in Mardi Gras as a fun-ship experience while cruising instead of promoting the cruises on the basis of destinations.This way Carnival decided to send a message that was unique in the cruise industry. (20) The marketing strategy of the company centered round the policy of the company to anchor the brand ââ¬ËFun Shipsââ¬â¢ to coincide with its positioning strategy. This enabled Carnival build an unmatched value proposition on the promise of fun during the cruise. This promise of fun has been made the marketing strategy of the company for at least the next thirty years of its existence.In quite contrast to the other cruise line customers Carnival through its ââ¬ËFun Shipsââ¬â¢ marketing theme attracted middle-class customers who are relatively young. To these kinds of customers Carnival offered full casinos, live music, discos, and wild daytime activitiesââ¬âincluding belly-flop, beer-chugging, and hairy-chest contests which were offered for the first time by any cruise. These fun based activities were quite different from the existing idea of in-cruise entertainment of shuffleboard and afternoon tea.With a view to make improvements in these fun activities Carnival built the new ships starting from the year 1980 providing for the facilities for the fun activities with bright colors and neon lighting unlike anything before seen in a cruise ship. These were quite different and shocking to the traditional ship owners. Carnival used the first-time cruisers as tools for the market development strategy for communicating the brand message of ââ¬ËFun Shipsââ¬â¢. The company articulated the ââ¬ËFun Ships image by showing the ships and the possible entertainment architecture within the ships.The company promoted the marketing theme as ââ¬Ëhaving fun comprising of guests ââ¬Å"dining, dancing, playing, swimming, sun ning, and socializing at affordable priceâ⬠. The company has started the advertising commercials in the 1984 and was the first cruise to advertise on the Television. The marketing objective of the company remained provision of fun all along the cruise. The company however continued to have the marketing objective to ââ¬Å"introduce vacationers to cruising and to reinforce the image of Carnival as the essence of funâ⬠(J. Robert Kwortnik Jr 2006).Challenges to Carnivalââ¬â¢s Market-Leadership The major challenge to the marketing efforts of Carnival and a threat to its market-leadership position, is the continuous copying of the ââ¬ËFun Shipsââ¬â¢ brand by the competitor lines. For example the Royal Caribbeanââ¬â¢s product offering of adventure-theme challenged the fun concept of Carnival Cruise Lines by an active-adventure version of Royal Caribbean; similarly the next generation of the ships of Royal Caribbean had a water theme park which would challenge Carni val Lineââ¬â¢s water-park innovation.Another threat to the market position of Carnival arises due to the repositioning of the brand. This may be the result of the tension faced in the development of brand image which is characterized by the improvements in the product. However the management steers the brand toward a more sophisticated version of fun, the risk of mixed signals and brand confusion This makes the a brand's equity as more a function of the customers for a particular brand than the function of the brand. Crystal Cruises ââ¬â a Background Crystal Cruise offers a hybrid style of cruising experience which is intriguing.Though the cruise line is decidedly upscale, its ships are larger ones quite unlike its luxury line competitors. These ships have the capacity of carrying 940 passengers. NYK lines of Japan own Crystal Cruises. The company founded in the year 1990 is based in Los Angeles. The earlier ships owned by the company included a 940-passenger ship by name â⠬ËCrystal Harmony. This ship was first launched in the year 1990. The ââ¬ËCrystal Symphonyââ¬â¢ was the second one to follow and also has a passenger carrying capacity of 940-passengers.The company added to its fleet the new ship ââ¬ËCrystal Serenityââ¬â¢ with a capacity of 1080 passengers which first sailed in the summer of 2003. The company has sold the ship ââ¬ËCrystal Harmonyââ¬â¢ in the year 2005 to have once more only two ships in its fleet (Cruise Critic). Though the company has only two ships it has earned the distinction of one of the best cruise lines in the world with the extravagance of services it offers on board the ships. The added feature which enhances the marketing ability of the Crystal is the health club products it offers on board its ships including the Spa.Crystal Serenity is the largest ship of Crystal Cruise. This ship has all the facilities that the cruises of Crystal normally provide. These features include a Sushi Bar, a tennis court, and a board room offering variety of wines. The ship also provides a state ââ¬â of ââ¬â the ââ¬â art childrenââ¬â¢s play area known as ââ¬ËFantasiaââ¬â¢ and also a teen center. There is also an indoor/outdoor pool and a higher ratio of balcony cabins and about 85 percent of the staterooms are having verandahs. The attractiveness of Crystal Cruise is magnified by its getting the ISO 14001 certification for its fleet-wide environmental management system maintenance.In continuation of its environmental management program the company is continuously establishing new goals to minimize the degradation to environment by reducing the use of plastics and increased recycling and enhanced fuel efficiency (Even Keel). Marketing Strategy of Crystal Cruises Crystalââ¬â¢s bigger ships carrying more passengers are one of the marketing points as against its smaller competitors. The company has a unique characteristic of having a highest guest-to-staff and largest guest-to-spa ce ratio.This has won more number of repeat passengers. The smaller line competitors do not have the facilities to compete with Crystal. ââ¬Å"The facilities that crystal offer include biggest-ships-in-luxury-class status along with far more options, in terms of entertainment, socializing, casinos, spa and fitness facilities, activities, and enrichment opportunitiesâ⬠(Cruise Critic). ââ¬Å"The renowned Crystal experience is distinguished by incomparable service, abundant space, extensive choices, and superior qualityâ⬠(Crystal Cruise).Crystal Cruises is offering a program known as ââ¬ËShare the Experienceââ¬â¢ which offers membership to its repeat customers to ââ¬ËCrystal Societyââ¬â¢. The members of this society are given $ 100 shipboard credit when they are able to persuade a first timer to take a cruise with crystal. Crystal has roughly 60 percent of its customers as first timers to the cruise line. The marketing strategy of the company is to bring in mo re new customers and increase the ratio of new customers. The company believes in getting more to the new people for its growth (Christopher Elliott, 2007)The product offering by Crystal includes the ââ¬ËCrystal Spaââ¬â¢ the only Feng Shui- designed Spa on board any ship is one of the major marketing points for Crystal. ââ¬Å"Superior service, state-of-the-art facilities and amenities, such as treatment rooms, saunas and a private sun deck or relaxation area with expansive ocean views, propelled the luxury line's Crystal Spa into first place among the magazine's savvy travelers who placed it alongside, and even above, some of the foremost spas in the worldâ⬠(Crystal Cruises).The other area where Crystal concentrates to improve the satisfaction of its customers is the service being provided by its extraordinary staff which makes the cruises with crystal a unique experience. The company claims that their attention to details is the strength of its marketing and the compan y also provides a personalized experience with a boutique ââ¬ËCrystal Adventuresââ¬â¢ and other customized ââ¬ËCrystal Private Adventureââ¬â¢.ââ¬Å"The lineââ¬â¢s glamorous casinos, array of evening entertainment and creative culinary venues and menus ââ¬â such as the cuisine of master chef, Nobu Matsuhisa ââ¬â rate high among those seeking quality choices on their floating luxury resortâ⬠(Article Avenue). Marketing Strategies of Carnival and Crystal ââ¬â A Comparison While Carnival Cruise Lines are perceived to have action packed fun and look for younger and value driven customers, Crystal Cruise targets older generation customers who are keen to receive five star services aboard luxurious ships.The basic distinction in the marketing concepts of both the lines lies in the way they perceive the preferences of the customers. On the basis of the products that these lines can offer they select their customer bases and arrive at the marketing strategies . The idea of getting more number of new customers is considered unique as far as Crystal is concerned since the company feels that with the extravagant service it offers on board it can make them repeat their visits to their cruises.By taking more care on the health aspects with the provision of Spa and other extensive health club facilities the travelers will feel more at land than at sea. This coupled with the provision of the highest guest service with more number of attendants and staff would make the customers feel that their travel was filled with an experience quite different and they may decide to experience it once again. In the case of Carnival the marketing strategy involves more value in terms of fun at lesser cost while cruising. The cost factor is taken as the base of promoting their product offering.The customers that Carnival caters to being young ones the company takes more care to provide as many number of recreation facilities to the customers so that they repeat their visits to the cruise. Conclusion In general as the sales teams deepen their knowledge about the customerââ¬â¢s needs and preferences they are able to pinpoint the metrics that the customers will make use of for making an assessment of the product offerings by different vendors. This gives rise to several variations and product differentiations by the suppliers to meet the requirements of different customers.This is evident from the fact that two cruise linesââ¬â¢ ââ¬â Carnival and Crystal ââ¬â product offerings. It is observed that both of the lines have different marketing objectives and different set of customer segments to cater to and serve. While Carnival has the marketing strategy of having fun during the cruise and attract younger customers, Crystal looks for increased number of new customers with a product offering of fun combined with health with the offering of the state of the art Spa and other connected facilities aboard to attract the customers. Ref erencesArticle Avenue ââ¬ËInformation and Tips for a Cruise Ship Vacationââ¬â¢ Christopher Elliott (2007) ââ¬ËStrategies to Make More Passengers Maiden Voyagersââ¬â¢ The New York Times dated February 25th 2007 Cruise Critic ââ¬ËCrystal Cruisesââ¬â¢ Crystal Cruise ââ¬ËCrystal Cruises Celebrates Thanksgiving and Fall Sailings with Family ââ¬Å"Valuesâ⬠ââ¬Ë Crystal Cruises ââ¬ËCrystal Cruises Named No. 1 Cruise Line Spa by the Readers of Conde Nast Travelerââ¬â¢ Even Keel ââ¬ËCruise Line News: Crystal Cruiseââ¬â¢ J. Robert Kwortnik Jr (2006) ââ¬ËCarnival Cruise Lines: Burnishing the brandââ¬â¢ http://www. allbusiness. com/accommodation-food-services/1190122-1. html Rick Wolfe ââ¬ËThe New B2B Marketing Dashboardââ¬â¢
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Australia was a better place in which to live for women in 1945 than it was in 1900. Discuss this statement with reference to the status of women.
Australia was a better place in which to live for women in 1945 than it was in 1900. Discuss this statement with reference to the status of women. It is evident that overall Australia was a better place to live for women in 1945 than it was in 1900. Throughout our history white settlement in Australia has influenced the role of women within society up until the beginning of the 20th Century. "During the convict period men out numbered women four to one," although the Australian convict period dates back to the 1800's, the fact that women were out numbered to men greatly impacted their position and way in which they were viewed in society. As a result of this, for the early part of the 1900's women were discriminated against. During this era women really worked together and stood up for their rights, for the first time in our history. Despite some reservations and social expectations women were able to emancipate themselves from the restrictions and expectations placed on them, showing that they did have a voice which, deserved to be heard.This is a photograph of Edith Cowan (1861ââ¬â1932),...This is shown through their fash ion, politics, women's rights education, wages employment, and two World Wars which influenced the positions of females in society between 1900 and 1945.Fashion throughout the twentieth Century played a huge role in portraying the new freedoms experienced by women within Australian Society. As the roles of women became more significant and defined, their fashion became more daring. In the 1900's women wore long dresses that would not allow any of their ankle to be revealed. When going out they always wore hats and gloves. Most women had long hair and wore it up in pins. "World War One changed women's clothing styles" "Women's dress became simpler as they took on 'men's jobs.'" During the 1910's many women worked toward both social and political equality. Skirts progressively became shorter, slowly revealing the ankles, causing females to wear lighter...
Monday, October 21, 2019
Avoid Gratuitous Capitalization
Avoid Gratuitous Capitalization Avoid Gratuitous Capitalization Avoid Gratuitous Capitalization By Mark Nichol As an editor, I devote much of my time and energy to helping a writer bring out the best in his or her prose, but a lot of effort also goes into minor but nagging errors unnecessary capitalization among them. Long after the Roman alphabet was developed, only one form existed: the capital form. Along the way, a parallel form, known as lowercase developed. (The term lowercase derives from the fact that stamps for printing letters using this style were kept in rows of cases located below those housing the uppercase, or capital, letters.) Now, capital letters are used in a limited number of functions: primarily, for the first letter of the first word in a sentence or of a proper noun, and for denoting acronyms and initialisms. Unfortunately, many amateur writers, and a number of professionals, clutter their writing with gratuitous capitalization because of a misunderstanding of or a disregard for orthographic conventions. For example, many people do not realize that when the name of an entity such as an organization is reduced to one word, that word is generally treated without initial capitalization, as in ââ¬Å"the associationâ⬠(not ââ¬Å"the Associationâ⬠) as shorthand for ââ¬Å"the American Automobile Association.â⬠One complication is something that can be blamed on institutional pride, as when a universityââ¬â¢s literature describes how ââ¬Å"the Universityââ¬â¢s student-life environment is very richâ⬠or on corporate branding efforts, as in ââ¬Å"the Company is here to serve your needs.â⬠Such gratuitous capitalization is entrenched in traditional legal writing (for example, ââ¬Å"the Plaintiffââ¬â¢s claim is upheldâ⬠), but both in that context and in general prose it is distracting. Whenever youââ¬â¢re tempted to capitalize a word, specific to your field of interest or endeavor, that is not a proper noun, check its treatment in the lay literature books, nonscholarly periodicals, newspapers, and websites. Often, youââ¬â¢ll find that the word is treated generically, and I hope that youââ¬â¢ll realize that unless the word is strictly a proper noun, thereââ¬â¢s no justification for aggrandizing it with an initial capital letter. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a US Business LetterThat vs. WhichTypes of Plots
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Biography of Malcolm Gladwell, Writer
Biography of Malcolm Gladwell, Writer English-born Canadian journalist, author, and speaker Malcolm Timothyà Gladwell is known for his articles and books that identify, approach and explain the unexpected implications of social science research. In addition to his writing work, he is the podcast host ofà Revisionist History. Early Life Malcolm Gladwell was born on September 3, 1963, inà Fareham,à Hampshire, Englandà to a father who was a mathematics professor, Graham Gladwell, and his mother Joyce Gladwell, a Jamaican psychotherapist. Gladwell grew up in Elmira, Ontario, Canada. He studied at the University of Toronto and received his bachelors degree in History in 1984 before moving to the U.S. to become a journalist. He initially covered business and science at the Washington Post where he worked for nine years. He began freelancing at The New Yorker before being offered a position as a staff writer there in 1996.à Malcolm Gladwellââ¬â¢s Literary Work In 2000, Malcolm Gladwell took a phrase that had up until that point been most frequently associated with epidemiology and single-handedly realigned it in all of our minds as a social phenomenon. The phrase was tipping point, and Gladwells breakthrough pop-sociology book of the same name was about why and how some ideas spread like social epidemics. became a social epidemic itself and continues to be a bestseller. Gladwell followed with Blink (2005), another book in which he examined a social phenomenon by dissecting numerous examples to arrive at his conclusions. Like The Tipping Point, Blink claimed aà basis in research, but it was still written in a breezy and accessible voice that give Gladwells writing popular appeal. Blink is about the notion of rapid cognition - snap judgments and how and why people make them. The idea for the book came to Gladwell after he noticed that he was experiencing social repercussions as a result of growing out his afro (prior to that point, he had kept his hair close-cropped). Both The Tipping Point and Blink were phenomenal bestsellers and his third book, Outliers (2008), took the same bestselling track. In Outliers, Gladwell once again synthesizes the experiences of numerous individuals in order to move beyond those experiences to arrive at a social phenomenon that others hadnt noticed, or at least hadnt popularized in the way that Gladwell has proved adept at doing. In compelling narrative form, Outliers examines the role that environment and cultural background play in the unfolding of great success stories. Gladwells fourth book,à What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009) gathers Gladwells favorite articles fromà The New Yorkerà from his time as a staff writer with the publication. The stories play with the common theme of perception as Gladwell tries to show the reader the world through the eyes of others - even if the point of view happens to be that of a dog. His most recent publication,à David and Goliath (2013), was inspired in part by an article that Gladwell penned forà The New Yorkerà in 2009 called How David Beats Goliath. This fifth book from Gladwell focuses on the contrast of advantage and probability of success amongst the underdogs from varying situations, the most well-known story concerning the biblical David and Goliath. Although the book didnt receive intense critical acclaim, it was a bestseller and hit No. 4 onà The New York Timesà hardcover non-fiction chart, and No. 5 on USA Todays best-selling books.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
An Analysis of Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich Essay
An Analysis of Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich - Essay Example She rapidly discovered that even the lowest professions necessitate very tiring psychological and physical labors. Plus only one profession is not sufficient, one needs as a minimum as two if he or she plan to live in the house. Nickel and Dimed discloses the low salary America in all its obstinacy, unease and astonishing liberality, a territory of fast food and a thousand distressed tactics for continued existence. Instantaneously highly praised for its imminent, absurdity and infatuation, this book is altering the mode America perceives its working deprived. After a large number of economic history has ensued ever since the late 1990's, America went into a downturn in 2001 that characteristics of two to three years of unemployed upturn. The American's went into two conflicts that assisted them to succeed back the enormous budget shortages that they had misplaced in the 1990's, quite a few of the state's immense companies battled for the label of biggest and meanest insolvency in U.S. account and the extreme enthusiasm in the accommodation marketplace fueled by sub prime loans ran out, almost certainly declaring them of an economic slump, if not a depression, in the up-coming year. The story that Ehrenreich enlightens in this book is still a moderating interpret and it has, actually, urbanized implications in the following years that reverberate even more powerfully nowadays. Barbara Ehrenreich, a 21st century American, who still... Barbara Ehrenreich, a 21st century American, who still adheres to the belief of Socialism. At the idea of Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper's, she determined to strive to see how people moving from benefit to work may be charging and if she could endure on the minimal wages offered by a chain of low rank professions. Therefore, for the next two years, she labored as a waitress in Key West, Florida, as a home cleaner in Portland and as a Wal-Mart dealer in Minneapolis, captivating nil with her but only some garments and a laptop on which to document her imitation. In fact, she utilized her personal car throughout the first task but after that she used care on rent. At this height of the economy, Ehrenreich writes down, there are actually two stern tribulations that have to be addressed, firstly, search for a reasonable place to reside and finding services to compensate for it. An Analysis of Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich 3 All through her stopover, Ehrenreich discovers that at the pay rates remunerated to waitresses, maids and seller clerks almost all employees have to do together at some end, unless they have partners or spouses who put in considerable wages. Even then, if there are children, the problems can be just as sensitive. For instance, as working at Wal-Mart, she gets familiar with a woman who works six hours per day at Wal-Mart for $7.00 for each hour and then an eight hour swing at a general company for $9.00 per hour. The working underprivileged do not gain from the wide-ranging riches, although, they are influenced by it as
Friday, October 18, 2019
Religious Expression in Humanities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1
Religious Expression in Humanities - Essay Example Due to this, religion is an integral part of the society that fosters humanness and social progress. Rome is an ancient city that plays a pivotal role in world religion. The Romans believed in a strong connection between the gods and the people. Most Romans held the central view regarding the value and importance of religion (Dillon and Garland 54). The religious convictions of the Roman culture were evident in their manner of worship and lifestyle. In fact, religion became central to their culture. The Romans used several ways to express their religion. Rome is an ancient city where the citizens found it necessary to offer sacrifices to their gods. Ceremonies found their meaning in terms of the religious expressions. For example, families would conduct prayers to the household god, Janus. In addition, the Roman government had various religious offices to cater for the religious needs of the society. For instance, the priests held senior positions in the society (Dillon and Garland 67). Due to this, the role of religion played a critical role when it came to the dissemination of duties. In the Roman case, there were 16 Pontifices who would preside over religious events. The ruler of the Roman Empire found it necessary to consult these priests before making a decision. The period 770-220 BCE was the ââ¬Å"Spring and Autumn Periodâ⬠that covers part of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and Hans Dynasty. Even though the Chinese had a high regard for religion, the Zhou Dynasty did not have any regard for religion (Lagerwey and Kalinowski 22). It was a period characterized by elitism and religion. Scholars believe that during this period, no prophet spoke. The priests did not take any part in explaining the will of the heavens. In addition, there were no books that could explain the religious expectations of man. During this time, heavenââ¬â¢s role took a back seat. On the contrary, when Hans took over, religion took a critical position. The Chinese concept
Housing as a Common Need Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Housing as a Common Need - Essay Example Lastly, the option of renting a house with a group of friends. It is an option that shows sociable tendencies in a person, whereby he puts himself deliberately into a position where he can be amongst others in more ways than one. This tendency is a derivative of harmony, and highlights increased affinity for others within a person. It is purely an option that is driven by the need for recognition and approval. The probability is that the option and its consequences are familiar to the common public; hence adopting this path is no new thing. In fact, doing this enables a person to be a part of a group or a type of person that he idolizes in terms of actions. Renting a house with a group of friends exhibits social supremacy. It depicts the intention of a person to have the want to go beyond limits in order to acquire social recognition. It is similar to another lion wanting to enter a pride. He feels that this is the only way the conflict pertaining to dominance can be resolved - by jo ining the group! With renting a house with a group of friends, the person has speculated a possible response that is likely to come from the people concerned. The individual may not do so in a place which provides him with uncertainty. His prior interaction and conception of the place is the primary factor which enables him to do the deed, otherwise, it would not actualize. The second option of renting a single apartment is theà second best option. It amounts to a much greater hassle as far as the intensity and repercussions are concerned. Options of housing in this realm are actually a type of escape, in which one is venting out the excess energy that is been surmounted due to other pressures and unresolved aims.à Willfully committing an option that is likely to harm another person is representative of suppressed rage and anger, which has not been able to come out in a healthy way.
What new problems arose for the Roman Empire during the first two Essay
What new problems arose for the Roman Empire during the first two centuries A.D - Essay Example lous reign of Augustus Caesar (63 B.C- 14 A.D), the empire underwent political and economic downturn under the Julio Claudio emperors; especially at the time of Nero (A.D 54-68). A major blaze devastated Rome in A.D 64 and subsequently Christians were brutally persecuted throughout the empire. It was followed by a number of rebellions until the emergence of Flavian dynasty. Although Vespasian (A.D 69-79) the first Flavian was a good ruler, Domitian (A.D 81-96) was brutal and notably inefficient. The period between A.D. 96 and A.D161 was comparatively peaceful under the emperors Nerva (A.D 96-98), Trajan (98-117), Hadrian (117-138), and Antonius Pius (138-161) respectively. Again the Empire fell in wars against Germanic tribes during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D 161-180). His son and successor Commodus (180-192) being an unfaithful ruler left the great empire to terrible civil wars. The empire was literarily fragmented under various military groups and finally occupied by 7 different dynasties since 193 A.D. In short, during the first two centuries the Roman Empire experienced numerous
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Marine Debris in the Hawaiian coast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
Marine Debris in the Hawaiian coast - Essay Example Solid material found in the marine environment is called marine debris. The common misconception is that it involves just a few pieces of harmless rubbish scattered along the shores of the ocean. Plastics are the most common types of marine debris with at least two hundred and sixty seven species having suffered from either ingest5ion or entanglement with these items. 5the scale of contamination is quite high with many attempts to address the issue including legislations and campaigns. There are various sources of marine debris all of which are categorized into four. First is tourist related litters that include beach toys, beverage packaging and cigarettes. The second category is sewage related debris including water from storm drains and water overflow from discharge waste during rainfall. Then there is fish related debris including fish pots, fishing lines and strapping bands from bait traps that are either lost in commercial fishing or dumped deliberately. The last category is waste from ships and boats that are mostly deliberately dumped (Laws, 2000:62). Marine debris washes up almost on a daily basis on the Hawaiian shores. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the collection area of marine debris from the Pacific Ocean covering an area twice the size of USA. Currents, winds, and waves bring the debris to the Hawaiian island of Hawai`i, Kauai, Oahu, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Niihau, Molokai, and Maui as well as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Most of this debris is plastic hence do not biodegrade. Although plastic later photo degrades, the process creates smaller particles that form smaller particles of plastic, which pose potential harm to marine life (Andrady, 2003:241). Harm to marine life The harm to marine life is twofold through either entanglement or ingestion and other miscellaneous factors. Ingestion Marine debris poses so much harm on the marine environment. Researchers found that 100% of albatrosses feed their chicks plastic. The adult
TEXTBOOK-Brinkley, American History, Connecting with the Past, Volume Essay
TEXTBOOK-Brinkley, American History, Connecting with the Past, Volume II, McGraw Hill chapters 16-19 - Essay Example Furthermore, a wonderful platform was provided for entrepreneurs to showcase their talent at the onset of this revolution. Steam power was introduced with the help of which railways came into being; water wheels were made use of in the manufacturing industry; the textile industry made use of the spinning jenny as well as various other equipments that brought about a revolutionary change in American society. These effects were not only confined to America but also spread through parts of Europe as well as North America, making America to be one of the fastest growing economies at the time. A number of powerful and wealthy industrialists came into being and were known as Robber Barons who sold their products at prices that were very questionable; this process included buying out the competition, paying the employees and workers very low wages, hiking up the prices while maintaining a monopoly in order to amass wealth. This practice was followed under the concept of laissez faire which has been discussed further during the scope of this paper however it was due to such a monopoly that the government in the country had to interfere in order to keep in check the welfare of the poorer sections of society from being exploited by these barons. ââ¬Å"Laissez-faireâ⬠is a French word-combination that literally means ââ¬Ëlet them doââ¬â¢ and may be interpreted in the economic sense as ââ¬Ëlet them do as they willââ¬â¢ or ââ¬Ëleave them to do as they please.ââ¬â¢ The phrase was brought into question when M. Le Gendre, who led a group of French businessmen, was asked about the welfare of merchants in France and how they could contribute to the commercial structure of the country. Established in the 18th century, the concept of laissez-faire was used in order to oppose any government intervention in business affairs. In America private owners have had a bigger say in matters relating to trade and commerce. E.A.J Johnson wrote the following in his 1973 study on the economic principles established at the foundation of the United States: ââ¬Å"The general view, discernible in contemporaneous literature, was that the responsibility of government should involve enough surveillance over the enterprise system to ensure the social usefulness of all economic activity. It is quite proper, said Bordley, for individuals to ââ¬Å"choose for themselvesâ⬠how they will apply their labor and their intelligence in production. But it does not follow from this that ââ¬Å"legislators and men of influenceâ⬠are freed from all responsibility for giving direction to the course of national economic development. They must, for instance, discountenance the production of unnecessary commodities of luxury when common sense indicates the need for food and other essentials. Lawmakers can fulfill their functions properly only when they ââ¬Å"become benefactors to the publicâ⬠; in new countries they must safeguard agriculture and commerce, e ncourage immigration, and promote manufactures.â⬠(Johnson, E.A.J) One of the main aspects of the industrial revolution in America was the development of railways and railroads because this led to the formation of the backbone of the American economy to a great extent. It assisted in balancing out transport of essential commodities to destinations near and far in order to maintain the supply of
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
What new problems arose for the Roman Empire during the first two Essay
What new problems arose for the Roman Empire during the first two centuries A.D - Essay Example lous reign of Augustus Caesar (63 B.C- 14 A.D), the empire underwent political and economic downturn under the Julio Claudio emperors; especially at the time of Nero (A.D 54-68). A major blaze devastated Rome in A.D 64 and subsequently Christians were brutally persecuted throughout the empire. It was followed by a number of rebellions until the emergence of Flavian dynasty. Although Vespasian (A.D 69-79) the first Flavian was a good ruler, Domitian (A.D 81-96) was brutal and notably inefficient. The period between A.D. 96 and A.D161 was comparatively peaceful under the emperors Nerva (A.D 96-98), Trajan (98-117), Hadrian (117-138), and Antonius Pius (138-161) respectively. Again the Empire fell in wars against Germanic tribes during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D 161-180). His son and successor Commodus (180-192) being an unfaithful ruler left the great empire to terrible civil wars. The empire was literarily fragmented under various military groups and finally occupied by 7 different dynasties since 193 A.D. In short, during the first two centuries the Roman Empire experienced numerous
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
TEXTBOOK-Brinkley, American History, Connecting with the Past, Volume Essay
TEXTBOOK-Brinkley, American History, Connecting with the Past, Volume II, McGraw Hill chapters 16-19 - Essay Example Furthermore, a wonderful platform was provided for entrepreneurs to showcase their talent at the onset of this revolution. Steam power was introduced with the help of which railways came into being; water wheels were made use of in the manufacturing industry; the textile industry made use of the spinning jenny as well as various other equipments that brought about a revolutionary change in American society. These effects were not only confined to America but also spread through parts of Europe as well as North America, making America to be one of the fastest growing economies at the time. A number of powerful and wealthy industrialists came into being and were known as Robber Barons who sold their products at prices that were very questionable; this process included buying out the competition, paying the employees and workers very low wages, hiking up the prices while maintaining a monopoly in order to amass wealth. This practice was followed under the concept of laissez faire which has been discussed further during the scope of this paper however it was due to such a monopoly that the government in the country had to interfere in order to keep in check the welfare of the poorer sections of society from being exploited by these barons. ââ¬Å"Laissez-faireâ⬠is a French word-combination that literally means ââ¬Ëlet them doââ¬â¢ and may be interpreted in the economic sense as ââ¬Ëlet them do as they willââ¬â¢ or ââ¬Ëleave them to do as they please.ââ¬â¢ The phrase was brought into question when M. Le Gendre, who led a group of French businessmen, was asked about the welfare of merchants in France and how they could contribute to the commercial structure of the country. Established in the 18th century, the concept of laissez-faire was used in order to oppose any government intervention in business affairs. In America private owners have had a bigger say in matters relating to trade and commerce. E.A.J Johnson wrote the following in his 1973 study on the economic principles established at the foundation of the United States: ââ¬Å"The general view, discernible in contemporaneous literature, was that the responsibility of government should involve enough surveillance over the enterprise system to ensure the social usefulness of all economic activity. It is quite proper, said Bordley, for individuals to ââ¬Å"choose for themselvesâ⬠how they will apply their labor and their intelligence in production. But it does not follow from this that ââ¬Å"legislators and men of influenceâ⬠are freed from all responsibility for giving direction to the course of national economic development. They must, for instance, discountenance the production of unnecessary commodities of luxury when common sense indicates the need for food and other essentials. Lawmakers can fulfill their functions properly only when they ââ¬Å"become benefactors to the publicâ⬠; in new countries they must safeguard agriculture and commerce, e ncourage immigration, and promote manufactures.â⬠(Johnson, E.A.J) One of the main aspects of the industrial revolution in America was the development of railways and railroads because this led to the formation of the backbone of the American economy to a great extent. It assisted in balancing out transport of essential commodities to destinations near and far in order to maintain the supply of
Should American Gun Laws Be Reformed Essay Example for Free
Should American Gun Laws Be Reformed Essay America is under ever mounting pressure to reform its gun laws. Overall, 337,960 gun related crimes and 31,000 firearms deaths a year results in America having the highest rate of firearm crime and death in the western world. Americaââ¬â¢s gun violence is so remarkably high for such a wealthy nation. Continuous mass shootings in schools and workplaces, most recent of which was the Sandy Hook school shooting on December 14 2012, means there is constant political debate over if/how the government should tackle gun violence. Many argue that there should be tighter checks on people purchasing guns, while the NRA and gun advocates claim that the Second Amendment guarantees each citizen an absolute right to ââ¬Å"bear armsâ⬠. Aims 1. I aim to find out what the current law is on carrying a firearm in the USA. 2. I aim to compare gun laws and gun crime in the USA to countries with similar levels of gun ownership. 3. I aim to discuss if there are effective ways to reduce gun violence in the USA whilst retaining the right to bear arms. USA gun laws The Second Amendment is the part of the US Bill of Rights that protects the right of US citizens to keep and bear arms, it reads: ââ¬Å"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. (1791) Gun laws vary in the USA between different states. Stricter states like California require a Handgun Safety Certificate for handgun purchases, obtained by passing a written test; and short-barrelled shotguns and rifles are prohibited. By contrast, states like Arizona let any adult who is not a prohibited possessor openly carry a loaded firearm. ââ¬Å"Self-defenceâ⬠is a legitimate reason to carry a gun in public nationwide. All states have gun laws that are more relaxed than British law. Comparing Countries The US has the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, 88. 8 guns per 100 people (2007). The number two country, Yemen, has significantly fewer guns with 54. 8 guns per 100 people. This shows how separated the US is from the rest of the world in terms of gun ownership. It also makes it hard to directly compare the USA to a country with similar gun ownership rates. Finland compared to the USA Finland has the 4th highest firearm ownership worldwide; 45. 3 guns per 100 people, with only Switzerland (45. 7), Yemen (54. 8) and America (88. 8) with higher rates of gun ownership. However, where Finland differentiates itself from America (and Yemen) is that it has comparatively low levels of gun crimes and deaths. The small arms survey (2007) shows that 60% of murders in the USA are gun-related whilst in Finland only 19. % of murders involve a gun. Last year alone America suffered seven mass shootings; Finland, just one. Gun ownership in Finland is much more regulated than it is in the US. Firearms can only be obtained with an acquisition license, which can be applied for from the local police. Guns must be stored in a locked space or otherwise with vital parts removed and separated. They may be carried only when they are transported from their place of st orage to the place of use (eg: shooting range). Aside from police and military personnel, only security guards with closely defined working conditions, special training and a permit are allowed to carry a loaded gun in public places. Self-defence is not a valid reason to own a gun. The firearms certificate may be cancelled if a person has committed any crimes. Physical and mental problems or reckless behaviour are also valid grounds for cancelling the certificate. A major question is whether gun-control laws reduce crime. It would seem that Finland shows this to be true. Tighter gun control seemingly drastically reduces gun crime. Are restrictive gun laws the reason that Finland has a much lower rate of gun crime than the USA? Or are there other major factors? Israel compared to the USA Although Israel has seemingly very tight laws on firearm ownership, it is a country that is very heavily armed due to compulsory military service and armed security guards in every school and most workplaces; yet they rarely use their guns to shoot each other. Many men and women openly carry firearms while carrying out day-to-day activities in Israel, but non-political mass killings there are unheard of. In Israel guns for personal use are theoretically hard to legally obtain. Assault rifles are banned, registration is necessary, and a whole system of checks and requirements are in place to keep weapons out of the wrong hands. Yet, gaps in the system and non-thorough checks make it easy for nearly anyone to come up with a legal excuse to own a gun (even though not many do). Despite being in a constant cold war, only 58 Israelis were murdered by guns last year, compared with 10,728 Americans. Israel hasnââ¬â¢t even got a high percentage of gun related murders; 11. 7%. Lower than both Finland and the USA. This canââ¬â¢t be down to heavy gun restriction, because Israel is a country where everyone; not only knows how to use a gun effectively due to compulsory, excessive military training, but, every single citizen has almost immediate direct access to a gun. Surely, any Israeli intending to murder someone, would instinctively choose a gun as their weapon? So, why is it that, in one of the only countries in the world that makes it compulsory for every eighteen year old to spend 3 years learning how to shoot to kill, we see some of the lowest levels of gun crime worldwide? In Israel, guns are not toys to be used as displays, or for threatening suspicious people walking down the street. They are necessary security measures against terrorism for the publicââ¬â¢s safety. When everyone has a gun, guns are no longer seen as talismans for the weak, frightened, and unstable, seeking a sense of security, but as killing machines that are to be handled with the utmost caution and care, used solely for serious protection. Can the USA reduce gun violence? Israel is a prime example of a society that has a large amount of armed civilians in public places, yet almost no gun crime. This is a direct result of its gun culture. Its attitude towards guns and the knowledge every adult holds; how to handle and use a gun correctly, translates to a very responsible society. A similar model can be seen in Finland. Responsible gun carrying adults, with appropriate knowledge, who understand the uses and dangers or guns, result in low levels of gun crime and a safer society. Similar attitudes towards guns can also be seen in Switzerland (also with compulsory military service. ), Sweden and Norway all of which are in the top 12 countries for gun ownership yet all have far lower rates of gun crime than the USA. Changing gun culture in the US would be a realistic place to start trying to reduce violence, even though it may be costly. This would be a legitimate and possibly more effective alternative to heavily decreasing the number of guns in public ownership. Conclusion To be sure, shooting rampages have occurred in the past years in Germany, Norway, Finland, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, but nowhere as costly or numerous as in the USA. This is largely down to Americaââ¬â¢s gun culture which needs to be changed if America wants to end mass shootings and decrease its gun crime. Following Israelââ¬â¢s example and educating gun owners about their rights and responsibilities, so as to create a culture of sensible and mindful gun ownership. If the US government were to spend money educating gun owners about the uses and dangers of guns (which they already do with gun carrying police officers), they would start to create a more stable society. Americaââ¬â¢s gun culture is what needs to change, not its ownership rates, if people want to own firearms and the government permits it; itââ¬â¢s the governmentââ¬â¢s responsibility to make sure the owner is capable of handling a gun safely, so that they donââ¬â¢t infringe on others citizenââ¬â¢s life. This solution would not mean a drastic reduction of citizens owning guns. Rather, it would encourage them to use them safely, with caution and respect. This has the direct intention of reducing accidental injuries and crime alike. Gun ownership isnââ¬â¢t the problem. People aiming guns at each other is. Guns donââ¬â¢t kill people, people kill people. America needs to change to attitudes of its people fast, before more of them die.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Social Needs of a Child
Social Needs of a Child From the time our children are born we work with them on getting along with others. Children need to learn how to communicate with others, how to problem solve, and morals. A good place for children to learn these steps is at home with the family. When there is a healthy family relationship the child will develop greater social skills. One thing that a family can work on is to promote good communication. This can be done by just sitting around the dinner table and holding conversations. The parent needs to talk to the child as well as listen to what the child has to say. This helps to develop the childs communication skills and teaches them how to communicate with others. Another thing that families can work on at home is problem solving skills. This can be done by guidance from the parent. The parent can help point out what the problem is and they can think of different ways to solve the problem. After they have come up with different ways to solve the problem the child (with the parents direction) can evaluate the solution and then come up with a plan to solve the problem. This is also another way that the parent can work on communication skills with the child. When families attend church they learn about different types of morals. However, not everyone has to go to church to learn morals. The parents can teach these at home through example. When the parents are living a clean, good moral life it is showing the child how to live a good clean moral life. It is important for the parent to set good examples so the child has them to follow. The examples the child will learn from are by the parents interactions with other (i.e. the verbal and non-verbal communication with others), by how the parent treats the child, and through observing how the parent handles different situations. The parents can also teach the child about lying and stealing through example and when the conversation comes up. If there isnt good morals in the home this can affect the moral character of the children. Parents need to work hard to provide the basic needs for the family. The child shouldnt need to focus on the basic needs because they need to spend time learning to problem solve. If the child has to stress over the basic needs then there isnt time left over to learn how to problem solve and can affect the childs social and emotional development. At school there are also things that can contribute to the communication development of children. These things can be the interaction of classmates, interactions with the teacher, and how the classroom is arranged. The classroom arrangement can help in encouraging communication between students. By setting the desks up in groups or having tables in the classroom this encourages communication, but if the desks are set up in rows this can hinder the opportunity for children to interact and communicate with each other. Also having the desks set up in groups gives the teacher easier access to the students and helps with the student to teacher communication. The classroom environment is also another strong contributor to the development of the students problem solving skills. Maurice Elias suggest engage in creative, disciplined process of exploring alternative possibilities that leads to responsible, goal-directed action, including overcoming obstacles to plans (Elias, 2003). Through listening to Eliass suggestion the students can be promoted in their learning, develop problem solving skills, and can also learn how to assume responsibility for their learning. When the teacher is in the classroom and is dictating to the children and when the child answers something wrong is harsh to them then the students can have impaired communication and problem solving skills. When the student is uncomfortable with answering the question the teacher has asked of them they arent able to develop upon their communication skills. However, if the teacher were to show empathy instead of being harsh the student will be comfortable participating and will be able to develop upon their communication skills. When the childs basic needs are being met and you add a morally strong home with a classroom that encourages open communication the student will be well on their way of having their communication and problem solving skills met.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Ernest Hemingway :: essays research papers
Ernest Hemingway was a major American novelist and short story writer whose principal themes were violence, machismo, and the nature of what is called now “male bonding.'; His renowned style for his firmly non-intellectual fiction is characterized by understatement and terse dialogue (Riley 231). Hemingway had a life that included him running away several times. Hemingway had many jobs before becoming a novelist and short story writer. He also had many influences, from his father’s suicide to painters that influenced his writings. Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist and short story writer, whose style is characterized by crispness, childish dialogue and emotional understatement that has made him a major novelist and short story writer (Riley 231). Ã Ã Ã Ã Ã Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois on July, 21 1899 to his mother Grace Hall and his father Clarence Edmonds Hemingway (Rood 187). Even though he was born into a upper-middle class family, he single handedly revised the Byronic stereotype of the artist-adventurer (Lesniak 20). Hemingway’s childhood was rarely mentioned, other then that he tried to run away from home several times when he was still in high school (Lesniak 23). After Hemingway graduated from Oak Park High School, he went to work, in 1917, as a reporter at the Kansas City Star. In 1918 he enlisted as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy. In 1920 he starts working as a reporter and a foreign correspondent for Toronto. After being an ambulance driver in Italy in World War I, he converted to Catholicism and he often referred to himself for the rest of his life as “a rotten Catholic'; (Lesnaik 20). Hemingway married four times during his life, each time to a Midwestern American girl. First he married Hadley Richardson on September 3, 1921. On May 10, 1927 he married Pauline Pfeiffer. On November 21, 1940 he married Martha Gellhorn. Finally on March 14, 1946 he married Mary Walsh. He regarded the end of a marriage as a personal defeat (Rood 187). Ã Ã Ã Ã Ã Hemingway had many kinds of figures. He was a craftsman dedicated to the art of letters who rarely wavered in his adherence to the highest standards of artistic probity. He also significantly influenced twentieth century writing on all levels through his pronouncements and the principles of professionalism which he introduced and lived. Hemingway was also a night-club roisterer, a slick and chromatically unreal advertisement in the rotogravures, unfairly “good copy'; for the gossip columnists, public brawler and braggart, and the “batter’d.
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