Blasted Wabbitt Essay Research Paper Insomnia is free essay sample

Blasted Wabbitt Essay, Research Paper Insomnia is the perceptual experience or ailment of unequal or poor-quality slumber because of one or more of the followers: 1.difficulty falling asleep 2 ) waking up often during the dark with trouble returning to kip 3 ) waking up to early in the forenoon 4 ) unrefreshing slumber. Insomnia is non defined by the figure of hours of slumber a individual gets or how long it takes to fall asleep. Persons vary usually in their demand for, and their satisfaction with, slumber. Insomnia may do jobs during the daylight, such as fatigue, a deficiency of energy, trouble concentrating, and crossness. A bout 15 % of grownups study severe or frequent insomnia, and another 15 % complain of mild or occasional insomnia ( Bootzin, 1993pg.191 ) . I interviewed a friend of mine who had this job, insomnia, his name was Guy. He told me that he found him self-falling in to the 15 % of grownups who are enduring from insomnia. We will write a custom essay sample on Blasted Wabbitt Essay Research Paper Insomnia is or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In his first-year twelvemonth of college here in Akron University. When he started school he told him self that he would analyze on the weekdays and non party until the weekend, so he can acquire good grads and sleep well. His program lasted for approximately two hebdomads, because he started a new occupation and he had to work from 7:00p.m until 11:30p.m. the occupation gave him, a batch of emphasis, because it was a telemarketing occupation ; every twenty-four hours he would travel to work and seek to sell recognition cards to people. Every twenty-four hours he would acquire screamed at by costumiers on the phone. He wasn # 8217 ; Ts pleased with his occupation, it was giving him a batch of emphasis, but he had to work, so he can pay for his rent and some of his measures. He told me that the lone ground he stayed in teleselling is because it pays truly good. After work every twenty-four hours he and some of his crow workers would travel to downtown, to the bars to acquire some in toxicant drinks and after word he goes back to kip at 3 :00a.m and weak up 7:30a.m to travel to school. That agenda affected his surveies a batch and his hall life, his household dishonored him because of his bad grads, he started to experience stressed all the clip, so one twenty-four hours he decided to non travel to the bars any more, and to work different displacements so he can analyze and kip good. When he started his new agenda he couldn’t sleep any more because his organic structure intestine used to kip tardily and he felt that he has insomnia, so he went to a physician to give him pills so he can travel back to kip as normal, the physician told him that he has chronic insomnia, that caused by depression and imbibing intoxicant before traveling to bed. The physician gave him kiping pills to assist him to better his kiping wonts. He besides has to see a doctor to closely measure effectivity and minimise side effects. He besides tried some of relaxation therapy, sleep limitation therapy. It helped him a batch to better in hi s life and his surveies. Now he is making great at school and his life is acquiring better now. A batch of inquiries were asked from people for illustration: Who gets insomnia? and how is it diagnosed? And how is it treated? Insomnia is found in males and females of all age groups, although it seems to be more common in females than males ( particularly after climacteric ) and in the aged. The ability to kip, instead than the demand for slumber, appears to diminish with forward age. Patients with insomnia are evaluated with the aid of a medical history and a sleep history. A batch of insomnia like transient and intermittent may non necessitate intervention since episodes last merely a few yearss at a clip. A batch of people think that they have insomnia, but the lab work proofed that some people go to kip truly good in the lab. They imagine them self that they are traveling about in bed but they are really sleep.

Battle of the Frontiers in World War I

Battle of the Frontiers in World War I The Battle of the Frontiers was a series of engagements fought from August 7 to September 13, 1914, during the opening weeks of World War I (1914-1918). Armies Commanders: Allies General Joseph JoffreField Marshal Sir John FrenchKing Albert I1,437,000 men Germany Generaloberst Helmuth von Moltke1,300,000 men Background With the beginning of World War I, the armies of Europe began mobilizing and moving towards the front according to highly detailed timetables. In Germany, the army prepared to implement a modified version of the Schlieffen Plan. Created by Count Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905, the plan was a response to Germanys likely need to fight a two-front war against France and Russia. After their easy victory over the French in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Germany viewed France as less of a concern than its larger neighbor to the east. As a result, Schlieffen elected to mass the bulk of Germanys military might against France with the goal of winning a quick victory before the Russians could fully mobilize their army. With France out of the war, Germany would be free to focus their attention on the east (Map). Anticipating that France would strike across the border into Alsace and Lorraine, which had been lost during the earlier conflict, the Germans planned to violate the neutrality of Luxembourg and Belgium to attack the French from the north in a massive battle of encirclement. German troops were to hold along the border while the right wing of the army swung through Belgium and past Paris in an effort to destroy the French army. In 1906, the plan was adjusted by Chief of the General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, who weakened the critical right wing to reinforce Alsace, Lorraine, and the Eastern Front. French War Plans In the years before the war, General Joseph Joffre, Chief of the French General Staff, sought to update his nations war plans for a potential conflict with Germany.  Though he originally desired to design a plan that had French troops attack through Belgium, he was later unwilling to violate that nations neutrality. Instead, Joffre and his staff developed Plan XVII which called for French troops to concentrate along the German border and commence attacks through the Ardennes and into Lorraine.  As Germany possessed a numerical advantage, the success of Plan XVII was based on them sending at least twenty divisions to the Eastern Front as well as not immediately activating their reserves.  Though the threat of an attack through Belgium was acknowledged, French planners did not believe the Germans to have sufficient manpower to advance west of the Meuse River.  Unfortunately for the French, the Germans gambled on Russia mobilizing slowly and devoted the bulk of their strength to the west as well as immediately activated their reserves. Fighting Begins With the start of the war, the Germans deployed the First through Seventh Armies, north to south, to implement the Schlieffen Plan.  Entering Belgium on August 3, First and Second Armies pushed back the small Belgian Army but were slowed by the need to reduce the fortress city of Liege.  Though the Germans started to bypass the city, it took until August 16 to eliminate the last fort.  Occupying the country, the Germans, paranoid about guerrilla warfare, killed thousands of innocent Belgians as well as burned several towns and cultural treasures such as the library at Louvain. Dubbed the rape of Belgium, these actions were needless and served to blacken Germanys reputation abroad.  Receiving reports of German activity in Belgium, General Charles Lanrezac, commanding the Fifth Army, warned Joffre that the enemy was moving in unexpected strength.   French Actions Implementing Plan XVII, VII Corps from the French First Army entered Alsace on August 7 and captured Mulhouse.  Counterattacking two days later, the Germans were able to reclaim the town.  On August 8, Joffre issued General Instructions No. 1 to the First and Second Armies on his right.  This called for an advance northeast into Alsace and Lorraine on August 14.  During this time, he continued to discount reports of enemy movements in Belgium.  Attacking, the French were opposed by the German Sixth and Seventh Armies.  As per Moltkes plans, these formations conducted a fighting withdrawal back to a line between Morhange and Sarrebourg.  Having obtained additional forces, Crown Prince Rupprecht launched a converging counterattack against the French on August 20.  In three days of fighting, the French withdrew to a defensive line near Nancy and behind the Meurthe River (Map).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Further north, Joffre had intended to mount an offensive with the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Armies but these plans were overtaken by events in Belgium.  On August 15, after urging from Lanrezac, he ordered Fifth Army north into the angle formed by the Sambre and Meuse Rivers.  To fill the line, the Third Army slid north and the newly-activated Army of Lorraine took its place.  Seeking to gain the initiative, Joffre directed Third and Fourth Armies to advance through the Ardennes against Arlon and Neufchateau.  Moving out on August 21, they encountered the German Fourth and Fifth Armies and were badly beaten.  Though Joffre attempted to restart the offensive, his battered forces were back at their original lines by the night of the 23rd.  As the situation along the front developed, Field Marshal Sir John Frenchs British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed and began concentrating at Le Cateau.  Communicating with the British commander, Joffre asked French to cooperate with La nrezac on the left. Charleroi Having occupied a line along the Sambre and Meuse Rivers near Charleroi, Lanrezac received orders from Joffre on August 18 instructing him to attack either north or east depending on the enemys location.  As his cavalry was unable to penetrate the German cavalry screen, Fifth Army held its location.  Three days later, having realized that the enemy was west of the Meuse in force, Joffre directed Lanrezac to strike when an opportune moment arrived and arranged for support from the BEF.  Despite these orders, Lanrezac assumed a defensive position behind the rivers.  Later that day, he came under attack from General Karl von Bà ¼lows Second Army (Map).   Able to cross the Sambre, German forces succeeded in turning back French counterattacks on the morning of August 22.  Seeking to gain an advantage, Lanrezac withdrew General Franchet dEspereys I Corps from the Meuse with the goal of using it to turn  Bà ¼lows left flank.  As dEsperey moved to strike on August 23, Fifth Armys flank was threatened by elements of General Freiherr von Hausens Third Army which had begun crossing the Meuse to the east.  Counter-marching, I Corps was able to block Hausen, but could not push Third Army back over the river.  That night, with the British under heavy pressure on his left and a grim outlook on his front, Lanrezac decided to retreat south. Mons As Bà ¼low pressed his attack against Lanrezac on August 23, he requested General Alexander von Kluck, whose First Army was advancing on his right, to attack southeast into the French flank.  Moving forward, First Army encountered Frenchs BEF which had assumed a strong defensive position at Mons.  Fighting from prepared positions and employing rapid, accurate rifle fire, the British inflicted heavy losses on the Germans. Repelling the enemy until evening, French was compelled to pull back when Lanrezac departed leaving his right flank vulnerable. Though a defeat, the British bought time for the French and Belgians to form a new defensive line. Aftermath In the wake of the defeats at Charleroi and Mons, French and British forces began a long, fighting withdrawal south towards Paris. Retreating, holding actions or unsuccessful counterattacks were fought at Le Cateau (August 26-27) and St. Quentin (August 29-30), while Mauberge capitulated September 7 after a short siege. Forming a line behind the Marne River, Joffre prepared to make a stand to defend Paris. Increasingly irate by the French habit of retreating without informing him, French wished to pull the BEF back towards the coast, but was convinced to stay at the front by War Secretary Horatio H. Kitchener (Map). The opening actions of the conflict had proved a disaster for the Allies with the French suffering around 329,000 casualties in August.  German losses in the same period totaled approximately 206,500.  Stabilizing the situation, Joffre opened the First Battle of the Marne on September 6 when a gap was found between Kluck and  Bà ¼lows armies.  Exploiting this, both formations were soon threatened with destruction.  In these circumstances, Moltke suffered a nervous breakdown. His subordinates assumed command and ordered a general retreat to the Aisne River. Fighting continued as the fall progressed with the Allies assaulting the Aisne River line before both commenced a race north to the sea.  As this concluded in mid-October, heavy combat began again with the start of the First Battle of Ypres.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Selected Sources: First World War: Battle of the FrontiersHistory of War: Battle of the Frontiers

Psychiatrict-negligence in Tort Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Psychiatrict-negligence in Tort Law - Essay Example The following research examines liability and the probable outcomes. The modern tort of negligence as observed in numerous cases requires the existence of a care duty that the claimant owes the defendant, violation of duty and considerable injury or sabotage, which emanates from that violation.2 Every previously mentioned aspect of the case in the given case is subject to assessment and establishment in every claim against the defendant, for any suit against the defendant to yield positively. Foremost, it is essential to delineate the range of the members that owe a duty of care. Negligence essentially deals with paying damages to victims of an accident, resulting from other parties’ carelessness. If a duty of care is indistinct in the given case, then the tort of negligence is not necessary from that point when analyzing that situation. In this study, determining who owes the other a duty of care as the fire incident occurred is immensely dependent on Lord Atkins’s nei ghbor principle that prescribes a framework for analyzing the validity of duty of care. Negligent liability of psychological harm thus depends on a test called the neighbor principle.3 The foremost action by the court when determining liability for payment of damages a conduction of the neighbour test. The court further enquires whether there existed core policy considerations that dictated that not duty of care and eventual liability for damages should exist. Moreover, the prescribed requirements before imposition of a duty of care include the foreseeability of the damage, a proximal linkage between the involved parties; both criteria should be under justifiable and reasonable circumstances.4 However, that criterion is not essentially necessary. The aspect of foreseeability refers to what a reasonable person would have predicted in the imminent circumstances and is ubiquitous in the offense of negligence. It is founded on the Atkins’s neighbor rule, but can pose as a test th e remoteness of damage and violation of rightful duty where the loss ought has to be foreseeable as a probability.5 Proximity refers to the legal rather than physical proximity and is relevant considering whether the involved persons and parties are neighbors in the law, such as Eric and the Dwain’s knitting needle factory. Though this test has a shallow framework, other factors that enhance the determination of liability for negligence tort include damage types of economic loss, personal injury, property sabotage and psychological damage, which is relevant to our case of study. Other considerations are whether the damage was through omission, was through a third party and if the defendants are under a special law classification. In the light of this accident, Eric suffered physical injury from the flames, fumes and the hassle of saving the trapped people in the burning factory. Eric is thus, a primary victim. Dwain as a defendant in this scenario is a neighbor to Eric and th erefore owes Eric a duty of care. It is Eric’s legal right to live in a stress free life, and his neighbor, the knitting needle factory is liable to compensate him for any harm he experiences,

Project Report 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Project Report 3 - Essay Example It began in December 2007 and lasted 18 months which was the longest recession since World War 2. By observing the U.S Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and the employment data, we can conclude that the current state of the U.S economy is recovering from the recession. The GDP is an important variable because GDP represents the total dollar value of all goods and services which being produced in the period time. The GDP is also related to the real income, employment and industry production. These reasons are why GDP is an important indicator to a country’s economy state. By looking at the Quarter-to-Quarter growth in real GDP graph (Bureau of Economic Analysis) the GDP in the last two quarters of 2008 and the first two quarters of 2009 are negative. Especially the last quarter in 2008, the GDP is down by 9% which means the economy of U.S had dropped 9% in the over the last quarter of 2008. However, from the third quarter of 2009 the GDP had grown back to positive and it stayed p ositive from 2010 to 2012. By using the previous data we can conclude that the recession is over and the U.S economy is recovering now. The other important variable is the employment data. ... mic Analysis), we can easily tell the number of employees dropped from 127,383,000 to 121,078,000 during 2008 to 2009 which means there are about 6,000,000 people lost their job during 2008 to 2009. In 2011, the number of equivalent of employees bounced back to 121,757,000 which is a good sign for U.S economy. There are many factors which can cause the economic recession. The most common reason is the declining in GDP growth and it brings the high unemployment rate, inflation and other economic problems. The latest recession in 2008 is because of the bubble burst in housing price. In 2006 the housing price in U.S peaked too high and the price started falling since 2007. The homeowners and the people who invested in real estate were facing a huge loss. Comparing the current GDP to the GDP before recession, we can realize that the GDP before recession is slightly lower than the current GDP. Therefore, U.S economy is recovered from the recession which was started from 2008. However, by observing the gross domestic investment data (Bureau of Economic Analysis table 5.2.3), the gross domestic investment in 2011 is still lower than 2004 to 2008. We can assume that the U.S economy is not fully recovered because people cannot have that much money to invest comparing to the time before the recession. We compared the recession between 2001 and 2008. These two recessions are interesting because they are really close to us, and most of us should remember how it was, and what was happening at that time. There were few main reasons that why the U.S. economy was slipping into recession in 2001. One of the most memorable reasons was the terrorist attack; the terrorist attack bringing down a $10.2 trillion dollar economy is dramatic. Another main cause of 2001 recession was the crash

Controversy Analysis, fracking, air pollution, gasland Essay

Controversy Analysis, fracking, air pollution, gasland - Essay Example Because of its potential to harm the environment, especially through the pollution of air, making it difficult for both humans and wildlife to survive, is an issues which has been widely discussed (McKenzie et al 80). The potential effects of fracking on the quality of air has led to the decision by the United States government to set up rules whose aim is to ensure that there is a reduction of the pollution of air by those companies which are involved in fracking. Among the first activities which led to the development of public awareness concerning the detrimental effects of fracking was the creation of the documentary film, Gasland. This documentary was an attempt to create awareness, within the American public, of the effects of that attempts made by gas companies to extract natural gas in rural America have on the environment. Fracking means of gas mining done through the injection of chemicals and massive quantities of water at high pressures with the intention of cracking open the rocks deep beneath the surface and as a result releasing the natural gas (Byrne). As is evidenced in the film, while fracking has led to the emergence of the natural gas boom across the United States, there is also proof that this method of gas extraction has led to the contamination of the environment, especially air, which is an essential want for all Americans (Porter). The fact that this film came into prominence is one of the reasons why the American government chose to take steps to ensure that the natural environment is protected against destruction through companies which use fracking in the extraction of natural gas. Gasland has created a new awareness in the public concerning the devastating environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing, which is the main means through which natural gas is extracted in the mainland United States. The film works towards the establishment of means through which these issues concerning the conservation of the American environment can be discussed and viable solutions for the environmental problems caused by these activities by oil and gas companies can be found (â€Å"Gasland†). It can further be said that Gasland deals with the preservation, the development, and the return of the American natural environment to the state in which it was previously. Because of the influence of Gasland, the EPA was pressured to issue final air pollution standards whose main purpose is to ensure that all fracking operations conducted in the country use emission capture technology (â€Å"The Future of Fracking†). While this was the case, however, the EPA gave the gas companies required to implement these new rules what was termed a phase-in period before having to comply. The new regulations that were put in place, were the first of their kind that were aimed at limiting air pollution due to the fracking process (â€Å"Clean Air and Natural Gas†). These regulations have created the requirement that all the operato rs who use this method have to capture natural gas and volatile organic compounds that are produced while the wells are being prepared for the production of gas (â€Å"Senate committee examines EPA rule on air pollution from fracking†). The fracking method, while creating vast potential for natural

Analyze The Character Of Tess As A Pure Woman Or A Fallen Woman

Analyze The Character Of Tess As A Pure Woman Or A Fallen Woman INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to analyze the character of Tess as a pure woman or a fallen woman in Thomas Hardys novel Tess of the DUrbervilles (1891)by describing Tess as a pure woman and comparing to a Bero2010-10-17T18:00:00 Redundant, unless you specifically state which aspects of her character you intend to analyze and what type of method you propose. is it possible to return to this part of introduction at a later time? I would like to specify it but still don`t know what to add. Bero2010-10-17T18:00:00 Ok, leave it for later By presenting Tess as a pure woman Hardy criticises Victorian notions of female purity. The nineteenth-century society treated women as second class citizens. Although they did have certain legal rights, those were not respected in real life. The prime role of women was to produce children and to be good wives; women learnt to play the piano, to sing, to wear dresses etc. Women were forced to live in a state of perpetual childhood depending on the male family member. Contrary to nineteenth-century notions of women, Hardy portrays Tess as an independent heroine. Furthermore, in redefining the role of women Hardy focuses on sexuality. Tess of DUrbervilles is regarded as Hardys tragic masterpiece, subtitled A Pure Woman, first published in 1891 after being rejected by two publishers. It is a story of a country girl who is first presented as an innocent girl but turns into a tragic heroine. From Hardys point of view, Tess in not responsible for what she has done. She is a victim of a series of misfortunes which slowly destroy her personality. The novel is written in seven chapters; each chapter representing a phase of Tesss life after which Tess becomes more mature. With the life as series of tragedies, Tess refuses to remain a victim and struggles through life. In the nineteenth-century society, there were two types of women: Fallen women and Good women i.e. pure women. Good women were seen as pure and clean i.e. virgins until the marriage. And their bodies were seen as temples that should not be used for pleasure. Their role was to have children and take care of the house. Any woman who did not fulfil these expectations was seen as a fallen one. Is Tess a pure woman? Or is she a fallen one? While the Victorian society regarded Tess as a fallen woman, Hardy seems to be representing her as a pure woman. She seems to be a victim and femme fatale at the same time. Answers to these and similar questions are the aim of this paper. 1. WOMEN AND SOCIETY IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND Britain had lost its most important American colonies in the eighteenth-century during the American war of independence (fought between 1775 and 1783) and when the nineteenth-century began, the country was at a brink of war with France. Under such circumstances, no one would have expected Britain to control the biggest empire the world had ever seen after the end of the century. This empire included Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, India, large parts of Africa and some smaller areas and islands (such as those in the Caribbean). Colonization, which was seen by some as a matter of destiny, turned Britain into the worlds greatest economic power, which brought about great changes in social structure. The greatest symbol of such a powerful nation and empire was its monarch, Queen Victoria, whose official title was the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the first Empress of India. She ruled the empire between 1837 and 1901, which makes her reign longer than that of any other British monarch, and is the longest of any female monarch in history. She ascended the throne when she was only eighteen, following the death of her uncle William IV. The reign of Queen Victoria is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military progress within the United Kingdom. Victoria was a religious mother of nine children, a devoted wife to her husband, Prince Albert, and as such she was regarded as the best personification of the morals of her time. She set very high moral standards which were difficult to follow for the twentieth century monarchy. As was already mentioned, the nineteenth-century Britain was the greatest economic power of the world. During the nineteenth-century the factory system gradually replaced the system of people working in their own homes or in small workshops. In England the textile industry was the first to face changes. This caused great shifts in social structure, making owners of industries and trades people more powerful than ever. However, the industrial revolution created a great demand for female and child labour. While it is true that children had always worked together with their parents, before the nineteenth-century they usually worked part time. In the new textile factories women and children were often made to work very long hours (often twelve hours a day or even longer). The situation improved slightly after 1833, when the first law regulating factory working conditions was passed. Among other things, it set a limit on the number of hours that children could work and made it illegal for children under nine to work in cotton mills. In 1868 the Trades Union Congress was passed, which helped even more for the working conditions to improve. As far as the political life in nineteenth-century Britain is concerned, the House of Commons was headed by two parties, the Whigs and the Tories. From the late 1850s onwards, the Whigs became the Liberals; the Tories became the Conservatives. It was a period of great political and social unrest in Britain. It is worth mentioning here that in 1812 a Tory Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was shot. He was the only British prime minister ever to be assassinated. The nineteenth century in Britain was marked mostly by industrial development and colonization, which had its positive and negative effects on the British society. It was definitely a period of great changes. The period between 1837 and 1901 is known as the Victorian age, named so after the Queen Victoria. There are two historical elements which affected the English society of the nineteenth-century: colonization and industrialization. Both of these brought great increase in wealth, making Britain the leading economic power of its time. From todays perspective, it might seem that the Victorian age was quite conservative, since it was characterized by great prudishness. However, most of the nineteenth-century in Britain was a tremendously exciting period when many artistic styles, literary schools, as well as social, political and religious movements were started. It was a time of prosperity, imperial expansion, and great political reform. As far as the society is concerned, there were great changes. The social classes were reforming and the middle classes were gaining more power. There was also an emerging commercial class, which was very wealthy. However, the conditions of the working class (which included many children as well as women) were extremely bad. Even children at the age of three had to work. In coal mines, children used to work from the age of five and often died before the age of twenty-five due to the hard working conditions. Many children (and adults) worked sixteen hours a day. Some writers and intellectuals of this period protested against it. The most prominent was Charles Dickens, who himself worked at the age of twelve. The reforms that were passed did not change the reality of the working classes, although they did gain some rights (e.g. most males over the age of twenty-one gained the right to vote). In the nineteenth-century there was a great shift of population from rural to urban areas. People seeking better living conditions for their families left everything and populated big cities in search of work. By 1870 Britain had grown from ten million at the start of the century to over twenty-six million. Millions of workers lived in slums or in empty, old decaying upper class houses. They had no sanitation, no water supply, no paved streets, no schools, no law or order, no decent food or new clothing. Many had to walk miles to mill or factory work. Their working hours began at 5.30 a.m. and lasted till 10 p.m. Drinking and abuse were frequent in family lives, since people thought that life had very little to offer them. Nevertheless, it was also a period of great scientific progress and ideas. Darwins ideas emerged in this period; there was the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London which introduced the technical and industrial developments of the age. Railways helped connect faraway parts of the land and made travelling cheaper and faster, and inventions like trains and steamships made it possible to import cheap food from abroad so people were better fed. Waterproof clothing and anaesthetics made life more comfortable and convenient. Some things which we take for granted today, such as photography, also thrilled people of the Victorian age. Without a doubt, it was an extraordinarily complex age, which has sometimes been called the Second English Renaissance. It is, however, also the beginning of Modern Times (Miller). The Victorian society was divided into four classes: nobility and gentry, middle class, upper working class and lower working class. The womans role and her duties were defined by those classes providing her no other alternatives. The barriers of these classes which included their own specific standards defined the role of a woman. It was expected of a woman to behave according to the standards of a society class she belonged to and was considered an offence to adopt the standards of another. Ladies of the highest class, nobility and gentry who inherited land, wealth and titles, managed the home and household. When it came to meeting new people with the purpose of establishing connections in economic sense, men relied on their wives to organize parties and dinners. Women also took care of her children, ill family members and at the same time had to improve their cultural knowledge. The middle class included everyone between the working class and lower gentry. The role of middle class women varied from family to family depended mostly on how much money they had. A single woman had an option to work as a governess if she did not marry and had no relatives to care for her. The upper working class included those who had a slightly higher level of income and status and those who were employed in jobs that took skill or thought as opposed to physical labour. Women of the working class found positions in shops, as teachers or governesses. The lower working class included the desperately poor, typically single women. They were expected to support themselves and the Industrial Revolution offered them factory jobs; some were maids, barmaids, sold flowers. However, the most important role of a nineteenth-century woman in Britain was the one of a wife and mother. John Simkin notes that The laws in Britain were based on the idea that women would get married and that their husbands would take care of them. When a woman got married her personal property became the property of her husband, the same as her earning if a woman worked after marriage. She could not do anything without the consent of her husband. A married woman was defined as one person with her husband according to the law. The husband was supposed to take care of his wife and she was supposed to obey him. As having no rights, a woman could not refuse forced sex by her their husband and could be beaten by him if she did. Simkin notices that the idea was that upper and middle class women had to stay dependent on a man: first as daughters and later as wives. When they were married, women could not get a divorce without difficulties. As Simkin continues, according to the British law men had the right to divorce their wives on the grounds of adultery as opposed to women who did not have the same right if their husbands had been unfaithful. Simkin also notes that Once divorced, the children became the mans property and the mother could be prevented from seeing her children. It was believed that education of a woman did not have to be extended as that of a man. The most important thing for a woman to know was how to bring up her children and to keep house. Therefore, it was unnecessary for a woman to attend university. People even believed it was against a womans nature and could make her ill. A woman had to stay subordinate to her husband and the most valued virtue was obedience. 2. TESS AS A PURE WOMAN: HEROINE AND VICTIM OR FALLEN WOMAN Tess of DUrbervilles is a tragic novel of a young girl named Tess who goes through many struggles in her life and due to her innocence and youth ends up violated by one man and forsaken by another (Heap). Tesss father, John Durbeyfield, discovers that he is the descendant of the Norman noble family of the dUrbervilles, who came across with the Conqueror. As they very poor, the family sends Tess to the new found relatives hoping that Tess would marry a nobleman. Unfortunately for Tess, the new relatives have taken the name because it sounded good. Tesss cousin, Alec, takes full advantage of Tesss inferior position; he seduces and rapes her. Tess goes back to her parents` home where she gives birth to a boy who soon dies. So, Tess leaves home again to work as a milkmaid on a farm where she meets Angel Clare and they fall in love. Scared of losing him, she does not tell him about her past. However, as Angel in their wedding night confesses his previous affair, Tess, convinced that she will finally be forgiven, confesses about her past. Angel cannot bare the thought that Tess in not pure as he believes and therefore leaves Tess. Tess struggles through poverty but in the end accepts the he lp of Alec. When Angel finally returns, he finds Tess with Alec. Tess murders Alec and runs away with Angel; however, the police found them at Stonehenge and Tess was hanged. Bero2010-11-11T22:01:00 Fix this. Indent the beginnings of all paragraphs. Avoid short paragraphs.Thomas Hardy was an established writer at the time he wrote Tess of dUrbervilles. However, this was his first novel to meet public outrage, mainly because of his portrayal of a fallen woman as being pure(Rowland). As Matthew Rowland notes, Tess went through some struggles and issues in her life that make it difficult for us to claim whether they were completely right or wrong. The question whether Tess is a heroine and victim or a fallen woman still remains a mystery. What is heroism? Angus Wilson notes that The opportunities for heroism are limited in this kind of world: the most people can do is sometimes not to be as weak as theyve been at other times. Arthur Ashe points out that True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but to serve others at whatever cost. As Hardy wrote his book in the Victorian Age, it becomes obvious that he was attacking that society through Tess. Tess leaves her home, as Rowland notes, betraying her family duties in order to move up in the world. Hardys Tess is not a typical heroine. She evolves into a great person in the pubic sphere even though she is a young female (Rowland). Most critics see Tess as a hero. Tess has a stature that makes her own sufferings touching and personal to the reader (Rowland). Even the way Hardy himself writes about Tess makes us, the readers, believe he was fond of Tess. He describes her experience of the world, her feelings and gives us an intense reality. On the other hand, there are those who believe that Tess is a fallen woman. They see Tess as a woman who wronged herself in all the rules and laws of the society and therefore should be punished.

Comparing Cruelty in The Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men :: comparison compare contrast essays

Cruelty in The Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." (Robert Burns) Man's inhumanity to man is clearly demonstrated in William Golding's work, The Lord of the Flies, as well as John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hung because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these disc riminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt. Comparing Cruelty in The Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men :: comparison compare contrast essays Cruelty in The Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." (Robert Burns) Man's inhumanity to man is clearly demonstrated in William Golding's work, The Lord of the Flies, as well as John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck there are many events in the plot of the story that occur that prove that when man is cruel to man, some peoples lives are negatively affected. One instance in where this is proven true is when the men on the ranch and Curley's wife are cruel and discriminative against Crooks causing him to be the one to mourn. An example of how the men are discriminative towards Crooks is that he is forced to live in a shack away from the bunkhouse and also Crooks says that "They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink" and "I ain't wanted in the bunkhouse." An example of when Curley's Wife is critical towards Crooks is when she looks into his room to see what Lennie and Crooks are doing and then she states, shaking her head, that they left the weak ones behind. Also, she threatens to have Crooks hung because a black man should never talk to a white woman the way he just had. As a result of all of these disc riminatory acts against him, Crooks feels unwanted and lonely because of his color and placement on the farm. Also those examples are part of the theme of the novel, people need to accept and understand those different from themselves, which also helps to prove the interpretation of the quote. Another example in this novel that proves that when man is cruel to man, the lives of people are negatively affected is when Curley picks on and tries to hurt Lennie. Curley chooses to fight Lennie because he thinks he won't fight back but because George gets angry and tells Lennie to fight back, he does. George being angry is not the only negative effect that Curley's teasing had on man, but also now Lennie is angry and in danger of getting in trouble and Curley himself gets hurt.

Genetically Foods Essay

Genetically-modified foods (GM foods) have made a big splash in the news lately. European environmental organizations and public interest groups have been actively protesting against GM foods for months, and recent controversial studies about the effects of genetically-modified corn pollen on monarch butterfly caterpillars1, 2 have brought the issue of genetic engineering to the forefront of the public consciousness in the U. S. In response to the upswelling of public concern, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held three open meetings in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Oakland, California to solicit public opinions and begin the process of establishing a new regulatory procedure for government approval of GM foods3. I attended the FDA meeting held in November 1999 in Washington, D. C. , and here I will attempt to summarize the issues involved and explain the U. S. government’s present role in regulating GM food. What are genetically-modified foods? The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. The enhancement of desired traits has traditionally been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods can be very time consuming and are often not very accurate. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. For example, plant geneticists can isolate a gene responsible for drought tolerance and insert that gene into a different plant. The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought tolerance as well. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-plant organisms also can be used. The best known example of this is the use of B. t. genes in corn and other crops. B. t. , or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal to insect larvae. B. t. crystal protein genes have been transferred into corn, enabling the corn to produce its own pesticides against insects such as the European corn borer. For two informative overviews of some of the techniques involved in creating GM foods, visit Biotech Basics (sponsored by Monsanto) http://www. biotechknowledge. monsanto. com/biotech/bbasics. nsf/index or Techniques of Plant Biotechnology from the National Center for Biotechnology Education http://www. ncbe. reading. ac. uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/techniques. What are some of the advantages of GM foods? The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways: Pest resistance Crop losses from insect pests can be staggering, resulting in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. Farmers typically use many tons of chemical pesticides annually. Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water supply and cause harm to the environment. Growing GM foods such as B. t.corn can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market4, 5. Herbicide tolerance For some crops, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physical means such as tilling, so farmers will often spray large quantities of different herbicides (weed-killer) to destroy weeds, a time-consuming and expensive process, that requires care so that the herbicide doesn’t harm the crop plant or the environment. Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed. For example, Monsanto has created a strain of soybeans genetically modified to be not affected by their herbicide product Roundup  ®6. A farmer grows these soybeans which then only require one application of weed-killer instead of multiple applications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste run-off7. Disease resistance There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases8, 9. Cold tolerance Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings10. (Note: I have not been able to find any journal articles or patents that involve fish antifreeze proteins in strawberries, although I have seen such reports in newspapers. I can only conclude that nothing on this application has yet been published or patented.) Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance As the world population grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places11, 12. Nutrition Malnutrition is common in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. For example, blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is a common problem in third world countries. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of â€Å"golden† rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin A)13. Since this rice was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation14, a non-profit organization, the Institute hopes to offer the golden rice seed free to any third world country that requests it. Plans were underway to develop a golden rice that also has increased iron content. However, the grant that funded the creation of these two rice strains was not renewed, perhaps because of the vigorous anti-GM food protesting in Europe, and so this nutritionally-enhanced rice may not come to market at all15. Pharmaceuticals Medicines and vaccines often are costly to produce and sometimes require special storage conditions not readily available in third world countries. Researchers are working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes16, 17. These vaccines will be much easier to ship, store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines. Phytoremediation Not all GM plants are grown as crops. Soil and groundwater pollution continues to be a problem in all parts of the world. Plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil18. How prevalent are GM crops? What plants are involved? According to the FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are over 40 plant varieties that have completed all of the federal requirements for commercialization (http://vm. cfsan. fda. gov/%7Elrd/biocon). Some examples of these plants include tomatoes and cantalopes that have modified ripening characteristics, soybeans and sugarbeets that are resistant to herbicides, and corn and cotton plants with increased resistance to insect pests. Not all these products are available in supermarkets yet; however, the prevalence of GM foods in U. S. grocery stores is more widespread than is commonly thought. While there are very, very few genetically-modified whole fruits and vegetables available on produce stands, highly processed foods, such as vegetable oils or breakfast cereals, most likely contain some tiny percentage of genetically-modified ingredients because the raw ingredients have been pooled into one processing stream from many different sources. Also, the ubiquity of soybean derivatives as food additives in the modern American diet virtually ensures that all U. S. consumers have been exposed to GM food products. The U. S. statistics that follow are derived from data presented on the USDA web site at http://www. ers. usda. gov/briefing/biotechnology/. The global statistics are derived from a brief published by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) at http://www. isaaa. org/publications/briefs/Brief_21. htm and from the Biotechnology Industry Organization at http://www. bio.org/food&ag/1999Acreage. Thirteen countries grew genetically-engineered crops commercially in 2000, and of these, the U. S. produced the majority. In 2000, 68% of all GM crops were grown by U. S. farmers. In comparison, Argentina, Canada and China produced only 23%, 7% and 1%, respectively. Other countries that grew commercial GM crops in 2000 are Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Spain, and Uruguay. Soybeans and corn are the top two most widely grown crops (82% of all GM crops harvested in 2000), with cotton, rapeseed (or canola) and potatoes trailing behind. 74% of these GM crops were modified for herbicide tolerance, 19% were modified for insect pest resistance, and 7% were modified for both herbicide tolerance and pest tolerance. Globally, acreage of GM crops has increased 25-fold in just 5 years, from approximately 4. 3 million acres in 1996 to 109 million acres in 2000 – almost twice the area of the United Kingdom. Approximately 99 million acres were devoted to GM crops in the U. S. and Argentina alone. In the U. S. , approximately 54% of all soybeans cultivated in 2000 were genetically-modified, up from 42% in 1998 and only 7% in 1996. In 2000, genetically-modified cotton varieties accounted for 61% of the total cotton crop, up from 42% in 1998, and 15% in 1996. GM corn and also experienced a similar but less dramatic increase. Corn production increased to 25% of all corn grown in 2000, about the same as 1998 (26%), but up from 1. 5% in 1996. As anticipated, pesticide and herbicide use on these GM varieties was slashed and, for the most part, yields were increased (for details, see the UDSA publication at http://www. ers. usda. gov/publications/aer786/). What are some of the criticisms against GM foods? Environmental activists, religious organizations, public interest groups, professional associations and other scientists and government officials have all raised concerns about GM foods, and criticized agribusiness for pursuing profit without concern for potential hazards, and the government for failing to exercise adequate regulatory oversight. It seems that everyone has a strong opinion about GM foods. Even the Vatican19 and the Prince of Wales20 have expressed their opinions. Most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns. Environmental hazards Unintended harm to other organisms Last year a laboratory study was published in Nature21 showing that pollen from B. t. corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars. Monarch caterpillars consume milkweed plants, not corn, but the fear is that if pollen from B. t. corn is blown by the wind onto milkweed plants in neighboring fields, the caterpillars could eat the pollen and perish. Although the Nature study was not conducted under natural field conditions, the results seemed to support this viewpoint. Unfortunately, B. t. toxins kill many species of insect larvae indiscriminately; it is not possible to design a B. t. toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects. This study is being reexamined by the USDA, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other non-government research groups, and preliminary data from new studies suggests that the original study may have been flawed22, 23. This topic is the subject of acrimonious debate, and both sides of the argument are defending their data vigorously. Currently, there is no agreement about the results of these studies, and the potential risk of harm to non-target organisms will need to be evaluated further. Reduced effectiveness of pesticides Just as some populations of mosquitoes developed resistance to the now-banned pesticide DDT, many people are concerned that insects will become resistant to B. t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own pesticides. Gene transfer to non-target species Another concern is that crop plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. These â€Å"superweeds† would then be herbicide tolerant as well. Other introduced genes may cross over into non-modified crops planted next to GM crops. The possibility of interbreeding is shown by the defense of farmers against lawsuits filed by Monsanto. The company has filed patent infringement lawsuits against farmers who may have harvested GM crops. Monsanto claims that the farmers obtained Monsanto-licensed GM seeds from an unknown source and did not pay royalties to Monsanto. The farmers claim that their unmodified crops were cross-pollinated from someone else’s GM crops planted a field or two away. More investigation is needed to resolve this issue. There are several possible solutions to the three problems mentioned above. Genes are exchanged between plants via pollen. Two ways to ensure that non-target species will not receive introduced genes from GM plants are to create GM plants that are male sterile (do not produce pollen) or to modify the GM plant so that the pollen does not contain the introduced gene24, 25, 26. Cross-pollination would not occur, and if harmless insects such as monarch caterpillars were to eat pollen from GM plants, the caterpillars would survive. Another possible solution is to create buffer zones around fields of GM crops27, 28, 29. For example, non-GM corn would be planted to surround a field of B. t. GM corn, and the non-GM corn would not be harvested. Beneficial or harmless insects would have a refuge in the non-GM corn, and insect pests could be allowed to destroy the non-GM corn and would not develop resistance to B. t. pesticides. Gene transfer to weeds and other crops would not occur because the wind-blown pollen would not travel beyond the buffer zone. Estimates of the necessary width of buffer zones range from 6 meters to 30 meters or more30. This planting method may not be feasible if too much acreage is required for the buffer zones. Human health risks Allergenicity Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions31. Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies. Labeling of GM foods and food products will acquire new importance, which I shall discuss later. Unknown effects on human health There is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health. A recent article published in Lancet examined the effects of GM potatoes on the digestive tract in rats32, 33. This study claimed that there were appreciable differences in the intestines of rats fed GM potatoes and rats fed unmodified potatoes. Yet critics say that this paper, like the monarch butterfly data, is flawed and does not hold up to scientific scrutiny34. Moreover, the gene introduced into the potatoes was a snowdrop flower lectin, a substance known to be toxic to mammals. The scientists who created this variety of potato chose to use the lectin gene simply to test the methodology, and these potatoes were never intended for human or animal consumption. On the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do not present a risk to human health. Economic concerns Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. Many new plant genetic engineering technologies and GM plants have been patented, and patent infringement is a big concern of agribusiness. Yet consumer advocates are worried that patenting these new plant varieties will raise the price of seeds so high that small farmers and third world countries will not be able to afford seeds for GM crops, thus widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor. It is hoped that in a humanitarian gesture, more companies and non-profits will follow the lead of the Rockefeller Foundation and offer their products at reduced cost to impoverished nations. Patent enforcement may also be difficult, as the contention of the farmers that they involuntarily grew Monsanto-engineered strains when their crops were cross-pollinated shows. One way to combat possible patent infringement is to introduce a â€Å"suicide gene† into GM plants. These plants would be viable for only one growing season and would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate. Farmers would need to buy a fresh supply of seeds each year. However, this would be financially disastrous for farmers in third world countries who cannot afford to buy seed each year and traditionally set aside a portion of their harvest to plant in the next growing season. In an open letter to the public, Monsanto has pledged to abandon all research using this suicide gene technology35. How are GM foods regulated and what is the government’s role in this process? Governments around the world are hard at work to establish a regulatory process to monitor the effects of and approve new varieties of GM plants. Yet depending on the political, social and economic climate within a region or country, different governments are responding in different ways. In Japan, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has announced that health testing of GM foods will be mandatory as of April 200136, 37. Currently, testing of GM foods is voluntary. Japanese supermarkets are offering both GM foods and unmodified foods, and customers are beginning to show a strong preference for unmodified fruits and vegetables. India’s government has not yet announced a policy on GM foods because no GM crops are grown in India and no products are commercially available in supermarkets yet38. India is, however, very supportive of transgenic plant research. It is highly likely that India will decide that the benefits of GM foods outweigh the risks because Indian agriculture will need to adopt drastic new measures to counteract the country’s endemic poverty and feed its exploding population. Some states in Brazil have banned GM crops entirely, and the Brazilian Institute for the Defense of Consumers, in collaboration with Greenpeace, has filed suit to prevent the importation of GM crops39,. Brazilian farmers, however, have resorted to smuggling GM soybean seeds into the country because they fear economic harm if they are unable to compete in the global marketplace with other grain-exporting countries. In Europe, anti-GM food protestors have been especially active. In the last few years Europe has experienced two major foods scares: bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in Great Britain and dioxin-tainted foods originating from Belgium. These food scares have undermined consumer confidence about the European food supply, and citizens are disinclined to trust government information about GM foods. In response to the public outcry, Europe now requires mandatory food labeling of GM foods in stores, and the European Commission (EC) has established a 1% threshold for contamination of unmodified foods with GM food products40. In the United States, the regulatory process is confused because there are three different government agencies that have jurisdiction over GM foods. To put it very simply, the EPA evaluates GM plants for environmental safety, the USDA evaluates whether the plant is safe to grow, and the FDA evaluates whether the plant is safe to eat. The EPA is responsible for regulating substances such as pesticides or toxins that may cause harm to the environment. GM crops such as B. t. pesticide-laced corn or herbicide-tolerant crops but not foods modified for their nutritional value fall under the purview of the EPA. The USDA is responsible for GM crops that do not fall under the umbrella of the EPA such as drought-tolerant or disease-tolerant crops, crops grown for animal feeds, or whole fruits, vegetables and grains for human consumption. The FDA historically has been concerned with pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food products and additives, not whole foods. Under current guidelines, a genetically-modified ear of corn sold at a produce stand is not regulated by the FDA because it is a whole food, but a box of cornflakes is regulated because it is a food product. The FDA’s stance is that GM foods are substantially equivalent to unmodified, â€Å"natural† foods, and therefore not subject to FDA regulation. The EPA conducts risk assessment studies on pesticides that could potentially cause harm to human health and the environment, and establishes tolerance and residue levels for pesticides. There are strict limits on the amount of pesticides that may be applied to crops during growth and production, as well as the amount that remains in the food after processing. Growers using pesticides must have a license for each pesticide and must follow the directions on the label to accord with the EPA’s safety standards. Government inspectors may periodically visit farms and conduct investigations to ensure compliance. Violation of government regulations may result in steep fines, loss of license and even jail sentences. As an example the EPA regulatory approach, consider B.t. corn. The EPA has not established limits on residue levels in B. t corn because the B. t. in the corn is not sprayed as a chemical pesticide but is a gene that is integrated into the genetic material of the corn itself. Growers must have a license from the EPA for B. t corn, and the EPA has issued a letter for the 2000 growing season requiring farmers to plant 20% unmodified corn, and up to 50% unmodified corn in regions where cotton is also cultivated41. This planting strategy may help prevent insects from developing resistance to the B.t. pesticides as well as provide a refuge for non-target insects such as Monarch butterflies. The USDA has many internal divisions that share responsibility for assessing GM foods. Among these divisions are APHIS, the Animal Health and Plant Inspection Service, which conducts field tests and issues permits to grow GM crops, the Agricultural Research Service which performs in-house GM food research, and the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service which oversees the USDA risk assessment program. The USDA is concerned with potential hazards of the plant itself. Does it harbor insect pests? Is it a noxious weed? Will it cause harm to indigenous species if it escapes from farmer’s fields? The USDA has the power to impose quarantines on problem regions to prevent movement of suspected plants, restrict import or export of suspected plants, and can even destroy plants cultivated in violation of USDA regulations. Many GM plants do not require USDA permits from APHIS. A GM plant does not require a permit if it meets these 6 criteria: 1) the plant is not a noxious weed; 2) the genetic material introduced into the GM plant is stably integrated into the plant’s own genome; 3) the function of the introduced gene is known and does not cause plant disease; 4) the GM plant is not toxic to non-target organisms; 5) the introduced gene will not cause the creation of new plant viruses; and 6) the GM plant cannot contain genetic material from animal or human pathogens (see http://www. aphis. usda.gov:80/bbep/bp/7cfr340 ). The current FDA policy was developed in 1992 (Federal Register Docket No. 92N-0139) and states that agri-biotech companies may voluntarily ask the FDA for a consultation. Companies working to create new GM foods are not required to consult the FDA, nor are they required to follow the FDA’s recommendations after the consultation. Consumer interest groups wish this process to be mandatory, so that all GM food products, whole foods or otherwise, must be approved by the FDA before being released for commercialization. The FDA counters that the agency currently does not have the time, money, or resources to carry out exhaustive health and safety studies of every proposed GM food product. Moreover, the FDA policy as it exists today does not allow for this type of intervention. How are GM foods labeled? Labeling of GM foods and food products is also a contentious issue. On the whole, agribusiness industries believe that labeling should be voluntary and influenced by the demands of the free market. If consumers show preference for labeled foods over non-labeled foods, then industry will have the incentive to regulate itself or risk alienating the customer. Consumer interest groups, on the other hand, are demanding mandatory labeling. People have the right to know what they are eating, argue the interest groups, and historically industry has proven itself to be unreliable at self-compliance with existing safety regulations. The FDA’s current position on food labeling is governed by the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act which is only concerned with food additives, not whole foods or food products that are considered â€Å"GRAS† – generally recognized as safe. The FDA contends that GM foods are substantially equivalent to non-GM foods, and therefore not subject to more stringent labeling. If all GM foods and food products are to be labeled, Congress must enact sweeping changes in the existing food labeling policy. There are many questions that must be answered if labeling of GM foods becomes mandatory. First, are consumers willing to absorb the cost of such an initiative? If the food production industry is required to label GM foods, factories will need to construct two separate processing streams and monitor the production lines accordingly. Farmers must be able to keep GM crops and non-GM crops from mixing during planting, harvesting and shipping. It is almost assured that industry will pass along these additional costs to consumers in the form of higher prices. Secondly, what are the acceptable limits of GM contamination in non-GM products? The EC has determined that 1% is an acceptable limit of cross-contamination, yet many consumer interest groups argue that only 0% is acceptable. Some companies such as Gerber baby foods42 and Frito-Lay43 have pledged to avoid use of GM foods in any of their products. But who is going to monitor these companies for compliance and what is the penalty if they fail? Once again, the FDA does not have the resources to carry out testing to ensure compliance. What is the level of detectability of GM food cross-contamination? Scientists agree that current technology is unable to detect minute quantities of contamination, so ensuring 0% contamination using existing methodologies is not guaranteed. Yet researchers disagree on what level of contamination really is detectable, especially in highly processed food products such as vegetable oils or breakfast cereals where the vegetables used to make these products have been pooled from many different sources. A 1% threshold may already be below current levels of detectability. Finally, who is to be responsible for educating the public about GM food labels and how costly will that education be? Food labels must be designed to clearly convey accurate information about the product in simple language that everyone can understand. This may be the greatest challenge faced be a new food labeling policy: how to educate and inform the public without damaging the public trust and causing alarm or fear of GM food products. In January 2000, an international trade agreement for labeling GM foods was established44, 45. More than 130 countries, including the US, the world’s largest producer of GM foods, signed the agreement. The policy states that exporters must be required to label all GM foods and that importing countries have the right to judge for themselves the potential risks and reject GM foods, if they so choose. This new agreement may spur the U. S. government to resolve the domestic food labeling dilemma more rapidly. Conclusion Genetically-modified foods have the potential to solve many of the world’s hunger and malnutrition problems, and to help protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. Yet there are many challenges ahead for governments, especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, international policy and food labeling. Many people feel that genetic engineering is the inevitable wave of the future and that we cannot afford to ignore a technology that has such enormous potential benefits. However, we must proceed with caution to avoid causing unintended harm to human health and the environment as a result of our enthusiasm for this powerful technology.

Free Essays on Packaging

â€Å"Roses are red, violets are blue, which one are you?† How many times have you heard this rhyme and never took the time analyze it. Not every rose is red. Just like a rose we as humans don’t fit into one nice little description or box. We’re all inherently different and this diversity is what makes us special. Growing up in a society that is pressured by the views of the media, a young person can struggle with how they depict themselves. Through their actions and appearance, their identity to the eyes of others is established in comparison with what the media portrays. Just like many young people, I try to embrace my originality in disregards to my environment. From my actions to my appearance, they are molded by the so-called pop culture and at the same time promoting my roots, the African American culture. I try to present myself as a "hip," confident, athletic, African American. Before people know you, they make predicaments of who you might be base on first glances at your hairstyle, the clothes you wear, and your overall appearance. It is no wonder that many young people do "back to school shopping" in hopes to develop the perfect first day image. It may be having a new haircut, a new car if they can afford it, or new clothes. You want to project a sense of your true self. Your aim is to be original but yet fashionable so that your first impression will generate a positive vibe amongst your peers. As I walk into the shopping mall with a summer’s worth of money in hand. I gaze expectantly towards the department stores in hopes of finding the perfect outfit for myself. I need something that would separate me from the crowd, but not alienate me from the masses. I turn into an urban outfitter in hopes of finding an outfit that will speak to me. The hip-hop music in the background already has my attention by catering to my brand of music. Out of the corner of my eye I spot a pair of black cargo shorts. I’m delighted to... Free Essays on Packaging Free Essays on Packaging â€Å"Roses are red, violets are blue, which one are you?† How many times have you heard this rhyme and never took the time analyze it. Not every rose is red. Just like a rose we as humans don’t fit into one nice little description or box. We’re all inherently different and this diversity is what makes us special. Growing up in a society that is pressured by the views of the media, a young person can struggle with how they depict themselves. Through their actions and appearance, their identity to the eyes of others is established in comparison with what the media portrays. Just like many young people, I try to embrace my originality in disregards to my environment. From my actions to my appearance, they are molded by the so-called pop culture and at the same time promoting my roots, the African American culture. I try to present myself as a "hip," confident, athletic, African American. Before people know you, they make predicaments of who you might be base on first glances at your hairstyle, the clothes you wear, and your overall appearance. It is no wonder that many young people do "back to school shopping" in hopes to develop the perfect first day image. It may be having a new haircut, a new car if they can afford it, or new clothes. You want to project a sense of your true self. Your aim is to be original but yet fashionable so that your first impression will generate a positive vibe amongst your peers. As I walk into the shopping mall with a summer’s worth of money in hand. I gaze expectantly towards the department stores in hopes of finding the perfect outfit for myself. I need something that would separate me from the crowd, but not alienate me from the masses. I turn into an urban outfitter in hopes of finding an outfit that will speak to me. The hip-hop music in the background already has my attention by catering to my brand of music. Out of the corner of my eye I spot a pair of black cargo shorts. I’m delighted to...

The Impact Of Ethical Sourcing Essays

The Impact Of Ethical Sourcing Essays The Impact Of Ethical Sourcing Essay The Impact Of Ethical Sourcing Essay The sourcing companies are preferred to source products at the lowest possible price, while at the same time ensure he suppliers produce the products With social and environmental considerations. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that products and raw materials purchase by or on behalf of a company consistent with the mission to develop and promote ethical responsibility at every stage in a fashion supply chain. In 1 9905, fashion retailers mainly focused on the economical aspect i. E. Sweet cost with reasonable quality, of achieving the products. While ethical issues are increasingly concerned recently in supply chain management. Globalization is likely one of the factors that contribute to the ransom, which many companies move the production lines offshore to those developing counties for the reason of lower production costs. Concerns on the human right of the workers and the environment protection have been raise in these countries. Change in consumer purchasing behavior may be another factor. This change may possibly increase pressure on fashion retailers or producers to sell or use products that are produced environmentally friendly and respecting human rights. Any failure would probably destroy the companies trustworthiness and even threaten corporate survival. International brands Gap and Nikkei are examples that suffered negative publicity as a result of failing to maintain the ethical issues in their production process. This appears to force fashion companies to adopt ethical sourcing and ensure their suppliers in all stages of supply chain act accordingly. 2. Finding and Discussion The impact of ethical souring on the selection of production sources can be divided into two aspects: the selection of suppliers and the selection of production materials. 2. 1 . Selection of suppliers Traditionally, under limited information about the suppliers, fashion buyers end to use price as a standard for selection Of suppliers in which the lower the price a supplier offered, the more likely the supplier will obtain the business in a pool of potential suppliers. In addition to price, quality, delivery time and services provided may also affect their choices. Today, however, fashion companies take into account two additional concerns, i. E. Social responsibility and environmental sustainability, when selecting new suppliers. Price used to be considered as a critical factor in evaluating and determining suppliers as the price of raw materials contribute most in the production sots. Therefore to cut the production costs, fashion companies may choose the suppliers with the lower price. This low price, however, may reflect lower standards in response to the workers treatment and environmental protection. As to keep costs low, suppliers may pay low wages, require the workers to work long hours, provide poor working environment for their workers and employ child labors in order to gain the business and undercut other potential suppliers. These unethical social problems are now widely criticized by public and therefore trigger a change in supply chain management. Cooperate with those unethical suppliers may have a risk of reputation damage , and consequently many companies start to consider ethical issues when they are choosing suppliers. The main barrier for ethical souring On selection Of suppliers may possibly be the Costs. It seems difficult for the suppliers to produce products as cheap as before and at the same time adherence to ethical production, because they may have to increase the wage rate, improve working environment, and use safe and environmental friendly raw materials. This apparently lowers the opportunities for suppliers o gain the business unless they undercut other potential suppliers on cost. Also, the costs of sourcing ethical clothing, inevitably, will increase accordingly. A fashion buyer may face a tradeoff when selecting suppliers between lower costs and concerning ethical issues. When adopting ethical souring, fashion buyers may not be able to access to the interior of the suppliers and evaluate whether the products are produced according to code Of ethics and environmental standards. Evidence from third parties, therefore, may be required to provide advice for the companies. For example, United Nation Global Compact (UNC), requires companies to follow universal teeth kcal principles, is a standard to encourage companies worldwide to adopt sustainable social and environmental policies. Also, several non- government organizations (NAG) were established to encourage fashion companies to sourcing materials or clothing produced by manufacturers with ethical concerns. The Clean Clothes Campaign, the Ethical Trading Initiative (IT) and Fair Labor Association are the examples of NAG to promote ethical standards in clothing production. However, these organizations that help in ethical sourcing may be criticized as not reliable. For example, one of the members in the IT, Gap, had been found inconsistent with the ethical standards by employing child labors. Consumers, therefore, may need self- adjustment on the companies performance and the information on the companies official website may provide a way. Some of the fashion companies, such as Patagonia and People Tree, provide transparency of information about where the raw materials come from and where the production is carried out on their websites. This is because these companies recognize that any inappropriate and unethical corporate actions in supply chains may affect the companies image and reputations in the market. 2. 2. Selection of production materials Selecting appropriate raw materials would be very important as the features of raw materials could have a great influence on the finished products. There is trend for fashion buyers to source clothing made from sustainable cottons and produced by Fair Trade manufacturers. For instance, Marks Spencer had sold clothing made from Fair Trade cotton since 2006; Monsoon sold Fair Trade clothing; New Look sold t-shirts made from organic cotton; Houses sold clothing made from recycled cotton fabric. Sustainable cottons refer to the cottons that are produced in response to social ethics and environmental protection. Examples are organic cotton, better cotton and recycled cotton. Organic cotton takes an important role in ethical souring and there are a growing number Of fast ion companies that start to take step towards using organic cotton. Timberland could be a typical example that does a lot to reduce damage to the environment in which 80% of the shoes are manufactured from organic cotton or recycled materials. HM, another example, is one of the leading users of organic cotton in the world. Cotton is regarded as the most popular fiber used in garment. Standard cotton farming is criticized for produce significant environmental problems as it is accounted for 1 1 % of the worlds pesticide consumption. Organic cotton, which is grown without pesticides and fertilizers, is therefore used to improve farmers health and reduce considerable environmental pollution. This kind of farming may possibly minimize the adverse effect on rivers or water source nearby. Better cotton, which is introduced by Better Cotton Initiative to promote good farming behavior, also growth with less irrigate water, chemical, and with more concern to the soil, natural environment and working condition for farmers. Recycled cotton, which is made from the scraps produced by textile mills or post-consumer cotton waste, is important to minimize unnecessary wastage and environmental impacts. Recycle cotton reduce waste to landfill and the use of virgin cotton, chemicals, water and land. Although it is environmental friendly to use sustainable cottons, there are several imitations regarding the usage of these cottons. There seems to be physical limitation for organic cotton and better cotton of having less output because of the absence of chemical pesticide and fertilizers. Apart from physical limitation, there is also economical limitation in which using sustainable cottons is very expensive. Cost of farmers will be increase as the certified organic seed is expensive. Farmers may possibly transfer these extra cost to manufacturers for producing sustainable cotton fabrics. The cost of fashion companies will increase accordingly as extra expense is resulted from using expensive cotton fabric, getting organic cotton certification and paying a Fair Trade premium to farmers. A huge investment of money, time and effort may be required to develop and train farmers skills for producing sustainable cottons in order to meet the international standard. 3. Conclusion Ethical sourcing may conceivably be the critical souring strategy for every fashion companies worldwide in the nearest future as it brings a great deal of benefit to the society while at the same time minimizes the environmental impact. It mainly affects the supply chain in the selection of suppliers and production materials. Although the change in criteria of selection production source may discourage the economic aspect as higher purchase price, it does promote the companys reputation and good image to be an ethical corporate as consumers concern. This may actually reduce operation costs of a company as more recycled materials are used and less effort may be put on promoting brand image. Reputation is a key to maximum corporate benefit and there is no other choice than employing ethical sourcing to maintain or improve reputation in the long term. With increase in reputation, new marketing opportunities could be found.

American History Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

American History - Research Paper Example o operate by a bottom-up philosophy by federally job creation and welfare benefits therefore forming a social affiliation with working class persons including labor unions and racial minorities or by deregulating businesses to supposedly allow them freedom to correct the economy by expanding thus producing more jobs which would, in turn, force money back into the economy. Contrary to popular opinion, the nation was not moving in a socialist direction.   The New Deal represented the existing capitalist societal structure culture. For example, its policies continued the already wide division between what are thought of as ‘worthy poor,’ mostly widows and their kids and the ‘unworthy poor,’ which included almost everyone else, who were disregarded. The main goal of the New Deal was to rescue American capitalism. Roosevelt sought the backing of business leaders in the fulfilling this undertaking. Roosevelt told the business magnates who were against his policies at first that the New Deal was economic protection for the ‘farsighted conservative.’   Some historians maintain that Roosevelt initially intended the government’s involvement in rebuilding the economy to be limited.   His purpose of the New Deal was not to encourage a communal undertaking which communist or socialist governments employed in Europe.   He wanted neither big business interests nor the quickly budding labor unions to become a puppet of the government or the other way around. Roosevelt did not arrive at the New Deal strategies on independent analysis but as the result of the many forces surrounding him. The economic conditions at that desperate time demanded that the solutions promote positive relations between the working class an d capitalist class, each of whom had contrasting interests. Within the working class were differing interests as well. â€Å"While labor unions lobbied for employers’ liability laws, social reformers worked for maximum hours for women workers, minimum

Learning Support Assistants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Learning Support Assistants - Essay Example Whether it should be rhyme based or phoneme based or mix of the two methods. Earlier evidence, like that of Ehri et al (2001) have found that training children to adopt analytic phonologically word based words-level strategies in the early readings help in improving reading and spelling ability. The role of LSAs is to help the children with the poor reading abilities in small groups. They have good experience but only have the basic training. Despite their crucial role with the 'at-risk' students, their contribution has not been fully explored. There have been strong evidences, which show that these teaching assistants can provide crucial support in teaching methodology. Thus the main aim of the research is to find out the effectiveness of LSA based system in the education system where presently this is not typical. There are several ways to teach the phonological and decoding skills. In the rhyme based intervention programmes children are made to pronounce the whole word like 'cut', 'but' and so on. While in the phoneme based method the students are made to give importance to each and every letter of the word, pronounce it and then add them all together. Thus the second aim of the research is to find out which method of intervention will be more effective, rhyme based or phoneme based or the combination of the two. Methodology: The study of intervention was carri... One morning LSAs met with the authors to get the feel of the training material. From first nine responding schools 498 selected students were screened by LSAs to find the poorest students. All the students had experienced three months of Year 1 National Curriculum classes. One LSA was deployed in each school. They were trained to screen the children on the measures of phonological awareness, word reading and spelling, non-word reading and letter-sound knowledge. Screening Materials: Students were made to recite the nursery rhymes if they knew them. If they did not know it then the adults would say a rhyme and check if the child could complete it. The purpose was to clarify if the child knew the word 'rhyme'. In the rhyme matching, the children were shown the picture of the animals. They were then asked to find the picture of an animal that rhymed with some particular picture of animal, say like 'dog'. There were two practice trials and 12 experimental trials in this test. In rhyme generation children were shown the picture of a particular animal and then made to name the other animals whose name matched with that animal. If there were no answers then children were given the examples. In the blending method of screening LSA would pretend to be a Robot and make the sound like /m/-/at/. The children were asked to blend together the sounds and make some word from it like 'mat'. The LSA would complete the work if children did not respond. In the Segmentation method it was opposite, the children were given a word like 'pat'. They were told to break it and sound it like the robot. They had to break the word in either two or three parts. All these phonological tasks were combined together from a single