Role NATO in the world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Role NATO in the world - Essay Example A "North Atlantic" area which includes both Point Barrow, far above the Arctic Circle, and Mount Ararat, deep in the Turkish Caucasus, is, indeed, an anomaly. The term "North Atlantic area" appears several times in the text of the treaty but is nowhere defined explicitly. However, the treaty does contain a definition of the area within which an armed attack from without will bring its guarantees into operation.( James Kurth, 36) These guarantees extend to the territories of all member states in Europe and North America, to the Mediterranean and North Sea, and to the Atlantic Ocean north of the Tropic of Cancer. They also cover the Algerian Departments of France as well as all of Turkey's territories in Asia, plus two segments of Africa and Asia, and all of North America north of the Rio Grande, together with the seas and ocean lying between them.The success of the NATO Alliance over the past four decades has been extraordinary. The mere survival of the Alliance for forty years is not eworthy; that those forty years have been unbroken by war among the major powers is unprecedented in the modern era. To be sure, factors other than NATO have contributed to the absence of war in Europe-the most important being the advent of the "nuclear revolution" in warfare. Nonetheless, NATO has made an important contribution to the maintenance of peace among the major powers. ... nt on the nature of the threats to the fundamental interests of the Alliance members; the evolution of a collective response to those threats that meets the political, economic, and military requirements of the allies; and the absence of any politically acceptable alternatives to the current structure of the Alliance. The central question facing NATO forty years after its creation, however, is whether the Alliance, as currently structured, equipped, and funded, will continue to play an effective role in meeting the vital security needs of its members. Despite the attention given to disputes among Alliance members, it is unlikely that NATO will collapse with a bang sparked by internal friction, but it could fade with a whimper of irrelevance in the face of shifting economic, political, technological, and military realities. NATO will almost certainly be alive on the eve of the twenty-first century to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. However, unless the Alliance has the resilience t o respond to emerging challenges, by the turn of the century it may be less relevant to the central security concerns of its members. Our Alliance has come far on its way to transformation. Its relevance today does not derive from its original and immediate purpose but from what it has become over time. It has evolved into a community of values and destiny, and a forum of political consultation on vital issues of foreign policy and security. It has evolved into an agent of change. It will become the core security organization of a future Euro-Atlantic architecture in which all states, irrespective of their size or geographical location, must enjoy the same freedom, cooperation and security. We must not be satisfied with having won the Cold War. We have to win the future. - NATO Secretary

Redesign an Open-Space Office to Improve Productivity Research Paper - 2

Redesign an Open-Space Office to Improve Productivity - Research Paper Example A study published in the journal of Environment & Behavior recently showed a negative correlation between noise and cognitive performance. This effectively means distractions such as noise which are common in open office settings lead to a reduction in performance of workers. Another negative aspect associated with open office is lack of confidentiality in the work place. This can be evident and prevalent especially if there are customers coming in and requiring discussions involving private information. This can be a real challenge in the setting of an open space office where many workers are working simultaneously and therefore private discussions can’t be achieved effectively. Some customers may also feel uncomfortable discussing their queries in offices where other people are likely to listen to and get to hear their private information intended just for particular officers. A research done at the California University established that over a half of people working in offices are not satisfied with open offices mainly because of the limited amount of privacy. As such the issue of privacy has become a major complaint among office workers subjected to the open plan kind of working

Medical Advances

Medical Advances Three of the most significant medical advances of the last two centuries are sanitation, vaccination, and antibiotics. Each of these advances has engendered enormous positive social and economic impacts in developed societies. Sanitation has successfully impeded pathogenic growth in human living spaces, vaccines have protected humans from historically prolific diseases such as smallpox, and antibiotics have also saved countless human lives through daily sanitation and disease cure. However, the impact of these three advances has not been fully realized because they have not yet reached substantial portions of the developing world, vaccines for several prolific diseases continue to elude researchers, and misuse of antibiotics has led to resistant bacterial strains and other health hazards. The rudiments of urban sanitation systems have been developed several times throughout human history but was nowhere near fully realized until the era of western industrialization in the 20h century. Once urbanization in the bronze age began to increase population densities in urban centers, increases in waste production required the use of outflowing systems like rivers to properly dispose of waste. The first documented system for sanitation was developed in the city of Mohenjo-Daro in 2600 BCE, and consisted of slits cut in the floors of houses to allow waste to drop into containers next to streets, and bath houses with covered channels that led to the nearby Indus River (â€Å"Mohenjo-Daro†). In addition, cities in the Roman Republic built the first documented sewer networks; for instance a massive combined sewer and storm drain called the Cloaca Maxima, or â€Å"The Great Drain† that carried waste and runoff water from Romes civilian houses, public buildings, and b ath houses to the Tiber River (Rich). However, the era that followed the fall of the Roman Republic saw a regression in sanitation technology in which most of the worlds civilizations operated without sanitation systems. For instance, the most common method to remove waste from living spaces in medieval Europe was to dump it into the street, where materials such as urine, feces, and wastewater from other domestic activities gathered and fostered bacterial, viral, and pest growth (Faria). Exponential growth of populations around industrializing centers without planned infrastructures made the immediate need for sewer systems evident. Citizens had heretofore relied either on dumping waste directly into waterways or simple cesspits, and the rapid growth of households using primitive sanitation methods increased the rate of contamination of groundwater, rivers, and other sources of fresh water. Stagnant sewage in cramped urban living conditions provided ideal conditions for growth of pathogens and caused outbreaks in many m ajor cities in the mid-19th century; the most common were those of cholera and typhoid fever. It was clear that the need for advances in sanitation was imminent. The most famous outbreak of the industrialization period is that of cholera linked to the London Broad Street water pump in 1854, in which a nearby cesspool had leaked sewage into groundwater and contaminated the well the water pump was drawing water from. The statistical analysis of cholera cases by physician John Snow that determined the connection between disease and contaminated water from the river provided irrefutable evidence that separating water resources and sewage is key to maintaining public health (Johnson). Outbreaks such as these in combination with the proliferation of the strong repulsive odor of sewage across all major industrialized cities prompted government authorities to take action and begin implementation of large sewer networks to isolate sewage from local water supplies. Arguably the greatest advance in sanitation came about in 1908, when Jersey City Water Works began to add chlorine to its water supply network in a practice now called chlorination. The process involves the addition of chlorine to water to form an equilibrium solution composed of chlorine, Hydrochloric acid and Hypochlorous acid, the last of which plays the main role of disinfection. Systemic chlorination drastically decreased the incidence of water-borne illnesses such as typhoid and cholera (Kitsap Public Utility District). The final major advance came in the 1950s, when the United States government provided funds for states to build wastewater treatment plants, which resulted in the majority of U.S. cities discharging treated water into rivers and oceans instead of raw sewage, an important component of sanitation that minimizes re-uptake of water harboring harmful pathogens and microorganisms. Development of modern sanitation systems has a significant effect on economic growth because its presence dramatically reduces the incidence of water-borne diseases and precludes their burden on worker productivity, student absenteeism, and medical costs. In addition, the reduction of sewage contamination in the developed world saves governments the cost of cleaning up environments to protect resources for human use. These benefits place in stark contrast the crude state of sanitation in parts of the developing world, who fail to reap these benefits because sanitation systems have not been implemented. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, investing in sanitation technology in developing countries is cost-beneficial and results in a â€Å"US$5 [to] US$11 economic benefit per US$1 invested† (Walter, and Hutton 39). Thus, cost-benefit analysis clearly favors investment by humanity for the whole of humanity. The social benefits of effective sanitation are not as tangible as economic ones but are no less significant. Accessible facilities for private and sanitary hygienic activities preserves human dignity and encourages sanitary habits. The relationship between cleanliness and moral purity has been culturally accepted throughout human history, and scientific support that clean environments promote moral behavior is presented in an upcoming paper in Psychological Science (Elton). The social harmony that proper sanitation promotes supports the idea of implementing sanitation in the developing world to deal with social unrest and violence. The second medical innovation, vaccination, is a more recent and specific advance in disease prevention. Its conceptual predecessor was inoculation, which was first documented credibly in 15th century China. The practice involved implantation of a disease agent such as pus from smallpox into a healthy individual who had never been infected to produce immunity (Needham 134). Vaccination replaced inoculation in 1796 when Edward Jenner used pus from a cowpox patient to inoculate a child; the child was then exposed to smallpox and subsequently did not exhibit infection with the virus. Shortly afterwards the British government mandated vaccination of children from smallpox, the first government push for mass vaccination in history; by 1800 â€Å"100,000 people had been vaccinated in Europe, and vaccination had begun in the United States† (Minna Stern, and Markel 613-614). In 1885, Louis Pasteur developed a rabies vaccine using samples obtained from dried infected rabbit tissue, wh ich was the first to be manufactured from weakened microorganisms. Further advances in biology and understanding of germs from the 19th century led to widespread research, development and implementation of vaccines to spread immunity from prolific diseases in the 20th century. A vaccine is now known as a preparation of attenuated or dead bacteria or viruses to stimulate production of antibodies in a patient. Although weakened pathogens carried a greater risk for infection than dead ones, they generally induce a stronger immune response and longer lasting immunity. A principal medical advance that allowed the production of durable vaccines is attenuation, the practice of passing the target virus through a nonhuman host to encourage adaptation through mutations when the virus replicated. Subsequent introduction into a human host to which the virus is not adapted to replicate allows the immune system to produce antibodies to recognize the same pathogen in future exposures. The development of consistently effective vaccines led to systematic mass immunizations against several worldwide diseases such as smallpox starting in the 19th century and polio in the mid-20th century. Government oversight in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) was essential to these worldwide efforts, and smallpox was in fact declared eradicated by the WHO in 1979 . Polio and measles are currently in the process of eradication (â€Å"Smallpox†). However, not all viruses are created equal, and certain viruses have eluded attempts by scientists to engineer an effective vaccine. The HIV virus is one such example; its high mutability and genetic divergence complicate attempts to design a vaccine in the same fashion as that of historically successful ones. To address this need, research to develop new types of vaccines that utilize only protein subunits of pathogens or delivery of viral DNA is ongoing. The elimination of globally endemic disease has been key to lowering mortality and raising life expectancy around the world, but has also engendered an interesting array of social and economic developments. For instance, the unequivocal success of vaccines against globally prolific viruses has undermined the economic motive for further production for vaccines for diseases more prevalent in the developing world. Because citizens in poorer nations cannot come close to affording the price of a vaccine in developed nations, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies lack the financial incentive to expand their markets. Solutions to lack of economic incentives include academic research and government incentives for vaccine development. Mass vaccination against the worlds historically endemic viruses has altered social attitudes in many ways. For instance, during the Middle Ages life expectancy was short due to the rampant disease and epidemics; death was accepted as a necessary part of life, and often as an act of God (Dumond). The drastic drop in mortality due to diseases such as smallpox in the late 19th and 20th centuries raised the life expectancy of the average human and replaced the cultural acceptance of death with a cultural appreciation of life. In other words, living longer and delaying death is now a universal goal because disease has dramatically improved the prospect of living up to biological potential. Thus, the success of vaccines has cultured a social ignorance of the danger of viruses because deaths due to disease are so much rarer than in previous historical eras. The last of the three medical innovations, antibiotics, has been used since humans have experimented with chemicals and substances from plants to discover remedies for diseases. Disinfection typically involved use of either plants believed to have healing properties or chemicals known to inhibit or kill organisms. Arsenic was one such remedy, and its broad toxicity meant that patients would also suffer serious side effects. Thus, the discovery of substances with high specificity and few side effects in humans was one of the great historical developments in modern medicine. The first discovery in modern antibiotics was of penicillin in 1928 by Alexander Fleming due to a coincidence now famous in science: a Staphyloccocus sample mistakenly left in the open had been growth-inhibited by a Penicillium mold. However, a German scientist named Gerhard Domagk was the first to develop a commercial antibiotic called Prontosil with broad action against Gram-positive cocci. Mass production of antibiotics was simple and relied on fermentation in large containers of growth medium for the target organism to produce the secondary metabolite. Modern development of partially synthetic or entirely synthetic antibiotics involves either chemical modification of metabolites after fermentation or synthesis from a naturally occurring skeleton. Unfortunately, the misuse of antibiotics is leading to increasing prevalence of resistant strains of bacteria around the world. Incorrect diagnosis, improper administration, improper disposal, and overuse in livestock often lead to antibiotic resistance because bacteria can perform horizontal gene transfer through plasmid exchange. Thus, resistance genes can rapidly proliferate in a population of bacteria once one has genetically mutated and become immune to a particular antibiotic. For example, if a patient using a prescribed antibiotic stops taking it before the infection is completely eradicated, horizontal gene transfer will allow the few bacteria who have developed resistance throughout the duration of the infection to pass on the resistance gene and prolong the infection. One of the most alarming cases of resistance is that of Staphylococcus aureus, or the staph infection; the bacterium has shown historically to be extremely adaptable. For example, 40% of patients with staph i nfections were resistant to administration of penicillin by 1950, less than 10 years after the antibiotic was introduced (Chambers 178). Staphyloccocus aureus is now also resistant to a variety of other antibiotics such as tetracycline and methicillin. Although this problem has traditionally been isolated to hospitals, Community-acquired MRSA is now expanding in urban communities, and is responsible for several fatal conditions such as necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh eating disease. The economic benefits of antibiotics, which are similar to vaccines because it deals with pathogens through a direct biological pathway, are complicated by the rise of bacterial resistance. However, this has also provided economic impetus to invest in development of synthetic antibiotics as demand for alternatives rises. More specifically, the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA has spurred the development of oxazolidones, a newer class of antibiotics against Gram-positive bacteria. The first generation of this class of antibiotics is Linezolid, which disrupts the protein synthesis of Gram-positive bacteria; its mechanism for disruption occurs at a much earlier step than most other protein inhibitor antibiotics (Brickner 175). Linezolid is currently utilized as a last resort against MRSA and resistance has been low ever since its introduction in 1999 (Jones, Ross Castanheira, and Mendes 424). It is likely that research into synthetic drugs, the newest development in th e antibiotic industry, will continue as long as antibiotic resistance persists. The widespread use of antibiotics in medicines, soaps, and household cleaning supplies has created the social perception of a sterile domestic environment for human activities. This perception is partially justified in that regular use in daily routines and sicknesses has dramatically reduced illness and engendered a social paradigm shift away from the concept of death comparable to that of vaccination. In fact, use of antibiotics may have brought about a complacency towards bacterial threats to the human body because its use is ingrained in human hygienic habits. However, the recent revelation of superbugs like MRSA has also brought about a social awareness of antibiotic resistance, and this may result in another shift towards understanding how to handle antibiotics responsibly. In sum, sanitation, vaccination, and antibiotic implementation has drastically reduced the prevalence of classic diseases in modern society. Previous scourges of humanity such as smallpox, cholera, and the black plague that ravaged human life are now essentially historical footnotes in the chronology of human medical achievements. Medical advances have brought about generally positive economic and social changes through reduction of health care through prevention, and a culture less concerned with death on a daily basis. However, these advances have not been distributed equally among all peoples of the world; many citizens of developing countries without effective sanitation, medical supplies, and access to vaccines of antibiotics continue to be at the mercy of the aforementioned scourges of humanity. References Brickner, SJ (1996). Oxazolidinone antibacterial agents. Current Pharmaceutical Design 2 (2): 175–94. . Chambers, HF (2001). The changing epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus. Emerg Infect Dis 7 (2): 178–82. . â€Å"Chlorination of Drinking Water. Kitsap Public Utility District. 005 2004. Department of Health, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . Development and Cooperation SDC, Web. 6 Nov 2009. . Dumond, Katie. Attitudes Towards Death: Past to Present. University of Maine at Machias. 12 005 2009. Web. 2 Nov 2009. . Elton, Catherine. Do Clean Smells Encourage Clean Behavior? TIME 23 010 2009: n. pag. Web. 5 Nov 2009. . Faria, Miguel A. Medical History Hygiene and Sanitation. Hacienda Publishing, Inc.. 2002. Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . Hodges, L. (1977). Environmental Pollution (2nd ed.). New York: Rinehart and Winston. p.189. Hutton, Gary, and Lawrence Haller. Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Water and Sanitation Improvements at the Global Level. Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. 2004. World Health Organization, Web. 1 Nov 2009. . Johnson, Steven (2006). The Ghost Map: The Story of Londons Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World. Riverhead Books. p.206. Jones RN, Ross JE, Castanheira M, Mendes RE (December 2008). United States resistance surveillance results for linezolid (LEADER Program for 2007). Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease 62 (4): 416–26. doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2008.10.010. Minna Stern, Alexandra, and Howard Markel. The History of Vaccines and Immunization: Familiar Patterns, New Challenges. Health Affairs 24.3 (2005): 612-614. Web. 1 Nov 2009. . Mohenjo-daro. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online. 25 Oct. 2009 . Needham, Joseph. (1999). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 6, Medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Page 134. Olesen OF, Lonnroth A, Mulligan B (2009). Human vaccine research in the European Union. Vaccine 27 (5): 640–5. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.11.064. Rich, Hamper. Roman Sanitation. The Rth Dimension. 20 001 2008. Rich Hamper, Web. 5 Nov 2009. . Smallpox. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology: Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases. http://web.archive.org/web/20071009141639/http://www.afip.org/Departments/infectious/sp/text/1_1.htm. Waksman, Selman A. (1947). What Is an Antibiotic or an Antibiotic Substance?. Mycologia 39 (5): 565–569. doi:10.2307/3755196.

Irish Migration to Quebec :: essays research papers fc

From the time that people began living in groups, people have migrated to suit their personal needs. For some, it was to escape difficult times or hardships faced by their ethnic group. Such is the case of the Irish who migrated to Quebec from 1815 to the Potato Famine of 1847. What causes and factors drove these people to cross an ocean and leave their homeland for the unknown prospects of Quebec? To examine and fully answer this question, one must look at the social, economic and religious conditions in Ireland at the time, as well as what drew the Irish to Quebec rather than somewhere else. To know why the Irish left Ireland, one must look at what was going on in Ireland from approximately 1815, a time before the famine began, to 1854 when the famine came to an end. Firstly, the Irish population had been steadily increasing from 2.8 million in 1712 until an estimated 8.5 million in 1841. This naturally led to harder times as families had more children to support. There also came a decline in agricultural prices, leading the average farmer’s income to decline as well. There was a legislation, as well, that was passed in 1816 and 1819 that decreased the cost of eviction, which led some of the landowners to evict their tenants to use the land for the purpose of grazing. This left those tenants without a place to live and a way to support themselves. As well, the Union with Great Britain in 1801, and the free trade that followed, ruined many of the forms of labour in Ireland at the time, including manufacturing and the products of artisans. This led many of the farmers and labourers to resort to begging, stealing and even starvation. This seemed to be enough of an incentive for people to start migrating overseas, and it is only common sense that those with the most money were able to leave first in 1815, these people mainly Protestant farmers. However, there was a reduction in fares in 1817 and that allowed some of the poorer classes, most usually were the Protestant counterparts, to finally migrate. During that period, many of the Irish immigrants came from the town of Ulster. This has been found to be due to the collapse of the linen industry there, which left the former employees unemployed. It seems apparent that in the decade prior to the Potato Famine, unemployment and a decline in the level of lifestyle were the major driving forces behind the first

The Period in American History from 1781 to 1789

The period in American History from 1781 to 1789, when the United States was organized under the Articles of Confederation, was not characterized by a strong and effective government, but instead provided the framework upon which a more effective government could be built. The Articles of Confederation, since they prevented a strong central government from having power over states' rights, tended to create problems for a government that wished to rule with any amount of authority.This was particularly evident in the areas of foreign relations, internal discontent over tariffs, and political party struggles. While the United States was attempting to establish itself in diplomatic affairs, this became increasingly difficult to do since the federal government had little power when it came to tariffs and import duties, and also because it had no way of enforcing any agreement which it made with other countries. John Jay's Treaty with Great Britain proposed measures which would improve re lations between Great Britain and the U.S. , but because the U. S. was not a strong military power, it lacked the means to enforce the agreements of Jay's Treaty. A similar type of situation occurred when the U. S. tried to negotiate with Spain over the right to navigate on the Mississippi River. Because of the weakness of the government under the Articles of Confederation, the United States did not reach a peaceful settlement concerning the Mississippi River until the Pinckney Treaty of the 1790's.Political party struggles (or struggles between the beginnings of political parties) also tended to bring about disunity in the early government, thereby weakening its effectiveness. Rawlin Lowndes reflected the attitudes of the pre-Constitutional era in his speech to the South Carolina House of Representatives, when he stated that, rather than tear down the existing government and adopt a constitution, attempts should be made to improve the existing structure.Further conflicts over the n ature of the Constitution occurred between federalists, who supported a Constitution with provisions for a strong central government, and anti-federalists, who favored supremacy of states' rights. These conflicts added to the existing troubles of the government under the Articles of Confederation, thus making it even more difficult to rule effectively. Internal problems also existed in the area of land distribution, although these were solved fairly effectively by the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.The manner in which new lands acquired from Great Britain had been redistributed also caused an increase in the faith of the government between 1781 and 1789. However, internal struggles continued to exist. Tariffs that were passed between states caused internal friction for the new country and the lack of a unified monetary system brought additional problems. Since the government under the Articles was not given power to set up a sound currency system, or to e stablish a national bank, even greater disorganization prevailed.The founding fathers realized this need for a stronger central government and eventually organized at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to discuss the problem. Although they recognized the present government's weaknesses, they also saw that the basic structure of it was based on a sound principle and should not be done away with completely. Although problems continued to exist over questions like whether to have a national bank, the Founding Fathers eventually agreed that a Constitution and a strong central government would be needed if the government of the U. S. was to rule effectively.

House On Mango Street Book Report Essay

At the beginning of the story, readers learn about a girl named Esperanza whose life has always been unstable and has always been moving from house to house constantly. Benumbed by all the hardships she’s had to deal with Esperanza longs to live in a beautiful house of her own. Children in Esperanza’s neighborhood never play with the opposite sex, and the only friend Esperanza has is her little sister, whom she is ashamed to be seen with. Discouraged and degraded, Esperanza goes through life labeling herself as being uglier than everyone else; the only way she can make a friend is by giving two girls called Rachel and Lucy, five dollars to buy a new bike. Esperanza likes the way her name sounds in Spanish, but dislikes her name in English, she is always ashamed to tell people her name. Frozen in a life of poverty, Esperanza befriends a girl called Marin, who dances under streetlights at night and dreams of a man to marry her and take her away to live in the barrio. Gullible foreigners who get lost and travel to Esperanza’s neighborhood always fear getting assaulted because of its appearance; only the inhabitants of the neighborhood know the truth about everyone who lives there. Hopelessly meek, Esperanza always allows people to run over her mentally and emotionally, she only says yes to all the negative comments said to her by Rachel, Lucy, and the Superior Sister at her school. Inspired by her own life a girl named Alicia whose mother has died, overloads herself studying, going to school, and taking the role of a mother for her siblings and father in order to escape the life of poverty that seems to be destined for all Latino families. Jumping and playing, the neighborhood kids all look at clouds to entertain themselves with, one kid even calls a cloud he sees God, Kinky and grown, the girls receive a pair of high heeled shoes that fit them all perfectly; these shoes cause the girls to be warned about trouble, and cause them to receive sexual comments about themselves. Later on in the story, Esperanza’s mother buys her a new dress but no new shoes, this causes Esperanza to not want anyone to see her, but she dances with her uncle and catches the attention of a young boy. Moved by her family, Esperanza gets a new job while lying about her age, she befriends a coworker and ends up kissing him. Now frightened, Esperanza learns that her grandfather has died and sees her father cry for the first time. Obliged to believe she’s going to hell, Esperanza makes fun of her aunt one day, then find out that she has died the next day. Prior to going home one day, Esperanza gets her fortune read and is told that she is filled with jealousy, sorrow, and cares solely about luxury. Quarreling with the police Marin meets a man at a club who is then hit in a car accident and dies at the hospital because no one was able to treat him. Receiving her first crush, Esperanza admires a neighborhood punk called Sire. Sealed to an unwanted life, a mother who has just moved in speaks no English and is condemned to isolation because she yearns to return to her home country. Tortured by her husband, a woman named Rafaela is locked in her own home and cannot leave because her husband fears she’ll leave him. Unusually beautiful, a girl named Sally is beaten by her father because he doesn’t want her to bring shame to his family by getting pregnant and running off with a boy, just like her sisters did. Violently betrayed, Esperanza is sexually assaulted when she is left alone by Sally at a carnival. Waken up, Esperanza realizes Sally willingly seeks men to escape her father, and never really cared about Esperanza the way Esperanza was faithfully loyal to her. Xenon colored heart, Esperanza blames her trauma on women because they never told her the truth about sexual intercourse. Y oung and still traumatized, Esperanza realizes that whether she likes it or not, Mango street is always going to be her home, and she learns about the true, horrid experience that women have to go through. Zoo like experiences change the narrator forever and she promises to always return to Mango Street and save those who couldn’t save themselves.

High Blood Preasurre essays

High Blood Preasurre essays What is high blood pressure? High blood pressure means that your heart is working harder than normal to force blood into the arteries and through the circulatory system. For an adult a blood pressure reading greater that 140 over 90 is considered as high. Normally, the pumping of the heart creates a pulsing of blood along and against the walls of the blood vessels, which are flexible enough to dilate or contract. Sometimes, however, for a variety of reasons, the blood vessels may lose their flexibility, or the muscles surrounding them may force them to contract. As a result, the heart must pump more forcefully to move the same amount of blood through the narrowed vessels into the capillaries, thereby increasing the blood pressure. How it affects the body and the mind: High blood pressure doesnt affect your mind but it can coarse a lot of damage to your bodys organs when the blood flow isnt consistent, this can damage the heart, liver, kidney failure, stroke and loss of vision from damage to the retina at the back of your eye. Causes: Approximately 30 % of cases of essential hypertension are attributable to genetic factors. For example, in the United States, the incidence of high blood pressure is greater among blacks than among whites or Asians. Yet, this increased peripheral artery resistance is present, as well, in those people whose essential hypertension is associated with genetic factors, obesity, lack of exercise, overuse of salt, and aging. Treatment of the disease and dietary modifications: There are many tablets that doctors prescript to you to lower your high blood pressure. Also it is encouraged that you eat healthy and exercise at least 30 min a day, 5 days a week. It is wise to also keep off too much salt as it hardens your blood vessel that stops them from being able to stretch and contract leaving the heart to pump harder to get blood through. And last is to reduce the intake of al ...

Scientists Complete the Periodic Table

Scientists Complete the Periodic Table   The periodic table as we know it is now complete! The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has announced verification of the only elements left elements 113, 115, 117, and 118. These elements complete the 7th and final row of the periodic table of elements. Of course, if elements with higher atomic numbers are discovered, then an additional row will be added to the table. Details on the Discoveries of the Last Four Elements The fourth IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party (JWP) reviewed literature to determine claims for verification of these last few elements have fulfilled all the criteria necessary to officially discover the elements. What this means is the discovery of the elements has been replicated and demonstrated to the satisfaction of scientists according to the 1991 discovery criteria decided by the IUPAP/IUPAC Transfermium Working Group (TWG). The discoveries are credited to Japan, Russia, and the USA. These groups will be allowed to propose the names and symbols for the elements, which will need to be approved before the elements take their place on the periodic table. Element 113 Discovery Element 113 has the temporary working name ununtrium, with symbol Uut. The RIKEN team in Japan has been credited with discovering this element. Many people hope Japan will choose a name like japonium for this element, with symbol J or Jp, since J is the one letter presently absent from the periodic table. Elements 115, 117, and 118 Discovery Elements 115 (ununpentium, Uup) and 117 (ununseptium, Uus) were discovered by a collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia. Researchers from these groups will propose new names and symbols for these elements. Element 118 (ununoctium, Uuo) discovery is credited  to a collaboration between the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. This group has discovered several elements, so theyre sure to have a challenge ahead of them coming up with new names and symbols. Why Its So Hard To Discover New Elements While scientists may be able to make new elements, its difficult to prove the discovery because these superheavy nuclei decay into lighter elements instantaneously. Proof of the elements requires demonstration that the set of daughter nuclei that are observed can be unequivocally attributed to the heavy, new element. It would be much simpler if it was possible to directly detect and measure the new element, but this hasnt been possible. How Long Until We See New Names? Once the researchers propose new names, the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the IUPAC will check them to make sure they dont translate into something funky in other language or have some prior historic use that would make them unsuitable for an element name. A new element may be named for a place, country, scientist, property, or mythological reference. The symbol needs to be one or two letters. After the Inorganic Chemistry Division checks the elements and symbols, they are presented for public review for five months. Most people start using the new element names and symbols at this point, but they dont become official until the IUPAC Council formally approves them. At this point, the IUPAC will change their periodic table (and others will follow suit).

Affirmative Action Initiative in South Africa

Affirmative Action Initiative in South Africa Affirmative action is an initiative adopted by the South African government, which seeks to correct the imbalance of wealth and provide opportunities to the people who were adversely affected as a result of the apartheid regime. It has created a situation where organizations are required to meet specific employment targets for persons of colour in order to operate to the satisfaction of the state. As a result, these people are able to participate in the corporate environment at an accelerated rate. On the contrary, many white South Africans are finding it difficult to obtain their most select employment. The efficiency of affirmative action is best analyzed by assessing its objective of promoting black representation in the workplace and comparing it to empirical evidence. Figures provided by the government indicate that the unemployment rate has steadily declined annually since the inception of the study (September 2001). The September 2007 average unemployment rate of 23% is signi ficantly lower than 29.4% in September 2001. This provides evidence that the policy is doing well to provide work to more South Africans. (www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0210/P0210September2007.pdf) However, a more in-depth study reveals the change in unemployment rates amongst each population group. The best results have been for black people with a decline from approximately 35% (September 2001) to 26.8% (September 2007). The Indian people in the country also improved from approximately 19% to 10% over the same period. White and coloured unemployment rates have remained relatively static over this period at approximately 5% and 20% respectively. This bodes well for black and Indian people and is a strong indicator that affirmative action is achieving its goals. The policy seems to be failing in its attempt to compensate the coloured population. (www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0210/P0210September2007.pdf) However, there are problems that are emerging from affirmative action tha t is having a detrimental effect on the performance on enterprises and the overall success of the economy. The instantaneous and rapid enactment of affirmative action has seen unqualified persons attaining important positions. Many of these people were/are incapable of fulfilling the roles they have been assigned. This has a negative impact on, firstly, the corporation employing these people as they incur costs without the required level of service from their employees. It also adversely affects the consumer, who is dependant upon those employed by organizations to make the best decisions in order to obtain maximum reward. A situation exists whereby unskilled employees are filling skilled positions. (www.sairr.org.za/press-office/institute-opinion) Another concern is that many white South Africans are leaving the country, resulting in a major shortage of fundamental skills. The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) revealed that between 1995 and 2005, one million white S outh Africans moved abroad. The lack of adequate services has left the country in desperate need of professionals. These people also served as mentors/teachers to inexperienced employees and accelerated their development in the organizations thus exacerbating the problem of their departure. (www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article) Many contend that a weakness of the affirmative action policy is that it creates a minority of rich black people and does not help the rest (www.new.bbc.co.uk). The majority of the black population are unskilled workers without educations. These people are likely to struggle even with affirmative action in place as their employment options are limited to low income earning sectors due to educational and language problems. It is anticipated that the current generation of black children will reap the benefits of the policy. The government has put facilities in place to ensure these people are schooled and can attain funding for universities. These ar e the real beneficiaries of the system as their employment options are diverse. It would therefore seem that the efficiency of affirmative action should only be interpreted to a significant extent when the current black youth reaches adulthood.

Assessment of stroke. annotated bibliography Essay

Assessment of stroke. annotated bibliography - Essay Example There are grammatical and referencing errors through out and the structure is not clear at all times. 3/10 Description & analysis of each individual annotation Explanation, analysis and understanding of the main points of each selected article, e.g. purpose or hypothesis for study, the point of view/perspective from which the work was written, type and appropriateness of study methodology, comments on usefulness of the work & consideration of authority of authors. Relevant links to related sources are briefly identified (this may appear in more detail in the next two sections). Comments: You have selected a number of papers to discuss you the purpose of your study. Some of the papers linked better and some others not as well. For example, the FAST tool could be a topic on its own. The final paper could be used to support some of the arguments made in the earlier papers. You have given a description and the purpose of the studies in some papers and some others this was not as clear (i .e. first two ones). You have used a great deal of evidence in some of the papers although at times not in a coherent manner. You have also made some good comments and pointed to a number of issues that are important and you could discuss/explore further). 13/30 Analysis (from your chosen literature as a whole) Key issues/important factors appropriate to the topic are critically analysed. Connections between the selected articles, coherence (or lack of) between studies, referenced linkage to other related sources. Analysis & comparison of argument/s & opposing views appropriate to the topic area. Comments: This section follows on some of my comments above about the coherence of the papers and topics that each of them negotiate. It was a challenging topic and a very interesting one. Your comments here are clearer and you also bring most of the papers together. I would also expect here to bring some of the ideas explored in the papers. Critical analysis and evaluation was also carried out in the previous section. 12/35 Overall conclusions and recommendations Your main conclusions. Make focused recommendations for practice which demonstrate an integration of previous and new learning (synthesis). Propose recommendations for further research that can address the gaps identified through this annotated bibliography. Comments: You have made some good suggestions although some of them are not as well related to the annotated bibliography. These suggestions are the reflection of your overall clinical role with some relevant aspects to this essay. It should be more focused and tailored to the topic of this essay. You tend to discuss a number of ideas and that does not allow to explore a specific topic in depth. You have not made any recommendations for further research. 8/25 Diagnosis and Assessment Annotated Bibliography C7059609 The role of the Stroke Nurse in Assessment of Stroke Survivor Stroke is used to refer to a clinical syndrome of presumed vascular origin, typ ified by rapidly developing signs of focal or global

The impact of recordings on performance with particular reference to Essay

The impact of recordings on performance with particular reference to violinists, Kreisler, Heifetz and Menuhin - Essay Example Many critics have debated on John Phillip Sousa’s argument; however, the most apparent issues that have risen from these debates is the fact that Music has changed overtime. The current society has evolved technologically creating a scenario whereby people can record music of DVD players, disk drives and even download from the internet. The existence of such technology that has enabled man to manipulate music has certainly made music a virtual medium; that is, an art without identity. Even music that was played in the part can easily be searched on the internet and rearranged to entertain the listeners. Recording has played a major role in enhancing the work done by violinists. Many violinist for instance those that aspire to record solo violin sonata with a mixture of other instruments, do not require to undergo a process of looking for other instrumentalists but rather record their solo violin sound. This is later automatically mixed with other desirable instruments using modern technologies. Moreover, modern technologies used in recording have improved the quality of violin sounds through the use of technologies such as the condenser; hence making such sounds appealing to human ear. By improving the quality of the sounds produced by violins, many violinists have the opportunity to attract a large number of audiences. Consequently, recorded violin sounds are usually sold to different audiences thereby increasing their income. One of the renowned violinists who has greatly benefited from recording of his performance was Fritz Kreisler who was born in Austria in 1875. One of his major recordings that were recorded is â€Å"Liebesleid†. This piece has formed the staple of the current violin sounds produced by various violinists owing to the fact that many violinists have used it as a benchmark. On the other hand, recordings have also negatively affected

Filmmaking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Filmmaking - Essay Example Since the producer is the one who spends money for film production, he decides how much money is needed for the project. He will usually discuss it with the director. The director is the one who decides the actors, technicians, locations needed for the film he directs. Usually he discuss these matters with the producer. The director creates a rough idea in his mind about how the film is going to be pictured. He will discuss those ideas with the actors and other concerned technicians like cameraman, make up man etc. The director decides â€Å"Which way an actor looks, or which side of the camera he exits or enters, how the comedy and serious scenes pictured, when slow motion is required, how the actors should deliver the dialogue etc (Marshall). In short, film director decides how all the technicians taking part in the film function. It is difficult to produce good quality films using normal video cameras. An HD video camera with a wider aspect ratio of 16:9(wide screen) is necessary for making films in digital formats. The resolution should be greater than 1090 pixels wide x 1080 pixels high (What Camera To Use For Filmmaking). Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony etc are some of the prominent companies which make movie cameras. Digital cameras are used extensively nowadays in film shooting. Digital cameras use video tape, hard disk or flash memory for recording digital data. Digital data can be edited or modified easily compared to other data and that is why modern cinematographers use digital camera for the shooting purposes. â€Å"Paranormal Activity† is the movie which got highest bookings in last week. Its weakened gross revenue is $ 29003900. (U.S. and Canada Box Office). The world famous Hollywood is located in Los-Angeles. The history of film making in Hollywood was started in 1886 â€Å"when Landowners Harvey & Daeida Henderson Wilcox name their ranch Hollywood after Daeida met a woman in Ohio whose country house was

Muscles and the Skeletal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Muscles and the Skeletal System - Essay Example Muscles connect to the bones through tendons and these connect with other bones through ligaments at the joint. Slight muscle contraction can produce a wide movement (Gregory & Stewart, 2004). Skeletal muscles also maintain and produce body heat by squeezing the veins to help blood flow to heart. Signaling involves the nerve impulses travelling between the brains. Neurons consist of a cell body and appendages that transmit impulses. They act as conduits for signals throughout the nervous system. Nerve impulses are brief changes in the membrane, growing from the movement of ions across the plasma membrane. These potentials are achieved when the sodium-potassium pump in nerve tissues and the calcium pump in muscle tissues (n.d, 2012). Humans belong to the biological order Primates, which includes prosimians (before apes), tarsioids, and anthropoids. The fossil evidence available proves the evolution of these beings from an insect-eating mammal familiar to the modern-day tree shrew (n.d, 2012). Particularly, prosimians are small tree inhabitants and tarsioids are small primates with features those of the prosimians and the anthropoids. In evaluation of the article (n.d, 2012), the bodys complex mechanisms for maintaining homeostasis demonstrate themselves in the aspects of control and coordination. It is clearly remarkable to see how all body parts look after their functions and ensure safety for proper coordination and regulation of activities (Gregory & Stewart, 2004). n.d. (2012). â€Å"Muscles & Skeletal System.† Module 5: Movemennt, Coordination, Control, and Human Evolution. Retrieved on July 16, 2012:

Assess the claim that progress has stalled in terms of raising the Essay

Assess the claim that progress has stalled in terms of raising the proportion of women in senior executive and boardroom positio - Essay Example As argued by Howard and Wellins (2008) â€Å"in all major global regions, women are more likely than men to fall off the management ladder before reaching the top† (p. 6). They explained this through the theory of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors which involves an array of economic, organisational, and social aspects. Push factors refer to passive or unfulfilling jobs. On the other hand, the pull factors are life situations that force women to leave their jobs like health problems, family commitments, or caring obligations (Howard & Wellins, 2008). A recent study by Schneer and Reitman looked at the effects of career preference and outcomes for women in comparison to men in managerial positions (Bilimoria, 2007, p. 21). They discovered that the effect of gender differences on the work setting for women in comparison to men with MBA degrees was more pronounced in later than earlier career phases. Numerous researchers have observed that organisations are †˜gendered’, and hence view of career plans is expected to have more unfavourable effects for females than males (Fagan et al., 2012). Thus, what is most important is possibly not the quantity of work but the quality and nature of that work, particularly for career women. Another major phenomenon that has been given much emphasis recently is the issue of whether part-time job characterises unfavourable reduced work or favourable flexible work patterns for employees, particularly women. Several researchers report that women prefer or are more contented with part-time job than men, because this work arrangement offers flexibility (Burke & Mattis, 2005). Nevertheless, stages of part-time work have detrimental effects on pay, and females are more likely than males to engage in part-time jobs. This implies that earlier assumptions that career women with children can gain from part-time work arrangement without considerable negative impact on present and future career opportunities or outcomes could be flawed, especially in early stages of career (Durbin & Tomlinson, 2010). It is possible that these kinds of interruptions are not merely cutbacks in work time, but also signify a reduction or impediment in status that is disadvantageous for the women’s future career outcomes. Some claim that the higher probability of a women engaging in part-time work compared to men occupying part-time jobs signifies the likelihood of preserving or reinforcing the inferior standing of women in society (Liff & Ward, 2001). Findings on job satisfaction show that women who are voluntarily engaged in part-time jobs usually agree to weaker job security and lower pay in return for less stress and more favourable working arrangements. Mothers are usually more likely than childless women to work part-time because it facilitates reconciliation of domestic and career obligations (Durbin & Tomlinson, 2010). Mothers in the UK, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Austria are s pecifically likely to engage in part-time job (Rubery, 1998, 200). According to Wirth (2004), the inadequacy of quality, inexpensive childcare compels many women with children to accept part-time work arrangements. Women, across all sectors, are currently engaged in managerial work but are less likely to occupy higher level leadership positions, suggesting that obstacles to women’s career progression are still existing. The number of women occupying senior management and board positions across the globe are few compared

Planning and conducting research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Planning and conducting - Research Proposal Example It usually includes interaction with potential customers regarding their work, interests, opinions, trends and buying habits as well as paying attention to customer insights for future plans regarding products and services. The purpose of market research is to: 1) know the customer needs and wants; 2) to know if the customer is satisfied with the product or need; 3) identify potential target markets; and 4) establish the best advertising strategy for a given group of customers (Bull, 1994). The purpose of this study is to determine what particular research method is deemed effective in addressing the shortcomings, from the planned success, the consortium has experienced in the past three years. As a consortium of twenty-five tour operators in the United Kingdom that sells about 100 holidays and has 6000 customers that have already placed orders in the past, it is important to know which part of the services provided by the operators is most liked and least liked by the customers. The primary aim of this paper is to determine what are the services that need to be upgraded and services that are unnecessary. This paper will try to present a method that will be able to answer the following questions. This study is operated under the quantitative paradigm wherein the survey method will be utilized in order to elicit the relevant information needed to complete research (Frankfort-Nachmias & Nachmias, 1992). Besides, quantitative research plainly and distinctively specifies both the independent and the dependent variables under investigation (Matveev, 2002). It also follows resolutely the original set of research goals, arriving at more objective conclusions, determining the issues of causality and eliminates or minimises subjectivity of judgment (Kealey & Protheroe, 1996). The research variables were primarily analyzed in order to provide description on the factors that concerns the topic of the study. The variables of the study imply quantitative research wherein the data, situations, or other facts collected will be explained or correlated with other data. Basically, this research based its findings through quantitative research methods because this permits a flexible and iterative approach. Through this method, qualitative elements that do not have standard measures such as behaviour, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs are analysed. As such, the information that the informants of the study shared to the researcher will be accordingly examined, analysed and interpreted to answer the research questions presented. In order to gather the necessary data, the research will employ the survey method. The survey method will be implemented in three successive data collection procedures. These include the pretest of the questionnaire, the actual survey, and the back-checking after the analysis of the data. The pretest of the survey is necessary in order to identify possible shortcomings of the instrument that may hinder the efficient collection of valid and reliable data. On the other hand, the back-checking that will be implemented is to provide assurance that the results of the analysis are consistent with that of the available information and facts in the field. This research

Assess the claim that progress has stalled in terms of raising the Essay

Assess the claim that progress has stalled in terms of raising the proportion of women in senior executive and boardroom positio - Essay Example As argued by Howard and Wellins (2008) â€Å"in all major global regions, women are more likely than men to fall off the management ladder before reaching the top† (p. 6). They explained this through the theory of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors which involves an array of economic, organisational, and social aspects. Push factors refer to passive or unfulfilling jobs. On the other hand, the pull factors are life situations that force women to leave their jobs like health problems, family commitments, or caring obligations (Howard & Wellins, 2008). A recent study by Schneer and Reitman looked at the effects of career preference and outcomes for women in comparison to men in managerial positions (Bilimoria, 2007, p. 21). They discovered that the effect of gender differences on the work setting for women in comparison to men with MBA degrees was more pronounced in later than earlier career phases. Numerous researchers have observed that organisations are †˜gendered’, and hence view of career plans is expected to have more unfavourable effects for females than males (Fagan et al., 2012). Thus, what is most important is possibly not the quantity of work but the quality and nature of that work, particularly for career women. Another major phenomenon that has been given much emphasis recently is the issue of whether part-time job characterises unfavourable reduced work or favourable flexible work patterns for employees, particularly women. Several researchers report that women prefer or are more contented with part-time job than men, because this work arrangement offers flexibility (Burke & Mattis, 2005). Nevertheless, stages of part-time work have detrimental effects on pay, and females are more likely than males to engage in part-time jobs. This implies that earlier assumptions that career women with children can gain from part-time work arrangement without considerable negative impact on present and future career opportunities or outcomes could be flawed, especially in early stages of career (Durbin & Tomlinson, 2010). It is possible that these kinds of interruptions are not merely cutbacks in work time, but also signify a reduction or impediment in status that is disadvantageous for the women’s future career outcomes. Some claim that the higher probability of a women engaging in part-time work compared to men occupying part-time jobs signifies the likelihood of preserving or reinforcing the inferior standing of women in society (Liff & Ward, 2001). Findings on job satisfaction show that women who are voluntarily engaged in part-time jobs usually agree to weaker job security and lower pay in return for less stress and more favourable working arrangements. Mothers are usually more likely than childless women to work part-time because it facilitates reconciliation of domestic and career obligations (Durbin & Tomlinson, 2010). Mothers in the UK, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and Austria are s pecifically likely to engage in part-time job (Rubery, 1998, 200). According to Wirth (2004), the inadequacy of quality, inexpensive childcare compels many women with children to accept part-time work arrangements. Women, across all sectors, are currently engaged in managerial work but are less likely to occupy higher level leadership positions, suggesting that obstacles to women’s career progression are still existing. The number of women occupying senior management and board positions across the globe are few compared

Practical critical essay on Jude Part 6 Ch.2. Essay Example for Free

Practical critical essay on Jude Part 6 Ch.2. Essay Little Father Time has just hanged himself and the other two children. Jude and Sue have just come across this scene of horror. Hardy cuts upon the floor, on which was written, in the boys hand, with the bit into short segments with commas giving the narration a breathless effect. It demonstrates Jude and Sues feelings towards the scene they have just witnessed. These commas also fashion the sentence as if it were being spoken by a child. There is no complex diction in this passage so it reflects the innocence of the children involved, which is quite a contrast from the adult and gothic language such as half paralyzed and grotesque and hideous horror used in the last paragraph. There is a pattern that emerges so whenever the narrator describes the scene (usually the most horrific parts), he uses simple, unadorned, monosyllabic words, i. e. the little bed, and placing the negative first no children were there. However, when describing the parents reaction, he uses more complicated and descriptive lexis. This gives rise to an unnerving, disturbing feeling for the reader. The note written to Jude and Sue by Little Father Time, Done because we are too menny explains clearly, why he had performed this task. This is a succinct, poignant note written with what is either no feeling whatsoever or overwhelming but repressed emotion. However, menny indicates the pure innocence and child-like quality of Little Father Time and it shows us the level of his education. Menny incorporates the word men and his ignorance of spelling may signify his ignorance of the ways of man. Perhaps in the word Done there is a resonance of Macbeths If it were done when tis done (Act I scene VII) emphasizing the horrific finality and decisiveness to Little Father Times actions. Sue provoked Little Father Time into reflecting along these lines of their being too many of them due to her conversation with him in the last few pages. He asks, It would almost be better to be out o the world than in it, wouldnt it?, and she off-handedly replies, It would almost, dear. This careless reply and its tragic ramification is a result of Sues narcissism and the solipsistic nature of both the parents towards Little Father Time. The language now becomes more elaborate and graphic as the children are no longer mentioned and the following paragraphs concern merely Jude and Sue. Sue realizes her careless words were responsible for Little Father Times actions. Her convulsive agony that knew no abatement is powerfully personified, and implies that she is in the grip of someone who refuses to let go. The syntax, ending in the stark phrase no abatement makes Sues feeling even more infinite and absolute. She is so distraught that the woman of the house is vainly trying to soothe her, with her eyes staring at the ceiling. She seems to be undergoing an out-of-body experience. She is not to go upstairs because her presence might do harm; the intensive shock may also lead to endangering a coming life, her unborn baby would be the only child left in her life. Sue confesses she believes herself responsible for this and Jude replies It was in his nature to do itunknown in the last generation: This is an allusion to a number of views and theories. Thomas Malthus published An essay on the principle of population in 1798. In it he argued against population growth. He believed that if one cannot afford to raise children, one should not bring them into the world. Jude quotes the doctor who says that such boys were not heard of in the last generation. Here, Darwins The Origin of Species (1859) is being alluded to. Darwin proved humans are not special creatures chosen by God, but instead, simply animals that are highly evolved and well adapted to their surroundings. Hardy stresses the way that Little Father Time had struck at the conventional views of Victorian family life and instead of having the typical morals of a little boy, believed that survival was more important than family values. I believe that Little Father Time is in a sense more highly evolved than Jude Jude attempted to commit suicide and failed. Little Father Time however, did so he is a child brought up without love. The use of the words springing up make this new type of child seem linked to regeneration, growth, felicity and seasonality, but in fact they bring death and are the product of new views of life. Of course Sue herself is a product of such views which perhaps have affected Little Father Time subconsciously. He never shows any signs of hope, happiness, excitement and general strong emotions until his last conversation with Sue, and even then he gives us no impression that he is going to murder his brother and sister and commit suicide. The child is an example of the coming universal wish not to live Jude states bleakly. This phrase demonstrate the thematic pessimism in the narrative, the apocalyptical nature of Little Father Time, and the fast approaching, universal nihilistic views of the end of the century. At the end of Judes version of the doctors analysis of Little Father Time, the text ends with an aposiopesis: consolations to -. Judes composure cracks. Ironically, Jude stops short just as he mentions, (the doctor) can give no consolation, the phrase no consolation extends Hardys apocalyptic theme of lack of hope. We find out Jude has composed himself for Sue, but could do so no longer, and in her efforts to comfort him, distracted her from her poignant self-reproach. Hardy describes what Sue sees when she is allowed to finally see the children. Little Father Times face expressed the whole tale of their situation which is clearly, death, despair, struggle, lack of love, and lack of hope. Linking the boys face to their situation describes them both perfectly well without describing either. The use of simple, unadorned language describing the boy as a little shape shows us that the small boy is not yet defined, he is not yet delineated; he dies young and unformed. Hardy writes that in Little Father Time he had converged all the inauspiciousness of Jude. The childs corpse conveyed the suggestion of the tragedy, despair and death that was looming in his relationship with Arabella, as well all the accidents errors of the last; the potent and tragic element of fate is stressed. Little Judes description as his parents nodal point demonstrates that he is an entanglement where inauspiciousness and the lack of love have become enmeshed. The paragraph concludes with a tricolon, For the rashness of those parents he had groaned, for their ill-assortment he has quaked, and for the misfortunes of these he had died. This relates to Judes relationships with Arabella and Sue, and Little Father Times short life; it is a conclusive and tragic summation of Little Father Times short life and tragic end. This scene hints at Hardys disaffection with God, and when Jude and Sue overhear the psalm Truly God is loving unto Israel we realize this disaffection is very tangible.

Right to Information Act, 2005 | Analysis

Right to Information Act, 2005 | Analysis RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005 VIDYA SAGAR KOMMU INTRODUCTION: The knowledge and the freedom of information are playing an important role in the society for the advancement. For a country like India, which is one of the biggest democracy in the world it is necessary to provide accountability and transparency in the governance. To achieve this there should be freedom of information to the citizens of the country and this as a right. It is the responsibility of the state. So, in the Indian constitution under the fundamental rights article 19 talks about protection of certain rights of all citizens. And article 19 (1) (a) talks about freedom of speech and expression. It is meaningless unless until it provide the access to get information. So, under this article the right to information emerged to facilitate the access to the information. Even though it is recognized as fundamental right we need a process through which we can exercise this there created a necessity for an act to come. As a result, The Right To Information Act came to exist in 2005 i n India. Various countries in the world have already been practicing this Act with different names for many years. This act is referred to as Freedom of Press Act in Sweden, in USA and UK this act is called Freedom of Information Act, in South Africa it is Promotion of Access to Info Act, in New Zealand it is Official Information Act, in Pakistan it is called Right to Information Act. 90 countries in the World have been practicing this Act. Before this act was passed in the center different states of India have also been practicing this act. Tamil Nadu and Goa has been practicing this Act since 1997 and Rajasthan and Karnataka have been practicing since 2000. Delhi since 2001 and Maharashtra and Assam enacted this since 2002. Actual journey of the Right to Information Act in India has started in 1923 through the Official Secret Act. Later in early 1990s it again gained some importance and in the year 2005 after repetitive petitions the RTI Act was passed. ABOUT THE RTI ACT, 2005: This Act was enacted by the permission and the authority of the President of India. In the Parliament, it was enacted in June, 2005. This Act is applicable to all the states in the country but not to Jammu and Kashmir. This Act main objective is to facilitate the access to get information to citizens of the country in a secure way and by this to encourage accountability and transparency in governance. Here the information seek by the citizens is may be in any form. It may be physical form like records, papers, documents, etc or it may be in digital form like e-mails or in any electronic form. There are some exceptions to reveal the information in this Act also. Information that cannot have access to reveal is information related to sovereignty and integrity of India, information prevented by Courts, Cabinet papers, information related to issues under investigation, trade secrets, intellectual property, information related to fiduciary relationship. In Indian constitution, article 19 (2) talks about this. If anyone wants to get some information he/she has send a request to public authority with whatever the fees applicable. They can send their request by writing it on paper, letter or even by electronic media also. They have to mention the full address of the public authority. After receiving the request by the Public Information Officer (PIO) he has to check whether the seeking information is allowed or not. If it is allowed then the PIO will send that information within 30 days. Otherwise it may reject due to some reasons like security, copyright, commercials, etc. If the person, who requested do not get the requested information or proper response from the public authority within 30 calendar days, the person has a chance to give a complaint either to Information Commission or to first appellate authority. This type of complaints can give due to various reasons like late response, demand of cost of information that is not at all reasonable. For the first appeal, the applicant has to application fee along with his/her application. There is no fee when one appeals to Central Government offices. The officer senior to Public Information Officer is called first appellate authority. After one’s appeal reached to this appellate authority they will ask an explanation from PIO. They might invite the person to hear. They will pass a reasonable order within 30-45 days. If the person is not satisfied then also he /she can file second appeal either with State Information Commissioner or with Central Information Commissioner, according to the case. There is no such given time limit for getting response at this level. Too many cases are filed up with these offices. IMPORTANT SECTIONS OF RTI ACT: The RTI Act consists of more than 30 sections and its subsections. In order to get response every time, one has to know about all sections and amendments related to this act. Here are the some important sections of this act Section 3 tells that all citizens have the right. Section 4 tells about proactive disclosures by authorities. Section 6 deals with the request for obtaining information. Section 7 tells about how a person request will be treated. Section 8 tells about exemptions. Section 19 (1): First appeal Section 19 (3): Second appeal Section 20: Penalties and Disciplinary actions. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: This act has been utilized by the people to get information and acted as a tool for judicial approachability wherein the effectiveness may vary from state to state. It has always stood as the authentic means to get information in a formal way in various sectors from education to land. This has also disclosed the regularities to inefficiencies. An empirical evidence for RTI success is the RTI filed by Activist Anil Galgali for Reliance Infra regarding meter connection details. Initially, he was denied information that it was for the public authority, later he complained to the State Information Commission of Maharashtra for deny of information. Due to intervention taken by SIC even the case moved to Bombay High Court, stay was given by Bombay HC on the decision of SIC Maharashtra. RTI has played a vital role and have attained success in various cases such as monitoring of attendance of village in UP school teachers, payment of pension dues from railways, corruption in the master of role in the employment guarantee schemes. RTI also gives the privilege of filing a case irrespective of age which was utilize by an 9 year old student to monitor over the over-speeding of vehicles. Though the Central Information Commission as the power to penalize the politicians does not provide information about their assets and liabilities within stipulated prescribed time but until now this provision is not often used. Our former Prime Minister had stated that even though the RTI Act had been working good there were few concerns regarding public servants expressions. Aruna Roy had criticized the former Prime Ministers view saying the Government has always been inefficient. RTI has also resulted in violence like threatening and in some cases it has also costed lives about 250. The most famous killings were of Satish Shetty from Pune who exposed the land scam, Lalit kumar Mehta for exposing corruption in MGNREGA, and Shela Masood being shot dead at Bhopal. Though the RTI was brought with a noble intention, it is also misuse by pseudo activist where they tend to get an incentive by blackmailing the people wherein it is further leading to ill practices in the society. CONCLUSION: The RTI has brought a sort of monitory and accountability to check the irregularities and inefficiencies in the government. The awareness regarding RTI is low in terms of how to apply, initiation, and some feel that the government is not towards the positive approach of it. The long urge of RTI activists were addressed through Whistle Blowers Protection Act in 2014 wherein it gives power to complainant to make complaint to Competent Authority. For making RTI Act more feasible it has to adopt a type of single window clearance system through appointment of officers and staff for making the process and getting information quickly. Further, the government should show keen interest to protect the interest of whistle blowers and activists. RTI can be seen as an ultimate tool for the public to make informed choices that would help to re-imagine future and build a better society.

Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin In The Sun :: essays research papers

A Raisin in the Sun is a classic tragedy. Through struggle the Younger’s all experience some hardship in learning the value of money and equality. I will have to say that the play was very interesting yet hard to watch. My first impression was that the stage was slanted. I’m still not sure why the stage was slanted and would love to ask the director of why it was slanted. Secondly, the actors were very hard to hear due to their soft speaking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From the play I received two major underlying messages. First was from Mama’s plant. This plant symbolized all that the Younger family was; a half alive plant that is growing in all direction waiting for the spring to bloom. This is the perfect description of the Younger’s. The family is struggling with what to do with the insurance check and finally realize that by equality they will bloom into what they truly desire.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Secondly I saw that the Younger’s are a family of routine. It seems that each member is caught in their own struggle and can’t break the cycle they are caught in. It is not until someone makes a sacrifice that the family is able to flourish.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The lighting made a favorable impression. The blue at the beginning sets the â€Å"blue† mood that wonders over most of the family. The soft white that lights the house for the rest of the play was perfect since the family has a dim mood cast over them. As far as overall lighting scheme goes I would give the play a solid A.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My next impression came from the props in the house. The bed, couch, and chair were all but falling apart. There was no doubt that the family had little as far as possession but what they had they were proud of. They were not a family of pride but they took joy in what they had worked hard for. I was given a feeling of a family struggling to make it in the world but determined to reach the top of the mountain. Overall I would give the props a B   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The costumes of the actors also made an impact. Walter Lee was always wearing formal, expensive looking clothing. His clothes went along with his ambitions of wealth and high rank. Mama’s clothes were always simply and barley of higher quality than rags. These clothes also go a long way to represent those philosophies that she lived by.

Paper -- essays papers

Paper Parental involvement is critical in facilitating children’s development and achievement and in preventing educational and developmental problems. Declining achievement scores, rising educational costs, and distrust of bureaucratic institutions are among the factors which have refocused attention on the rights, responsibilities, and impact of parents. Benefits to Children Substantial evidence exists to show that children whose parents are involved in their schooling have significantly increased their academic achievement and cognitive development. The parent-child relationship is improved and parents more frequently participate in the child’s activities. Parents also increase the number of contacts made with the school and their understanding of child development and the educational process. Another effect of parent-school cooperation is that parents become better teachers of their children at home and use more positive forms of reinforcement. Effects of Parent Involvement Research reports indicate that parents involved in child care and educational programs develop positive attitudes about themselves, increase self-confidence, and often enroll in programs to enhance their personal development. They also are more positive about school and school personnel than uninvolved parents, help to gather community support for educational programs, and become more active in other community activities. Effective Approaches to Parent Involvement Parent visits to the center, school, or classroom, parent meetings and workshops, and parent-teacher conferences are effective in encouraging parents’ participation in their children’s education. Written and verbal information from teachers on the program and the chi... ...w when parents involve themselves in their child's "learning to read" process more solid reading skills are developed. Strauss, Howard. (1999). The Future of the Web, Intelligent devices, and Education. Educom Review, Retrieved from the web on April 20, 2003 from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/erm9944.html Schank, Roger C. (2000). Futureperspective -A Vision of Education for the 21st Century. The Journal, Retrieved from the web on April 20, 2003 from http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A2598.cfm Serim, Ferdi. (1996). Building Virtual Communities for Professional Development. The Future of Networking Technologies for Learning, Retrieved from the web on April 20, 2003 from http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/serim.html Short Description- The three sources above were used to help me create my Future of Information in Education report.

Performance Appraisal Interview

Conducting the Performance Appraisal Interview The performance Appraisal interview offers an opportunity to discuss and compare perceptions of an employee’s job performance. Through open communication a supervisory and employee can assess job performance, measure actual result against expected results and plan for the future. The interview should not be used as a vehicle to bombard the employee or the supervisor with criticism, failures, faults, and / or errors. a) Opening the interview: The climate of the interview is essential to its outcome. The supervisor should set a tone for the interview that exhibits openness and support. Once this tone has been set, an employee will be more likely to share assessments of his or her performance, discuss strengths and weaknesses and commit to the development plans that are set in the interview. To set the tone, a supervisor should: 1. Review the purpose of the meeting. Clarify any questions the employee has and reaffirm that the interview serves to promote employee development through identifying job responsibilities, reviewing performance roles, Overall rating of performance and preparing a plan for improved or enhanced performance. 2. Regard the employee as an individual. Special concerns should be given to the employee’s communication style, new assignments, increased job responsibilities and performance standards. These considerations should guide the supervisor as he/she deals with the employee. b) Discussing performance. The second component of a performance interview is the actual discussion of an employee’s job performance. Recommendations for an effective discussion include: 1. Come prepared. Both the Supervisor should prepare objectives ahead of time and time and be able to cite specific example support observations and recommendations. . The employee should present his / her self – assessment first. The employee’s objectives are to present information regarding his or her job performance, pointing out strengths, and seeking assistance in areas where problems exist. This promotes openness and provides insight on how the employee view his or her responsibilities and performance 3. The supervisor should present his or her assessment of the employee performance after hearing the employee’s assessment. Areas of agreements should be discussed first, followed by areas of disagreement. Finally, any pertinent topics that were not brought up by the employee should be mentioned. The supervisor’s objective is to help the employee improve performance or develop skills to become a more productive employee. 4. Communication should be two – way. A dialogue should occur between the employee and the supervisor, with neither participant dominating the discussion. 5. Seek agreement on each point. If opinions differ when discussing individual responsibilities, performance roles or ratings, both the employee and the supervisor should express their ideas. Again, focus on behaviors relevant to performance. 6. Setting Training and development goals. Employee should be prepared to state his or her future plans for development. Discuss these plans realistically and set up appropriate goals and time tables. Supervisors should feel comfortable adding or suggesting development goals with the approval of the employee C) Closing the Interview. An important aspect of the entire process is how the interview ends. The following actions should be included in the closing portion of the interview. Summarize what has been discussed and agreed upon, making sure of consensus on all – important points. Do this positively and enthusiastically. †¢ Give the employee an invitation to react, question and share additional ideas and suggestions. †¢ Make arrangements to follow upon specific points if needed †¢ Set a date for the next performance review session. ( -Semi annual or quarterly ) †¢ Thank Each other for the time and energy that went into the review and end the interview on a positive or encouraging note. †¢ Complete disseminate the Appraisal Form as earlier. Avoid these Mistakes when Completing a Performance Appraisal 1. Recency Too much focus on the most recent examples of behavior rather than considering overall performance. This can occur because of inadequate record keeping. 2. Central Tendency Managers tend to rate every one about the same, or ate last, they avoid extreme ratings. The reviewer should use the ends of the scale as well as the middle. 3. Leniency Managers shun low rating to avoid conflict or because they believe that low ratings reflect badly on the reviewer. This can happen when the reviewer is rushed or under pressure to complete the Appraisal 4. Horns / Hallow Effect A tendency to rate the same individual â€Å"Excellent† on every trait or â€Å"Unsatisfactory† on every trait. This may happen when the supervisor feels that the employee has some shortcomings and then rates them poorly on everything as a result (or conversely rates too high on everything based upon a few high ratings). 5. Constancy Some Managers rate their employees in rank – order rather than on an individual basis and adjust scores to match the ranking order. . Similarity A tendency to rate employees, who have similar values and interest to the reviewer, hire. Additional Factors Affecting Performance Appraisal Ratings: †¢ Length of service and the â€Å"compliancy† of the person being rated can affect ratings significantly. †¢ Previous review ratings influence current reviews, whether the current manager or a former one did the pre vious review. †¢ Supervisors â€Å"guess† when they aren’t sure or don’t have a lot of experience with a given employees behavior.

A Better Man

Abel Villalbaso Edward Gika English 21 2/27/13 Better Man This experience taught me to be a better man. Unfortunately I learn that acting like a man made me act like a child. When I was fifteen, I drank alcohol for the first time. I was with my neighbors outside grilling food and talking. Everyone there were all men in their twenties and drinking beers. I chose to drink with them to be a part of their group and act like a man. After a few hours I had drank six beers and decided to go to bed. The next morning, I woke up with a hangover and left to school. During my first class I got a headache.I had never thought about the consequences at the moment. All I wanted to do is take a nap at the nurse’s office. When I arrived to see the nurse she asked what’s wrong. I told her I had a headache. She could smell alcohol on my breath. She knew that I was intoxicated. I confess that I had drunk beer the day before. She called security to escort me to the principal’s office. When I got outside to the principal’s office she asked me to go inside her office. She handed me a paper letting me know I was suspended from school for a week. I was ordered to leave and walked back to my house. Suspended from school I was scared to go home.When I got to my house, my mother asked me why was I home early. I told her the whole story. My mother was very disappointed and told me that I should make better choices in life and become successful in life. After that incident, my mother became more supportive to me. She always gave me good advice about good and evil. I finally realized that it is not easy for my mother to raise four kids by herself. She was always committed a poor single mother on welfare but now I learn that being a man is to respect yourself. Tough times never last but tough people do. Over the years I appreciate my mother even more and now I am on my way to success.

Effect of Coffee Essay

Abstract The present study was undertaken to evaluate the use of ground roasted coffee (Coffee Arabica; GRC) as a natural feed additive in practical fish diets and its impact on growth, feed utilization, biochemical variables, and body composition of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ). Ground roasted coffee was added to the ingredients of tested diets to represent 0. 0 (control), 0. 5, 1. 0, 2. 0, or 5. 0 g/kg diet. Fish (1. 9 Â ± 0. 03 g) were distributed to various treatments at a rate of 20 fish per 80-L aquarium and fed one of the experimental diets for 10 weeks. No growth-promoting influences of GRC were observed; however, the optimum fish growth and feed utilization were obtained at 0. 0 – 1. 0 g GRC/kg diet. The inclusion of GRC in fish diet over 1. 0 g/kg diet reduced fish growth, feed consumption, and the protein contents in fish body. The highest lipids and ash contents were obtained at 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Glucose, plasma protein, and plasma lipids decreased significantly, meanwhile aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and creatinine increased significantly in fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Fish survival (93. 3 – 97. 8%) was not affect by GRC inclusion in fish diets. These results indicate that GRC supplement is not a promising growth stimulant for Nile tilapia. Keywords: Nile tilapia, ground roasted coffee, Coffee Arabica, fish growth, feed utilization, body composition, biochemical variables, fish health. INTRODUCTION Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ) is one of the most popular species in Egypt and worldwide (El-Sayed, 2006). As the regular use of antibiotics and chemicals as preventative and curative measures for disease leads to drug-resistant bacteria and harmful effects on the environment (Teuber, 2001; Bachere, 2003; Hermann et al., 2003), alternatives to antibiotics and chemicals to improve the quality and sustainability of aquaculture production have been seen as desirable (Meunpol et al. , 2003; Vaseeharan and Ramasamy, 2003; Li et al. , 2006). Medicinal plants have been used as immune-stimulants for human in China and old civilization for thousands years (Tan and Vanitha, 2004). These plants contain many types of active components such as polysaccharides, alkaloids, or flavonoids that have immuno-stimulating activities in mice, chickens, or human cell lines (Cao and Lin, 2003; Lin and Zhang, 2004). The use of medicinal plants as immuno-stimulants in fish diets has been considered (Abdel-Tawwab et al. , 2010; Ahmad and Abdel-Tawwab 2011; Ahmad et al. ; in press). Many studies have been conducted on using coffee pulp in fish diets and they found adverse effects of coffee pulp on fish growth and feed utilization (Fagbenro and Arowosoge, 1991; Moreau et al. , 2003; Ulloa and Verreth, 2003; Chatzifotis et al. , 2008). Some other studies reported that coffee shows an antioxidant activity because it contains many substances like caffeine, cafestol, kahweol, and chlorogenic acids (Pellegrini et al., 2003; Vinson et al. , 2005). Due to the abundance of antioxidant compounds in coffee, these agents must be seriously considered when elucidating potential pharmacological effects of coffee intake. Therefore, the present research aims to evaluate the effect of ground roasted coffee (GRC) supplementation on growth, feed efficiency, feed consumption, biochemical variables, and proximate composition of Nile tilapia, O. niloticus. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fish culture and feeding regime – Ground roasted coffee (Coffee Arabica; GRC) was obtained from the local market. Five different diets containing 0. 0, 0. 5, 1. 0, 2. 0 and 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet were formulated. The dietary ingredients were thoroughly mixed and moistened by the addition of 100 ml warm water per kg diet and then made into pellets by a mincing machine. The pellets were cut into shape manually, dried in an oven at 55 oC till constant weight was obtained and stored in a freezer at -2 oC until use. Nile tilapia, O. niloticus were obtained from fish hatchery, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Abbassa, abo-Hammad, Sharqia, Egypt. Before starting the experiment, fish were acclimated and hand-fed to apparent satiation twice a day for 2 weeks. For the experiment, 15 80-L aquaria were used and oxygenated to saturation by air pumps. In each aquarium, 20 randomly distributed fish (1. 9 Â ± 0. 03 g) were stocked. The tested diets were administered to five fish groups with three replicates per each. Fish were hand-fed for satiation thrice daily 5 days a week for 10 weeks. Settled fish wastes along with three-quarter of aquarium’s water were siphoned daily. Siphoned water was replaced by clean and aerated water from a storage tank. Average weight per aquarium was assessed every 2 weeks by group-weighing all fish. Fish were starved for a day before weighing. Fish growth and feed utilization – At the end of the experiment, fish per each aquarium were harvested, counted, and weighed. Fish growth and feed utilization variables were calculated as follows: Weight gain (g) = final weight – initial weight; Specific growth rate (SGR; %/day) = 100 (Ln final weight – Ln initial weight) / days; Feed conversion ratio (FCR) = feed intake (g) / weight gain (g); Protein efficiency ratio (PER) = weight gain (g) / protein intake (g); Fat efficiency ratio (FER) = weight gain (g) / fat intake (g); Energy utilization (EU; %) = 100 x (energy gain / energy intake). Chemical analysis of diets and fish – The proximate chemical analyses of the tested diets and fish samples were done for moisture, crude protein, total lipids, and total ash according to the standard methods of AOAC (1990). Moisture content was estimated by drying the samples to constant weight at 95 oC in drying oven (GCA, model 18EM, Precision Scientific group, Chicago, Illinois, USA). Nitrogen content was measured using a microkjeldahl apparatus (Labconco, Labconco Corporation, Kansas, Missouri, USA) and crude protein was estimated by multiplying nitrogen content by 6. 25. Lipid content was determined by ether extraction in multi-unit extraction Soxhlet apparatus (Lab-Line Instruments, Inc. , Melrose Park, Illinois, USA) for 16 hours. Total ash was determined by combusting dry samples in a muffle furnace (Thermolyne Corporation, Dubuque, Iowa, USA) at 550 oC for 6 hours. Biochemical measurements – At the end of the 10-week feeding trial, feed was withhold 24 hour immediately prior to sampling and five fish per aquaria were randomly chosen and anesthetized with tricaine methanesulfate (20 mg/L). Blood samples were collected from the caudal vessel and the extracted blood was collected in Eppendorf tubes contained 500 U sodium heparinate/mL; used as an anticoagulant. The collected plasma was stored at –20 oC for further assays. Blood glucose, plasma total protein, plasma total lipids, and plasma creatinine were calorimetrically determined according to Trinder (1969), Henry (1964), Joseph et al. (1972), and Henry (1974), respectively. Activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in plasma were determined colorimetrically according to Reitman and Frankel (1957). Statistical analysis – The obtained data were subjected to one-way ANOVA to evaluate the effect of GRC supplementation. Differences between means were tested at the 5% probability level using Duncan test. All the statistical analyses were done using SPSS program version 10 (SPSS, Richmond, VA, USA) as described by Dytham (1999). RESULTS In the present study, fish grow gradually by time in all treatments (Figure 1). Final fish weight, weight gain, and specific growth rate were not significantly (P < 0. 05) affected with the increase in GRC levels up to 1. 0 g/kg after which growth declined (Table 1). The lowest fish growth was obtained at 2. 0 – 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Moreover, fish fed on diets containing 2. 0 and 5. 0 g GRC/kg consumed less diet than the other treatments giving the highest FCR (1. 4 and 1. 5, respectively). Meanwhile, fish fed on 0. 0 – 1. 0 GRC/kg diet consumed approximately the same feed amount giving the same FCR (1. 3; Table 2). Table 1. Growth performance and survival of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Initial weight |Final weight |Weight gain |SGR |Fish survival | |(g/kg diet) |(g) |(g) |(g) |(%/day) |(%) | |0. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |14. 5Â ±0. 35 a |12. 6Â ±0. 38 a |2. 90Â ±0. 059 a |95. 6Â ±4. 43 | |0. 5 |1. 9Â ±0. 01 |14. 5Â ±0. 55 a |12. 6Â ±0. 55 a |2. 90Â ±0. 052 a |95. 5Â ±2. 23 | |1. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 01 |14. 0Â ±0. 58 ab |12. 1Â ±0. 58 ab |2. 85Â ±0. 058 ab |97. 8Â ±2. 23 | |2. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |12. 5Â ±0. 55 bc |10. 6Â ±0. 52 bc |2. 69Â ±0. 043 bc |93. 3Â ±3. 84 | |5. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |11. 2Â ±0. 36 c |9. 3Â ±0. 38 c |2. 53Â ±0. 066 c |95. 6Â ±4. 43 | Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. |Fish |[pic] | |growth (g)| | | |Weeks | Figure 1. The weight of Nile tilapia (g) fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in fat efficiency ratio, protein efficiency ratio, and energy utilization at 0. 0 – 1. 0 GRC/kg diet levels and the lowest values of these parameters were obtained when fish fed 2. 0 – 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet (Table 2). On the other hand, fish survival range was 93. 3 – 97. 8% with no significant difference (P > 0. 05) among the different treatments. Table 2. Feed utilization by Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Feed intake |FCR |Fat efficiency ratio |Protein efficiency |Energy utilization (%)| |(g/kg diet) |(g feed/fish) | | |ratio | | |0. 0 |16. 0Â ±0. 88 a |1. 3Â ±0. 033 b |10. 50Â ±0. 876 a |2. 86Â ±0. 238 a |32. 0Â ±1. 271 ab | |0. 5 |16. 0Â ±0. 44 a |1. 3Â ±0. 058 b |10. 08Â ±0. 123 a |2. 86Â ±0. 033 a |32. 8Â ±2. 119 a | |1. 0 |16. 1Â ±0. 44 a |1. 3Â ±0. 033 b |9. 45Â ±0. 568 ab |2. 74Â ±0. 154 ab |31. 4Â ±2. 227 ab | |2. 0 |14. 7Â ±0. 78 b |1. 4Â ±0. 033 ab |9. 22Â ±0. 108 b |2. 62Â ±0. 027 b |30. 1Â ±1. 266 bc | |5. 0 |14. 0Â ±0. 58 b |1. 5Â ±0. 058 a |8. 38Â ±0. 390 c |2. 39Â ±0. 106 c |28. 5Â ±0. 203 c |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. The GRC supplementation in the present study significantly affected the whole-fish body constituents except moisture content, which did not vary significantly (P > 0. 05; Table 3). The protein content decreased significantly, meanwhile lipid and ash contents increased significantly by increasing GRC levels. The lowest protein (15. 1%), the highest lipids (9. 7%) and the highest ash (3. 8%) contents were obtained at 5. 0 GRC/kg diets. In addition, fish fed the control diet exhibited the highest protein (61.4%) and the lowest lipid (25. 5%) contents (Table 3). Table 3. Proximate composition of whole-body (%; on fresh weight basis) of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. | GRC levels |Moisture |Crude protein |Total lipid |Total ash | |(g/kg diet) | | | | | |0. 0 |72. 3Â ±0. 31 |17. 2Â ±0. 29 a |7. 1Â ±0. 03 c |3. 2Â ±0. 09 b | |0. 5 |71. 8Â ±0. 28 |16. 9Â ±0. 17 a |7. 7Â ±0. 19 bc |3. 2Â ±0. 07 b | |1. 0 |72. 0Â ±0. 27 |16. 4Â ±0. 18 a |8. 0Â ±0. 16 b |3. 3Â ±0. 13 b | |2. 0 |72. 1Â ±0. 87 |16. 5Â ±0. 53 a |8. 1Â ±0. 26 b |3. 2Â ±0. 17 b | |5. 0 |71. 7Â ±0. 41 |15. 1Â ±0. 30 b |9. 7Â ±0. 15 a |3. 8Â ±0. 21 a | Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. The biochemical variables were significantly affected by GRC supplementation (P < 0. 05; Tables 4 and 5). The inclusion of 0. 5 – 5. 0 g/kg diet of dietary GRC resulted in significant decreases in glucose, plasma protein and plasma lipids, whereas the highest values of above parameters were obtained with fish fed the control diet (Table 4). Contrarily, AST, ALT, and creatinine values increased significantly with increasing GRC levels and the highest values of these parameters were obtained with fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg (Table 5). Fish fed on the control diets exhibited the lowest values. Table 4. Changes in glucose, plasma protein, and plasma lipids in Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Glucose (mg/dL) |Protein (g/dL) |Lipids (g/dL) | |(g/kg diet) | | | | |0. 0 |67. 53Â ±1. 362 a |1. 77Â ±0. 057 a |2. 69Â ±0. 167 a | |0. 5 |55. 23Â ±1. 468 b |1. 63Â ±0. 064 b |1. 61Â ±0. 067 b | |1. 0 |55. 42Â ±2. 669 b |1. 60Â ±0. 061 b |1. 57Â ±0. 083 b | |2. 0 |52. 63Â ±4. 435 b |1. 51Â ±0. 021 b |1. 53Â ±0. 035 b | |5. 0 |50. 23Â ±1. 386 b |1. 37Â ±0. 056 c |1. 42Â ±0. 059 c |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. Table 5. Changes in AST, ALT, and creatinine in plasma of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |AST (mg/dL) |ALT (mg/dL) |Creatinine (mg/dL) | |(g/kg diet) | | | | |0. 0 |52. 57Â ±2. 919 d |22. 60Â ±2. 023 d |0. 252Â ±0. 0147 d | |0. 5 |63. 60Â ±2. 386 c |37. 23Â ±3. 187 c |0. 328Â ±0. 0117 c | |1. 0 |76. 90Â ±2. 312 b |45. 20Â ±4. 046 bc |0. 386Â ±0. 0684 b | |2. 0 |80. 13Â ±2. 440 b |48. 46Â ±5. 017 b |0. 393Â ±0. 0392 b | |5. 0 |97. 10Â ±5. 103 a |59. 30Â ±1. 350 a |0. 467Â ±0. 0304 a |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. DISCUSSION The present study showed that GRC adversely affected Nile tilapia growth at a concentration higher than 1. 0 g/kg diet. These results are in concomitant with Fagbenro and Arowosoge (1991), Moreau et al. (2003), and Ulloa and Verreth (2003) who found adverse effects of coffee-containing diets on fish growth. Similarly, Chatzifotis et al. (2008) reported that sea bream, Sparus aurata did not accept the caffeine-containing diet at a 10 g/kg dose but at doses at or lower to 5 g/kg caffeine appeared not to have a deterrent effect. They also stated that the negative effect of caffeine on sea bream growth can be traced in its increased FCR. Throughout the feeding period the fish in all experimental groups were in good health and dose-related mortalities were not observed, indicating that Nile tilapia can tolerate GRC levels (up to 5 g/kg diet) albeit with reduced growth rate and increased feed conversion ratio. It is worth mentioning that 2 – 5 g GRC/kg diet caused a significant decrease in feed consumption and a significant increase in FCR. These results suggested that GRC did influence the diet palatability, implying that the growth retardation at 2 – 5 g GRC/kg diet may be due to the low diet utilization. It has been inferred that caffeine in GRC, together with polyphenols and tannins can deter feed consumption in fish (Ulloa and Verreth, 2003); possibly because of its bitter taste usually perceived by animals (Mazzafera, 2002; Frank et al. , 2004). Furthermore, Kasumyan and Doving (2003) reported that caffeine inhibited the feeding behavior of turbot, Psetta maxima. The proximate composition of whole-fish body was significantly affected by GRC inclusion (Table 3). However, protein content decreased, meanwhile lipids contents decreased by increasing GRC levels. These results disagree with Kobayashi-Hattori et al. (2005) who reported that caffeine induced lipolysis and thereby reduce the body fat mass and body fat percentage in Sprague–Dawley rats fed on a high fat diet. Chatzifotis et al. (2008) found that caffeine cannot reduce the lipid content of white muscle and liver in heterotherm sea bream when reared in low winter temperatures. These changes in protein and lipid contents in fish body herein could be linked with changes in their synthesis and/or deposition rate in fish body (Abdel-Tawwab et al. , 2006). Glucose, serum protein, and serum lipids decreased significantly, meanwhile AST, ALT, and creatinine increased significantly in fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. In this regard, Gagne et al. (2006) stated that in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, long-term exposure to caffeine could lead to lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, caffeine is an inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase in the mantle tissue of mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis; Serrano et al., 1995) and of lactate dehydrogenase in the muscle of rabbit (Gardiner and Whiteley, 1985). The increase in AST and ALT activities is an indicative to liver dysfunction and the increase in creatinine is an indicative to kidney dysfunction. These results suggest that GRC may contain compounds that caused some kind of stress on fish affecting these biochemical variables. Corradetti et al. (1986) found a chronic-caffeine effect on rats. These results indicate that GRC supplement is not a promising growth stimulant for Nile tilapia and in some cases GRC should not exceed 1. 0%. Further work is needed to explore the role of GRC in enhancing antioxidant activity and/or the anti-toxicity effect against water pollutants Acknowledgment The author would like to thank Mohamed N. Monier and Nahla E. M. Ismael, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research (CLAR), Abbassa, Abo-Hammad, Sharqia, Egypt, for their assistance during the running of this study, and Sherien H. Shady, CLAR for doing the physiological assay. REFERENCES Abdel-Tawwab, M. , M. H. Ahmad, S. F. M. Sakr, and M. E. A. Seden. 2010. Use of green tea, Camellia sinensis L. in practical diet for growth and protection of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.) against Aeromonas hydrophila infection. J. World Aquacult. Soc. , 41: 203-213. Abdel-Tawwab, M. , Y. A. E. Khattab, M. H. Ahmad, and A. M. E. Shalaby. 2006. Compensatory growth, feed utilization, whole body composition and hematological changes in starved juvenile Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ). J. Appl. Aquacult. , 18: 17-36. Ahmad, M. H. and M. Abdel-Tawwab. 2011. The use of caraway seeds as a natural feed additive in practical diet for Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ). Aquaculture 134: 110-114. Ahmad, M. H. , A. M. D. El-Mesallamy, F. Samir, and F. Zahran. Effect of different levels of cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) on growth performance, feed utilization, whole-body composition, and entropathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila – challenge of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus L. J. Appl. Aquacult (in press). AOAC (1990). Association of Official Analytical Chemists. The Official Methods of Analyses Association of Official Analytical Chemists International. 15th edition, Arlington, VA, 2220, USA. Bachere, E. 2003. Anti-infectious immune effectors in marine invertebrates: potential tools for disease control in larviculture. Aquaculture 227, 427–438. Cao, L. Z. and Z. B. Lin. 2003. Regulatory effect of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides on cytotoxic T-lymphocytes induced by dendritic cells in vitro. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica, 24: 312–326. Chatzifotis, S. , F. Kokou, K. Ampatzis, I. E. Papadakis, P. Divanach, and C. R. Dermon. 2008. Effects of dietary caffeine on growth, body composition, somatic indexes, and cerebral distribution of acetyl-cholinesterase and nitric oxide synthase in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), reared in winter temperature. Aquacult. Nut. , 14: 405-415. Corradetti, R. , F. Pedata, G. Pepeu, and M. G. Vannucchi. 1986. Chronic caffeine treatment reduces caffeine but not adenosine effects on cortical acetylcholine release. Brazil. J. Pharmacol. , 88: 671–676. Dytham, C. 1999. Choosing and Using Statistics: A Biologist’s Guide. Blackwell Science Ltd. , London, UK. El-Sayed, A. -F. M. 2006. Tilapia Culture. CABI publishing, CABI International Willingford, Oxfordshire, UK. Fagbenro, O. A. and I. A. Arowosoge. 1991. Growth response and nutrient digestibility by Clarias isheriensis (Sydenham, 1980) fed varying levels of dietary coffee pulp as replacement for maize in low-cost diets. Bioresource Technology 37, 253–258. Frank, M.E. , Bouverat, B. P. , MacKinnon, B. I. , Hettinger, T. P. , 2004. The distinctiveness of ionic and nonionic bitter stimuli. Physiol. Behav. , 80: 421–431. Gagne, F. , C. Blaise, and C. Andre. 2006. Occurrence of pharmaceutical products in a municipal effluent and toxicity to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hepatocytes. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. , 64: 329–336. Gardiner, N. S. and C. G. Whiteley. 1985. The interaction and inhibition of muscle lactate dehydrogenase by the alkaloid caffeine. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Com. , 127: 1057–1065. Henry, R. J. 1964. Colorimetric determination of total protein. In: Clinical Chemistry. Harper and Row Publ. , New York, USA. Henry, R. J. 1974. Clinical Chemistry Principles and Techniques. 2nd ed. , Harper and Row Publ. , New York, USA. Hermann, J. R. , M. S. Honeyman, J. J. Zimmerman, B. J. Thacker, P. J. Holden, and C. C. Chang. 2003. Effect of dietary Echinacea purpurea on viremia and performance in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus-infected nursery pigs. J. Anim. Sci. , 81: 2139–2144. Joseph, A. , M. Knight, S. Anderson, M. James, and H. Rawie. 1972. Chemical basis of the sulfophospho-vanillin reaction for estimating total serum lipid. Clin. Chem. 18: 198-201. Kasumyan, A. O. and K. B. Doving. 2003 Taste preferences in fishes. Fish Fish. , 4: 289–347. Kobayashi-Hattori, K. , A. Mogi, Y. Matsumoto, and T. Takita. 2005. Effect of caffeine on the body fat and lipid metabolism of rats fed on a high-fat diet. Biosci. , Biotech. Biochem. , 69: 2219–2223. Li, J. , B. Tan, K. Mai, Q. Ai, W. Zhang, W. Xu, Z. Liufu, and H. Ma. 2006. Comparative study between probiotic bacterium Arthrobacter XE-7 and chloramphenicol on protection of Penaeus chinensis post-larvae from pathogenic vibrios. Aquaculture 253: 140–147. Lin, Z. B. and H. N. Zhang. 2004. Anti-tumor and immunoregulatory activities of Ganoderma lucidum and its possible mechanisms. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica 25: 1387–1395. Mazzafera, P. 2002. Degratation of caffeine by microorganisms and potential use of decaffeinated coffee husk and pulp in animal feeding. Scientia Agricola 59, 815–821. Meunpol, O. , K. Lopinyosiri, and P. Menasveta. 2003. The effects of ozone and probiotics on the survival of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). Aquaculture 220: 437–448. Moreau, Y. , J. L. Arredondo, I. Perraud-Gaime, and S. Roussos. 2003. Dietary utilisation of protein and energy from fresh and ensiled coffee pulp by the Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Brazil. Arch. Biol. Tech. , 46: 223–231. Pellegrini, N. , M. Sera? ni, B. Colombi, D. Del Rio, S. Salvatore, M. Bianchi, and F. Brighenti. 2003. Total antioxidant capacity of plant foods, beverages and oils consumed in Italy assessed by three different in vitro assays. J. Nut. , 133: 2812–2819. Reitman, S. And S. Frankel. 1957. Colorimetric determination of glutamic oxaloacetic and glutamic pyruvic transaminases. Am. J. Clin. Path. , 28: 53-56. Serrano, F. S.J. , J. L. S. Lopez, and L. O. G. Martin. 1995. Caffeine inhibition of glycogen phosphorylase from Mytilus galloprovincialis mantle tissue. Intern. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. , 27: 911–916. Tan, B. K. H. and J. Vanitha. 2004. Immunomodulatory and antimicrobial effect of some traditional Chinese medicinal plants. Cur. Med. Chem. , 11: 1423–1430. Teuber, M. 2001. Veterinary use and antibiotic resistance. Cur. Opin. Microbiol. , 4: 493-499. Trinder, P. 1969. Determination of glucose concentration in the blood. Ann. Clin. Biochem. , 6: 24. Ulloa, R. J. B. and J. A. J. Verreth. 2003. Growth of Oreochromis aureus fed with diets containing graded levels of coffee pulp and reared in two culture systems. Aquaculture 217: 275–283. Vaseeharan, B. and P. Ramasamy. 2003. Control of pathogenic Vibrio spp. by Bacillus subtilis BT23, a possible probiotic treatment for black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon. Let. Appl. Microbiol. , 36: 83–87. Vinson, J. A. , K. Patel, and G. Agbor. 2005. Polyphenols: total amounts in foods and beverages and US per capital consumption. In: ACS 230th National Meeting. Book of Abstracts (n. AGFD 10). American Chemical Society, Washington.