Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Nonverbal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nonverbal - Essay Example ited to individual space or proxemics, outward appearances or kinesics and an all the more usually saw present day issue known as style or ones outer excellence. The nonverbal standard I have picked incorporates not one but rather two, using style and proxemics to see responses and changes in communications. In the test I attempted I decided to dress as an individual from the road and sat close to an individual we can call Mary at a bus station. It turned out to be promptly evident that my being here was an interruption and she before long took her telephone out and started having a murmured discussion with another obscure person. While her tone was lovely her body synchrony indicated extraordinary uneasiness that expanded with little looks toward me as she crept a tad at once down the seat to stay away from me. As the minutes delayed I stood up and drew nearer to her side and afterward plunked down once more, her response was quick and she stood up and strolled around behind the bus station to the contrary side. I endeavored to talk with her and present myself, while clarifying my activities she was not tragically altogether ready to speak accordingly I chose to move toward another person. My next appalling subject we can call Tom, entered the bus station legitimately following the exit of Mary and promptly plunked down on the contrary side of the seat. His activities unmistakably demonstrated his absence of want for any association, his arms were crossed, and he set earphones over his ears and brought down his eyes to glance before him. I chose to plunk down before him inside a meter or thereabouts. His response was promptly evident and he moved rapidly and transparently to the contrary side of the seat. I at that point rearranged gradually to the seat and plunked down straightforwardly in the center of it my area was not exactly an arm’s length from Tom. I started playing with the folded papers I had and kicking boisterously at different rocks and things on the ground before us. He immediately concluded this was not just as he would prefer and asked me

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Our Event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Our Event - Essay Example The choice to make the topic of the event to be worldwide was ventured after placing into thought political, social and financial components. This was for the most part on the grounds that were from differing foundations and areas of the globe. Our obligation was to upgrade the accomplishment of the event and subsequently dispose of pretty much 80 tickets. Almost every day of the week, we had meeting with the individuals which was planned for choosing the entire thing in a systematic way and positively without a doubt this was to shape the most noteworthy part of arranging a productive happening which was the means by which to deal additional tickets. The entire arrangement was to have a sort of promoting in zones around that spot including malls and region focuses where it is generally helpful to get associated with new individuals from various social classes, qualities and ethnic gatherings who may be in a situation to focus on that event. Every day of the week data was put on informal organizations including face book and correspondence was done through mail to individuals we had never met itemizing them on the event and whenever entranced they could buy the tickets. We situated a bit of composing on the home day by day paper. With an end goal to guarantee the achievement of the occasion, we included two advancements inside our mall. For the main point in time when we showed up at the strip mall, a lottery was sorted out allowing anybody a chance to take an interest with two tickets for our worldwide sunlight tea. This was an opportunity to make a focal point of consideration for additional people to put their names, messages and phone numbers. Toward the finish of that day, we had prevailing with regards to drawing in 60 individuals in our lottery. It was one of our triumphant days of the week as we had grabbed the eye of about 60 individuals who were incredibly focusing on our event, we had a

Saturday, August 1, 2020

The Book Rioters Favorite Books of December 2016

The Book Rioters Favorite Books of December 2016 We asked our contributors to share the best book they read this month. We’ve got fiction, nonfiction, YA, and much, much more there are book recommendations for everyone here! Some are old, some are new, and some aren’t even out yet. Enjoy and tell us about the highlight of your reading month in the comments. Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson (1/24/17) Is she or isn’t she a “Bad Seed?” When she was 9 years old, Mary killed a baby. Allegedly. Now, six years later, she’s beginning to remember pieces of that night and what the truth may be. Why now? For one thing, it’s the fact she’s pregnant and wants to keep her baby, and being in custody of the state, even in a group home, means she might not be able to choose the future for her child. This is a fast paced, twisty psychological thriller that doesn’t shy away from exploring race, justice (criminal and social), mental health, and gender. A powerful, compelling, twisty read with an excellent voice. For a debut novel, the skillful crafting, plotting, and character development are beyond outstanding. Kelly Jensen Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates I read this after seeing Rioters mention it no less than a gazillion times. I listened to the audiobook, but I’m looking out for a hard copy I can buy and keep. I’m not normally someone who annotates books, but this time is different. So many times I stopped and rewound, letting Coates’ words soak into me over and over again. This book is definitely worth your time. Sarah Nicolas Born a Crime by Trevor Noah He might be the baby-faced host of The Daily Show, but he was also raised a mixed-race child during Apartheid. Listening to him narrate the story of his childhood and all of the dangers that came with his very existence showed me that he’s a lot more than Jon Stewart’s slightly-less-beloved replacement. I may be frustrated recently with his call for other people of color to be moderate in their reactions to the incoming administration, but getting a bit of insight into the pain and tragedy he suffered at the hands of similarly-minded people was informative for me and has changed the way I view him. Elizabeth Allen The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman (Roc, 1/10/17) The third volume in Cogman’s excellent Invisible Library series sees the return of Irene’s archnemesis and librarian-gone-wrong, Alberich. While Irene struggles to save the Library from total destruction, she also has other problems to contend with, mainly that someone is trying to kill her. And there’s a whole host of drama revolving around Valeâ€"Irene’s alternate world version of Sherlock Holmesâ€"her apprentice, Kai, and an all-too-convenient visitor from their last adventure. While I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much as Masked City (hard to beat Venice as a setting!), there is one scene between Irene and Vale that made The Burning Page more than worthwhile. Bring on book four asap, please. Tasha Brandstatter The Clancys of Queens by Tara Clancy I saw Tara Clancy at Book Riot Live, where she appeared on a panel about using humor to tackle tough topics. She had me belly laughing the entire time… until the moment when I was legit crying (and trying unsuccessfully to be low-profile about it). I knew immediately that I had to read everything she’s ever written. Which meant getting my hands on a copy of her debut book, a memoir about growing up in working-class Queens. Much like Clancy herself, the book is amusing, entertaining, and full of heart. I wait with bated breath for her next one. Steph Auteri Dark Matter by Blake Crouch This is a book that’s been getting quite a bit of hype, especially after the movie rights sold (for just a tiny $1.2 million). It is plot, through and through, without any flair or style to the writing. So much so, in fact, that it feels like one is reading the novelization of a movie that’s already been made. That said, I really did rip through this and loved every page. It tells the story of a man, a college teacher, who is abducted at gunpoint and forced into an abandoned warehouse where he is drugged and blacks out. When he wakes up he is a famous, award-winning scientist, with the same name and in the same body. It’s almost as if he is in another dimension, one where everything went right for him, career-wise. Which is in fact the case, but at the cost of his family, which he now desperately wants to get back to. It’s a fast paced sci-fi thriller that’s hard to put down. An excellent book for people who liked The Martian. Johann Thorsson Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn This book full of drama and secrets swirling around a family of Jamaican women just looking for a better life for themselves, but mostly for the younger daughter. These women are strong and powerful and messy, and Dennis-Benn writes their story perfectly. Bonus: Listen to the audiobook. Bahni Turpin is amazing. Ashley Holstrom Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance I’m a thirteenth generation Bostonian, so the world of working class Appalachia is about as far afield as you can get from the particular brand of American culture (and poverty) that I am used to. If anything, living in the South for the last decade has only added to my confusion. But this election put the needs, desires, and cultural quirks of Southern and Appalachian white working class voters center stage, and I felt a greater need to try to understand just what goes on in the minds of people in this demographic. In Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance recounts with candor and humor his Appalachian childhoodâ€"the good, the bad, and the ugly. I found this book highly informative. It gave me greater respect and compassion for the people who make up this American subculture that is so different from my own. Kate Scott Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris From cynical mall elves to the most terrible holiday letter, this holiday-themed short story collection shows David Sedaris at his wackiestbut don’t sorry, it’s still dark and sarcastic, too. One of my favorite ways to get into the holiday spirit, sans the warm-and-fuzzies. Emily Wenstrom Homesick For Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh Moshfegh’s collection of stories is a stupendous study in developing irredeemable characters. She seamlessly utilizes the first person point of view, taking on the voice of people on the fringe of likability and decency. Yet, what makes these stories truly refreshing and excellent is that Moshfegh nails the complexities of human flaw. They are brief windows into emotional and psychological spaces, captivating in their social intrigue and private moments of inhibition. As the title suggests, Homesick For Another World delves into the idea that we never really find the best versions of ourselves and must rationalize our personal delusions day after day. Aram Mrjoian It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell This memoir is a peek into the fascinating world of General Powell. I listen to the audiobook read by the general himself, and it is a very satisfying listen. Christina Vortia It’s Ok To Laugh: (Crying Is Cool Too) by Nora McInerny Purmort (Dey Street Books) I picked up this collection of essays after listening to the first episode of a new podcast from American Public Media, “Terrible, Thanks for Asking.” A couple years ago, McInerny Purmort had a miscarriage, lost her father to cancer, and lost her husband to cancer within just a few months. This book, written after that time, is about grief, family, and survival in the face of really awful life experiences that I found weirdly uplifting and comforting to read during my own season of loss.   Kim Ukura   The Mothers by Brit Bennett I resisted this book for a while because of its title: I’m not a mother, likely never will be, and I’m not a massive fan of fictional motherhood. But I went to hear Brit Bennett read and speak at Politics and Prose, my local bookstore, and I couldnt help myself. And it turns out that, while motherhood is definitely a theme, the mothers in question are the church mothers the older ladies who watch the unfolding drama between the Pastor’s son and his girlfriend and comment on it with a wonderfully executed voice that really drew me in. This novel dealt with the topic of abortion with nuance and empathy, which is both interesting and important. It was wonderful, too, to read about a very recognisable church community in literary fiction especially where the members of that community are portrayed as complex and three dimensional, neither angels nor demons but, quite simply, human. Though she’s still depressingly young, Brit Bennett worked on his novel for many years, and it’ s definitely paid off. This is my favourite book not just of the month but also of the year. Claire Handscombe My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante After months of pestering from my friends, co-workers and society in general, I finally picked up the first of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels. I have to admit that I found the first half of the book to be a bit of a slog and kept wondering if Ferrante’s work was the result of a very crafty marketing campaign. I was of course prove wrong the further I kept reading and the world of 1950s Naples begins to unfold. It’s not everyday that I find a book that gives female friendship the consideration and complexity such a relationship deserves. The story of Elena and Lila, however, is a thoughtful portrayal of how women support and protect each other in a society that is hellbent on keeping them in “their place”. Ines Bellina Penance by Kanae Minato (Mulholland Books, April 11th 2017) Kanae Minato delivers with Penance exactly why I read Japanese mystery/crime: an underlying mystery, bursts of crime, and an exploration of human behavior that is slathered in darkness. Unfurling from one eventâ€"the murder of a girl and her mother’s threatâ€"the course of four girls lives are changed. Minato explores the psychological repercussions of this trauma by alternating point of view between the girls on that fateful day, along with who they’ve grown to be fifteen years after the murder that is still unsolved. If you’re a fan of dark, character-driven mysteries you don’t want to miss Penance. Jamie Canaves Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure by Ryan North Ive been wanting to read the Hamlet version of this, so when I saw this, I grabbed it out of curiosity and because I love the artists involved in these books. It was way more wacky and hilarious than I expected. I found myself flipping back and forth to read every path. Jessica Yang   Seeing Red by Lina Meruane, translated by Megan McDowell This book is harrowing and intense and wonderful. It tells the story of a young woman facing blindness: she has known for a while that she could lose her sight, and then one night at a party it happens. Her boyfriend doesn’t get it and thinks she’s drunk as she stumbles around. But her eyes have filled with blood and while she hopes an operation might help, she knows it may not. The novel is written in the first person and we spend the entire book experiencing all her thoughts and emotions with her. It’s a powerful experience. Rebecca Hussey Sip by Brian Allen Carr (Soho Press, August 29, 2017) I was so excited to get this book, I literally dropped the book I was reading and immediately started this one. AND HOLY CATS. I am such a huge fan of Carr. He has many short story collections and novellas, most famously Motherfucking Sharks, but this is his debut novel, and it is so effed up and fantastic I can’t even. The story revolves around the fact that humans discover they can get high by ingesting shadows. I KNOW, RIGHT??! Carr’s brain is from another planet. The novel takes place 150 years in the future, when “shadow sipping” has brought about the downfall of civilization, and most shadow addicts live a grisly existence outside domed cities, with no regulations or law. To help her addict mother, a young woman, her shadow addicted friend, and a former dome guard set out to find a cure for shadow addiction before the end of the world. It’s like The Road meets Snowpiercer meets The Wizard of Oz, if it was all written by Kevin from Sin City. This is one of the most glo riously gruesome and gruesomely glorious books I’ve read sincewell, since Motherfucking Sharks, really. I will be talking about it all the time between now and August. Liberty Hardy   Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson I wrote a whole thing about how amped I am about having read Transmetropolitan, but I’m just gonna have to be redundant: this cyberpunk tale of political corruption being faced head-on by a badass journalist and his badass assistants made me happy in my heart. I binge-read like 60 issues in three days. Susie Rodarme Trainwreck by Sady Doyle I will never think about Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus the same way again. Sady Doyle’s Trainwreck is a fascinating exploration of why our society loves to watch womenâ€"famous or notâ€"crash and burn. Well-researched and completely captivating, Doyle delves into the rise and fall of famous women like Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Paris Hilton, Charlotte Brontë, Billie Holiday, and Hillary Clinton. I want everyone to read this book; we need to understand how and why our societyâ€"men and women alikeâ€"punishes women who do not behave “appropriately” if we ever expect to truly smash the patriarchy. Emma Nichols   We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Fourth Estate, 2014) This is a SHORT book. Almost more an essay, it is based on Adichies TED talk of the same name. Other than wanting SO MUCH MORE, it was essentially perfect. I read an ebook but have every intention of collecting paperbacks to scatter everywhere that I go. Annika Barranti Klein

Friday, May 22, 2020

The Memoir Early Bird By Rodney Rothman Essay - 1323 Words

The memoir Early Bird, written by Rodney Rothman, is an intriguing story of Rothman’s journey into a retirement home as a middle adult. His intention in visiting and observing the retirement home is to get an inside look at what retirement is like and what he has to look forward to later in life. Throughout his time spent at Century Village, Rothman experiences what it is to be retired, to live with an elderly generation, and is able to witness and record many oddities that lay in aging. His record in his memoir reveals to the public some common themes seen in the elderly generation, but it also reveals some deviations from the norm. Looking at the characters Margaret, Alan and Buddy and Abe, Jimmy, and Vance as well as the community in general, it is possible to observe some distinct characteristics that follow the expected predictions of retirement societies and other characteristics that deviate from the expected course of these communities. Margaret is the first woman of C entury Hills that Rothman comes into contact with. She happens to be the one who opens up her apartment to allow Rothman to actually come to Century Hills to visit the retirement facility. Besides having this utilitarian importance, Margaret serves to demonstrate one of the more apparent observations seen in many elderly populations across the world. This observation is that many of the human senses decrease in quality. These senses include hearing, vision, smell, taste and touch. Some of the medical

Sunday, May 10, 2020

A Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis - 1026 Words

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, one of the featured characters is outgoing and ambitious Beneatha Younger, sister of Walter and daughter of Mama. Beneatha, commonly referred to as Bennie by her family, is an aspiring doctor and currently in medical school. In addition to these desires, she also acquires relationships with Asagai and George Murchinson, two prominent male characters, throughout the course of the play. Although her career choice and relations with these men are completely separate aspects, they are connected to each other through their shared role in Beneatha’s life. It is through both these relationships and her career choice that one can truly see Beneatha Younger’s hopes for the future. Asagai is one of the†¦show more content†¦However, on the other hand, Beneatha’s relationship with George Murchinson is the complete opposite of that of Asagai’s. Unlike how she acts with the latter, Beneatha isn’t as pleasant when George visits her family. In fact, Ruth even scolds her for acting so rudely towards him. Ruth’s disapproval was conveyed when she exclaims, â€Å"Beneatha, you got company—what’s the matter with you?† (79). Similarly, George acts the same way towards Bennie, in which his discourteous behavior and arrogance make for an unhealthy relationship. Also, he doesn’t seem to accept his partner for who she truly is. For example, he is not overly fond of the African headdress she wears, even though she loved it and how it represented her culture. Instead of supporting her, Murchinson chooses to dismiss Beneatha’s pride in her heritage. He even goes as far as to nastily insult her by asserting, â€Å"Let’s face it, baby, your heritage is nothing but a bunch of raggedy-assed spirituals and some grass huts!† (81). So it is clear that there is not a lot of respect nor love between these two characters, unlike Bennie’s other roma ntic relationship. Therefore, Beneatha, although much to her family’s dismay, obviously sees Asagai as part of her future rather than George Murchinson. Besides her relationships, Beneatha’s future also consists of specific career goals. She is currently going through medical school to try to pursue a jobShow MoreRelatedCharacter Analysis Of A Raisin Of The Sun Essay845 Words   |  4 PagesWriting Assignment 4: Character Analysis of â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† The male protagonist of this story is Walter Lee Younger, an African American, who plays the roles of a son, husband, father, and brother. The story is set in a Chicago Southside apartment, â€Å"sometime between World War II and the present [1959]† (Hansberry 919). Walter is physically described as â€Å"a lean, intense young man in his middle thirties, inclined to quick nervous movements and erratic speech habits—and always in his voiceRead MoreA Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis1322 Words   |  6 PagesIn the play â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† written by Lorraine Hansberry, she is able to take us to place to see what it was like for an African American family to survive in the mid-twentieth century. The play details how the main characters are going through an evolving social and economic position, as well as the evolving gender roles. Hansberry uses the characterization of Beneatha, Ruth, and Walter in order to show the expectations and assigned gender roles for the characters in the story. In shortRead MoreA Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis902 Words   |  4 PagesGordon: Segregation vs. Southern Pride Lorraine Hansberry’s â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† touches on many issues African Americans faced in the early to mid-twentieth century. One can analyze Hansberry’s â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† from many angles, and come away with different meanings. While Michelle Gordon focuses more on segregation and housing discrimination that plagued African Americans on Chicago’s Southside in Hansberry’s â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun†, William Murray emphasizes on Southern Pride and heritage. ThisRead MoreA Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis917 Words   |  4 PagesIn the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the Younger family faces many conflicts. This is mainly because they are living in Chicago in the 1950’s. This was a time where many African Americans were discriminated, which caused the family to have many issues with money, jobs, and family. Two characters from the pay that help influence the plot would be Mama and Ruth. This i s because of the roles they play, their conflicts, and their actions towards other character. Without the roles ofRead MoreA Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis1592 Words   |  7 Pagesacquisitiveness have always had the ability to turn people into someone they are not. Greed can tear apart families and friendships when a person neglects others for their own benefit. This is depicted perfectly in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun which follows the lives of the Youngers, an African-American family living in 1950’s South Side Chicago. The focus is on a man named Walter Younger, who has the difficult decision of choosing between his personal dream and the progression ofRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Beneatha In A Raisin In The Sun1487 Words   |  6 PagesCharacter Analysis â€Å" A Raisin in the Sun† is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry about the life of an African American family during the era of segregation. The play starts off with the Younger family receiving a 10,000 dollar check from Mr. Younger’s insurance policy. The family argues over what they are going to do with it. Mama wants to buy a house with it, Walter wants to invest in a liquor store, and Beneatha wants to use the money to go to medical school. The contrast of the characters’ personalitiesRead MoreA Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis1052 Words   |  5 PagesName Instructor Name Class Date Walter Lee Younger in A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, tells the story of the Younger family, an African-American family living in poverty in 1950s Chicago. The family patriarch, Walter, is a limousine driver struggling to make ends meet and desperate to find a way to propel his family toward wealth. With his father’s death comes an insurance check for $10,000 and each member of the family has different ideas on what to do withRead MoreA Raisin In The Sun Character Analysis1322 Words   |  6 Pages Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, depicts the lives of the Younger family, an African American family living in the Southside of Chicago during the 1950s. The play takes place in their cramped apartment offering the reader insight into the arguments, discussions, and conversations that take place between the characters. In one scene, Hansberry specifically offers the reader a conversation between Asagai, an influential companion, and Beneatha to show us how disparate the Younger siblingsRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Raisin In The Sun798 Words   |  4 PagesIn the play a Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee Younger is an African American man who portrays the role of a father, son, and husband. He has a dream to invest the incoming inherence into something that may help his family in the future. Once this idea comes to him it takes over his mind, and he cannot stop thinking about it. It acts as though its a drug, he addicted to talking about it. Also, when it is broug ht up in a conversation and someone disagrees he become very defensive. In addition, he isRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of A Raisin In The Sun1299 Words   |  6 Pagessoul longs for the satisfaction of meeting a goal? The obstacles along the way may cause one trouble, but one still strives for that personal satisfaction of knowing something grand was accomplished. A Raisin In The Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry, gives off many aspects of the story’s characters wanting the reward of being able to say, â€Å"I did it†. Beneatha Younger, a passionate, strong-willed woman will do whatever it takes to pursue her dream of attending medical school. Along the way of wanting

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Life in the Country Verse Life in the City Free Essays

Life in the City VS. Life in the Country Even though amenities are more accessible when you live in a big city, it is healthier to live in the country because of the differences in culture and the surroundings. It is healthier and safer to live in the country rather than in the city for a number of reasons, one being that there is less congestion out in the country. We will write a custom essay sample on Life in the Country Verse Life in the City or any similar topic only for you Order Now With congestion and over population of a city brings gangs and violence. With gangs come drugs, killings, and murders. People become very territorial when a space is over crowed or congested. It was reported that last year in the first week of summer in Battle Creek, Michigan, there was a total of 13 shootings all related to either gangs or drugs. When you live out in the country there are less people living right on top of each other. There isn’t a large amount of crime and acts of violence, because people have their space and they respect others space as well. They don’t feel as though they have to fight to keep what they have because there is plenty to go around. With that being said it is my personal opinion that with more space there is less drama that would build up the kinds of animosity that would make someone want to commit murder. Which is why growing up in the country I can’t remember a time when we had to make certain that our doors and windows were locked, that goes for both our home and our vehicles. Not only is there an increase in crime there is also an increase in pest, rodents, and critters. There are more cases of cockroach infestations in a larger city then there is out in the country that is all because of the congestion. Having to live with cockroaches creates a major health hazard because of the risks posed by cockroach antigens for people who suffer from asthma, also because they carry disease-causing germs. Some of the methods people traditionally use to eliminate them cause additional health hazards. Pesticides are never healthy to breathe in to even ingest. If you put down bate to kill them you risk them tracking it all over your home. If you have pets you have to worry about them consuming it before the cockroaches. Another way people commonly try to treat a cockroach infestation is to bomb their house. There is a reason you can’t be home for this kind of treatment, and why you need to open all the windows in your home at least an hour before you can return. It is very harmful to breathe in. Cockroach antigens are made up of proteins that can be found in the insect’s saliva, feces, eggs, and shredded cuticles. These antigens can cause allergic reactions and asthmatic episodes when they are inhaled because they are airborne. According to health house, â€Å"A large study supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has demonstrated conclusively that the combination of cockroach allergy and exposure to the insects is an important cause of asthma-related illness and hospitalizations among children in U. S. inner-city areas. † There is a major difference in the surroundings that can affect a person’s health from living in a larger city versus living in the country. The food that we consume in a larger city is so full of preservatives and additives. There are more fast food restaurants available for a quick meals. Some of the side effects of eating out and ordering in all of the time include high cholesterol, and clogged arteries. The majority of foods found out in the country are organic, because they are home grown. Living in the country as a child we always had a garden with fresh vegetables. Another difference is the air that we breathe when living in a larger city, because there are so many fast food chains and factories, there is higher pollution in the air. For extremely larger cities like Chongqing, Beijing, and Shanghai they have smog alerts where you have to wear a protective mask to prevent you from breathing in harmful pollutants. When you live in the country you’re not at risk of this because there aren’t as many factories creating these pollutants, so the air is crisp and fresh. The worst thing you have to worry about in the country is when farmers lay down the fertilizer for their crops that is an unpleasant smell. One good thing about living in a larger city as opposed to living out in the country would be that there are hospitals. When you live out in the country there aren’t as many hospitals available to you. Just like with everything else there is so much more open space and less people, which create less reasons and finances to have a hospital, because there are fewer reasons for health risks and that you are less likely to have to rush off to an emergency room, doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be one close by you never know what might happen. A farmer might get his hand caught in a machine while trying to perform routine maintenance. A child could ingest some sort of chemicals such as pesticides. This would have to be the only down fall I can see about life in the country versus living in a large city. However for an extreme emergency there is always an option of having an air lift. You can also still call 911 and have an ambulance out to your place maybe even sometimes faster than if you were living in the city just because there is less traffic. There are always going to be things that challenge our health, wellness, and survival; however, the risks are higher living in the city as opposed to living in the country for two main reasons. First when living in the city there is so much more congestion, overcrowding, and diversity that can bring out the worst in people; in this case, the worst of these brought out are drugs and violence. When you live out in the country you don’t have to worry about these kinds of things as much. The second thing that challenges our health and wellness is what we consume. The air that we breathe to the nourishment we give to our bodies. We are not perfect but the little things that we can change to improve our situation the closer we can come to optimal health and wellness. References americanlungassociation. com battlecreekenquire. com healthhouse. com How to cite Life in the Country Verse Life in the City, Essay examples

Thursday, April 30, 2020

The History of Women Activism in America

Introduction The history of women activism in America was at its peak in the 1950s. This period was considered as the response to lowest point of the modern American feminism. At this period, the women came out strongly to express their concerns regarding the sexuality inequality at workplaces and in workers unions.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The History of Women Activism in America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The proof of these activisms is still evident in the current persistent voice and influence of women at workplaces. The main fights of the female activism at the workplace was to remove unequal salary rates, discrimination of the seniority based on gender, classifying occupation based on sexual orientation. Thesis During the period between 1950 and 1960, American female activism changed the American society. The American feminist movement was able to raise public awareness concerning the problem of women discrimination and consequently improve the position of women in terms of career opportunities and employment terms. Changing the Reality: Education and Work In the 1950s, the US experienced a great change in the role of women from the traditional notion that women were not as predictable and reliable as men (Kessler-Harris, 2003, p. 76). This caused a social tension with domestic ideals for the women were conflicting with the inalienable rights principle. The changing trend of the working women after the Second World War and naà ¯ve notion that women would go back to the traditional role of taking care of the home while men go to work evoked an atmosphere of unsettled and repeatedly unnamed discord. This social tension concerning the place of the female gender became a very crucial phenomenon in the US history as it resulted in greater social reform of the 1960s and 1970s. The most crucial argument concerns education and work experience for women and men. In the M odern Woman: The Lost Sex article written by Farnham and Lundburg, a number of factors are identified which lead to the rise of masculine dominance in the society. In the same line, Marynia Farnham and Ferdinand Lundburg noted that the level of a woman’s education and her work experience resulted in conflict of the mutually exclusive spheres and this interaction of the gender roles undermines the women’s commitment to the home as they struggle unsuccessful to pursue roles dominated by men (Kessler-Harris, 2003, p. 76).Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Farnham and Lundburg purport that the women’s inability to belong to either of the spheres of work and homemaker resulted in dissatisfaction for themselves as well as their husbands (Friedan, 2001, p. 63). This means that women have to slice the glorious roles home making and children caring and then sup press their aspiration and endeavor of becoming a wage earner or professionals (Kessler-Harris, 2003, p. 79). This argument put blameworthiness on the women’s’ dissatisfaction and their defiance of the traditionally prescribed feminine role. This is however incongruous with the modern world. Notion of happiness though it was dominant in the 1940s. The women’s liberation movement emerged as a reaction to these prevailing conditions in 1950 and 1960 that pushed women to the limits of having to aggressively struggle for a position in the society. Women did not want to be looked at as just belonging in the home to function as fulltime housewives, to rear children and maintain the house for their husbands and children (Jacquelyn, 2005, p. 1235). However, the society looked at a working and married woman as having put her personal selfish interest ahead of those of the family. Women were supposed to be subordinate to the men and constantly being reminded that their ro le was to obey (Akkerman Stuurman, 2008, p. 101). Besides, divorce was a social misdeed and many were ashamed of getting a divorce and struggled to avoid it as much as possible. Moreover, these ideas were taught all over, ranging from media to churches and schools. The word war II took a lot of men away to fight and the industry at home required workers and more women begun to get jobs to fill these gaps. The greatest challenge was to get women out of these workplaces as the number of men increased after the World War II. Having to work for pay in the growing industries created new problems for the women and they had to deal with them fast. There was some kind of discrimination at work that was not initially found at home. Women endured domination by husband and children looking up to them but at work, they were supposed to deal with a boss who was not a relative and a bunch of male colleges who could have looked at women mainly as sex objects (Akkerman Stuurman, 2008, p. 101). Ge tting an education and work experience became a problem and a growing concern emerged of separating womanhood and work role. The lifestyle of the US had however grown to a point that it needed two sources of income to sustain a family. The concept of women having an income became crucial in sustain a family and also a driving force in the attainment of the female autonomy and definitely became a factor of cognitive dissonance concerning the position of a woman.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The History of Women Activism in America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Issues that emerged include the question that if a woman’s income helped sustain the family was she to remain a homemaker? Or if she has a college education why should she be a stay home mum? If she can do a professional job why should she fail to be promoted like her male counterparts? The women liberation was a very important factor at this moment in time growing from these questions. This increased the women’s experiences with sexual stereotyping at work, low salaries and unequal nature of work. This increased awareness was morally and biologically relevant and the women were inspired to seek equality at work (Friedan, 2001, p. 68). This saw the Equal Right Amendments to emphasize the equal roles and right of the male and female sexes. The women liberation provided inherent zeal to all social classes, as the society shifted towards the paid work transformed the social position of American women in different circumstances. This trend opened up new opportunities and possibilities. Traditionally, women of bourgeois and pretty bourgeoisie would assist their husbands on the farm or in small businesses (Friedan, 2001, p. 68). Currently, many women have attained a college education because the movement helped to empower them (Jacquelyn, 2005, p. 1235). With college education, women are currently striving to pu rsue independent careers as professionals. Many women are now in working class as part time employees or full time employee therefore earning additional income to complement that earned by their husbands (Friedan, 2001, p. 69). Equal Pay The traces of civil right movement could have even evident in the changes of the laws around working issues Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 67). The connection between discrimination with sexual orientation and social class is all-encompassing in the modern world as it addresses a wider range of issues highlighted in the social reform insured by the activism in the 1950s (Akkerman Stuurman, 2008, p. 101). Women are now being included in the work system as professional to managers, leaders and professionals together with the male workers and then be paid equal salaries as the male workers (Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 67). The women liberation movement bore this equality concept and a type of incremental change engraved in legislation. The equal rights act has hel ped to make discrimination based on sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, and race illegal and intolerable in the US (The United States Congress, 1963, para. 3). The movement was considered a form of liberal feminism and therefore less radical form of female activism (Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 67).Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Following the period after 1950s brought great change in women in the American workforce. More women have gotten into the workforce. In the past, it was not very easy to convince women to pursue professional jobs, but the media slathered the idea of women working temporary anywhere Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 67). The women’s guilt to go to work and be seen and overlooking the role of taking care of the family is now a thing of the past. During the years the Second World War was taking place, many women took jobs even in the federal bureaucracy. The government has supported the idea that women doing the same job as men should get the same or equal payment (Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 67). The government has also supported the creation of a number of childcare centers to help take care of the idea that women should assume the role of child rearing. In the past, women were discriminated and segregated to certain jobs so that they could be given lesser pay and were barred from taking cert ain jobs as they were considered to be men types of jobs (Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 67). The women were considered not fit to take on such roles because they were too demanding, used a lot of energy or for the fact that women lacked the temperament for to handle stressful jobs (Akkerman Stuurman, 2008, p. 106). Generally, since the 1950s women liberation campaign to create awareness for equality of men and women, the role of both sexes in the 21st century has changed and the government has also been pushed to help to attain these goals (Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 71). There are a number of anti-discrimination law provisions put in place for these reasons. The employment sector is govern by equal pay provision provided in the industrial law and right to equal chance of employment and participation in any form of employment (The United States Congress, 1963, para. 3). The law states that both men and women are legitimate worker and as such they should not be treated to any form of discrimin ation when accessing opportunities to work, the alternative they need to use, the remuneration and the work benefits provided by the government and employers (De Beauvoir, et al, 2010, p. 44). Women have more employment option than the time before 1950s when they were restricted to certain kinds of work and blocked form venturing into others. Legislation provides that they be exposed to equal chance of employment even though this took a lot of years to achieve (Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 73). Employment Rights Even thought women became embraced as equal workmates to men at the workplace, their position as home makers was less affected. They still handled it as their second shift after work (Norton Ruth, 2007, p. 67). As a result, the women’s movement continued to struggle for more convenient laws against discrimination at the larger society level. The period around 1950s saw the congress pass a number of bills that had been introduced previously but no action had been taken on t hem (De Beauvoir, et al, 2010, p. 46). The civil right act of 1964 had a clause protecting women but this was being used by conservatives to stop the bill from passing but women used Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to fight discrimination (The United States Congress, 1963, para. 5). Many companies could not just handle their businesses in the same old manner as the pressure from women demonstrations and campaigns pushed the government to intervene (De Beauvoir, et al, 2010, p. 46). Employers now provide work rights to their workers like maternity leaves, childcare and sick days to allow women to attend their private lives and the role of child bearing. Considering the role of women as child bearers to continue human posterity their increased shift into paid work seemed to have greatly affected fertility rates. However, there are new organization policies that emerged to provide a conducive working atmosphere for women. This allows them to take care of their work and f amily responsibilities (De Beauvoir, et al, 2010, p. 48). These provisions are addressed by the government, trade unions and other humanitarian organization. They all assert that better employers are those who recognize that employees have families and they need also to take care of their family responsibilities. These provisions enable women to benefit from paternal leaves, personal, and carer’s leave. Other important provision that have been achieve include job sharing and assistance together with childcare services at work but this is scare and only found in few organization (The United States Congress, 1963, para. 3). But with the trend set to continue increasing, many organizations will soon offer this. There is also the home based employment and part-time option. Women into Leadership Positions Member of women in trade unions increased during this period of liberation to levels of up 45% in some organization. These women were hopeful that the union would address their p light and provide equal not comparable opportunities for men and women (The United States Senate, 1964, p. 4). Just the women tight movement inspired college women to be aggressive in fighting for their position in the society; the unions here provided the means, the experience, the training and the discourse to attain their goals. Women had very few top union positions but they still owned power and gained experience from the secondary positions of leadership. From such actions, there came very protective legislation that blocked women form progressing into the corporate leadership. The men at the top if the corporations demanded that managers and employees doing professional works should do so without overtime compensation but just the normal salary The United States Senate, 1964, p. 4). This work condition for women violated the protective laws and women were effectively blocked from pursuing top management positions. In a number of organizations, this cause more aggressive campa igns to repeal the laws. The protective laws had kept female works away from heavy work. They did not understand why proletarian women would be required to lift heavy weights instead of offering mechanical assistance to the persons required to do that particular job. Definitely, these laws were providing inequality The United States Senate, 1964, p. 4). Complete equality for both men and women are simple consistent with realization of the pledge for bourgeois democratic rights but left inequality in the society (Moss, 2010, p. 45). However since the struggle for equal opportunities, women are now being included as managers, leaders and professions at top managerial positions (The United States Senate, 1964, p. 4). Even though the percentages are still smaller in many organizations, the rate of improvement in the modern world is promising. Full equality is set to come from increased change of legislation like the Equal Pay Act Of 1963 and The Equal Rights Act Of 1964; the word sex is included alongside ethnicity, religion and race as the grounds or cause for which discrimination is made illegal (The United States Congress, 1963, para. 3). Conclusion The recent activities of the women liberation greatly changed the woman’s position in the society and this opened up the society leading to questioning of the subordination of women. The idea of women liberation has been evidence in working environment which still insist that there has to be complete societal change to attain full emancipation of women. This movement since of about 60 years has changed what it means to be a woman. Some people claim the paradox of economic relevant to socially subverted notion that women have surpassed men in the professional field. Second wave of feminism and the opposing anti-feminism are shaping the way a modern woman would behave in a unique manner. Reference List Akkerman, T., Stuurman, S. (2008) Perspectives on Feminist Political Thought In European History: From The Mi ddle Ages To The Present. London/New York: Routledge. De Beauvoir, S., Borde C. Chevailler S. (2010). The Second Sex, New York: Alfred A. Knopf Friedan B. (2001). The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton. Jacquelyn, H. (2005), ‘The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past,’ Journal of American History 91, pp. 1233-1263 Kessler-Harris, A., (2003). Out to Work: A History of Wage-Earning Women in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. Moss, G. (2010), Moving On: The American People since 1945 (4th Ed.). Englewood Cliff: Prentice Hall Norton, M.B., Ruth, M.A., (2007). Major Problems in American Women’s History, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company The United States Congress. (1963) Equal Pay Act of 1963. Retrieved from https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm The United States Senate. (1964) â€Å"Civil Rights Act of 1964†. Retrieved from https://finduslaw.com/civil-rights-act-1964-cra-title-vii-equal-employment- opportunities-42-us-code-chapter-21 This research paper on The History of Women Activism in America was written and submitted by user LukeSkywalker to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Generic strategies Essays

Generic strategies Essays Generic strategies Paper Generic strategies Paper Operations managements main aim is to identify a common set of objectives such that the organisation can deploy its resources and capabilities to produce goods and services for internal and external customers. Operational management not only supports operational efficiency, but it also provides a potential source of strategic competitive advantage and it explains how operations strategy influences the activities of operations managers. Porters three generic strategies broadly define a process through which these common set of objectives can be found. However, these strategies are mutually exclusive as Porter emphasises the need to only adopt one strategy and failure to do so will result in a stuck in the middle (Porter , 1980) scenario. He discusses the idea that practising more than one strategy will lose the entire focus of the organisation hence a clear direction for a future path cannot be established. Operations Strategy  The changing business environment over the last century has prompted operations management to change the pattern of decisions and actions that were intended to achieve its long-term goals. Increased cost-based competition, demands for better service, choice and variety, increased ethical awareness and more legal regulations (Slack et al., 2004, p.8) have led to the globalisation of operations networking, technologies replacing manual jobs, computer-based integration of operations activities, mass customisation, fast time-to-market methods and lean process design. From the volume of output, variety of output, variation in demand for output and the degree of visibility of production that customers have, four trade-offs and two linkages have become apparent. The evolution of these trade-offs and linkages are a major part of the progression of world class manufacturing from the Industrial Revolution to where it stands today. : Though Hayes and Wheelwright had coined the term world class, Womack et al. (1990) more accurately described the status of becoming world class as the ability cut the usage of all factor inputs and still maintain a high level of output. With the development of world class manufacturing two views of operations strategy emerged. One which highlighted the planned corporate strategy and unitary managerial power concepts as decisions were made from the top levels of management and were enforced on all the employees, and the other, which saw corporate strategy transpire from empowering individuals and drawing ideas from day-to-day operational experiences. As the perception of manufacturing changed due to the introduction of new processes such as the lean design model and new innovative technologies that helped supply chains, the four trade-offs became more distinct. Prior to Henry Fords introduction of the automated assembly line, American manufacturers had already extended the basic economic principles of Adam Smith and used jigs to make standardised products, from which the notion of using interchangeable parts to facilitate assembling complex products arose. This led to a substitution from non-skilled labour basic-skilled labour capable of operating the new contraptions. The second trade-off between volume and variety came to light after firms were able increase output and cut long run average costs by investing in capital and firing workers. However, firms had to make an executive decision at this point as to whether they were going to stick to producing low volume, high variety products or use the emergent manufacturing techniques to produce low variety products en masse. The third trade-off between quality and cost has a similar optimisation problem to the setup and inventory costs. The optimal quality level of output is when total costs are minimised and the cost of failures is relatively low. Japanese car company Toyota is a prime example of the last trade-off between setup costs and inventory costs. Using the kanban card controlling system, parts of the manufacturing process are only allowed to produce goods when they have received notification on the kanbans stating that orders have been placed. Even though this method significantly reduces inventory costs, it would only be successful if the manufacturing processes were quick enough to deal with demand responses and able to assemble goods to sell within a short time after the kanban had been written. The just-in-time method of manufacturing employed by Toyota is that of the bottom-up operations strategy defined earlier. The demand for the product is pulled through the system rather than basing product stock on estimated sales projections that have been calculated on previous sales and trends. It is an approach which differs from traditional operations practices insomuch as is stresses waste elimination and fast throughput, both of which contribute to low inventories. A comparison of the just-in-time and materials requirement planning system will show the influence of Porters generic strategies on operations strategy in general. Porters generic strategies  In the economic analysis of the theory of the firm, the key feature of a monopoly is that it faces an imperfectly elastic, downward sloping demand curve whereas in perfect competition, the elasticity of demand was infinite. A good way to escape an infinite elasticity problem is to differentiate a product such that there arent any close substitutes. Hayes and Pisano (1994) mirrored this by stating that long term success requires that a company continually seeks new ways to differentiate itself from competitors by finding sources of competitive advantage and focusing on core competencies that were unique to the firm. Product differentiation is the first of Porters three generic strategies and it fulfils a distinctive customer need by specifically tailoring the service or product to consumer to demand, thus allowing organisations to charge a premium price to capture market share. Hoover Limited effectively implemented this strategy by providing a product of superior value to the customer through product quality, features and branding. They were able to charge a higher price as the quality was perceived on a brand name and image, to the extent that Hoover became a household nameknown worldwide as a maker of quality appliances (About Hoover) and consumers now use the word Hoover and vacuum cleaner interchangeably. With product differentiation, firms choose quality and variety, whereas Porters alternative strategy of cost leadership focuses on low cost and volume. By producing high volumes of standardised products the firm emphasises efficiency, benefits from economies of scale and learning from the experience curve effects. In terms of mass manufacturing using the materials requirements planning strategy, cost leadership was a definitive means of keeping a considerable market share advantage over the other incumbents in the industry. Low-cost airlines are a prime example of providing a service solely based on giving consumers the lowest fares to travel from one location to another. Cost leadership became a means of product differentiation as firms such as Ryanair and EasyJets main selling point was the fact that they provide low quality, low service, and budget air travel for a fraction of the price.  When just-in-time technique was established, cost leadership was still a harbinger for corporate strategy in the manufacturing industry as Toyota were adamant to reduce inventory costs because they did not have the capital to store cars and compete with General Motors and Ford. This method is very popular in other industries such as retail, where the sudden growth of Primark is due to the fact that it can supply high-street clothing on demand in a limited time period. Product differentiation and cost leadership remained in the broad manufacturing market scope as two of the best strategies to follow when making decisions about operational strategy. The resource based view and use of core competencies that were valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable suggests that operations strategy evolved from the ideas that firms either concentrated on cost or quality. Conclusions Research on profits accrued due to the implementation of various market strategies showed that firms with higher market shares were as profitable as those with low market share. Porterian analysis indicates that firms that pursued a cost leadership strategy as an initial strategy for operations strategy were successful as they captured large market shares due to their low priced products. Firms with low market share were successful as they used market segmentation to focus on a small but profitable market niche. Those stuck in the middle however were less profitable as they did not have an initial viable generic strategy to guide the operations management of the firm to implement specific operations strategies. Bibliography and references About Hoover, The Hoover Generation Future, hoover.co.uk/about-us/ Hayes, R.H. and Pisano, G.P. (Jan-Feb 1994) Beyond world-class: the new manufacturing strategy, Harvard Business Review, 72 (1) Porter, M. (1980) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Free Press

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Barbourofelis - Facts and Figures

Barbourofelis - Facts and Figures Name: Barbourofelis (Greek for Barbours cat); pronounced BAR-bore-oh-FEE-liss Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Epoch: Late Miocene (10-8 million years ago) Size and Weight: Up to six feet long and 250 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; long canine teeth; plantigrade posture About Barbourofelis The most notable of the barbourofelidsa family of prehistoric cats perched midway between the nimravids, or false saber-toothed cats, and the true saber-tooths of the felidae familyBarbourofelis was the only member of its breed to colonize late Miocene North America. This sleek, muscular predator possessed some of the largest canines of any saber-toothed cat, true or false, and it was correspondingly hefty, the largest species weighing in at about the size of a modern lion (though more heavily muscled). Intriguingly, Barbourofelis seems to have walked in a plantigrade fashion (that is, with its feet flat on the ground) rather than in a digitigrade fashion (on its toes), in this respect making it seem more like a bear than a cat! (Oddly enough, one of the contemporary animals that competed with Barbourofelis for prey was Amphicyon, the bear dog). Given its odd gait and enormous canines, how did Barbourofelis hunt? As far as we can tell, its strategy was similar to that of its later, heavier cousin Smilodon, aka the Saber-Toothed Tiger, which lived in Pleistocene North America. Like Smilodon, Barbourofelis whiled away its time in the low branches of trees, pouncing suddenly when a tasty bit of prey (like the prehistoric rhino Teleoceras and the prehistoric elephant Gomphotherium) approached. As it landed, it dug its sabers deep into the hide of its unfortunate victim, which (if it didnt die immediately) gradually bled to death as its assassin stalked close behind. (As with Smilodon, the sabers of Barbourfelis may occasionally have broken off in combat, which would have deadly consequences for both predator and prey.) Although there are four separate species of Barbourofelis, two are better known than the others. The slightly smaller B. loveorum (about 150 pounds) has been discovered as far afield as California, Oklahoma and especially Florida, while B. fricki, discovered in Nebraska and Nevada, was about 100 pounds heavier. One odd thing about B. loveorum, which is especially well represented in the fossil record, is that the juveniles apparently lacked fully functional saber teeth, which may (or may not) imply that newborns received a few years of tender parental care before venturing out alone into the wild. Telling against this parental-care hypothesis, though, is that Barbourofelis had a much smaller brain, relative to its body size, than modern big cats, and so may not have been capable of this kind of sophisticated social behavior.

Monday, February 17, 2020

Ethical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethical Analysis - Essay Example Vallejo California is an interesting case study of one community effort seeking to supply primary care to the poor. It’s proponents say the clinic is saving local emergency rooms thousands by providing non-emergency care to uninsured patients (many illegals) at low cost or free of charge. Many illegals, without proof of income, are receiving the services free of charge. Many residents want the clinic’s county funding cut to reflect its treatment of illegals who they believe should not be receiving health care at the expense of taxpayers. The problem is twofold and highlights two major issues concerning health care today: â€Å"the un-insured and balooning costs† (Jordon, 2009, para. 4).The tip of a controversial iceberg, if health-care reform goes through the way The U.S. House bill is written, no such clinic, in California or otherwise, will receive any federal funding if it continues to treat illegal immigrants. And from opinions so far, local voters may not approve public funds to do the job. It is a health care conundrum that threatens to drive illegals back to expensive emergency rooms, and/or in denying them clinic treatment, running the risk of them not receiving treatment for diseases they may spread to the entire community. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that half of the twelve million illegal immigrants in the U.S. do not have health insurance and go to emergency rooms where they are bound by a 1986 law to be treated. Emergency-room visits, where treatment costs are much higher than in clinics,† jumped 32% nationally between 1996 and 2006, the latest data available† (Jordon, 2009, para. 5). More than an ethical question for Sutter Solano Medical Center Chief Executive Terry Glubka, Gluba, in pushing for the clinic, was trying to reduce costs at the hospital where the poorer population [including many illegals] were coming to get treated for everything from bug bites to severe injuries. By

Monday, February 3, 2020

Nixon-Kissinger Years Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8750 words

Nixon-Kissinger Years - Essay Example (Nixon- Mao talks) "Henry Kissinger had been the primary architect of the "opening" to communistChina, while working secretly behind the scenes to oust the Republic of China(Taiwan) from the United Nations, which free China had helped to found. He emergedas spokesman for appeasement of and "rapprochement" with the Soviet Union, andpromoted policies which guaranteed the Soviet Union a strategic superiority over the U. S".(Allen)Cold war and domestic political considerations very likely made Nixon and Kissinger less eager todisclose the specifics of the pledges on Taiwan or the candid discussions of Soviet policy. ThatNixon and Kissinger routinely offered the Chinese intelligence briefings has already beendisclosed in declassified documents published by the National Security Archive. Kissinger pioneered the policy of dtente with the Soviet Union, seeking a relaxation intensions between the two superpowers. As a part of this strategy he negotiated the Strategic ArmsLimitation Talks (culminating in the SALT I treaty) and the anti-ballistic missile treaty withLeonard Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. "The United States is failing as a leader of the free world. It is being outgunned, outflanked, andoutmaneuvered by the world communist movement. A nation which had an unquestioned eight- hundred percent strategic military superiority over the Soviet Union in 1960 was settling,sixteen years later, for second...That Nixon and Kissinger routinely offered the Chinese intelligence briefings has already been disclosed in declassified documents published by the National Security Archive. Kissinger pioneered the policy of dà ©tente with the Soviet Union, seeking a relaxation in tensions between the two superpowers. As a part of this strategy he negotiated the Strategic Arms. Limitation Talks (culminating in the SALT I treaty) and the anti-ballistic missile treaty with Leonard Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. â€Å"The United States is failing as a leader of the free world. It is being outgunned, outflanked, and outmaneuvered by the world communist movement. A nation which had an unquestioned eight- hundred percent strategic military superiority over the Soviet Union in 1960 was settling, sixteen years later, for second place status†. (Allen) Kissinger also sought to place diplomatic pressure on the Soviet union; to accomplish this he made two secret trips to the People’s Republic of China in July and October 1971 to confer with Premier Zhou Enlai, then in charge of Chinese foreign policy. This set the stage for the ground breaking 1972 summit between Nixon and Zhou and communist party chairman Mao Zedong as well as the modernization of relations between the two countries, ending 23 years of diplomatic isolation and mutual hostility and resulting in the formation of a strategic anti-Soviet Sino-American alliance.

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Crude Drugs: Pharmacognostic Investigation

Crude Drugs: Pharmacognostic Investigation Introduction Microscopical examination and pharmacognostic evaluation of phyto drug may not apparently bear any direct co-relation with pharmacological and phytochemical evaluations. One should always remember that botanical identity of the phyto drug is an essential pre-requisite for undertaking the analysis of medicinal properties of any plant. If botanical identity of drug happens to be doubtful the entire phytochemical and pharmacological work on the plant becomes invalid. Thus the botanical identity of a crude drug threshold in the process of pharmacological investigations. Pharmacognostic Evaluation A systematic pharmacognostic study was carried out on the herbal drugs selected, to describe them more scientifically and to identify specific characteristics, if any, which will be helpful in the quality assurance and standardization of these plant drugs. Leaf Constants Determination of Stomatal Index Stomatal index is the percentage which the number of stomata form to the total number of epidermal cells, each stoma being counted as one cell. Stomatal index was be calculated by using the following equation. I = S X 100 E+S I=Stomatal index, S=No. of stomata per unit area, E=No. of epidermal cells in the same unit area. Middle part of the leaf was cleared by boiling with chloral hydrate solution. The lower epidermis was peeled by means of forceps and mounted on the slide with glycerine water. Camera lucida and drawing board were arranged for making drawings to scale. A square of 1mm was drawn by means of stage micrometer. The slide with cleared leaf (epidermis) was placed on the stage. The epidermal cells and stomata were traced out. The number of stomata present in 1sq mm area was counted. (Stomatal Number). The result for each of the ten fields was recorded and the average number of stomata per sq.mm was calculated. The stomatal index was determined using the above formula. The slides were prepared for Gynandropsis gynandra,(fig.2). The Stomatal number and Stomatal index values are given in Table.2. Determination of Vein-Islet Number Vein-islet is the small area of green tissue surrounded by the veinlets. The vein-islet number is the average number of vein-islet per square millimeter of a leaf surface. It is determined by counting the number of vein-islets in an area of 4 sq.mm of the central part of the leaf between the midrib and the margin. A portion of leaf was cleaned by boiling in chloral hydrate solution for about thirty minutes and slide was prepared. Camera lucida and drawing board were arranged for making drawings to scale. Stage micrometer was arranged on the microscope and using 16 mm objective, a line was drawn equivalent to 1 mm as seen through the microscope. A square was constructed on this line. The patter was moved so that the square is seen in the eye piece, in the centre of the field. The slide with the cleared leaf epidermis was placed on the stage. The veins which are included within the square were traced off, completing the outlines of those islets which overlap adjacent sides of the square. The number of vein islets in 1sq mm was counted. (The slides were prepared for Gynandropsis gynandra,(fig.5)). The average number of vein islets in the four adjoining squares gave. The Vein islet number.(Table -3) Determination of Palisade Ratio Palisade ratio is the average number of palisade cells beneath one epidermal cell of a leaf. It is determined by counting the palisade cells beneath four continuous epidermal cells. A piece of the leaf was cleared by boiling in chloral hydrate solution for about thirty minutes and slide was prepared. Camera lucida and drawing board were arranged for making drawings to scale. Using 4mm objective, the outlines of four cells of the epidermis were traced off. The palisade layer was focussed and sufficient cells were traced off to cover the tracings of the epidermal cells. The outlines of those palisade cells which are intersected by the epidermal walls, were completed. The palisade cells under the four epidermal cells were counted. The average number of cells beneath a single epidermal cell was calculated. (The slides were prepared for Gynandropsis gynandra,(fig.8). The determination was repeated for five groups of four epidermal cells from different parts of the leaf. The average of the results gave the palisade ratio. (Table-4) Histology of Gynandropsis gynandra: Midrib of Leaf: The transverse section of midrib of Gynandropsis gynandra Linn comprises of the epidermis, cortex, endodermis and vascular bundles. (fig.13) Upper epidermis: Comprises of barrel shaped cells which are closely packed, devoid of chloroplast and possess glandular trichomes. Cortex: Below the epidermis layers of cortical cells are present which are made up of polygonal parenchymatous cells. Endodermis: Endodermis is made up of rectangular barrel shaped cells with casparian thickenings. Pericycle: Below the endodermis three layered pericycle is present which is made up of parenchymatous cells. Vascular Bundles: A four to five layered phloem tissue is present that is made up of thinwalled phloem parenchymatous cells and phloem companion cells. Xylem tissue is made up of xylem elements, xylem parenchyma and xylem companion cells. Lower Epidermis: Is made up of polygonal cells which are closely packed together. 2.4.2 Stem: Transverse section of Gynandropsis gynandra Linn stem comprises of epidermis, exodermis, cortex, endodermis and vascular bundles. (fig.14) Epidermis: External layer with tightly joined cells that are devoid of stomata. This layer is usually termed as rhizodermis. It is also known as epiblema. This layer with covering trichomes dries and its place is taken by typical secondary boundary tissue called exodermis having glandular trichomes. Exodermis: This layer is present below the epidermis and is often regarded as a protective layer. The walls of the cells become suberized. Eames, in 1947, regarded this as hypodermis; Foster and Guttenberg, in 1943, gave it the name exodermis because of the presence of suberin in its walls. The suberin lamella develop on the inner side of the primary wall. They differ from cork cells since they contain protoplasmic contents. Cortex: The cortex is comparatively simple in histology and is generally composed of thin walled cells with lots of intercellular spaces. The cells are arranged in concentric layers with cells in each layer alternating with others. Endodermis: It is a distinct layer of cells differentiated from the innermost layer of cortex. The layer is uniseriate, made up of barrel shaped cells. Casparian strips are present radially. Pericycle: Below the endodermis, a few layers of parenchymatous cells are present which make up the pericycle. Vascular Bundles: The stem exhibits secondary growth, hence a complete ring of cambium is formed. A distinct secondary phloem is visible on the outer side. There is outer fascicular cambium which is made of parenchymatous cells. The phloem consists of phloem fibres, sieve tubes and companion cells. The secondary xylem shows distinct vessels and forms a continuous band interrupted here and there by narrow rays which are uniseriate. The secondary xylem constitutes a large portion of the bundles; it is present on the inner side and consists of vessels with simple perforated tracheids with a few simple pits on radial walls and some xylem parenchyma. Pith: Thin walled or thick walled cells filled with tannin and crystals of gypsum constitute the small pith. Stomata: Anisocytic or cruciferous (unequal) type of stomata which occurs in Capparadaceae family. The stoma is usually surrounded by three or four subsidiary cells, one of which is markedly smaller than the others. (fig.15) Physico Chemical Evaluation of Crude Drugs Extractive Values Extractive values are useful for evaluation of crude drugs and give an idea about the nature of chemical constituents present in them. The amount of extractive a drug yields to a given solvent is often an approximate measure of a certain constituent or group of related constituents the drug contains. In some cases the amount of a certain constituent or group of related constituents the drug contains, in some cases the amount of drug soluble in a given solvent is an index of its purity. The solvent used for extraction should be in a position to dissolve quantities of substances desired. Determination of Alcohol Soluble Extractive 5 g of macerated and air-dried coarse powder of drug was mixed with 100 ml of 95% alcohol in a closed flask and kept for 24 hours, shaking frequently during the first 6 hours and then allowed to stand for 18 hours. Thereafter, it was filtered rapidly taking precautions against loss of the solvent. About 25 ml of the filtrate was evaporated to dryness in a tared, flat-bottomed shallow dish, dried at 105o C and weighed. The percentage of alcohol-soluble extractive was calculated with reference to the air-dried drug. Determination of Water Soluble Extractive Proceeded as directed for the determination of alcohol soluble extractive, using chloroform water I.P. as a solvent. Determination of Chloroform Soluble Extractive Proceeded as directed for the determination of alcohol soluble extractive, using chloroform as solvent. Determination of Petroleum Ether Soluble Extractive Proceeded as directed for the determination of alcohol soluble extractive, using petroleum ether as a solvent. (Table 6) Loss On Drying About 5 g of powder was accurately weighed, placed in a petri-dish and dried in hot-air oven at 110Â ° C for four hours. After cooling, it was placed in a desiccator. The loss in weight was recorded. This was repeated till constant weight was obtained and % Loss on Drying was calculated with reference to the air-dried drug. (Table 7) Determination of Ash Values Ash values are helpful in determining the quality and purity of crude drugs in powdered form. Ashing involves an oxidation of the components of the product. The total ash usually consists of inorganic radicals like carbonates, phosphates, silicates and silica of sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. A high ash value is indicative of contamination, substitution or adulteration. Sometimes, inorganic variables like calcium oxalate, silica, carbonate content of crude drug affects total ash values; such variables are then removed by treating with acid (as they are soluble in hydrochloric acid) and then acid-insoluble ash value is determined. Ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid is the residue obtained after extracting the total ash with hydrochloric acid. This acid-insoluble ash value particularly indicates contamination with silicious materials like earth or sand. Water-soluble ash is that part of the total ash content which is soluble in water. It is a good indicator of either previous extraction of water soluble salts in the drug or incorrect preparation. For the determination of various ash values viz. total ash, acid-insoluble ash, water-soluble ash, the shade dried parts of the selected plant materials were powdered and passed through sieve no:40 and studies were carried out. The values vary within fairly wide limits and is therefore an important parameter for the purpose of evaluation of crude drugs. Determination of Total Ash A flat, thin porcelain crucible was weighed and ignited. About 2 g of the powdered drug was taken into the crucible. The crucible was incinerated at temperatures not exceeding 4500C, until free from carbon.The crucible was cooled in a desiccator and weighed. The procedure was repeated to get constant weight.The percentage of total ash was calculated with reference to the air dried drug. (Table No.8) Determination of Acid-insoluble Ash The total ash obtained was boiled with 25 ml of 2 M hydrochloric acid for 5mins. The insoluble ash was collected on an ashless filter paper and washed with hot water. The insoluble ash was transferred to a pre-weighed silica crucible, ignited, cooled, weighed and procedure was repeated to get constant weight. The percentage of Acid-insoluble ash of the crude drug was calculated with reference to the air-dried sample of the crude drug. (Table No.9) Determination of Water-soluble Ash The total ash obtained was boiled in 25 ml chloroform water for five minutes. The insoluble ash was collected on an ashless filter paper and washed with hot water. The insoluble ash was transferred into pre-weighed silica crucible, ignited for 15 minutes at a temperature not exceeding 450o C. The crucible was cooled, weighed and the procedure was repeated to get constant weight .Weight of the insoluble matter was subtracted from the weight of the total ash. The difference of weight was considered as the water-soluble ash. The percentage of water-soluble ash was determined with reference to the air-dried drug. (Table No.10) Fluorescence analysis of the crude drugs: Many crude drugs show fluorescence when the sample is exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Evaluation of crude drugs based on fluorescence in daylight is not much used, as it is usually unreliable due to the weakness of the fluorescence effect. Fluorescence lamps (366 nm) are fitted with suitable filters, which eliminates visible radiation from the lamp and transmits ultraviolet radiation of definite wavelength. Several crude drugs show characteristic fluorescence useful for their evaluation. (Table No.11) Total Solid Content About 5 g of extract was accurately weighed in a petri-dish and kept in a hot-air oven and maintained at 110Â °C for four hours. After cooling, the loss in weight was recorded. This procedure was repeated till constant weight was obtained. (Table No. 12) Total solid content (%) = Loss in weight x 100/W W = Weight of the extract in grams Extraction Maceration The powdered materials were extracted with alcohol (95%) by cold maceration method. Weighed quantity of powdered crude drugs were taken into round bottom flasks with alcohol, in the drug to solvent ratio 1:3 and kept for maceration for a period of 7 days. Finally the flask was left undisturbed for 12 hrs and then the contents were shaker and filtered through Whatman filter paper No.1. The marc was re-extracted with drug solvent ratio of 1:2. The extracts were combined and concentrated in a rotary flash evaporator, till free from solvent. The extracts, thus obtained were stored in a refrigerator at 40C until used. (Table No.13) Qualitative Phytochemical Screening A spectrum of natural compounds like alkaloids, glycosides, tannis, essential oils and other similar secondary metabolites which exert physiological activity are synthesized in the plant, in addition to the carbohydrates, proteins and lipids utilized by man as food articles. A systematic and complete study of crude drugs should include a thorough investigation of both primary and secondary metabolites derived as a result of plant metabolism. The different qualitative chemical tests are to be performed for establishing profile of a given extract/fraction for its nature of chemical composition. The following tests were carried out on the extracts to detect various phytoconstituents present in them. Detection of Alkaloids About 50 mg of solvent free extract was stirred with little quantity of dilute hydrochloric acid and filtered. The filtrate was tested carefully with various alkaloid tests viz., Mayers Test, Wagners Test, Hagers Test, Dragendroffs Test Detection of Carbohydrates About 100mg of the extract was dissolved in 5 ml of distilled water and filtered. The presence of carbohydrates were tested by Molischs Test, Fehlings Test, Barfoeds Test and Benedicts Test Detection of Glycosides For detection of glycosides, about 50 mg of extract was hydrolyzed with concentrated hydrochloric acid for 2 hrs on a water bath, filtered and the hydrolysate was subjected to the Glycoside testa viz., Borntragers Test, Legals Test, Detection of Saponins Foam or Froth Test Detection of Proteins and Amino Acids About 100 mg of extract was dissolved in 10 ml of distilled water and filtered through Whatmann No.1 filter paper and the filtrate was subjected to tests for proteins and amino acids. Viz., Millons Test, Biuret Test, Ninhydrin Test Detection of Phytosterols and triterpenoids: Tested by Libermann Burchards and Salkwoski test Detection of Phenolic Compounds and Tannins Tested by Ferric chloride test, Gelatin test, Lead acetate test, Alkaline reagents, and Shinoda test or Magnesium Hydrochloric acid reduction Thin Layer Chromatography Thin Layer Chromatography of extracts was done by using standard procedures and is mainly used for the detection of the nature of phytoconstituents present. Thin Layer Chromatography is a very effective technique for the separation of chemical constituents of an extract and for their identification. The history of TLC has been reviewed by various authors. A major breakthrough in this field was the commercial availability of convenient precoated plates in the early 70s Pharmacopoeias are increasingly employing this technique for assessing the quality and purity of compounds of both synthetic and natural origin. TLC profiles developed for an extract from a define solvent system and other parameters could be used as a fingerprint in comparative qualitative evaluation of herbal drugs. The trend of evaluation by this method is becoming popular in view of its simplicity and reproducibility. TLC is an important analytical tool in the separation, identification and estimation of different classes of natural products. In this technique, the different components are separated by the differential migration of solute between two phases a stationary phase and a mobile phase. Here, the principle of separation is adsorption and the stationary phase acts as an adsorbent. Depending on the particular type of stationary phase, its preparation and use with different solvents, separation can be achieved on the basis of partition or a combination of partition and adsorption. Preparation of Plates 100 g of Silica gel-G was weighed and made into a homogenous suspension with 200 ml of distilled water to form aslurry. The slurry was poured into a TLC applicator, which was adjusted to 0.25 mm thickness on flat glass plate of different dimensions (10 x 2, 10 x 5, 20 x 5, 20 x 10 cm etc.). The coated plates were allowed to dry in air, followed by heating at 100 105o C for 1 hour, cooled and stored in a dry atmosphere to protect from moisture. Before using, the plates were activated by heating at 100o C for 10 minutes. Detection of Steroids / Triterpenoids and their Glycosides Solvent systems used: Ethyl acetate: Methanol : Water 81 : 11 : 8 Ethyl acetate: Methanol : Water 75 : 15 : 10 Chloroform : Methanol : Water 70 : 30 : 4 Chloroform : Methanol : Water 64 : 50 : 10 n-Butanol :Acetic acid: Water 4 : 1 : 5 (upper phase) Benzene : Ethyl acetate 90 : 10, 80 : 20, 50 : 50 Chloroform : Methanol 95 : 5, 90 : 10, 80 : 20 Ethyl acetate: Methanol 90 : 10, 80 : 20, 50 : 50 Spray Reagents: 1) Vanillin Sulphuric acid (VS) reagent Solution I : 5% ethanolic sulphuric acid Solution II : 1% ethanolic vanillin The developed TLC plate was sprayed with 10 ml of solution I, followed immediately by 5-10 ml of solution II, then heate for 5-10 minutes at 100o C under observation. steroids / triterpenoids and their glycosides give blue, blue violet or pink colored spots. 2) Vanillin Phosphoric acid (VPA) reagent Solution a: 1 gm vanillin dissolved in 100 ml of 50% phosphoric acid Solution b: 2 parts 24 % phosphoric acid and 8 parts 2% ethanolic Vanillic acid After spraying with either solution a or b, the plate was heated for 10 minutes at 100o C Red Violet colour indicates the presence of steroids / triterpenoids and their glycosides. 3) Antimony (III) chloride reagent 20% solution of antimony (III) chloride The developed TLC plate was sprayed with reagent and then heated for 5-6 minutes at 100o C Red violet color in visible light; red violet, blue and green fluorescence in UV at 365 nm indicates the presence of steroids / triterpenoids and their glycosides. 4) Anisaldehyde sulphuric acid reagent 0.5 ml of anisaldehyde was mixed with 10 ml glacial acetic acid, followed by 85 ml of methanol and 5 ml of concentrated sulphuric acid, in that order. The developed TLC plate was sprayed with reagent, heated at 100o C for 5 10 minutes. steroids / triterpenoids and their glycosides give blue, blue violet or pink coloured spots. Detection of Flavonoids and their Glycosides Solvent systems used: Chloroform : Methanol 80:20, 70:30, 50:50 Ethyl acetate : Methanol: Water 81:11:8 n- Butanol : Acetic acid : Water 4 : 1 : 5 (upper phase) Ethyl acetate: Formic acid: Glacial acetic acid: water 100:11:11:27 Ethyl acetate: Formic acid: Glacial acetic acid: Ethyl methyl ketone: Water 50:7:3:30:10 Detection The developed TLC plate was observed in visible light and in UV at 365 nm. Flavonoids and their glycosides appear as yellow, dark blue, orange zones / spots. The color gets intensified on exposure of the plates to ammonia vapors. Detection of Alkaloids Solvent systems used Benzene : Ethyl acetate : Diethylamine 6:3:1 Toluene: Ethyl acetate: Formic acid 5:4:1 Detection: Dragendorffs reagent The developed TLC plate was sprayed with reagent and then heated for 5-6 minutes at 1000C, spot will be developed.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Foucault: History of Sexuality/ A Reading

According to Foucault, power from the 18th century began to be exercised in two dimensions. The first one was formulated by the disciplinary techniques and methods of ‘bio-power', the power over life which increased the capacities of the human body, and at the same time enhanced its economic utility. The second dimension focuses around the exercise of bio-power over the body and its vitality. Foucault focuses on relations of power and knowledge but his immediate object of analysis was sexuality because it concerns with both, the relations of power of the individual as well as the society. Sex was supposed to be located at the centre of the two axes of the development of political technology of life. Sexuality in Foucault's work thus achieved an important means of addressing the question of formation of the subject. The issue of sexuality emerges at several points in Foucault's works but it is only approached in a limited and sustained manner in ‘History and Sexuality'. The essays constitute the central theme of the history of sexual conduct and behaviour, and the analysis of philosophical and religious ideas on sexuality so as to reach an understanding of the formation and the development of the experience of sexuality in modern societies. He keeps shifting from keeping a historical focus to more analytical concerns in his work on sexuality. The Introduction of the essay provides an analysis of sex as an historical theory rather than as the most basic innate human element. Foucault compares and analyses sex and sexuality in relations to power and knowledge and extends the study further to dissect the modes of what he calls the ‘objectification' through which human beings are made into subjects. In the beginning, the historical focus moves from the post-enlightenment period of the 18th and 19th century events to a period encompassing the centuries immediately before and after the death of Christ right up to the middle ages, further onto an analysis of Greek and Christian texts. In the following volumes relations of power, through which individuals form and change themselves through the techniques of the self are focused upon. Foucault begins by analyzing the popular Victorian concept of sexual experience that sex was used as a means of repression and as a symbol of power. He questions the general belief of ‘repressive hypothesis' to reach an understanding of the relations between power and sex. As an effect to that he formulated a set of questions like, why has sexuality been so widely discussed? , what are the links between these discussions and the pleasures and power effects that were caused by them? Etc. This hypothesis describes the history of western societies after the 17th century as a period in which a series of prohibitions laid down on the individuals and their physical behaviour. By the coming of the Victorian age, sexuality was confined and controlled to home and marriage, except for the licensed access to sex in markets and brothels. This prohibition of sexuality is seen by Foucault as having some similarity to the general repression due to capitalism and its class related problems. Foucault argues that another sexual tendancy is also evident in the increase of discourses concerned with sex. There emerged a political, economic and technical incitement to talk about sex. From this point onwards, sex became an object of administration, management and the government. He argues that a proof that sex was implicitly present as an object of inquiry was the government's focus on population. Population became an object of government and administration with the realization that it had its own limitations. The governments became more aware and concerned of the economic, moral, health and political problems of their populations. This in turn lead to a study and a minute analysis of various influences on population like birthrate, legitimacy of births, age of marriage, frequency of sexual relations, fertility etc. Therefore as on one hand, sex became confined to home and the licensed married couple, on the other hand, it also became a governmental matter between the state and the individual. Sex became a public issue open to discourses, analysis and a matter of gaining knowledge in. This resulted in the emergence of the 18th and 19th century discourses on sexuality through the fields of medicine, psychiatry, criminology and social work. Foucault comments that the past three centuries reveal a vast accumulation of endless discourses on sex and sexuality. We can thus say that modern western societies were distinct not for their repression and censor of sex, but rather for their simultaneous subjection of sexuality to never ending discussions and their curiosity for exploring of the secrets of life and birth. We may then conclude that all different legal, medical and moral discussions had in the end, cultivated a reproduction of labour capacity and the preservation of the prevailing form of social relations. Foucault argues that if the increase in these discussions was governed by the intention of eliminating fruitless pleasures, then they had failed as the 19th century saw a bifurcation of sexualities into many perversions. Foucault suggests that power did not prohibit or eradicate extra-conjugal, non-monogamous sexualities, on the contrary they were multiplied. The form of power to which sex was subjected did not set boundaries for sexuality. It extended the various forms of sexuality, pursuing them according to lines of uncertain analysis. It did not exclude sexuality, but rather included it in the body as a mode of specification of individuals. It did not seek to avoid it but attracted its varieties by means of complex gyre like structures in which pleasure and power reinforced one another. Thus the manifold sexualities, sexualities of different ages and those fixated on particular tastes, all formed equations of power. Perverse forms of sexuality are then seen as the effects or the products of the exercise of a type of power over bodies. This extension of power over bodies, conduct and sex, does not produce repression, but an incitement of unorthodox and perverse sexualities. Thus Foucault's argument that we need to abandon the hypothesis of increased sexual repression associated with the development of modern industrial societies. Power in its exercise has not taken the form of law, it has been positive and productive rather than negative, and has ensured an increase of pleasures and a multiplication of sexual perversions. In the 19th century, sexuality was constituted in scientific terms. Within western societies, there developed a ‘scientia sexualis', whose objective was to produce real and honest discourses on sex, the truth on sex to be precise. At its centre was a technique of confession, whose history may be traced back through the middle ages in western Europe to the first centuries of Christianity. From the Christian penance to the psychiatrists couch, sex has been the central theme of confession. Foucault argued that with the rise of protestant religion, anti-reformation and the 19th century medicine, confession spread beyond its traditional Christian usage and entered a diverse range of social relationships, an effect of which was the constitution of archives of the truth of sex inscribed within medical and psychiatric discourses. Within modern societies this intersection of confession with scientific investigation constructed the domain of sexuality as problematic and thus needing interpretation and therapy. In short the object of investigation became to uncover the truth of sex, to reveal its secret and thus to gain knowledge of individuals and their behaviours. As a result of this, sex became not only an object of knowledge, but the focus of our being, our truth. Although the concept of power is central to both the analysis of penal incarceration and the preliminary work on sexuality, in no sense does Foucault's work constitute, or even attempt a formulation of a theory of power. At the most what is presented is the critique of the prevailing formation of the exercise of power which lies at the foundation of both sexual repression and alternative hypothesis in which desire is conceived to be constituted in the form of law like rules. Such a conception of power has structured the analytical field of inquiry in terms of problems of right and violence, freedom and will and the state of sovereignty. According to Foucault's view power is relational. It is not born from a particular site or location. It is a concept which refers to an open, organized, hierarchical group of relations which are both unstable and local and the analysis of sex proceeds by analyzing the complex relations between the discussions on sex and on the multiplicity of power relations associated with them. There emerged four strategic unities associated with the production of the discourses on sexualities in the 19th century. These constituted of the specific mechanisms of knowledge and power, centred on sex and the four sexual subjects. The strategic unities were: a hysterization of womens bodies, a pedagogization of childrens sex, a socialization of procreative behaviour and a psychological analysis of perverse pleasures. And the subjects were hysterical women, a masturbating child, a Malthusian couple and a perverse adult respectively. According to Foucault, these four unities do not represent mechanisms for controlling or regulating pre-existing forms of sexualities, rather they represent the relations of power and knowledge articulated in medical, pedagogical, psychiatric and economic discourses. In Foucault's view, from 19th century onwards the ‘Deployment of Alliance', a system of rules and practices defining the permitted and the forbidden relations between sexual partners, has been paralleled by the development of sexuality operating through techniques of power rather than a system of rules. Whereas the former is concerned with the link between partners, the latter, the deployment of sexuality manifests a different connection to the economy through the cultivation of the body, ‘a body that produces and consumes'. The family gradually became a transmission of the strategies of ‘sexualisation' that emerged in the 19th century. Foucault's theory is that in the first instance, it was in the ‘bourgeois' or the aristocratic family that the sexuality was given a status of a medical problem. The psychological convergence of sex thus began with the bourgeoisie with a sexualisation of the idle and the nervous woman with the self-abusing child. The objective was to constitute a body and a sexual identity for the bourgeoisie to ensure the vigour and longevity of the classes that ruled rather than a repression of the class that was exploited. This new distribution of pleasures had as its initial purpose the self affirmation of the bourgeoisie by a specifically political ordering of life in which a technology of sex was fundamental. Just as the aristocracy constructed a sense of itself, its special qualities and its difference from other social classes in terms of concept , so did the bourgeoisie, through a conception of a sound body and a healthy sexuality articulated in biological and medical discourses, sought to affirm its present and future specificity. Turning to the lower orders, the working classes, Foucault argues that just as the Christian technology of the flesh had exercised a little influence over their rude sensuality, so for a good while they remained untouched by deployment of sexuality. But gradually from the 18th century however, a series of developments like the identification of problems of birth control and the development of juridical and medical measures to protect society from perverse forms of sexuality, precipitated a diffusion of mechanisms of sexualisation throughout the society. This effected in the working class being subject to the deployment of sexuality. However the sexuality of the working class was in no way synonymous to the bourgeoisie, there is no sense in which Foucault's analysis brings us to this interpretation. The practice of sexuality in modern western society is not conceived by Foucault to be either collective or united. On the contrary, the forms taken and instruments employed are conceived to have varied in relation to the social class. The domain of sexuality in Foucault's works is presented as one of the most important concrete arrangements through which power has been exercised over life in modern western societies. It is the key element in the emergence and development of the measures of supervision which have constituted the foundation of forms of public provision and welfare. The exercise of a pastoral or caring power over life in general and in particular is presented as a fundamental or defining characteristic of modern societies and as a necessary precondition for the distribution of capitalist economic relations throughout social life. It is because of this articulation of the phenomenon of human existence that the general social significance of the deployment of sexuality is initially focused on by Foucault. The specificity of modern western societies is associated with a particular historical transformation or shift of the emphasis from exercise of absolute power by or in the name of the sovereign, literally to take life, to the emergence and development of governmental technologies of power directed towards an administration of the processes of life in order to increase their economic utility. The two basic forms in which power began to be exercised over life from the 17th century are: * An anatomo-politics of the human body, * A bio-politics of the population. The first form according to Foucault concerns the exercise of power over the life of the body and is exemplified by the disciplines and techniques directed towards the increase of bodily forces and capacities. The second form in which power has been exercised over life is that of the management and regulation of the population, the body as a species and its mortality and fertility issues. The emergence of the technology of bio-power constituted an important event and signified a shift away from unstable, dramatic and ceremonial exercises of sovereign power towards an investment of the processes of life by an economic and efficient form of power. The emergence of bio-power designated the moment at which the phenomena of human existence were submitted to the calculation and order of knowledge and power. At the intersection of the two axes along which the exercise of power over life developed, namely the disciplines of body and the regulation of populations, lies the political issue of sex. Sex achieved importance as a political issue because it offered access to both life of the body and the life of the species so that we comprehend the pursuit in dreams, behaviour and beyond the truth of sexuality. Foucault deals with various modes of explaining the relations of power and knowledge through which human beings are made subjects. Foucault not only rejected the belief that sexuality is predicated on a biological given sex, but argued that the autonomy given to sex was an effect of the deployment of sexuality. Foucault argued that the category of sex established through the deployment of sexuality in the course of the 19th century performed a number of functions. It offered a principle of unification through which anatomical elements, biological functions, conducts, sensations and pleasures could be presented as the underlying cause of behavioural manifestations, as a secret to be discussed and interpreted. Through such proximity to biology and physiology, the knowledge of sexuality gained a semi-scientific status and contributed to the development of a process of normalization of human sexuality to the determination of normal sex and its various pathological corollaries. The idea of sex as the latent, secret force repressed within us allowed power to be conceptualized solely as law and taboo and thereby hiding the positive relation of power with sexuality. The corollary of this position is of course that it led to the equation of human liberation with the discovery and expression of the secret of sex and sexuality. The final section of the idea of sex outlined by Foucault focuses on the process by which human beings become subjects. It is through the idea of sex that each individual has to pass in order to have access to his own intelligibility, to the whole of his body and to his identity. Thus Foucault's position is that the exercising of power over life has advanced through the deployment of sexuality and its construction of sex as the secret of existence to be discovered and articulated, as a force to be liberated and realized, and be synonymous to our very being. This arises from the fact that in his view sex-drive cannot be free of power. It is an effect of the deployment of sexuality and of the exercise of technologies of power over life. Sex is not the underlying reality beneath the illusory appearance of sexuality, on the contrary, sexuality is a typical historical formation from which the notion of sex emerged as an element central to the operation of bio-power. In western civilization there has been a tendency to associate the theme of sexual austerity with various social or religious taboos and prohibitions. Foucault argues that in fact it seems to have been quite different. To begin with, moral considerations of sexual condition were subject to a fundamental gender dissymmetry. The moral system was produced by and addressed purely to free men, to the exclusion, to the exclusion of women, children and slaves. A second significant feature of the moral system is that it did not form fundamental prohibitions or taboos in relation to forms of sexual austerity, rather it intended to present or propose modes of conduct appropriate and relevant for men in view of their right, power, authority and freedom. Foucault states that in the texts of Greek or Gaeco-Roman antiquity, the emphasis as far as moral considerations are concerned tends to be placed on practices of the ‘self', rather than on codes and conducts in terms of the permitted and the prohibited. I have tried to make a thorough reading of Michael Foucault's essay the ‘History of Sexuality' and found that it effectively establishes that the roots of our modern sexual ethics go back to ‘Antiquity'. Although the emergence of Christianity did not introduce a novel code of sexual behaviour, it did transform people's relationship to their own sexual activity. Although the essays address themselves explicitly to the question of the so called ‘problematization' of sexual activity, they also are important for their implications for an understanding of the art of government which developed in modern western societies.