The Paranoid Style Of Police Essay - 1983 Words

Have you ever asked yourself what it would be like to become a police officer. Becoming a police officer isn’t an easy take because they have to risk their life everyday to protect and serve the community. They have to go through the dangers of arresting criminals when there is a chance that they could die. However, in today’s society only a small amount of the police officers actually serves their community and protect citizens from danger. Right now, most police officers abuse their power to the point where they don’t seem to care for the safety of the community. They would usually arrest innocent people, make accusations, and even use their power as a source to show their dominance. If you think about, whenever you are stuck in traffic†¦show more content†¦Because of this, we would see people with different backgrounds getting shot and arrested for no reason. Whenever we go on social media, we would see that people are living in a state of fear whenev er a police is nearby because they don’t know whether something bad will happen to them. In the article, â€Å"Something’s wrong when the law-abiding are afraid of police,† it talks about how a black woman was fearing for her life because a police officer pulled her over. The police officer didn’t arrest or shoot her, but instead asked her if she was feeling fine since she was driving under the speed limit. People started commenting that this black woman wouldn’t need to fear the police officer if she obeyed him. Perhaps that’s true for someone else, but African Americans are living a different truth. The problem with this is that no one should fear a police officer because they are suppose to serve and protect the community. When someone is fearing a police officer then we know that something isn’t right. We see that many different ethnic people are getting killed by police officers because they don’t seem to trust them but wh ite people. That is why as a community, we should train police officers to become more comfortable with residents of a different racial background. Police officers are required to make our society safe but it turns out that they are the one that are causing us to live in a state of perturbation. For that reason, we know that our police officers areShow MoreRelatedParanoid Style Of Police Essay1286 Words   |  6 Pagesever asked yourself what it would be like to become a police officer. Becoming a police officer isn’t an easy take because they have to risk their life everyday to protect and serve the community. They have to go through the dangers of arresting criminals when there is a chance that they could die. However, in today’s society only a small amount of police officers actually serve their community and protect citizens from danger. Right now, most police officers abuse their power to the point where theyRead MoreWhy DonT We Complain Essay1653 Words   |   7 PagesMany authors use different techniques such as appeals, evidence, and sense of urgency to support an argument, or claim. In the essay, Why Don’t We Complain, by William Buckley, one of his main points is that people today are not complaining and speaking up. In another essay, The Paranoid Style of American Policing, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of his main points is that violence is not always necessary to solve a problem. Both authors use appeals such as pathos, logos, or ethos to make their argumentsRead MoreEssay Reflection of the Thought Police vs. Outer Party Game1018 Words   |  5 PagesDuring the Thought Police vs. Outer Party game, I learned the importance of the value of independence and freedom. Previous to playing the game, I would consistently wear whatever I wanted, I would carry my books whatever way I wanted to, and I was allowed to live my own life. But the game gave me a new perspective, not only on Winston and his hardships, but on my peers. While engage d in the game, due to the secrecy developed within the tension of ignorance, I felt paranoid and oppressed. BecauseRead MoreComparitve Analysis of the Raven Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe1257 Words   |  6 PagesHeart is about how he becomes so insane and paranoid that he kills an old man just because his one creepy blue eye reminded him of a vulture. Thus, here, Poes paranoia for birds and their negative symbolism is also evident. In the end, Poe cuts the man into pieces and hides him cunningly. When the police come, he seems perfectly innocent, but then Poe hallucinates and believes to hear the heart thudding. He ends up admitting his guilt to the police. This theme of realization of either reality orRead MoreTell-Tale Heart and Mental Disorders1011 Words   |  5 Pageswhat he has done. Moments later the police knock on the door because a neighbor has complained about the noise and heard someone shriek. The narrator says the shrieks came from him, but calmly assist the policemen inside to check for themselves. He hears a faint heartbeat. When they find nothing wrong with the sc ene, they all pull up chairs and converse. The longer they sit around the louder the heartbeat grows. The narrator believes the Petrie 2 police officers can hear the heartbeat tooRead MoreSymbolism in Poe’s Works Essay1166 Words   |  5 Pagesthe old man’s eye was controlling and took over its surroundings. Poe also portrays a blindness symbolized by the police’s inability to see that he had killed a man. Harold Bloom says, â€Å"In fact Poe carefully paints the only symbols of judgment, the police officers, as both ineffective and blind, even in the face of the narrators obvious lunacy and violence† (kdfjdjfk). Good and evil are represented in this tale through use of symbols. Evil is represented through the narrator as he proclaims, â€Å"It isRead MoreThe Man at 221B Baker Street Essay1518 Words   |  7 Pagesdetective fiction but also of science fiction and fantasy, horror, historical fiction, political tomes and polemics† (Womack 1-2). Doyle became an amazing author. He wrote â€Å"twenty-one novels and over 150 short stories. He also published nonfiction, essays, articles, memoirs and three volumes of poetry† (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/doyle/bio2.html). He received his love for stories from his mother, Mary Doyle. She had a huge love for books and would read him stories in such a beautiful and sweetRead MoreGeorge Kennan: The Long Telegram of 19461862 Words   |  8 Pagesunplanned and opportunistic, and its leaders did not wish to risk a general war with the West. For this reasons, the Soviets were highly sensitive to the logic of force and would retreat if confronted with resolution (Kennan 1946). Internally, it was a police state ruled by a Communist Party oligarchy and bureaucracy, but one that was always insecure in its power. Although Marxism had no real emotional appeal to the masses, the elites were guided by the assumption that the imperialist powers were alwaysRead Moreâ€Å"The Fall o f the House of Usher† and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†: A Comparison Introduction2266 Words   |  10 Pageswould have read the story as either a Poe-like study of madness, yet most modern critics focus on a feminist reading in which the wallpaper intentionally represents the â€Å"oppressive patriarchal social system† (Thrailkill 2002).   Jane Thrailkill, in her essay about the psychological implications of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† argues that this feminist reading may actually block the work done by the story to shift 19th century medical conventions surrounding mental illness (Thrailkill 2002).   Gilman stated thatRead MoreNew World Order in Conspiracy Theory13987 Words   |  56 Pagesacademic  Norman Cohn  in his 1967 book  Warrant for Genocide, to be both a  hoax  and a clear case of plagiarism. There is general agreement that Russian-French writer and political activist  Matvei Golovinski  fabricated the text for  Okhrana, the  secret police  of the  Russian Empire, as a work of  counter-revolutionary  propaganda  prior to the  1905 Russian Revolution, by plagiarizing it, almost word for word in some passages, from  The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu, a 19th century satire

A Comprehensive Study Of Wireless Mobile Charger And Its...

A comprehensive study of wireless mobile charger and its technological advances 1Jay Pandya, 2Rushali Benani, 3Hardik Modi, 4Shobhit Patel 1,2Under Graduate Students, 3Assistant Professor,4Associate Professor, Charotar University of Science and Technology, Changa-388421, Gujarat, India 3modi8584@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: The various methods of wireless charging are studied. With the increase in number of people using mobiles, the physical cables used for the charging of the devices also increased. This increase in demand for the cables led to the idea of Wireless charging. Wireless charging initially was a novelty but with the advancement in technology, it has become a mainstream application now. Experiments have been conducted on the various methods used for the wireless charging and some of the methods are discussed in the paper. Keywords: wireless power transfer, resonant inductive coupling, ecoupled technology, nano battery, solar panel. INTRODUCTION: A mobile phone charger is devised to recharge the battery in mobile unit. A car’s battery was placed directly inside the phones were used initially instead of cell phone batteries which are used today. Most early cell phones were only able to be used in a vehicle because they needed such large amounts of battery power. [1] Mobile phone batteries evolved and improved with the time with different materials being used with the advancement in technology. Nickel Cadmium mobile Phone Batteries were used in 1980-1990.The nextShow MoreRelatedtesla marketing plan Essay12166 Words   |  49 Pages........................................................................................................ 39 10.1.2 Intangible Product Elements ..................................................................................... 40 10.1.2.1 EV Charger Installation .................................................................................................. 40 10.1.2.2 Instruction..............................................................................................................Read MoreNokias Human Resources System144007 Words   |  577 Pagesstatements herein which are not historical facts are forward ­looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding: †¢ the intention to form a strategic partnership with Microsoft to combine complementary assets and expertise to form a global mobile ecosystem and to adopt Windows Phone as our primary smartphone platform, including the expected plans and benefits of such partnership; †¢ the timing and expected benefits of our new strategy, including expected operational and financial benefits andRead MoreProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 PagesPROJECT MANAGEMENT CASE STUDIES, SECOND EDITION - PROJECT MANAGEMENT CASE STUDIES, SECOND EDITION HAROLD KERZNER, Ph.D. Division of Business Administration Baldwin-Wallace College Berea, Ohio John Wiley Sons, Inc. This book is printed on acid-free paper. @ Copyright O 2006 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

My Favourite Place Free Essays

MY FAVOURITE PLACE IN MY CITY I am in love with a place in my origin city. It is a special spot for me. It is called El Cejo. We will write a custom essay sample on My Favourite Place or any similar topic only for you Order Now My father discovered it to me. He is keen on walking and I have inherited his hobby. Since I have been a child he has taken me to spend the afternoon hiking. This place is located quite near my house but with some steps you have the feeling you are not in Lorca. My region is extremely dry but this place is like an oasis in the desert. To gain access to El Cejo you need to go up a sandy hill. Arriving to the hill the first thing you can find is an imposing castle. Its two towers have been policing the city for many centuries. It dates from the Muslim period when the city played a significant role. It was in the frontier of two important kingdoms in medieval times. In one side of the castle there is a hidden path. This narrow path takes you to my paradise. The ground is red limestone with tiny pebbles. At the start you can glimpse the chain of mountains of the valley, several reservoirs and farmers working in the countryside. The range of colours of the crops spread over the landscape. Sometimes you can even smell distant bonfires. There are abrupt slopes with cliffs joint by stone cement bridges. The bridges are secured with steel banisters, seeing as the height is considerable. You can find caves carved by the nature and decorated by prehistoric inhabitants with red and ochre drawings. Lizards and birds singing form the inhabitants of this wood. Nobody escapes the eye of the eagles that fly over their home. The pines stand in line like schoolchildren and drop their needles leaves when they are not green any more. The bushes accompany the trees, leaving pleasant fragrances like the rosemary. At the same time, the silence fills the place; sometimes it is interrupted by the barking of the dogs accompanying their owners in a relaxing walking. The paths are sculpted by the footprints of bicycles and hikers. Moreover, there are streams of fresh water where you can drink. Steep stairs and uneven ground can be found in some parts of the path. In some parts the way is narrow because of enormous rocks. The vegetation breaks into them. The ground is plastered with roots of trees that quietly have seen the time passing. The sun is always smiling. In winter days the wind whistles around the trunks. In summer days it can be hot as hell. All the plants are resistant to long periods of droughts. The rain is hardly ever present. Halfway there are several viewpoints where hikers sit on rotten wood benches eating snacks to recover from the walking and admiring the turquoise blue sky with clouds like sponges. They can see the valley with its empty river. However, sometimes this river cause fear when it wakes up in rainy periods threatening the city with floods. At the end of the path you can find the reason of the name of the place. Cejo in Spanish is a vertical deep cut in the mountain. At the bottom of it there is a fountain with water as cold as ice. A legend says that a Muslim princess and a Christian soldier fell in love and as their love was impossible, they committed suicide throwing themselves over the cliff. After that, a source appeared and the people named it after the lovers (enamorados). The people who know this place are like a family. Maybe they have never seen you before but they greet everybody who enjoys the wonders of the place. Walking through this forest it is a pleasure for your senses. You can smell pure air from the nature. Nevertheless, everything is not perfect. You can find rubbish and dogs’ faeces thanks to thoughtless people. People jogging leave the sweat aroma. Normally there are not many people but in September the city holds a sport festival and there is an organized walking to this forest from city centre. Every year the wood meets new people that feel surprised by this heaven. Children walk holding their parents’ hands and adults chat while they enjoy the scenery. I like to take my dogs with me and leave them loose. Therefore, for them El Cejo has a special meaning. It is where they can run freely. Their big ears move like ears of rabbits. They love to speed and stop to smell the scented wildflowers. The path boasts being well-known among nature lovers who can use signs to avoid getting lost during its eight kilometres. It is by far one of my favourite places in my city. Maybe this place is not great thing but for me it is unique. I can relax and forget all my problems. How to cite My Favourite Place, Papers

Industry Management Responses to Customer Complaints.

Question: Describe about the Industry Management for Responses to Customer Complaints.. Answer: Industry Management Suggested report title Organizational Responses to Customer Complaints. Industry partner Harvey Norman, an Australian-based multi-national retailer of consumer electronics, bedding, computer, furniture and communications is the industry partner. The company operates in franchises in Europe, New Zealand and various other countries. Approximately 10,000 employees work in the organization (Harveynormanglobal.com 2016). The products and services provided by the company are available both physically at stores and virtually on the internet. Working at the head office as a customer care executive, the primary responsibilities involve taking care of the customer complaints and resolving them. The skills and experience is used for delivering the highest quality of services to the customers (Wulff 2011). Overarching problem Harvey Norman mainly faces the issue of addressing the customer complaints in an effective manner. The profitability, credibility and reputation of an organization shall decline if the customer base is not satisfied. The specific problem that shall be researched in the project is Organizational Responses to Customer Complaints. It is not possible for an organization to prevent mistakes or failures. However, they can mitigate or recover from the issues as recognized in the organization. Addressing customer complaints is an important way of management as the customers have an increasing expectation from the organization. Addressing customer complaint can lead to increased satisfaction and result in long-term loyalty. Customer satisfaction is important for maintaining competitive advantage. It is the duty to generate sales leads. It has to be ensured that every customer of the organization is satisfied so that he stays loyal to the brand (Wulff 2011). Overarching research aim The research aim of this project is to determine the best strategies or techniques for addressing customer complaints. It investigates the patterns or methods of organizational responses which shall be beneficial for addressing customer complaints. This study attempts to investigate the current practices followed by Harvey Norman. The limitations shall be identified so that the overall responses and processes to satisfy customers in the most effective manner. Research questions(s) Based on the overarching research aim, this research study shall aim to answer the following questions: What is the importance of customer satisfaction? What are the best strategies to keep the customers happy? What are the impacts of organizational responses to customer complaints? Data needs Both the primary and secondary methods of data collection shall be applied. The primary data shall be collected using surveys and in-depth interviews from the respondents. The secondary data shall be collected using journal articles, academic books, reports and publications. Literature review: Keywords used for literature search The key words that shall be used for literature search are complaint management, organizational responses, customer satisfaction, retail industry, complaint handling, and service recovery. Literature review: Name 2 relevant articles Cambra-Fierro, J., Melero, I. and Sese, F., 2015. Managing Complaints to Improve Customer Profitability. Journal of Retailing, 91(1), pp.109-124. Tao, K., Karande, K. and Arndt, A., 2016. How Angry Customer Complaints Influence Salesperson Commitment to Service Quality. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 24(3), pp.265-282. References Harveynormanglobal.com, 2016. ARE YOU READY FOR AN EXCITING CAREER IN RETAIL?. [online] Harveynormanglobal.com. Available at: https://www.harveynormanglobal.com/careers/ [Accessed 26 Nov. 2016]. Wulff, M., 2011. Giving Customers What They Want. ATZextra worldwide, 16(3), pp.22-25.

Stop the Hate The Problem of Hate Crimes in America free essay sample

This paper looks at the disturbing rise of hate crimes in the United States, and measures taken by the government to combat the issue. This paper deals with hate crimes in America , the nations response to the concept of the hate crime, and what measures are taken to prevent them. The author includes explicit historical references in the paper regarding anti-Semitic, racial and homosexual prejudices, etc. Prejudice is an omnipresent force, evident in civilizations throughout history. People naturally fear that which is different and unusual. Prejudice manifests itself in many forms, an innocent assumption, vulgar graffiti, offensive language, and even assault. It is when a crime becomes motivated by prejudice that it becomes a hate crime. Over the past few years, the nation has experienced an alarming number of disturbing and sometimes deadly hate crimes. The dragging death of Africa-American James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas; the deadly attack on Matthew Sheppard, a gay student in Laramie, Wyoming; the shooting rampage targeting minority citizens in Chicago; and the shootings of children at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles, California, followed by the murder of Joseph Santos Ileto, a Filipino-American mail worker. We will write a custom essay sample on Stop the Hate: The Problem of Hate Crimes in America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page All of these events have left a trail of dead or wounded victims and traumatized, horrified communities.

Argumentative Essay Example Why Do Dieting and Exercising Matter

Argumentative Essay Example Why Do Dieting and Exercising Matter Dieting and exercising can change your physical condition significantly. Moreover, its a great way to strengthen your mental health. Learn more about dieting and exercising in this article. What Is an Argumentative Essay An argumentative essay is a genre of writing that aims at investigating an issue, taking a stand on an issue, generating and evaluating a multitude of evidence in a logical manner to support the overall claim. Argumentative essay outline is a five essay format that consists of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. HOW TO WRITE AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY If you are looking for argumentative essay examples here is a great one below. Read and enjoy! How Can Dieting and Exercising Change Your Life? Good exercise and diet  habits are key aspects not only in appearance but in living long, healthy lives. One may look fabulous, both fit and healthy while being just as unhealthy as an obese person. The exact opposite is true, also. A person may be a little overweight but have a healthy heart and diet. The only way to find out if one is eating healthy and getting the proper amounts and types of exercise is by looking at their diet and activity level. Diet Is a Way of Life It is important to first start with a good eating plan. Age, health issues, and level of physical activity are just a few factors that should be taken into consideration when writing a meal plan for a person. For example, a young, healthy, and active person can eat more freely than an older person with high cholesterol who does not get much physical activity. On average, a person should try to eat 6-11 servings of grains, 3-5 servings of fruits, 3-5 servings of vegetables, 2-3 servings of dairy, 2-3 servings of meat, and consume fats and sugars sparingly each day. One should shoot for this range until he/she can have an eating plan written for them. Diet is just as big of a part of your health as exercising, that’s why it is so crucial to eat well balanced healthy meals. This requires knowing what you are eating; you can obtain this by the dietary label present on the back of the food when you buy it in the grocery store. â€Å"Water is an essential for being healthy; you should drink 8-ounce glasses per day. Most people do not have a well-balanced diet like they should, but instead, have a diet high in fat and are not consuming enough fiber† (Gebhardt, 72). The best way to start towards a healthy diet is to start consuming more natural whole foods, such as fruit, vegetables, bread, cereals, potatoes, and pasta. You have six different food groups one of which would be a good idea to eliminate completely from your diet, the sweets. The other five groups which you need to focus on are the dairy group, meat group, vegetable group, fruit group, and the bread group. It is a good idea to try and eat a little from each of these groups with each meal. Also keep in mind that you need to be paying attention to the amount of protein, fiber, salt, vitamins, and minerals which you consume as well. These are a little bit harder to keep track of and have always caused more confusion. Customize Your Exercising Plan Diet is not the only thing that should be factored into a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is just as important as a nutritious diet. There are many benefits of physical activity besides the obvious advantage of having a better physical appearance. Exercise can reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve ones mood and feelings of well-being. Besides helping you look great it helps you feel great, too. There are different types of exercises which give different results. Strength training, such as lifting weights, produces dramatic differences in physical appearance and raises ones metabolic rate. It also improves athletic performance and builds stronger bones. Cardiovascular training builds a powerful heart and strong lungs. It helps prevent hypertension, obesity, heart disease, and Type Two diabetes. Exercise is not all about physical looks, it also has to do a lot with your actual health and well being. For example, many overweight people tend to be more susceptible to higher cholesterol and blood pressure. Well, by working out and adding an exercise routine into your normal everyday life, you can help to decrease risk factors drastically. It is said that over 60% of American grown-ups are on the heavier side, or overweight. Only about 15% actually engage in the slightest amount of exercise. â€Å"Obesity alone makes a person very vulnerable to heart disease, but also susceptible to an additional 65% chance of having at least one added risk for heart disease, diabetes and or stroke and a 50% possibility of having two or more of these as possible risk factors. Some other possible risks are high blood pressure, high blood sugar, cholesterol and blood fats that are not all curable with insulin and are considered the Metabolic Syndrome† (Lissner, 886-92). This becomes an even bigger risk when areas of fat accumulate around a person’s middle area and the organs in which the fat surrounds. Basically, people become obese by consuming more calories than should be consumed for a whole day and not using up that energy that has been consumed in calories by exerting it in a physical manner such as exercise. Some people have a fast metabolism which would be the people you see eating whatever they want and still look fit or have the average metabolism where you are what you eat, which makes it a lot harder to stay fit and lean. Exercise has also had a tremendous effect on the aging process of the body. Apparently, the increase in exercise has an enormous effect on nerve cell health and with how long those cells are alive. By maintaining these healthy cells it helps to promote the production of antioxidants which help to protect cells from damage, this is the leading cause of aging. No matter what your age is you can still benefit from exercise not only mentally but also help to prolong your ability to function later on in life. But most importantly â€Å"you will be reducing the chance of having a stroke and clotting which can result in deep vein thrombosis and death, which is more critical as we age† (Tremblay, 814-18). Keeping up a regular cardio routine is a great way to get in shape and also it helps benefit you in various prolonging ways. It is still a good idea to have weight lifting as a part of your routine too. There are six different muscle groups that you can work on with weights. You have arms, back, chest, shoulders, legs, and then abs. You want to try and keep them all worked out pretty evenly. Keeping it switched up and by not concentrating on lets just say bench press, you keep your body guessing and keep it from getting immune to the exercise. Instead of just doing bench press all the time you can switch it up to one week doing dumbbells, maybe cables the next, or maybe even just doing flat out push ups. Then you have the machine style workout which you can substitute in one week. Also, you can switch the focus point up, maybe you want to concentrate on your upper chest this week and lower or mid chest the following week. With this type of confusion, your muscles will grow much stron ger and you will notice much more of an improvement. Exercise and diet  are key factors in staying physically and mentally healthy. It is a known fact that if you look great and feel great you will live a longer and happier life. It is important to take ones age, health, and current physical activity level into consideration when writing an exercise and diet plan. There are many people out there, such as nutritionists, personal trainers, and even personal doctors, who can help develop a diet and exercise plan that is right for him/her. There are so many facilities out there to help keep you alive and healthy. Gebhardt, S.E., Matthews, R.H. (2006). Nutrition Value of Foods, United States Department of Agriculture, Human Nutrition Information Service, Home and Garden Bulletin Number 72. Lissner L., Levitsky D.A., Strupp B.J., Kalkwarf H.J., Roe D.A. (2005). Dietary fat and the regulation of energy intake in human subjects. Am J Clin Nutr, 46, 886-892. Tremblay, A., Simoneau, J., Bouchard, C. (2004). The impact of Exercise Intensity on Body Fatness and Skeletal Muscle Metabolism. Metabolism. 43(7): 814-818. MOST POPULAR ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY TOPICS OF 2017 If you need assistance with essay writing, feel free to contact our friendly support team or place an order and we will gladly help you. You can download free essay samples in PDF format from our Home Page  (Download Our Samples section).

Case study based assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Based assignment - Case Study Example Sudden herniation through the foramen magnum (back of the skull) is fatal (Kennedy, 2001). Increased ICP is defined as a sustained elevation in pressure above 20mm of Hg/cm of H20. The craniospinal cavity may be considered as a balloon. During slow increase in volume in a continuous mode, the ICP raises to a plateau level at which the increase level of CSF absorption keeps pace with the increase in volume. Intermittent expansion causes only a transient rise in ICP at first. When sufficient CSF has been absorbed to accommodate the volume the ICP returns to normal. Expansion to a critical volume does however cause persistent raise in ICP, which thereafter increases logarithmically with increasing volume. The ICP finally rises to the level of arterial pressure, which it self begins to increase (Thamburaj, 2004). Raised ICP causes arterial hypertension, bradycardia (Cushing's response) and respiratory changes. It is traditionally accepted that hypertension and bradycardia are due to ischaemia or pressure on the brainstem. There is also a suggestion that they could be due to removal of supratentorial inhibition of brainstem vasopressor centers due to cerebral ischaemia and that bradycardia is independent of the rise in blood pressure. The respiratory changes depend on the level of brainstem involved. The midbrain involvement results in Chyne-Stokes respiration. When midbrain and pons are involved, there is sustained hyperventilation. There is rapid and shallow respiration when upper medulla involvement with ataxic breathing in the final stages. Pulmonary edema seems to be due to increased sympathetic activity as a result of the effects of raised ICP on the hypothalamus, medulla or cervical spinal cord (Thamburaj, 2004). There are observable signs that point out that Joyce is indeed suffering from increased intracranial pressure. The most significant of which was the dilation of the left eye. It was revealed in the assessment data that Joyce's pupil in the left eye is greater than her right eye. This only shows that there is malfunctioning in her internal head part or within the brain, particularly in the right side of her brain. it should be noted that dilation of the eyes must be equal on both sides as a result of normal functioning inside the brain. And because the left eye's pupil is dilated more than the right eye, it can only be assumed that there is a very strong pressure inside the brain, forcing the left eye's pupil to be dilated heavily. Another significant data that shows that the patient is suffering from raised intracranial pressure is her abnormal blood pressure, body temperature and intracranial pressure rates. All of these three aspects are beyond and/or under the normal limit of an average person. Joyce's blood pressure is very low (the normal blood pressure is 110/70 - 120/80). This could only mean that there is something wrong in her blood circulation which can be affected by the electrolytes and or malfunctioning of some of her body organs, nerves and systems. Her body temperature is beyond the normal limit which is 37 degree Celsius to 37.5 degree Celsius (Dunn, 2002). Abnormal blood pressure also shows that her blood circulation and body organs are not working properly thereby affecting the production of body heat. Joyce's intracranial pressure is also high and over the limit of the normal rate. This reflects that there is an increased intracr

Discuss religion and religious freedom in Somalia Essay

Discuss religion and religious freedom in Somalia - Essay Example The paper begins by explaining the meaning of religious freedom, and then goes ahead to explain religion and religious freedom in Somalia. Freedom of religion is the individuals right or freedom to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she believes to be the best for him/her. Religious freedom, also known as the freedom of worship, allows people to freely practice their religion as long as they don’t infringe upon the rights of other people by practicing their preferred religion. Religious freedom is one of the basic human rights universally recognized. Somalia is a country found in the Horn of Africa; Somali borders Ethiopia to the West, the gulf of Eden to the north, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, and Indian Ocean to the east. Somali is predominantly a Muslim country; majority of the Muslims in Somali are Sunni Muslims, according to the Pew research conducted in 2010, 99.8% of Somali people are Muslims (Pew Research Centre, n.p). But, there are also a few other religions in Somalia, although these other religions have very few followers; Christians are minority in Somalia and they constitute less than o.1% of the Somalia population. According to the Catholic diocese of Mogadishu estimates in 2004, there were less than 200 Catholics in Somalia in the year 2004 (The economist, 22/10/2009). The Mogadishu Catholic diocese is the only Catholic diocese in Somalia. Besides Muslim and the few Christians, there are religions in Somalia. According to the Pew Research conducted in 2010, the other religions in Somalia, in cluding Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism constitute less than 0.1% of the Somalia population (Pew Research Centre, n.p). For better explanation of Somali religion and religious freedom in Somalia, it is important to briefly look at the political situation in Somalia because religion and politics in Somalia are inseparable. This is because the constitution of Somalia

Describe the scientific method of research. Identify the key Essay

Describe the scientific method of research. Identify the key components, providing examples of each. Provide support for your answer - Essay Example The research method is also objective and is conducted within strict scopes that can facilitate such objectives. This feature further identifies rules that are associated with applicable research methods and restricts a researcher’s activities and behavior. The method of research is also characterized by an empirical approach in which knowledge is developed from evidence that is analyzed towards conclusions. The communicated findings from a scientific research therefore assume a high level of validity and reliability. Further, scientific method research is â€Å"systematic and cumulative,† demonstrating a level of orderliness and interconnectivity with each other (Wimmer and Dominick 13). A scientific research for instance, relies of previous studies in its field, for review of existing knowledge towards identification of information gap and statements of the involved problem. It is also important to note that the scientific method of research offers a basis for forecas ting into future trend, based on its reliance on past data sets (Wimmer and Dominick 13). The systematic approach of scientific method of research identifies key components of the research. The first component of a scientific method of research is the research title that communicates the involved subject matter and is in most cases a summary of the entire research process. ‘Investigating significance of the social media in marketing’ is an example of title and it describes the scope of the involved research. The second component is an abstract that offers an overview of the research’s components by summarizing other components of the research. Introduction is another component of the research and includes literature review, problem statement, purpose of the research and research hypothesis or questions or both. Literature review forms the major component of the introduction and defines an analytical report on

Blastocystis Hominis and Colorectal Cancer

Blastocystis Hominis and Colorectal Cancer Blastocystis hominis (B.hominis) is the most common unicellular protozoan parasite that is found in the human gastrointestinal tract (Windsor et al. 2002). The prevalence of B. hominis in both developed and developing countries is reported to be up to 10% and 50% respectively (Wong et al. 2008; Stenzel and Boreham. 1996). On the other hand, B. hominis shows a diverse morphologies which include vacuolar, granular, amoeboid and cyst forms (Zierdt. 1988). Furthermore, B. hominis isolates from human and animals have been reported to exhibit an extensive genetic and karyotypic heterogeneity (Parkar et al. 2010; Stensvold et al. 2009; Tan et al. 2009; Dogruman-Al et al. 2009; Abe. 2004; Yoshikawa et al. 2004). Although many researchers have attempted to identify the pathogenesis of B. hominis in human hosts, however the pathogenic potential of B. hominis has remained controversial as it is present in both symptomatic and asymptomatic individual (Tan. 2008; Garcia. 2007; Tan et al. 2002). The gastrointestinal symptoms that are associated with B. hominis infection include diarrhea, vomiting, anorexia, flatulence, abdominal discomfort and other associated non-specific symptoms. To date, experiments have shown that rats that are inoculated with human B. hominis isolate have demonstrated an elevation in oxidative damage (Chandramathi et al. 2009). Many studies have been done on the genetic and molecular characterization of B. hominis isolates derived from human as well as animal. Recent molecular characterization of Blastocystis isolates suggested that there are 13 subtypes (ST1-ST13) which have been isolated from mammalian, reptilian, avian and amphibian hosts (U. Parkar et al. 2010; Stensvold et al. 2007a; Noà «l et al. 2005, 2003; Yoshikawa et al. 2004b). Recently, many studies have been done to determine the pathogenic potential of different Blastocystis subtypes in human hosts by genotypic analysis as well as molecular characterization of B. hominis isolated from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals (Dominguez-Mà ¡rquez et al. 2009; Eroglu et al. 2009; Jones et al. 2009; Hussein et al. 2008; Tan et al. 2008). Nevertheless, only limited numbers of studies have shown correlation between the different B. hominis subtypes on the pathogenesis in human hosts (Hussein et al. 2008). Infectious agents such as bacteria, virus and parasites, often have an oncogenic potential. The International Agency on Research of Cancer (IARC) has estimated that 16% of cancer worldwide is caused by infection, including parasites. However, there has been no research done on the association between B. hominis infection and colorectal cancer. A recent study has suggested that B. hominis may possess the ability to induce the growth of colorectal cancer cell lines by inhibiting the apoptotic effect of colon cancer cells. Furthermore, the antigens that are isolated from B. hominis were postulated to be able to promote the proliferation of cancer cells via down-regulation of host immune cellular responses (Chandramathi et al. 2010). In general, inflammation is activated by a variety of stimuli such as trauma, bacterial/viral/parasitic infections, endotoxemia and heating (Ley, 2001; Hart, 2002). Inflammation caused by infectious agents such as parasites will cause an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide as a consequence of cell mediated phagocyte dependent immune response (Rosen et al. 1995). A persistent and chronic inflammatory response can be detrimental to human host as it can produce a chronic damage by releasing a variety of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines which then leads to mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, neurodegenerative disorder, inflammatory bowel syndrome and atherosclerosis (Kà ¼hn et al. 1993; Perry et al. 1998; Ludewig et al. 2002; Shacter et al. 2002). Several studies have shown correlation between the inflammation that is caused by infectious agents such as parasites and the development of cancer in huma n (Fitzpatrick. 2001). Thus, it is important for us to evaluate the immunomodulation, cytopathic and cellular cytokines responses as a result of B. hominis infection especially in colorectal carcinomas. Since B. hominis is often present in most stool cultures, it is pertinent to investigate the association between B. hominis infection and the development of colorectal cancer in the gastrointestinal tract of infected host system. B. hominis isolated from an asymptomatic individual could facilitate the proliferation and growth of cancer cells and has the potential to down-regulate the host immune response (Chandramathi et al. 2010). However, only limited numbers of studies have shown the cytopathic effects and cellular cytokine responses of Blastocystis hominis infection (Puthia et al. 2008; Long et al. 2001; Walderich et al. 1998). These studies only investigated on Interleukin 8 and Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) which are pro-inflammatory cytokines. We hypothesized that B. hominis infection in human host system has a potential carcinogenic effect and could influence the growth of colorectal cancer cells especially in colorectal cancer patients and that the B. hominis subtypes may exert varying degree of pathogenecity. Therefore, in this study, the differences between the effects of solubilized antigen of B. hominis from both symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates on the cell viability in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs, which represent the immune cells) as well as colorectal cancer cell line was evaluated. Besides that, the gene expression of cytokine, apoptotic mediators, and nuclear transcriptional factors in response to the symptomatic and asymptomatic B. hominis antigen in both PBMCs and colorectal cancer cell was compared. The knowledge and understanding in the association between Blastocystis hominis infection and colorectal cancer as well as the role of various cytokines involved in the tumour progression may provide an insight into prevention and/or development of new immune-therapeutical strategies to combat colorectal cancer. OBJECTIVE The objectives of the present study are:- To study the effects of solubilized antigen of B. hominis from symptomatic and asymptomatic individual isolates on viability of both the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs, which represent the normal immune cells) as well as colorectal cancer cells (HCT 116, colorectal cancer cell line). To investigate the gene expression of cytokine, transcriptional factors and apoptotic mediators such as interleukin 6, interleukin 8, tumour necrosis factor-ÃŽ ±, interferon gamma, nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells, cathepsin B, transforming growth factor-ÃŽ ², and protein 53 upon exposure to B. hominis antigen in both the PBMCs and colorectal cancer cells MATERIALS AND METHODS Sample collection and axenization of Blastocystis hominis B. hominis was isolated from stool samples of symptomatic as well as asymptomatic individuals. The B. hominis cysts were then isolated from feacal sample using the Ficoll-Paque Technique according to Zaman and Khan (1994). The harvested cysts of B. hominis from both the symptomatic and asymptomatic individual isolates were washed in sterile phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The washed harvested cysts were cultured in Jones medium, supplemented with 10% of heat-inactivated horse serum and incubated at 37 °C in CO2 incubator (Suresh and Smith. 2004). Axenization was conducted after the isolates have been incubated for 2 to 3 days. Isolation of solubilized antigen from symptomatic and asymptomatic cultures The axenic B. hominis species were collected using Ficoll-Paque density gradient centrifugation method and the harvested parasites were resuspended in basal Jones medium without the addition of heat-inactivated horse serum. Then, the harvested organisms were lysed by sonication method and the homogenate was incubated at 4 °C, overnight. The homogenate was centrifuged at 13000xg for 15 minutes at 4 °C after the overnight incubation. The supernatant which contains the solubilized antigen of B. hominis was filter-sterilized and the protein concentration of the antigen was determined using Bradford assay (Bio-Rad, USA). Subtyping of Blastocystis isolates from symptomatic and asymptomatic cultures Genomic DNA Extraction: The genomic DNA of symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates of Blastocystis hominis were extracted from the 3 to 4 days old culture with QIAmp DNA stool mini kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturers protocol. DNA Purity and Concentration: The genomic DNA yields were estimated using measurement of absorbance at 260nm and 280nm using a spectrophotometer. The ratio of absorbance at 260nm to 280nm determines the purity of the genomic DNA yielded. According to the manufacturers protocol, the ratio of 1.7-1.9 indicates that the DNA yields are pure. PCR Typing by STS Primers: The genotype of B. hominis was determined by using PCR amplification with subtype-specific sequence tagged site (STS) primers (SB83, SB155, SB227, SB332, SB340, SB336, and SB337). The PCR reaction mixtures (20  µl of total volume) consisted of PCR buffer, 2.5 U/ µl of Taq DNA polymerase (Fermantas, SB38), 1.5 mM MgCl2, 1.25  µM of dNTPs (Fermantas, RO191), 0.5 pmol of forward primer, 0.5 pmol of reverse primer, and 1.0  µl of the DNA samples. In addition, the PCR conditions were set as follows: one cycle denaturing at 94 °C for 3 min, 30 cycles including denaturing at 94 °C for 30 seconds, annealing at 56.3 °C for 30 seconds, extending at 72 °C for 60 s, , and additional cycle with a 10 min chain elongation at 72 °C. The PCR products obtained were then electrophoresed in 1.5% agarose gel with 1X Tris-boric-EDTA (TBE) buffer. The fragments of the DNA were visualized using UV illuminator under UV light. The fragment sizes of the genomic DNA were confirmed with bands of a DNA ladder (50-1,000 bp DNA markers, Fermentas). Cultivation and collection of HCT116 Human colorectal carcinoma cell line, HCT116, was cultured in 25 cm ³ culture flask containing 5 ml of RPMI 1640 growth medium, supplemented with 5% of FBS, 2mM L-glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin-streptomycin, and 2.5 ÃŽ ¼g/ml fungizone. The HCT116 cell line was then incubated in a CO2 incubator set at 100% humidity, atmosphere containing 5% of CO2 and a temperature of 37 °C. Prior to the introduction of antigen from Blastocystis hominis isolates, the cells were harvested from the substratum of the culture flask by using 0.25% trypsin-EDTA. The harvested cells were then washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) thrice and resuspended in RPMI 1640 growth medium before introducing the solubilized antigen of Blastocystis hominis from symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates. Isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) PBMCs were collected from fresh human blood sample (12 ml) in sterile EDTA tubes. The PBMCs were then isolated from the blood sample by using Histopaque ®-1077 (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) according to the density gradient centrifugation method (Boyum. 1974). The isolated PBMCs were then washed with PBS thrice and resuspended in 5 ml of RPMI 1640 growth medium, supplemented with 10% of FBS, 2mM L-glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin-streptomycin, and 2.5 ÃŽ ¼g/ml fungizone in a 25 cm ³ culture flask prior to the introduction of solubilized antigen of Blastocystis hominis isolates. Introduction of the solubilized symptomatic and asymptomatic derived Blasto antigen into PBMCs and colorectal cancer cell line, HCT116 Harvested HCT116 cells (1 x 103 cells per well) in 100 ÃŽ ¼l of RPMI growth medium with 5% FBS and freshly isolated PBMCs (5 x 104 cells per well) in 100 ÃŽ ¼l of RPMI growth medium with 10% FBS were seeded into 96 well plates. After the overnight incubation in a CO2 incubator containing 5% CO2 at 37 °C, Blasto-antigen of B. hominis from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals at final concentration ranging from 0.001 to 10ÃŽ ¼g/ml was added to each well containing the PBMCs and HCT116 cells and were further incubated for 48 hours. Then, the cell proliferation/viability was measured using the MTT assay (Mosmann. 1983). Quantitative Real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (rtRT-PCR) Concentration of symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-antigen that yields the optimal proliferation and inhibition in the preliminary tests (MTT assay) was used to introduce into each culture flask containing PBMCs and HCT 116 cells respectively. For controls, PBS was introduced into both types of cells. After 48 hours of incubation, the RNA was isolated from the PBMCs and HCT 116 cells using Ambion RNAqueous Micro Kit (Ambion, CA, USA). The purified RNA obtained was then used to synthesize complementary DNA (cDNA) using High-Capacity RNA-to-cDNA kit (Applied Biosystems, USA) by the PCR method. Finally, Real-time reverse transcription PCR analysis was performed using inventoried primers (TaqMan ® Gene Expression Assays, Applied Biosystems). In this study, the genes of interest were IL-6, IL-8, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-ÃŽ ±), nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-ÃŽ ºB), interferon gamma (IFN-ÃŽ ³), protein 53 (p53), transforming growth factor be ta (TGF-ÃŽ ²), and cathepsin B (CTSB). The PCR reaction will be prepared according to the protocol that is generated by StepOneTM Software v2.0. Statistical Analysis In order to analyze the real-time RT-PCR gene expressions, the à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  CT value of the treated samples with symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-antigen was compared against the non-treated sample (control with PBS) using the Students t test. A P value of 0.05 was considered to be the minimum threshold of significance. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS In the present study, the symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates were genotyped by PCR amplification using the well-known seven sets of STS primers. The extracted DNA of symptomatic isolate showed positive amplification with SB83 and thus determined as subtype 1 (Yoshikawa et al. 2004). Nevertheless, the extracted DNA of asymptomatic isolate did not show any positive amplification with all the seven sets of STS primers that was used in this study. Hence, it is postulated that the asymptomatic isolate may be subtype 8 to 13 which was not amplified by the STS primers used in this study (Dominguez-Mà ¡rquez et al. 2009; Eroglu et al. 2009; Jones et al. 2009; Hussein et al. 2008; Tan et al. 2008). Molecular phylogenetic analysis need to be carried out in order to further characterized the subtype of asymptomatic isolate used in this study (Noel et al. 2005; Stensvold et al. 2007; Yoshikawa et al. 2007). In this study, the Blasto-Ag isolated from both symptomatic as well as asymptomatic isolates have caused an inhibition of PBMC cells proliferation which leads to the speculation that the Blasto-Ag may have caused apoptosis in the immune cells to prevent the propagation of immune cells to combat with the Blastocystis infection. The symptomatic isolate has caused a greater inhibition of PBMCs as compare to asymptomatic isolates. However, the Blasto-Ag mediated PBMCs cell inhibition is contrast to our previous report (Chandramathi et al. 2010). Our previous study showed that Blasto-Ag caused stimulation of PBMCs cell proliferation (Chandramathi et al. 2010). However, the molecular genotyping of the B. hominis isolates used in that study was not carried out. Past studies have reported that there may be a correlation between different B. hominis subtypes on the pathogenesis in human hosts (Dominguez-Mà ¡rquez et al. 2009; Eroglu et al. 2009; Jones et al. 2009; Hussein et al. 2008; Tan et al. 2008). This contrasting result observed in the cell viability of PBMCs may suggest the different subtypes of B. hominis may give different effects on the immune cells. Hence, further investigation is required to investigate the potential pathogenesis of different B. hominis subtypes. In the current study, increase in cell proliferation has been observed in colorectal carcinoma cell line, HCT116 cells upon exposure to antigen from symptomatic as well as asymptomatic isolates. HCT116 cells have shown significantly higher increase in cell proliferation stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag as compared to asymptomatic antigen. The increase in the cell proliferation may further suggest that Blastocystis infection could facilitate the growth of colorectal cancer cells (Chandramathi et al. 2010). It is evident from the present study that symptomatic Blasto-Ag is more pathogenic as compared to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. Hence, it may be essential to treat the Blastocystis infection in symptomatic colorectal cancer patients for better prognosis. On the other hand, a diverse pattern of cytokine, nuclear transcription factor as well as apoptotic gene expressions were observed upon the stimulation of HCT116 cells and PBMCs by symptomatic and asymptomatic derived Blasto-Ag. In the present study a noticeable up-regulation of Th1 (IFN-ÃŽ ³ and TNF-ÃŽ ±) and Th2 (IL6, IL8 and TGF-ÃŽ ²) cytokines was observed in HCT116 following exposure to symptomatic Blasto-Ag may lead to the speculation that B. hominis has activated the cellular and humoral immune responses in clearing the Blastocystis infection. This is accordance to the previous study that extracellular parasites such as B. hominis would be more effective in counteracted by a combination of Th1 and Th2 cytokines (Daugelat et al. 1996). Nevertheless, a more significant up-regulation of Th2 cytokines as compared to Th1 cytokines observed in HCT116 upon exposure to symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag may lead to the postulation that symptomatic Blasto-Ag may resulting in a Th2- dominated responses and has the potential in weakening the cellular immune response, allowing the progression and growth of an existing tumour cells. On the other hand, HCT116 exposed to symptomatic Blasto-Ag has resulted in a more noticeable up-regulation of Th2 cytokines then asymptomatic Blasto-Ag which may lead to the speculation that asymptomatic Blasto-Ag is less pathogenic than symptomatic derived Blasto-Ag. Furthermore, the up-regulation of TGF-ÃŽ ² in the colorectal cancer cells has the potential role of anti-inflammatory and resulting in host immunosuppression by inhibiting the cell mediated immune responses against the tumour cells (Zou, 2005; Seruga et al. 2008). In addition, it is widely-accepted that humoral immunity is activated by extracellular microbes such as bacteria (Romagnani, 1996). B. hominis, being an extracellular allergen, has triggered the activation of host humoral immune responses which is evident by the significant up-regulation of Th2 cytokines in the PBMCs upon exposure to symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. Moreover, this results can be supported by the recent finding which shown an elevation of IL6 and IL8 level in the monocytes of healthy volunteers exposed to Leishmania infection (Menezes et al. 2008). In spite of that, an interesting finding has been observed in PBMCs stimulated by symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag, besides activating the humoral immune responses, PBMCs exposed by Blasto-Ag has also triggered the activation of cellular mediated immune response characterized by Th1 cytokines. As described earlier, extracellular parasites may be more effective counteracted by a combination of Th1 and Th2 cytoki nes mediated immune responses (Daugelat et al. 1996). However, the activation of cellular mediated immune responses which is reflected by a significant up-regulation of TNF-ÃŽ ± and IFN-ÃŽ ³ may lead to the speculation that Blasto-Ag isolated from symptomatic as well as asymptomatic individual has the ability in causing extensive inflammatory damage in the host tissue as a result of macrophage mediated responses towards the parasitic infections. In addition, an up-regulation of NF-ÃŽ ºB and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6 and IL8 was observed in HCT116 stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag. Furthermore, these findings were also observed in PBMCs stimulated by symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. Nevertheless, HCT116 exposed to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag has exhibited an insignificant down-regulation of NF-à Ã‚ ºB gene expression which then leads to a significant lower expression in IL6 and IL8 as compared to HCT116 stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag. Although the previous reports by Chandramathi et al. 2010 has stated the potential role of asymptomatic Blasto-Ag in causing the up-regulation of NF-à Ã‚ ºB and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6 and IL8, however, the similar trend was not observed in the current study. As described earlier, different Blastocystis subtypes may have different effects on HCT116 cells as well as causing different gene expression profile in HCT116. To further characterize the gene expression profiles a s well as pathogenic potential of each subtype on HCT116 and PBMCs, more samples on different subtypes need to be recruited for the future study. Apart from this, NF-à Ã‚ ºB is also related to the apoptotic mediator genes namely p53 and CTSB. NF-à Ã‚ ºB has been postulated to play a role in inhibiting the apoptosis; hence it is hypothesized that the down-regulation of NF-à Ã‚ ºB gene expression will lead to the up-regulation of p53 and vice versa (Baldwin, 2001; Chwieralski et al. 2006). Although the recent study has suggested that CTSB may contribute to the cell apoptosis, however the studies have only reported on CTSB-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells as well as hepatocytes apoptosis in fulminant hepatic failure (Sandes et al, 2007; Yan et al. 2009). Nevertheless, the possibility of CTSB participation in the apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells has not been investigated. Moreover, there are a number of studies have shown that over expression of CTSB mRNA and elevation of its protein activity have been associated with the invasive and metastasis properties of various cancers (Campo et al. 1994; Yan et al, 1998; Hirai et al. 1999; Sanjeeva et al. 2001). The similar findings were observed in the current study where the HCT116 cells stimulated by symptomatic as well as asymptomatic Blasto-Ag have caused a significant up-regulation of CTSB. The over expression of CTSB in HCT116 cells stimulated by symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag may implicate the potential of Blasto-Ag in causing the invasive and metastasis of colorectal cancer (Campo et al. 1994; Yan et al. 1998; Dora et al. 2003). In the present study, the insignificant down-regulation of p53 gene expressions observed in PBMCs may indicates that the symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag may have prevented the PBMC cells to undergo the apoptosis process. The observation of p53 gene expressions obtained was contrary to the expectation. This may be due to the latent effects of the host immunity to down-regulate the apoptotic mediator gene in order to combat with the invasive B. hominis as well as to prevent persistent inflammation which can lead to carcinogenesis. Although the down-regulation pattern was observed, it does not causing a significant effect (0.95 and 0.96 fold decrease respectively). In contrast to PBMCs, stimulation of symptomatic Blasto-Ag in HCT116 has insignificantly down-regulated the gene expressions of p53. The insignificant down-regulation observed in HCT116 stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag may be explained that it could be the reason that HCT116 cells to have low level of NF-à Ã‚ ºB gene expression level (1.34 fold increase). Nevertheless, the down-regulation observed may further suggest that symptomatic Blasto-Ag may has enhance the proliferation and progression of existing tumour besides causing an extensive release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. On the other hand, an interesting finding was observed in HCT116 exposed to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag, instead of causing down-regulation of p53 gene expression, asymptomatic Blasto-Ag has caused an up-regulation of p53 (1.09 fold increase) in HCT116. The findings and observations obtained from the current study are still far to characterize the mechanism of the potential pathogenic role of B. hominis in PBMCs as well as HCT116 cells. However, the current study was able to give an overview of the potential pathogenesis of symptomatic and asymptomatic derived Blasto-Ag in HCT116 and PBMCs. Moreover, the findings also suggest that symptomatic derived Blasto-Ag is more pathogenic as compare to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. More studies still need to be done on the association of this emerging parasite on the association with the colorectal cancer. CONCLUSION The MTT cell proliferative assay and gene expression profile in this study has shown that the solubilized antigen isolated from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, at a particular concentration, could facilitate the proliferation and growth of colorectal carcinoma while having the ability to induce apoptosis on PBMCs immune cells. Moreover, the cell proliferative assay also successfully reported that antigen isolated from symptomatic individual is more pathogenic as compare to asymptomatic isolates, as it causes a significantly higher increase in cell proliferation of HCT116 colorectal carcinoma cell lines and a significantly higher increase in inhibition of PBMCs immune cells. Moreover, symptomatic isolate of B. hominis has exhibited a more evident increase in the gene expression of Th1 and Th2 cyokines. Hence, there is a vital need to screen colorectal cancer patients for B. hominis infection.

Nelson Mandela Essay -- essays research papers fc

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African resistance leader who received a life sentence on Robben Island for opposing apartheid. Nelson Mandela personified struggle throughout his life. He is still leading the fight against apartheid after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero. Nelson Mandela was born in a village near Umtata in the Transkei on July 18, 1918. His father was the principal councilor to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland. After his fathers death, the young Rolihlahla became the Paramount Chiefs ward to be groomed to assume high office. However, influenced by the cases that came before the Chief s court, he was determined to become a lawyer. Hearing the elders stories of his ancestors struggles during the wars of resistance gave him dreams of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people (Ngubane). 	After receiving a primary education at a local mission school, Nelson Mandela was sent to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school. He then enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree where he was elected onto the Student's Representative Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott. He went to Johannesburg where he entered politics by joining the African National Congress in 1942 (Woods). 	At the height of the Second World War, members of the African National Congress set themselves the task of transforming ANC into a mass movement. In September of 1944 they came together to form the African National Congress Youth League. Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and consistent effort and was elected to the Secretaryship of the Youth League in 1947 (Ngubane). 	By painstaking work, the ANCYL was able to get support for its policies amongst the ANC members. At the 1945 annual conference of the ANC, two of the leagues leaders, Anton Lembede and Ashby Mda, were elected onto the National Executive Committee. Two years later another Youth League leader, Oliver R. Tambo became a member of the NEC (Ngubane). 	The victory of the National Party which won the 1948 all-white elections on the platform of Apartheid, inspired ANCYL to create the Programme of Action. The Programme of ... ...onference of the ANC held inside South Africa after being banned for decades, Nelson Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organization's National Chairperson (Ngubane). 	Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to their land. He was inaugurated as State President of South Africa on May 10, 1994. 	Nelson Mandela's life symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit over man's inhumanity to man. His struggle throughout life to do away with racism exemplifies his courage and heroics. South Africa is very fortunate to have a leader of that character. Without Mandela, blacks would still be opposed and would not have equal opportunities. They would not have a proper education or have any basic human rights.   Bibliography   "Apartheid." World Book Encyclopedia. 1988 ed., vol. 1, pp. 563.   Ngubane, Jordan. "Mandela." McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography. 1987 ed., vol. 7, pp. 132-133.   Woods, Donald. Biko. New York: Paddington Press LTD, 1978.

My Grandparents

The piece of writing you are about to read is original and true. It is presented in the form of a Biography of three of my Grandparents my Dads parents (Granny Rita & Granddad) and Mums Mum (Nanny). Granny Rita My Dads Mums maiden was Mason it was given to her by her Fathers Father who was an Irish man. Her matrimonial name is Maynard her forename is Maynard I have always called her Granny Rita. Rita Mason was born in Bridgetown Barbados in January 1942. As a child, she was taught to be polite, friendly, good and helpful, this is most probably the truth as this is how she is today. Also read The Story of an Eyewitness Essay Analysis Rita Mason left Barbados for England in 1959 aged 19. She took a course as a trainee nurse and realized that it wasn't the job for her so she gave up the course. She then got a job as a home machinist and made skirts and dresses for various factories. Eventually in 1972 when my dad was about 12, she stopped making clothes as a profession and got a City ; Guilds degree in Baking and Decorating Cakes and other delicatessens by this time she had my Uncle George her second child. My Dads parents knew each other from before they left Barbados. They got Married in 1961 after my Dad was born in 1960 George was born three years later 2 years later my Auntie Margo was born. Not too long after they got married they set up shop in Walthamstow everything was alright for the few years but the business failed due to lack of experience and or knowledge. They soon got back on their feet and bought a spot in Walthamstow market near Walthamstow Central Station selling summer clothes during the warm months and winter clothes, jackets and coats during the colder months. They've been working on the market for over 16 years now and the business was going well till about late 2000 when the consumers started to drift from the market. They had another son Ricardo who was born in 1983 who was two young to experience the shop like me he has only stories and pictures to show him what it was like. The Maynard's lived in Chingford North East London bordering the London Borough of Walthamforest and the east coast region of Essex. Granddad George Maynard was born in Bridgetown Barbados May 1942, unlike Granny Rita while he worked as a supermarket clerk for 5 months in Barbados. He left his Native Barbados in 1961 with my Rita Mason (Granny Rita before marriage). On arrival in England, he went to trade school and got a degree in the sale of Merchandise and a traders licence. He then bought a spot in Petticoat lane Market. He worked there for about 3 years. After selling the spot in the market, he put a down payment on a shop front that was for sale and started to trade from it the shop was situated within close proximity to London Liverpool St. Station. He then found himself redundant, as the stock was not selling in an inner city shop he sold the shop for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½65k and bought a new van and a spot in Walthamstow Market he also bought a spot in petticoat lane for Sunday trading. By this time as I mentioned previously they had already had all there kids. They kept petticoat lane until 1993. The summer of 1992 was a bad time for us as my Uncle George was Shot dead in gang related attack he was killed round the corner from his parents home where it was thought he was running to. Coping with the death of my Uncle was hard for all of the family but Auntie Margo and Granny Rita found it harder to accept. I think that it was a lot easier for me as I had only known him for 5 years were, as they had known him for a lifetime. The reason it was so hard to over come was because he was shot nine times, while trying to escape to his parents house he was shot while jumping from a first floor balcony in a block of flats, after being shot once while he was running from his killers. He was shot once in the leg, twice in the buttock and then four times in back it was said at the time by coroners that he might of survived if he didn't get shot so many times. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the time the Ambulance and Police had arrived. My Grandparents were informed of what had happened by my mum who was told by Nan who was told by one of her church friends who had seen the incident on a News Bulletin. Thru out my Uncles final days a flock of seven white doves were seen flying around the estate several times on the morning of my Uncles last day which was Friday 15th May 1992 two of them landed one at the back and one at the front of house. The block that he was shot in had walls stained with blood as people had often been murdered in them before. There were originally six of these 16 storey blocks that towered over Chingford hall Estate. They were all eventually pulled down after most of the local residents had signed a petition to have them blown down, as they were associated with drugs, violence and murder. The estate was left felling quiet and empty but it had become a safer place to live in for adults and children new facilities were put in like a Youth Club and a Park. The demolition of the blocks led to the gangsters that used to live on the estate being driven out and then the construction 2500 new houses and flats. The sad thing about the incident was that my Uncle had to die for the council to realize what was going on in the estate, which was well known by Police also just hours before my uncle was looking after and playing with his Daughter Lekiesha aged one at the time. She looks just like him. In a spear time as a family we all go down to the cemetery and tend to my uncles grave my granddad keeps a little corner in the Garden for him which my uncle kept for himself. Nanny My Nan's life before coming to England is similar to Granny Rita's, apart from the fact that she was born in Clarendon, St. Anns Bay, Jamaica August 1942. My Nan didn't marry and still has her birth name Winifred Rose Brown. From what I've heard about my Nan as a child, she was boisterous and was climbing trees and hills. In Jamaica, my Nan was lived in St Anns Bay, which, is situated very close to Montego Bay Jamaica's second most popular region after Kingston and Spanish Town the Kingston being today's Capital Spanish town was the islands capital during the Spanish rule over 500 yrs ago. She was educated in a Jamaican school by her Uncles, Aunts and older Cousins who taught at the school, so when she got in trouble in school she got more trouble at home as my Great Grand Parents would believe the teachers so my Nan never lied about getting in trouble as it didn't make any sense. My Nan often worked my Great Grand parents land with her Brother's and Sisters. My Nan moved to London in 1960 aged 18 she lived in Sigdon Rd Stoke Newington bringing her oldest children with her, boys, Jimmy and Tony (not twins) so that they could get a better quality of life. My Great Grand parents were already here my Nan and her boys arrived. My Nan went on a baking course and passed. She started making cakes as a profession but as she had small children, she quit baking professionally and took up child minding. By now, she had had her first set of twins my mum (Sharon) and her twin Sandra. My Nan, My Great Grandparents, My Mum, My Uncles Jimmy and Tony and My Auntie Sandra moved to Evering Rd Stoke Newington. Where she had her second set of twins a boy and a girl Tracey and Keith some years later she had my uncle Stephen and then two years later she had her last set of twin's boys Brian and Barry. The house was getting a bit crowded so my Nan moved out to Well St Hackney taking her younger Children with her the oldest two Jimmy and Tony stayed with their Grandparents. When they went back to Jamaica in 1972 Jimmy ; Tony decided to go with them Tony cam back for good 2yrs later Jimmy comes over whenever he can find the time. My Nan still bakes cakes and child minds although she a 60 yr old diabetic she is still strong and healthy and makes annual trips home to her Native Jamaica. She still bakes and child minds but not as much as she used to. She also doesn't take in as much children as she used to. My Nan has 18 Grand Children in Total, in the UK 14 living 1 dead at birth, 2 in Jamaica and 1 in the US. My Nan has 9 children 8 live over here in the UK Jimmy lives in Jamaica. My Nan makes sure that the family in Jamaica stays well looked after and cared for. My Nan's Dad sadly passed away at 23:00 Jamaica Time / 4.00GMT (24hr) on Saturday 22nd November 2002. He was very sick and in his early 90's The reason I chose these three of My Grandparents was because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't I be here today. In addition, out of 6 my Grand Parents alive today these three are the closest to me and have helped me in many ways as well as because of what they've done in their lives.

Brave New World Diction Essay

Chapter 3, pages 34-35 Brave New World Diction â€Å"Main Day-shift off duty†¦.. ’I shall make a point of going,’ said Henry Foster. † In chapter 3 of Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, many things are revealed about hot the society in this novel functions. It shows more about the work that the people do and how the society functions. Huxley uses repetition and descriptive diction to provide a deeper look into the society that is shown in this passage. In one paragraph, one specific word helps to clarify the meaning of the repetition of the word â€Å"whisk†.While talking about history, the Controller states that â€Å"History is bunk† to the students. In context, bunk is taken to mean nonsense, or unimportant. It serves the authors purpose by revealing more about the society in this passage. History is irrelevant to the alphas. The word â€Å"bunk† further helps to explain the diction in the next paragraph of this passage. Th e word â€Å"whisk† is repeated twelve times in one paragraph. It is used to describe how easily history is wiped away and forgotten. It even shows that music and feelings such as passion are gone.The repetition of the word â€Å"whisk† is fundamental in illustrating how insignificant the past is to this society. The authors use of descriptive diction gives further insight about this society. The author uses words and phrases such as â€Å"tactual†, â€Å"Embryo Store†, and â€Å"Psychology Bureau† among many others. This is significant because it illustrates how technologically advanced the society in this passage is. This passage reveals that society has completely disregarded history and advanced in the scientific field.The author uses the word â€Å"forbidden† to describe poetry books and religious books such as the Bible. This further develops the society as a society where feelings evoked by poetry and religious faith are frowned upon. As this passage demonstrates, history and literature have been removed from this society. History and literature are subjects that connect people, and tie them together, but without them, this passage shows that this society is very advanced in the field of science. This society is clearly appalled by life led by their ancestors.They have effectively gotten rid of history, and any feeling that helps them make lasting connections to other people. Through the use of descriptive diction, the authors purpose of providing insight into this society is fully accomplished. The diction in this passage illustrates how dynamic the society in this novel is. This society revolves around science, and wants nothing to do with the past. This passage provides very important insight into how this society functions, and the structure of the society. The author successfully achieves his purpose through the use of repetition and expressive diction.

First Ice and First Frost Essays

First Ice and First Frost Essays First Ice and First Frost Paper First Ice and First Frost Paper These two English Translations of the Russian poem by Andrei Voznesenky are about a girl being rejected for the first time. The young girl’s feelings of hurt and rejection are described in terms of coldness throughout the poem. â€Å"The first ice of human hurt†. The theme that is put across from the poem is of growing up, and the experience of loosing someone for the first time. Both of these poems are very similar, but they have both been translated in two different styles. This helps to alter the meaning a little from the original Russian version. The titles of the two Russian poems by Andrei Voznesenky ‘First ice’ and ‘First Frost’ differ in many ways. Examples of this are the word ‘Ice’ used in the first poem, ice I hard and takes a long time to melt. This suggests to me that it will take a long time for the girl to get over the special person who has hurt them so much. The writer of this poem probably used ‘Ice’ to show what the girl was feeling inside. Whereas ‘Frost’ in the second poem is softer and doesn’t hang around for a long time, meaning it may not take as long for this person to get over there hurt and rejection from there lover. : In the first poem the phrase ‘A girl freezes’ shows how the girl has become shocked, frozen to the spot. In poem two ‘ A girl freezing’ tells us that she isn’t frozen to the spot she is just freezing. This shows how the girl in the first poem has reacted a lot worse to the news of her rejection, she has been hurt more than the girl in the second poem. In ‘First ice’ the translator uses the word ‘smeared’ to describe how the girls lipstick has ended up on her face. In ‘First frost’ the word ‘Stained’ was used this is like staining a dress, this word is used to symbolise how much pain she is going through at the time. Smeared is something you can easily remove whereas stained cannot be removed as easy and will hang around. The line ‘She’ll have to go home alone alone’ tells you that the girl is on her own and very lonely. In poem two ‘she has to beat her way home alone’ this tells me that the girl has to fight her way home through the bad weather. On the other hand, it could be a metaphor suggesting that she has to find her way through life on her own and ‘beat’ suggests that that will be hard for her. The ‘icy’ street suggests that the path in life that she now must follow will be slippery, cold, harsh and could hurt her, it will also be hard to follow and difficult; maybe because she no longer has him to help. As the poem continues, ‘First frost’ implies that in this maybe happy time in her life this has been the first hurtful and cold thing that has happened to her. It is metaphorical, it could also mean that it is her first separation and split with a man that she loves. It is like, the first ice in late autumn will destroy the flowers and plants; this conversation will destroy her feelings and hurt her harshly. The poem also says that it is ‘a beginning of losses, the first frost of telephone phrases. ’ This also shows that her boyfriend has split with her over the phone and that it could just be the first time that she has separated with someone over the phone. By repeating the words, ‘first frost’ in the next line also puts emphasis on the situation and how painful it really is for her. The last line in the poem also backs up the point that it is her first separation from a man that she loves because it says, ‘the first frost of having been hurt. ’ The poem gives the reader a feeling of loneliness on the girl’s part and that she is lost and cannot find her way down her path in life. A person phoning their partner to announce their choice to separate from them is going to be painful anyway but this seems deeper and this poem gives us the feeling that the girl is feeling great hurt. In the last two lines of the poem it makes a reference to the ‘start of winter’ which backs up the point that I made earlier which is that now that this has happened it is going to be the start of a harsh, cold and hurtful period in the girl’s life. I prefer ‘A girl freezes in a telephone both’ compared to ‘A girl is freezing in a telephone both’ in poem two. I prefer this because I feel that the word freezes symbolises how much shock she is in and how confused she is. This I feel makes you understand more about what the girl is feeling, she is shocked like when you see or hear something and you can’t believe it.

The problem to be investigated is ethical challenges and grey areas Essay

The problem to be investigated is ethical challenges and grey areas within business processes that are exploited by businesses for financial gain. Laddering, Layered investment strategy - Essay Example Once the prices escalate, the shares are sold to make profits from the gullible public. Goldman has been using this strategy to make quick money. It is ethically wrong. Business ethics are mainly principles and values that guide business strategies and decision-making processes to promote responsible behavior. Kantian ethical theory is implicit in its universalism and proposes that one must act in a manner that one would expect others to act towards oneself (Johnson, 2008). Goldman Sachs had used underhand techniques to deliberately increase the price of shares and then float the same share into the market to profit. Hence, Goldman was highly unethical and exploited the trust of the public to gain profits. Laddering It is an agreement between the client and the firm whereby the client or buyer promises to buy the shares of IPO at a higher price above the initial one so that its market shares are guaranteed to increase. This is a scam between the underwriter for the IPO and the favore d client to make money at the cost of general public. Goldman Sachs has been responsible for committing this crime with the deliberate intention of fraud. Not only has the company violated the trust and confidentiality of other clients but also its irresponsible and fraudulent behavior has resulted in the bankruptcy of the new firm whose IPO was floated. A prime example is eToys, which had gone bankrupt. Hosmer (1994) asserts that business decisions need to be constructed on the basis of economic considerations, ethical values and moral obligations to its various stakeholders. Goldman’s sole purpose was to make profit and benefit few clients thereby harming the interests of its other clients and public in general. Hence, its conduct and business practice was hugely unethical. CDO or collateralized debt obligations Collateralized debt obligations are financial instruments that are mortgage backed and, therefore, attractive to clients. The short sale and maintaining short subpr ime position considerably benefits the firm. In 2008, Goldman became a bank holding company. Though the company was brought under the regulation of Federal Reserve Bank, it also obtained easy access to funds from Federal Reserve at zero percent interest and no time limit. It started recommending CDO to its clients. The mortgage pools of CDOs were not good and were purposely chosen for their low value by the finance director, Paulson. The deal was structured by a trusted company that continued to question the validity of the mortgage pool. Goldman insured the CDOs for $11 million with AIG. The company has created false demands by buying it and then selling it in open market to make short position. When Goldman pulled out, the clients were left with $40 million of securities which had no worth. Goldman sold its insurance profits to hedge funds. Goldman’s culture was based on maximizing profit and money for themselves and their select few clients. Promising to make a person rich by forty was the critical philosophy that encouraged them to evolve innovative ways to manipulate market and cheat general public. The general culture of dishonesty and non-accountability towards their various stakeholders was an important ingredient of their work environment. Thus, values and ethics played no part in their decision-making processes. They only conformed to the legal

The Anti Fedralist Papers vs The Federalist Papers Essay

The Anti Fedralist Papers vs The Federalist Papers - Essay Example The term, Anti-federalists, catches both a connection to certain political standards and additionally remaining in favor and against patterns that were showing up in late eighteenth-century America. It will help in our understanding of who the Anti-federalists were to realize that in 1787, the saying "elected" had two implications. One was all inclusive or situated on a fundamental level and alternate was specific and particular to the American circumstance. The vital contentions energetic about it were expressed in the arrangement composed by Madison, as well as Jay as per the Federalist Papers, in spite of the fact that they were not as broadly perused as various autonomous nearby discourses and articles. The contentions against sanction showed up in different structures, by different creators, the vast majority of who utilized a pen name. Aggregately, these works for several years have been known as the Anti-Federalist Papers. The most paramount approach to peruse the professional and hostile to federalist papers is as a verbal confrontation on how the procurements of the Constitution might be translated, or "built". Those contradicting endorsement, or at any rate raising questions about it, were less contending against the sanction or something to that effect of elected constitution, as against sweeping development of procurements assigning forces to the national government, and the reactions from ace generally comprised of affirmations that the assignments of force might be developed strictly and barely. Subsequently, to win the backing of their adversaries, the star ratificationists basically needed to agree to a convention of elucidation that must be viewed as a piece of the Constitution, and that along these lines must be the support for translation today.  

Human Service Integration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Service Integration - Essay Example Funding streams and federal mandates contribute to the confront of integrating services by pulling a human service agency in diverse directions. As a result, "Ms. Jones" walks into a human service agency office a whole person and the system virtually breaks her and her family into pieces in order to serve her, consistent with the structure of most human service programs. (Reitman, 2005) Despite and perhaps because of these challenges, we know human service agencies can no longer afford not to integrate services. The lives of children and families literally rely on the extent to which human service agencies integrate services for better performance. Although service integration is well established in theory, making it an operational reality has remained elusive over the last 20 years, but not for lack of effort or creativity some agencies have made phenomenal progress toward service integration, despite complex and ever-changing political, economic, demographic, and technological conditions. One-stop shops have emerged, joint planning has been initiated, co-location of two or more service agencys staff has been implemented, standard initial screening tools and eligibility processes have been established, and the merging of data systems is ongoing in many jurisdictions. While there have been successful pilot programs over the years, there have been few broadly implemented system changes that have brought service integration pilot programs "to scale." Historically, pilot programs and studies of best practices have not been widely replicated, not because they were "bad" strategies, but rather a critical component was missing: high -performance leadership. (Atkinson, 1999) Although we traditionally associate "leadership" with the work of the chief executive, the missing component in successfully integrating services is leadership work performed throughout the agency. An agency with sufficient leadership capacity to

Most dangerous game Essay Example for Free

Most dangerous game Essay In the short story,† The Most Dangerous Game†, by Richard Connell, the author uses irony in the short story to support the theme of the book – the roles of hunter and hunted frequently reversed. In the short story, Rainsford, a big game hunter, believes that he is being persuaded by General Zaroff hunt humans with the general. However, Rainsford realizes the truth – he is going to get hunted by Zaroff, not hunting with him. â€Å"You don’t mean – â€Å"cried Rainsford. †My dear fellow,† said the general, â€Å"have I not told you I always mean what I say about hunting? †(11)is an example of situational irony because the reader didn’t expect Rainsford, the big game hunter, to become hunted . The quote supports the thesis because it shows the quick reversal of the role of hunter and hunted in the short story. This quote shows that the role of hunter and hunted are not set in stone; Rainsford realizes that he is losing a role that he had always assumed he would always have. He is big game – not a big game hunter. However, the fluidity of the roles of hunter and prey also works to Rainsford’s favor. After jumping into the ocean, Rainsford swims to Zaroff’s lair and confronts him in a duel. † I congratulate you,† He [Zaroff] said. †You have won the game. † Rainsford did not smile. †I am still a beast at bay†(15) shows the change in the roles of Zaroff and Rainsford. Rainsford infiltrated into Zaroff’s home and is now getting ready to kill the general, regardless of the fact that the â€Å"game† is over. It is what the reader least expects, thus a piece of situational irony because prey run away and get hunted down and killed by the predator Instead Rainsford becomes the hunter, and now his demands rules supreme. Zaroff was ambushed by Rainsford and is now at his mercy. He is now the prey, and the rules that he made while hunter are irrelevant. This situation was clearly different from page 11, where the general cheerfully informed Rainford that he was going to be hunted down and killed, thus supporting the thesis that the roles of the hunted and the hunter are changed around. This shows that the author used irony to show that the roles of predator and prey are interchangeable.

The Drug Policy System In Portugal Criminology Essay

The Drug Policy System In Portugal Criminology Essay In contrary to popular believe, it is not the Netherlands that has the most liberal drugs law, it is actually the Portugal. With its reputation of being the first European country to abolish all the criminal penalties for the personal possession of drugs (decriminalising) and at the same time enabling them to manage and control their drug problem effectively than every other country in the West, it is impossible to deny that Portuguese is a model for drug policy in the Europe. In this assignment, this will be discussed further in depth along with the comparisons of Portugal with the other (European) countries that has different drug policies in order to support this argument. CONTENT There are different types of drug control method used by different countries all over the world. There are the prohibition of drugs, the legalisation and finally, the systems of drug policy (such as decriminalisation, harm reduction and medicalisation). The prohibition of drugs is mainly done by countries such as Sweden, United States of America (USA) and Islamic countries where they criminalised drugs by penalising the drug user. The next method of drug control, legalisation of drugs as we speak are not yet done by any countries in the world as many are usually against this idea. However, Uruguay has proposed the legalising of marijuana in order to stop drug traffickers problem in their country (Cave, 2012). The other drug control method is a system of drug policy reform that is done by Portugal which is to be studied in this essay. This drug policy reform system consists of three aspects which are the decriminalisation of drugs, looking the drug issue in a medical perspective (medi calisation) and also harm reduction programs to lower the harm done by drug use. Some other countries that have also decriminalised drug use are as follow: Netherlands, Spain and Czech Republic, although they are being carried out differently in each country. On the 1st of July 2001, Portugal began a significant drastic policy change in its effort to reduce the escalating number of drug users and the problem related to drug use (particularly in the 1990s- which this problem was seen to worsen) in the country. The flagship of the new policy is to decriminalise the use and possession of drugs for personal use, introduced as a new law, Law 30/2000. Under this new law, the personal use and possession of drugs are made to be only administrative offenses rather than criminal offences. Portugal in the liberal drug policy coupled its decriminalisation with a public health reorientation with treatment and harm reduction put central in dealing with its drug problem. This decriminalisation also separates the drug user from the criminal justice system by identifying the drug user as patient, a health and social problem. In addition to this, the drug user will not have any criminal record for their drug offences but rather, an administrative offence. This distinguishes the drug policy from Spain where the policy is de facto decriminalisation where the drug user will still be judged by the criminal court. It is the stigmatisation that arises from conviction of criminal onto the drug user is what that Portuguese policy explicitly aims to avert. This medicalisation view at the same time is also a great measure to help the society out in order for it to develop as the effects of criminal conviction on the drug user will apparently be complicated once they are back in the soc iety such as in terms of seeking for employment and also, the loss of the drug users social esteem and friends or family (Pager, 2003). Together with that, the avoidance of stigma to the drug users will also make them more likely to seek for treatment and eventually have a better chance to succeed. In dealing with the administrative offences, each of the eighteen districts in Portugal will have at least one committee that deals only with drug use in that district ( however, larger ones will have more than one committee). In general, the committees will consist of three people; two people from the medical sector (physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, or social workers) and another with a legal background. They are also better known as the Commissions for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction (Comissà µes para a Dissuasà £o da Toxicodependà ªncia), the CDTs. People who are found in possession of drugs will be referred to the CDTs by the police. The person will then be expected to appear before the CDT within 72 hours after found by the police. The CDTs use targeted responses to drug users, including sanctions such as community service, fines, suspension of professional licences and bans on attending designated places. But their primary aim is to dissuade new drug users and to e ncourage dependent drug users to enter treatment. Towards this end they determine whether individuals are occasional or dependent drug users and then apply an appropriate sanction (Hughes and Stevens, 2007). However, the committee cannot mandate compulsory treatment, although its orientation is to induce addicts to enter and remain in treatment. Additionally, because the committees will see the users repeatedly, they would build up a relationship of trust with the addict. This kind of treatment to the drug user is more likely to succeed rather than other methods as the drug user enter the doctor-patient relationship on a voluntary basis and they are also given the choice to proceed with it or not, hence empowering them (Merril et al, 2002). This is done differently in other countries such as in Sweden, where treatment is quite inaccessible as drug users will be more likely to be given penalty for drug offences and can only undergo free treatment by applying to their local social wel fare board, but since the treatment is expensive, only a few thousands of applications are approved every year due to limited resources (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2007). In addition to its medicalisation view and the law changes done by Portugal to combat its drug use problem, harm reduction programs were also seen to be put central in their new drug policy. Drug treatment in Portugal can be classified into four main categories the outpatient drug treatment, the day care centres, the detoxification units and the therapeutic communities. All of the centre provide both psychosocial and substitution treatment. Day centres offering outpatient care and withdrawal treatment are provided by both public and non-governmental services. Inpatient psychosocial treatment mostly consists of therapeutic communities and is mainly available in private services. There is also short-term and long-term residential psychosocial drug treatment provided (The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2011). As of 2011, there are about 40 projects that deal with drug users in order to make the drug use activity safer (Vale de Andrade and Carapinha, 2010). As h arm reduction acknowledges that the drug users are in most cases unable to go on abstinence but still need to be helped, the common methods to reduce harm consists of the following: needle exchange program in order to reduce the inevitable risks commonly associated with needle sharing (such as HIV) and also, special designated injection sites with medical supervision to educate drug users the safer injection techniques and to get them off the streets. Additionally, methadone and buprenorphine  subscriptions are also used so as to help street heroin addict in reduction of their number by curbing cravings (Christie et al, 2008). This measure of harm reduction and treatments provided by the country has seen a positive outcome as there have been significant reductions in Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C for people in the treatment and also, between the year 1999 2003 there was a 17% reduction in notifications of new, drug related cases of HIV (Beagrie, 2011). The effect of decriminalising also increased the number of people going in seeking for the treatment voluntarily. The treatment will also take place faster and increase the effectiveness as the drug users do not have to wait for the long process going through law enforcements such as that in Sweden and Spain. Although the prohibition of drug possession is done through administrative regulation, rather than criminal penalties, one of the many 13 objectives of the strategy, is to increase the enforcement of laws prohibiting trafficking and distribution of drugs in Portugal (Moreira et al, 2007). Before the new drug law was introduced in 2001, the time and resources of the justice system were greatly stretched when tasked with combating drug consumption. For instance, in 2000, 7592 charges for drug consumption were made by police, putting a huge strain on the courts and prisons. One year after the policy changes, 6026 users, instead of going through the traditional route of prosecution and incarceration, were referred to dissuasion groups. This not only lessened the burden on the justice system, but also allowed the police to focus on the real criminals in the drug industry. Charges for trafficking increased by 11% when compared to the four years prior to decriminalisation (Hughes and Steven s, 2007) and the police were able to target traffickers instead of low level users. By combining decriminalisation with alternative therapeutic/educational responses to drug dependency, the burden of drug law enforcement on the overall criminal justice system is greatly reduced  (Beckley Foundation, 2012). Furthermore according to research, drug treatment is the most cost-effective way of addressing drug problem compare to imprisoning the drug user which is very expensive. Moreover, drug treatment was found to be able to cut crime by 80%, other than its ability to help the societys health by decreasing the risk of contracting drug related disease such as HIV and hepatitis. However, this policy is not effective at the moment in country like United States and Sweden as there is a severe shortage drug treatment programs provided by the countries and the fact that treatment is not made free of charge as it is done in Portugal (News Briefs, 1998). The decriminalising of drug has also been proven to diminish the size of the black market for drugs in the Portugal. This is done by stealing the consumers of the drug dealers, which are actually the real criminals here in the war against drug. The Portugal government supplied the drug substitutions for free of charge as a part of their drug treatment hence there is no demand for the drugs supplied by the dealers. As there is no more demand in the black market drug dealing, they are mostly will be out of business, therefore will eradicate them (Swan, 2012). In another argument regarding the decriminalising of drug in Portugal and the black market is that by bringing drug (replacements) into the legitimate economy, it will also ultimately separate the drugs from the black market itself. This will greatly reduce the risk by the black market dealers where hard drugs are often pushed onto buyers, who are only in to buy less dangerous drugs than promoted by the dealers. This will help a l ot in decreasing the risk of exposure on the drug users to a more dangerous drug. In essence, this will also help the removal of the gateway effect in which this undermines many arguments against the decriminalising of drugs (such as the Swedens zero tolerance for drugs) policy and shows that users will not be forced by dealers to buy cocaine, for instance, when all they want is marijuana (Herrington, 2012). Furthermore by making the drug substitutes available, it will bring to an end to the common association of drug taking and being cool or the forbidden fruit theory among the younger group. The usual use factor for drugs for them is usually peer pressure, to be accepted by others and look or feel as cool as the other youth who are also taking drugs. This is usually caused by the desire to do something different or rebel out of the norm. Therefore, by making drug replacements available, drug taking will no longer be an activity that is attractive or unordinary for them (United Nat ions Office on Drugs and Crime, 2012). Ever since this new drug policy came into place in the year 2001, numerous positive evaluations have been observed instantly regarding the drug use problem across the country. One of the primary indicators on drug use available in Portugal concerns the lifetime prevalence amongst school student. According to the statistics collected the changes in lifetime prevalence of drug use among students aged 16-18 has gone down in the year 2003 comparatively before the new policy was introduced in the year 1999. The decrease of prevalence for the number of the usage of heroin for the students is 2.5% in 1999 and 1.8% in 2003. Whereas, for cannabis it is seen to be increasing, as in 1999, the number is 9.4% and in 2003, 15.1%. These figures suggest that, while cannabis use among young people may have increased, heroin use has decreased. Although some argued that this decline is not statistically significant for Portugal, the neighbouring country, Italy however saw an increase during the same pe riod of the decline in Portugal intravenous drug use (Beckley Foundation, 2012). This just strengthened the argument that this new policy works up to a certain extent instantaneously after its introduction. Also, as desired with the substantial improvement of drug user to seek for treatment, the Portuguese authorities have recorded a reduction in the numbers of heroin users who are entering treatment for the first time. It seems that initiation into heroin use is falling, while cannabis use is rising towards the levels which are also experienced in some other European countries. This indication is supported by the pattern of referrals to the CDT (IDT, 2007) in which it was found that there is about 28% increase between the year 2001 and 2005 for the referral of cannabis drug user while for heroin a decrease of 55% was seen in terms of the referrals to the CDT. As there has been an increase in the young people appearing before CDTs for cannabis, and a decrease in those appearing for heroin the explanation for this is it is a part of the corresponding trend increase as part of the other European nations. This increase is also because of the increasing self-reported drug use due to the reduced stigma attached to the drug use compared to pre-decriminalisation (Hughes and Stevens, 2007). As more people are seeking and undergoing drug treatment, the amount of addiction was also seen to decrease and more importantly, this also enable the country to manage and reduce the harms related to drug use as Portugal has had a serious problem with the transmission of HIV and other blood borne viruses. For instance during the year 1999 Portugal had the highest rate of HIV amongst injecting drug users in the European Union (The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug, 2000). This is why the major target of the Portuguese public health approach to drug use is the harm reduction, with opiate substitution treatment and needle exchange being an important element of the Portuguese response. As a result, between the year 1999 and 2003, there was a 17% reduction in the notifications of new, drug related cases of HIV (Tavares et al, 2005). Likely for the same reasons, since 2000, there were also reductions in the numbers of tracked cases of Hepatitis C and B in treatment centres nat ionwide, despite the increasing numbers of people in treatment (Greenwald, 2009). According to Greenwald (2009) beyond the disease, the mortality rates of the drug related was also found to be decreasing as well. In absolute numbers, drug-related deaths from 2002 to 2006 for every prohibited substance have either declined significantly or remained constant compared with 2001. In 2000, for instance, the number of deaths from opiates (including heroin) was 281. That number has decreased steadily since decriminalisation, to 133 in 2006. This fact is also supported by other findings that the total drug related death in the country almost halved between the year of 1999 and 2003, which are 369 and 152, respectively. The large drop in deaths is also associated to decline in the use of heroin. This fall in deaths related to opiates (heroin) has been linked to the big increase in the numbers of heroin users who have entered substitution treatment (Tavares et al, 2005), as substitution treatment has repeatedly been found to be effective in reducing the mortality rate of th e opiate users. It is also an indication of the falling levels of heroin use (Hughes and Stevens, 2007). Unlike the Netherlands and Switzerland, the fears of drug tourism with the decriminalisation of drugs have turned out to be completely untrue as this has simply not been the case. In accordance to this, approximately 95% of people sent to CDTs were of Portuguese origin, which implies that tourists are not travelling to the country to abuse its liberal approach to narcotics (Beckley Foundation, 2012). After five years since the introduction of this new policy, both the general and the youth populations prevalence of drug use in the country are below European Union (EU) average. Also, the overall population prevalence of drug use is actually the lowest compare to the other EU nations, of below 10% as the highest is above 30% for Denmark. To make it better by and large, the usage rates for each category of drugs is found to be lower in the EU than it is in the non- EU states with a far more criminalised approach to drug usage such as the USA which has the highest level of usage for ille gal cocaine and cannabis in the world. With the USA approach to drug criminalisation that appears to cause a higher drug usage rates among Americans, and also this trend in general, appear to be worsening, contrasted with the far better rates in decriminalised Portugal. This suggests that severe criminalisation laws against drug use do not necessarily produce lower drug usage, as instead data suggest that the contradictory may be true (Greenwald, 2009). However, too liberal effort in order to combat the drug use such as the Netherlands lenient way of dealing with soft drugs policy is proven to be ineffective as well as even though they too, decriminalise drugs like Portugal, they do not actually practice and make the harm reduction and CDT programs in dealing with the drug users in its drug policy. Along with this, contrasting to Portugal, they in a way legalise the selling of certain drugs through the coffee shops hence, attracting drug tourists from all over the world. As a confir mation, the drug lifetime experience prevalence of the Dutch population is on the average, not the lowest along with the fact that Netherlands is the most crime-prone nation in Europe with most of its drug addicts live on state welfare payments and by committing crimes (World and I, 2012). Additionally, the number of drug induced deaths recorded for Netherlands is higher than that in the Portugal which is 129 in the year 2008, compare to only 94 in the Portugal (The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2011). CONCLUSION The drug policy system in Portugal is definitely a model drug policy for the Europe as can be analysed throughout the essay. Although it is liberal in its own way, it still try to reduce as much as it can the prevalence of drug use along with putting harm reduction and treatment programmes central in its war against drugs. The Portuguese policy tries to avoid the use of harsh policy such as criminalising as done in countries like Sweden and the USA as it is proven to only backfire. Other than that, it is also not as liberal as it is done in the Netherlands where, certain drug use are treated in such a lenient manner which is also proven to be ineffective comparatively to the one done by Portugal. Moreover, with the successful and positive evaluations ever since the policy was implemented in 2001 that managed to bring out a country that was once the most problematic in the EU in terms of its drug use, to the current lowest drug use overall prevalence, it is doubted why it will not wor k for the other European countries where the social-economic background is mostly similar.