Y2k Bug Essays - Calendars, Software Bugs, COBOL, Hazards

Y2k Bug David Eggleston Review of Literature 2/24/99 Teri Ferguson Y2K Bug The turn of the century is rapidly approaching. This should be a time of high hopes for the future; the United States has advanced in all sorts of technology. The United States has advanced a great deal with computers, which are able to automate many difficult jobs, calculate extravagant equations, and make life easier for most people. The computer is an amazing tool allowing the United States to excel in the world. But, computers can also be the loadstone of the United States in the year 2000. The computer bug commonly known as Y2K can cause this. Y2K will cause a computer's date registry to read ?00? in which the computer will interpret ?1900?. Many people have their own opinions about how this will effect the United States and to what degree it will be effected, if the United States will be effected at all. A writer for Time Magazine states that there are wide ranges of people that are being effected in different ways by the Y2K problem. The author describes how many people are preparing for the worst and that some of those people believe that the Biblical Armageddon will arrive in the year 2000. It was stated that the Y2K problem is just another thing to keep people entertained. This was described by how the movie industry moved from spy movies such as ?James Bond? at the end of the cold war to more sci-fi movies such as ?Godzilla? because there was no real world problem. The purpose of this article is to simply point out that there is an actual problem with the Y2K phenomenon in order to make people aware that there are dangers even if it is just in the form of doomsayers. These points of the author are strong enough and realistic enough to make the problem known to the people but does not display any idea one way or the other. A marketing organization known as Arial Marketing posted a contingency plan on the internet that gives a view that there is going to be a strong enough problem with Y2K that one must prepare for it. This argument is supported by a few quotes from officials and high-ranking people in their respective fields. Arial Marketing made this posting slanting toward the fact that there will definitely be a problem with Y2K. Arial Marketing has even posted bad and a worst case preparation table. The purpose of this site is to tell people that their will be a Y2K problem and that in order to help people prepare for a situation Eggleston 2 two. This opinion is a strong one that is well presented and cautious with the quotes from many people backing it up. In ?The Year 2000 Problem: The Year the Earth Stands Still? Written by a one Gary North, Gary North clearly argues his own opinion about the Y2K problem. He really does not support his case by any facts other than his strong determination to make sure that everyone knows his point of view. The point of view that he tends to support is one of terrible visions of the absolute worst case scenario of the Y2K problem. He does not have any other kind of opinion of anything less and is quite sure of the idea that the world will crash because of the Y2K problem. The purpose of this article is to display Gary North's opinion of the Y2K problem in order to get people to prepare for the worst. The argument that Gary North has presented is a weak one for he has only state opinionated facts and has not supported this argument with any hard evidence. In just under a year the year 2000 will arrive with many hopes but it will also arrive with a Y2K bug. This bug will definitely effect some things, and maybe effect major things. The only thing that the people can do is simply prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Many organizations and even the government of the United States are working and hacking at this problem. Many organizations are making headway and will be ready to great the new millennium; others will most

The battle of Gettysburg Essay

The battle of Gettysburg Essay The battle of Gettysburg Essay Orlando Arevalo Arevalo 1 1/24/14 The Battle of Gettysburg The American Civil War started in 1861because the Northern and Southern part of the United States fought for westward expansion and slavery. When Abe Lincoln was elected in the election of 1860, it caused seven states to secede or leave the South. Four more states joined them and left after the first shots of the Civil War. Four years of fighting took place in battles like Bull Run, Antietam, and Chancellorsville. I stopped at Chancellorsville because the next battle is Gettysburg. I will be talking about this brutal battle. The Battle of Gettysburg was the largest and most famous battle in the American Civil War. This battle took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and last approximately 3 days (July 1 through July 3 1863). It was such an influential battle that it led to the result of too who won the Civil War. Before the fight had even started, cities like Baltimore and Pittsburg were under a threat of being attacked by General Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army (Southern States). The Union and its new commander, General George G. Meade, were trying to stop the attack. June 30th, that morning, a whole bunch of Confederate troops headed toward the sweet town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The commander looked through his glasses and spotted Federal cavalry that were heading toward Gettysburg. The Confederate Army fled but would be back the following morning. The Union were also outnumbered and still managed to move the Confederates back. This was going to be a close battle. Arevalo 1 â€Å"The following morning, July 1 (start of the battle), divisions of Confederate Army were headed back to Gettysburg. They ran into Federal cavalry again. Events would quickly escalate but General Robert E. Lee fought with about 25,000 and General George Meade had less than 20,000 men.†(www.historyplace.com) The Federals and their cavalry were pushed back all throughout Gettysburg. After this, General Lee told General Ewell to take hold of high ground so that the Federals wouldn’t be able to sneak up on them. But General Ewell hesitated to perform the attack so the Union could possibly go along Cemetery Ridge and bring in reinforcements such as guns, cannons, and mortars. Instead during this time, General Meade was regrouping troops and supplies. He was able to total 100,000 men to arrive. Lee thought that his army was the best and could not loose and he was missing his cavalry which helps to see and hear during the movement of all of the opponent’s troops. â€Å" The cavalry leader had gone with his troops to harass the Federals.† So General Lee came up with a plan. The plan was to attack the Northern army’s defense position. The next morning, July 2nd, Robert E, Lee ordered General Longstreet to attack the Union’s defense position. Longstreet took so much time to gather his troops the he didn’t perform the attack until 4 p.m. â€Å"When the attack broke out, some of the harshest fighting of the Civil War had already taken place. In places like Little Round Top, Devil’s Den, and Peach Orchard. General Longstreet took over Peach Orchard but wasn’t able to go through Little Round Top because of a very observant General Warren for the Union that smelled General Longstreet’s attack plan. This fight lasted until dark and the Confederate’s were unsuccessful. Although the Union was able to hold their ground, they did lose some but managed to hold Cemetery Ridge (defense position). Arevalo 1 Both the Confederate’s and the Union regrouped and brought in more and more supplies and soldiers to fight. Although they were regrouping, the generals on both sides were planning for what they didn’t know was the last day of this historic battle. General George Meade

Health care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Health care - Essay Example The judge declared parts of Affordable Health Care Act inconsistent with the intentions of the constitution which guarantees all citizens the right to choose, therefore, according to the judge, the act was unconstitutional. In his ruling, Federal Judge Henry Hudson hinged his judgment on whether the government the mandate to force every individual citizen to purchase health insurance. Based on this opinion, the federal judge rejected the government's argument that to purchase health insurance was a form of tax. The judge noted that in putting in place the Affordable Health Care Act, the act’s regulatory scheme was conceived as an application of Commerce Clause powers. The federal judge rejected any attempt to stretch the Commerce Clause in order to allow the government mandate the insurance purchases, claiming that such a move would open the gate to unrestrained federal power. For the federal government’s penalty due to noncompliance to be effective under the law, the j udge opines that it must aim to affect a legitimate exercise of the Commerce Clause. Further, Federal Judge Henry Hudson sees the Affordable Health Care Act being about more that the issue of designing a scheme of universal health insurance coverage or regulation of insurance business. According to the judge, the core of the matter is an individual's right to choose to take part in the scheme. Support his stand, the federal judge notes that the Constitution had given congress specific powers. Therefore, the judge claims that power that the constitution does not give the federal government is reserved to the states while those not outlawed are reserved to the citizens. Even as Federal Judge Henry Hudson declared the Affordable Health Care Act unconstitutional, Judge George Caram Steeh found the act constitutional in the ruling of the Thomas More Law Center v. Obama case in which the judge gave an order denying plaintiff’s motion. In his opinion, Judge Steeh noted that a refusa l to get insurance amounted to an example of an activity that affect interstate commerce to a large extend. According to the judge, those who selects not to get insurance cover have in effect, made an active decision to pay for their medical expenses from their pockets. This decision, the judge added, had an impact on taxpayers, health care providers, and the insured citizens who will have to foot the bill for those who do not take insurance cover. Further, Judge Steeh claim although the matter on constitutionality of the Affordable Health Care Act presented an issue of first impression, there was a rational ground to make conclusions that decisions not to take insurance cover increased the cost of coverage, therefore affecting interstate commerce. From the point of views presented by Federal Judge Henry Hudson and judge Steeh, it is my opinion that Federal Judge Henry Hudson presents a better argument. The government should recognize its citizen’s right of choice. To penaliz e those that do not take the insurance cover is paramount to dictating to them the kind of medicine they should take when they get sick. People have the right to decide the kind of treatment they need and at what time. Although it is a noble effort that would guarantee medical service to many deserving citizens, the federal government, through the Affordable Health Care Act has no legal right to force citizens to take medical cover. If the

The Life of David Gale Death Penalty Movie Review

The Life of David Gale Death Penalty - Movie Review Example Proven perpetrators of heinous crimes should be tried in court exhaustively, and when truly found guilty – complete with all the circumstantial evidence to boot – should be convicted relative to the degree of the crime they committed. If a person is found guilty of murder, rape, kidnapping, torture and other similar crimes which could be categorized as â€Å"inhuman†, then immediately, he/she should be sent to the death penalty straight away. Otherwise, if there is some doubt to his/her personal involvement and/or active participation, then it should be lowered to a life imprisonment or a similar long-term prison sentence. David Gale’s arguments are as follows: 1) capital punishment is not a deterrent to the commission of crimes; 2) there is a sprouting of â€Å"phony ‘expert’ testimony† for the convicted felons; 3) it is possible to condemn/convict innocent men; 4) and a flawed justice system, among others, which are agreeable to a certain point. Yes, there is no proof that shows that death as punishment stops crime or the offenders. However, there is still that possibility that actually carrying out capital punishment can somehow instill fear among potential criminals and their devious plans. Fake testimonies are also achievable, and can lead to innocent people being incarcerated, but at the end of the day, this is still a subjective argument. Likewise, there are jurors and judges who could be bought or manipulated, hence, the final verdict can actually be flawed. Still, it all boils down to the right people being placed as part of the jury and how objective they can reall y be. The choice is still done by the judges themselves with a strict screening procedure so if the verdict is faulty, then perhaps, the people who did the selection are themselves unsound with their assessment. As a pro-Death Penalty activist, I would defend my standpoint by stating that even if human life is precious, as being asserted by the con-Death supporters or Abolitionists, it is something which was not respected by the crime offenders, hence, they no longer deserve to be given significance or distinctive worth. The flaws in the justice system cannot be avoided because no system can ever be perfect. The action taken by David Gale in orchestrating the death of Constance was a truly extreme act of proving his point to the Governor of Texas when he had this live interview pertaining to the numerous executions in the locality. Gale was somehow challenged by what the governor stated during this event â€Å"name one innocent man that Texas has put to death in my tenure†. I t is something that not every man can do or attempt to do – which is also related to the class lecture Gale delivered – stating that life should be measured â€Å"not by what you’ve attained in terms of your desires, but those small moments of integrity, compassion, rationality, even self-sacrifice.† Self-sacrifice was the goal taken by both Constance and Gale in order to underscore the advocacy they were fighting for. Gale’s perspective is truly an idealistic way of looking at life, and this, he pushes to the ultimate when he fakes the death of

Write a discution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Write a discution - Essay Example tough environment to retain or get the right skilled employees, and it is for this reason, that organizations are continuously seeking for the best skills in their HR teams. My experience in HR has been great; the feeling of identifying and managing talent has been the best and on top of my professional goals. I always feel proud to create a connection between the employees and management. I agree with you on the point that the most important resource an organization has are its employees. Therefore, having a good management system to attract and retain skilled employees really improves the performance of the organization. Finally, helping the employees get benefits and rewards for their efforts, while at the same time proving to the management that the organization is performing at its optimum point is an important task for the HR. I agree with you on the role of HR towards the employees. They should be able to address employee issues, and create a conducive environment that will allow the employees improve their performance. A happy employee is a positive sign towards a company’s performance and the HR should always be responsible in ensuring the employees are happy and

Effects of Fungicide Iprodione and Nitrification Inhibitor

Effects of Fungicide Iprodione and Nitrification Inhibitor Effects of fungicide iprodione and nitrification inhibitor 3, 4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate on soil enzyme and bacterial properties Manyun Zhang a, b, à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ªÃƒ ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ , Weijin Wang a, c, Yaling Zhang a, Ying Teng b, à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ªÃƒ ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ , Zhihong Xu a, à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ªÃƒ ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  a Environmental Futures Research Institute, School of Natural Sciences, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia b Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China c Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Dutton Park, Queensland 4102, Australia Abstract Agrochemical applications may have unintended detrimental effects on soil bacteria and soil health. However, limited studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of repeated fungicide applications and interactive effects of different agrochemical applications on soil bacteria. In this study, an incubation experiment was established to evaluate the potential influences of fungicide iprodione and nitrification inhibitor 3, 4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) on soil enzyme and bacterial properties. Weekly iprodione applications decreased the activities of all enzymes tested, and single DMPP addition inhibited soil ÃŽ ²-glucosidase and urease activities. Compared with the blank control, bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance significantly decreased following repeated iprodione applications, but increased after DMPP application. After 28 days of incubation, the treatment of iprodione and DMPP applications had higher bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance than the counterpart with i prodione applications alone, and the similar trends were also observed in the Shannon index. Repeated iprodione applications significantlyincreased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, but decreased the relative abundances of Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria. The combined applications of iprodione and DMPP increased the number of members of Gaiellaceae, Microbacteriaceae, Nocardioidaceae and Methylobacteriaceae. Simultaneously, bacterial community structure was significantly changed by repeated iprodione applications, alone or together with the DMPP. These results showed that repeated iprodione applications exerted negative effects on soil enzyme activities, bacterial biomass and community diversity. Moreover, relative to iprodione applications alone, extra DMPP application had the potential to alleviate the toxic effects of iprodione on soil bacterial biomass and community diversity. Keywords: agrochemicals; soil enzyme; 16S rRNA gene; bacterial community diversity and structure Introduction Fungicides play important roles in ensuring the crop quality and yield in modern agriculture (Maltby et al., 2009; Sabatier et al., 2014). The infections and phytopathies caused by fungi are the major problems and threats in agricultural production, which leads to the intensification in applications of fungicidal agrochemicals (OMaille, 2015). Previous research has shown that in some developing countries, fungicide application dosages were as high as 8 kg ha-1 y-1 (Liu et al., 2015). Iprodione, as a broad-spectrum fungicide, has been widely used in the intensive agriculture to control phytopathies of cash crops, and iprodione residuals have already been detected in water (Goewie et al., 1985; Sauret et al., 2006), soils (Leistra and Arrià «nne, 2004) and vegetable and fruit (Picà ³ et al., 2004; Juanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Garcà ­a et al., 2005; Angioni et al., 2012). According to a report of the Pesticide Data Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2014), the detected amount of iprodion e was the highest among all agrochemicals, and iprodione was the only fungicide detected in baby food. Besides the crop phytopathies caused by fungal pathogens, the lower utilization efficiency of nitrogen (N) fertilizer and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission are also worldwide problems in agricultural production (Clough et al., 2007; Menà ©ndez et al., 2012). As a result, nitrification inhibitors are sometimes applied to enhance the utilization efficiency of N fertilizer. The most widely used nitrification inhibitor in recent years is 3, 4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) (Menà ©ndez et al., 2012; Florio et al., 2014). The fungicide iprodione and nitrification inhibitor DMPP may be simultaneously applied into soils in some circumstances. Fungicides are designed to control fungal pathogens, but their lethal effects are not constrained to fungi only (Duah-Yentumi and Johnson, 1986; Muà ±oz-Leoz et al., 2011; Schnug et al., 2015). Once entering into agricultural soil, fungicides and their degradation metabolites may have detrimental effects on soil bacteria and, hence, the overall soil environment. There have been increasing research interests in the impacts of iprodione on environmental safety (Leistra and Matser, 2004; Verdenelli et al., 2012; Morales et al., 2013), because the iprodione is widely applied into agricultural soils at high dosages. Previous studies generally focused on the impacts of a single iprodione application, whereas few studies paid attention to the effects of repeated iprodione applications which occurs in intensively managed cropping systems. Furthermore, iprodione and other agrochemicals (such as DMPP) may be applied into agriculture soils simultaneously. To the best of our knowledge, few stud ies have been conducted to evaluate the interactive effects of different agrochemicals. Researches are, therefore, required to better understand the effects of combined iprodione and DMPP applications on soil bacterial properties. In this study, the iprodione and DMPP were applied into an agricultural soil. Soil enzyme activity, bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance and bacterial community structure were determined. The main objectives were to (1) assess the effects of iprodione and DMPP on soil enzyme activities; (2) evaluate the impacts of agrochemicals on soil bacterial biomass via determining bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance; (3) reveal the responses of soil bacteria at different taxa to the agrochemical applications; and (4) compare the potential impacts of iprodione and DMPP applications on soil bacterial community structure. This study will improve our current understanding of the ecological risks of iprodione and DMPP applications, alone or together, on soil nutrient cycling and bacterial properties. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. The chemicals and soil samples A commercial wettable powder formulation of iprodione (Bayer Crop Science, Hangzhou, China) and a chemical reagent DMPP (purity > 97.0%; CIVI-CHEM, Shanghai, China) were used for soil treatments. Soil samples were taken from a farmland (36.78†² N, 118.67†² E) located in Shandong Province, China. The surface soil (0-20 cm) was collected, air-dried at room temperature, mixed thoroughly and sieved (< 2 mm) prior to use. The selected physical and chemical properties of the soil were as follows: sand (50-2000 ÃŽ ¼m), 31.4  ± 1.4%; silt (2-50 ÃŽ ¼m), 36.9  ± 0.8%;   clay (< 2 ÃŽ ¼m), 31.7  ± 0.6%; soil pH (in water), 7.19  ± 0.05; organic carbon (C) content, 10.0  ± 0.1 g kg-1; total N content, 0.93  ± 0.01 g kg-1; Olsen-P, 28.8  ± 0.2 mg kg-1;   NH4OAc-K, 69.9  ± 1.5 mg kg-1; cationic exchange capacity,   16.9  ± 0.4 cmol kg-1. All treatments were added with urea at 200 mg N kg-1 dry soil before the iprodione or DMPP application so that enough substrate ( NH4+-N) was available for soil nitrification (DMPP is generally applied with the urea in agriculture). 2.2. Experimental design Four treatments were used in this study: Treatment 1 (CK), without any iprodione or DMPP applications; Treatment 2 (IPR), weekly iprodione applications at 1.5 mg kg-1 dry soil (the frequency followed the instructions); Treatment 3 (DAA), nitrification inhibitor DMPP application at 2 mg kg-1 dry soil (equivalent to 1% of applied urea-N) at commencement; and Treatment 4 (I+D), weekly iprodione and initial DMPP applications as described in treatments 2 and 3. Each treatment was prepared in triplicates. The chemicals were dissolved in double distilled H2O (ddH2O) and then applied into the test soil. Sixty glass bottles (4 treatments 5 sampling time 3 replications) were filled with the treated soil at 150 g dry weight per bottle. Soil moisture was adjusted to 60% of the water holding capacity and was maintained by the additions of ddH2O. The soil samples were then incubated at 28  °C in the dark, and after 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of incubation, soil samples were collected after mixin g thoroughly in each bottle for analyses of soil enzyme and bacterial properties. 2.3. Soil enzyme activity and geometric mean of assayed enzymes activities Soil ÃŽ ²-glucosidase activity was determined using a soil enzyme assay kit (Catalogue No. HK000218, Toyongbio Company, Shanhai, China). The analytical method was based on that soil ÃŽ ²-glucosidase can hydrolyze p-nitrophenyl-ÃŽ ²-D-glucoside to generate p-nitrophenol. The determination method followed the manufacturers protocol, after treated with toluene, soil samples were incubated with the p-nitrophenyl-ÃŽ ²-d-glucoside and citrate-phosphate buffer (pH = 6.0) for 1 h at 37  °C. The reaction product (p-nitrophenol) concentration was determined with a spectrophotometer at 410 nm, and the results were expressed as ÃŽ ¼g p-nitrophenol g-1 dry soil d-1. Soil urease and phosphatase (acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase) activities were determined with the commercially available quantitative analytical kits (Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute, Nanjing, China). In the analytical kit of soil urease (Catalogue No. T017), urea was used as the substrate that can be hydrolyzed by soil urease to generate NH 4+-N. Prior to the urease determination, the test soils were treated with the toluene, and then they were incubation with the urea and citrate buffer (pH = 6.7) for 24 h at 37  °C. The concentration of NH4+-N generated from urea hydrolysis was determined via the indophenol blue method, and soil urease activity was expressed as ÃŽ ¼g NH 4+-N g-1 dry soil d-1. Soil phosphatase activity was determined with disodium phenyl phosphate as the enzyme reaction substrate. Soil phosphatase could hydrolyze the disodium phenyl phosphate at different pH conditions, and in the analytical kits of soil phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase (Catalogue No. T008 and T009), the buffers were acetate buffer (pH = 5) and borate buffer (pH = 9.4), respectively.   After 24 h of incubation at 37  °C, enzyme actions were terminated, and released phenol was determined at 660 nm. Soil phosphatase activities were expressed as ÃŽ ¼g phenol g-1 dry soil d-1. Soil arylsulphatase activity was determined according to the method of Floch et al. (2009) with minor modifications. P-nitrophenyl-sulfate was used as the reaction substrate, and the buffer was 0.5 M acetate (pH = 5.8). After 1 h of incubation, the reaction was halted by the additions of 0.5 M CaCl2 and 1 M NaOH, and the p-nitrophenol concentration was measured with a spectrophotometer at 410 nm. The soil arylsulphatase activity was expressed as ÃŽ ¼g p-nitrophenol g-1 dry soil d-1. The geometric mean of assayed enzymes activities (GMEA) was calculated to integrate data from variables that have different units and variation range. The calculations were made by following Hinojosa et al. (2004). where Glu, Ure, AcP, AlP and Ary were soil ÃŽ ²-glucosidase, urease, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and arylsulfatase activities, respectively. 2.4. Soil DNA extraction and real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) The genomic DNA of soil samples was extracted from approximately 0.5 g of soil with a Fast DNA SPIN Kit for Soil (MP Biomedicals, Cleveland, OH, USA). Soil bacterial biomass was revealed via determining bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance, and qPCR was performed to assess bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance with the universal primers 515F (5-GTGCCAGCMGCCGCGG-3) and 907R (5-CCGTCAATTCMTTTRAGTTT-3). The standard curve of qPCR was obtained by performing serial dilutions of the plasmid containing bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Each qPCR reaction was prepared in a 20.0 ÃŽ ¼L of solution consisting of 10.0 ÃŽ ¼L of SYBR ® Premix Ex Taqâ„ ¢ (TaKaRa Biotech, Dalian, China), 7.6 ÃŽ ¼L of sterile ddH2O, 2.0 ÃŽ ¼L of soil template DNA and 0.4 ÃŽ ¼L of universal primers. The thermocycling conditions were as follows: 95  °C for 3 min, followed by 45 cycles at 95  °C for 10 s, 56  °C for 30 s, 72  °C for 30 s, and then plate reading. The melting curve analyses were conducted by gradually heatin g the PCR mixtures from 65  °C to 95  °C with the determination of SYBR green signal. Negative control was run with sterile ddH2O as the template. After testing the diluted soil DNA suspension, there were no inhibitions detected for the qPCR, and the amplification efficiency of the target gene was 114.52%, with R2 > 0.995. 2.5. The Illumina MiSeq and sequenced data analysis At the end of incubation, soil bacterial community was also analyzed with the Illumina MiSeq platform. After amplifying the V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene with the primers 515F/907R, the PCR products were purified and then subjected to the Illumina Miseq platform (Majorbio Bio-Pharm Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China) to sequence nucleic acid bases of PCR products. The raw reads were de-multiplexed and filtered via the QIIME (version 1.17) with reference to the following standards: (1) The approximately 300 bp reads were truncated at the end side, receiving an average quality score of < 20 over a 10 bp sliding window, and shorter sequence reads (truncated length < 50 bp) were discarded; (2) raw reads with vague bases were discarded; and (3) only sequences with > 10 bp overlap were assembled with reference to the overlapped sequences, and the unassembled reads were unwanted. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were clustered within a 0.03 difference via the UPARSE (version 7.1 http://drive5.com/uparse/) for assessing community richness (Ace and Chao1 richness estimators) and community diversity (Shannon and Simpson indices). The richness estimators Ace and Chao1 were nonparametric and abundance-based estimators, which could predict the true value of taxa based on the proportion of rare taxa in a sample and were suitable for community richness ana lysis (Sogin et al., 2006; Gihring et al., 2012). The Shannon and Simpson indices were used for heterogeneity assessment, and the main difference between them was in the calculation method of taxa abundance. 2.6. Statistical analysis Two-way analysis of variance was conducted to detect significant differences among treatments, sampling times and their interactions, and Duncans multiple range test was used to compare statistical significances (P < 0.05) of the means among different treatments at each sampling time and among different incubation time in a specific treatment. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) method (http://huttenhower.sph.harvard.edu/galaxy/root) was employed to reveal biomarkers of soil bacteria among the treatments. The sequencing data were further processed to assess similarities and discrepancies of the whole bacterial community structure among different treatments using the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA). 3. Results 3.1. Soil enzyme activities and GMEA Soil enzyme activities were significantly affected by the treatments, but the interactions between treatments and sampling time were not significant for the ÃŽ ²-glucosidase and alkaline phosphatase activities (Table S1). The ÃŽ ²-glucosidase, urease and arylsulfatase activities in the CK treatment increased significantly during the first 7 days of incubation (P < 0.05, Fig. 1). By the end of the incubation, the soil enzyme activity in the CK treatment rose from 1004  ± 51 to 1278  ± 133 ÃŽ ¼g p-nitrophenol g-1 dry soil d-1 for ÃŽ ²-glucosidase, from 60.9  ± 4.9 to 323.0  ± 19.6 ÃŽ ¼g NH4+-N g-1 dry soil d-1 for urease, from 698  ± 129 to 802    ± 76 ÃŽ ¼g phenol g-1 dry soil d-1 for acid phosphatase, from 2.21  ± 0.12 to 2.23  ± 0.13 ÃŽ ¼g phenol g-1 dry soil d-1 for alkaline phosphatase, and   from 20.9  ± 2.7 to 28.8  ± 2.3 ÃŽ ¼g p-nitrophenol g-1 dry soil h-1 for sulphatase. After 7 days of incubation, there were no significant differences in soil enzyme a ctivities between IPR and CK treatments, with the exception of acid phosphatase activity. However, soil enzyme activities in the IPR treatment decreased after repeated iprodione applications. DMPP application had no significant effects on phosphatase and arylsulphatase activities during the whole incubation period, but ÃŽ ²-glucosidase and urease activities were consistently inhibited by the DMPP application (89.8% and 76.5% % of the control after 28 days of incubation, respectively). It is interesting to note that, after 28 days of incubation, the activities of soil enzymes in the I+D treatment tended to be higher than those in the IPR treatment (Fig. 1). As shown in Table 1, the GMEA in the CK treatment increased significantly during the first week and remained relatively stable during the following three weeks of incubation. However, compared with the CK treatment, the GMEA was negatively affected by repeated iprodione applications, and the GMEA in the DAA treatment also tended to be lower than their counterparts from 7 days to the end of the incubation (88.9% of the control after 28 days of incubation). Consistent with the trend presented in Fig.1, the GMEA in the I+D treatment was significantly higher than its IPR counterpart after 28 days of incubation (P < 0.05). 3.2. Soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundances Both the treatments and sampling time could significantly affect soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundances (Table S1). The gene abundances in the CK treatment increased from 3.89-109 to 1.64-1010 copies g-1 during the 28 days of incubation (Fig. 2). A single iprodione application generated negligible effect on soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance after 7 days, but repeated iprodione applications significantly (P < 0.05) decreased soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance, relative to the CK treatment. At the end of the experiment, the bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance in the IPR treatment was 6.55-109 copies g-1 dry soil, which was the lowest of the four treatments. The gene abundances in the DAA treatment tended to be higher than those in the CK treatment, especially from 14 days onwards. Relative to the iprodione applications alone, extra DMPP application at the commencement increased the gene abundances, after 28 days of incubation, bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance in the I+D treatm ent was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that from the IPR treatment. 3.3. Soil bacterial community diversity A total of 624067 raw sequences (> 200 bp) was obtained from the four treatments, and the average length of valid sequences was 396.71. The similarities and differences among OTUs of the four treatments were demonstrated in a four-set Venn diagram (Fig. 3). The unique OTUs were 12, 16, 13 and 22 for the CK, IPR, DAA and I+D treatments, respectively, and the four treatments shared 1653 OTUs. After 28 days of incubation, the Ace and Chao1 estimators, and Shannon index of the CK treatments were 1863  ± 37, 1853  ± 24 and 5.55  ± 0.15, respectively (Table 2). The IPR treatment had the lowest estimator Chao1 (1772  ± 17) and Shannon index (5.40  ± 0.05) among the four treatments, while the I+D had the highest estimator Chao1 and Shannon index. The Simpson index showed no significant differences among the four treatments. Relative to the CK treatment, DMPP application did not exert adverse effects on richness estimators and diversity indices, and DMPP applications had the potential to increase the Shannon indices. 3.4. Soil bacterial community structure The OTUs could be assigned into 11 predominant phyla which were in the following ranking orders: Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Nitrospirae, Saccharibacteria and Verrucomicrobia, and the relative abundances of these phyla varied among the different treatments (Fig. 4A). The phylum Proteobacteria was the most abundant, comprising approximately 37.2%, 45.9%, 36.4% and 39.8% OTUs for the CK, IPR, DAA and I+D treatments, respectively. The phylum Actinobacteria was the second most abundant, and the proportions varied from 14.5% to 21.9%. There were no significant differences of relative abundances across all the predominant phyla between the CK and DAA treatments (Fig. 4B). However, compared with the CK treatment, repeated iprodione applications significantly (P < 0.05) increased the relative abundance of phylum Proteobacteria, but decreased the relative abundances of Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria. A t the genus level, the genera Micromonospora, Gemmatimonas, Haliangium and Bacillus accounted for large proportions in the twelve soil samples (Fig. 5). 3.5. Comparison of bacterial community structure LEfSe analysis demonstrated that there were significant associations among predominant bacterial taxa in the four treatments (Fig. 6). The predominant bacterial taxa were the Opitutaceae and Xanthomonadales families in the CK treatment, the Xanthomonadaceae, Erythrobacteraceae, Sphingomonadaceae Sphingomonadales and Rhodocyclaceae families in the IPR treatment, the Streptomycetales Order and the Gemmatimonaceae and Cytophagaceae families in the DAA treatment and the Gaiellaceae, Microbacteriaceae, Nocardioidaceae, and Methylobacteriaceae families in the I+D treatment. The results of LEfSe analysis further revealed that, consistent with the relative abundances shown in Fig. 4, the phylum Protebacteria increased following iprodione applications. A two-dimensional PCoA plot of bacterial community structure explained 68.2% of the total variance, with the PCoA1 having a greater power of separation (accounting for 57.7%). The two-dimensional PCoA demonstrated that the treatments without iprodione applications (CK and DAA treatments) resulted in a shift to the left along PCoA1 (Fig. 7A). There was no significant difference in the PCoA values (both PCoA1 and PCoA2) between the CK and DAA treatments, and this suggested that soil bacterial community structure was not significantly altered by the DMPP application. However, iprodione applications alone (IPR) or together with the DMPP (I+D), shifted the bacterial community to the right side along PCoA1. The IPR and I+D treatments were located in the opposite directions of the origin, with the I+D treatment having lower PCoA2 values. Consistent with the trends presented in the PCoA plot, four clusters could be grouped for these twelve soil samples (Fig. 7B): Cluster 1 contained the samp les of the DAA treatment, CK_1 and CK_2, but the CK_3 sample alone was classified into Cluster 2; Cluster 3 consisted of the samples of I+D treatment, and the samples of IPR treatment were all grouped in Cluster 4. 4. Discussion 4.1. Effects of iprodione applications on soil enzyme and bacteria As a soil xenobiotic, the fungicide iprodione displayed toxicity to soil bacteria on various aspects including the activity, biomass and community diversity (Duah-Yentumi and Johnson, 1986; Verdenelli et al., 2012). Previous researches have also revealed that the principal degradation metabolite 3, 5-dichloroanniline is more biologically toxic and stable than its parent compound iprodione (Athiel et al., 1995). Consequently, both the fungicide and its degradation metabolites have the potential to inhibit the non-target bacteria. On the other hand, the broad-spectrum fungicide could inhibit the flourish of fungi, which can also exhibit the indirect impacts on soil bacteria community (Muà ±oz-Leoz et al., 2011; Verdenelli et al., 2012). The ÃŽ ²-glucosidase, urease, phosphatase, and arylsulfatase are essential in the cycling of C, N, P and S in soil, respectively (Muà ±oz-Leoz et al., 2011). The activities of these enzymes tended to decline after repeated iprodione applications, highlighting the severe impacts of repeated iprodione applications and perhaps the accumulations of its metabolites on soil nutrient cycling. The fungicides could negatively affect soil enzyme activities as a result of: (1) directly reducing the biomass of soil microbes that produce enzymes, (2) competing for the active sites of enzymes with substrates, (3) decreasing the substrate bio-availability through the reaction with substrates, and (4) reacting with the enzyme-substrate complexes (Wang et al., 2009). In the IPR treatment, soil enzyme activities and bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundances decreased concurrently. We postulated that the declines of soil bacterial biomass caused by iprodione applications might have resulted in the decreases of soil enzyme activity. Soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene (both the abundance and community diversity) has been used as an important ecophysiological index for assessing soil contamination (Sipilà ¤ et al., 2008; Bell et al., 2014). In this study, soil bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance was not significantly affected by the first iprodione application, but decreased with repeated iprodione applications (Fig. 2). The result was consistent with earlier finding of Duah-Yentumi and Johnson (1986) that the impacts of iprodione on soil microbial biomass differed between single and repeated applications. The reasons for these phenomena might be that accumulations of the fungicides and perhaps their degradation products following repeated application increased its eco-toxicity (Trabue et al., 2001; Zhang et al., 2016). Direct measurement of soil bacterial community could reveal shifts in the diversity due to fungicide applications, which might not be detectable by measuring overall bacterial activities and biomass (Lupwayi et al., 2009). Repeated iprodione applications resulted in consistent reductions in the values of bacterial alpha diversity (Table 2). The result was in agreement with the finding of Verdenelli et al. (2012) that iprodione application had significantly negative impacts on microbial community diversity in both agricultural and grassland soils. Moreover, repeated iprodione applications led to declines in the relative abundances of phyla Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria (Fig. 4). The Chloroflexi is associated with the second step of soil nitrification and plays key roles in soil N cycling (Sorokin et al., 2012). As decomposers in soil environment, Acidobacteria could degrade torganic matters derived from plants and soil animals, maintaining soil nutrient cycling and energy flow (Ward e t al., 2009). These changes in the relative abundances of functional bacteria indicated that iprodione applications might slow down soil organic matter turnover and soil nitrification.In this study, we found that repeated iprodione applications, alone or together with the DMPP, caused significant changes in the soil bacterial community structure. In contrast, Wang et al. (2004) showed that a single iprodione application at lower dosage was not detrimental to the soil bacterial community. Given that iprodione was often repeatedly applied at high dosages in intensive agricultural systems, shifts in bacterial community as observed in this study could lead to a series of alternations in soil microbial communities and soil C and nutrient cycling. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the long-term ecotoxic effects caused by repeated applications. 4.2. Effects of DMPP application on soil enzyme activities and bacteria Compared with the CK treatment, DMPP application resulted in significantly lower soil urease activity, (Fig. 1), which was largely responsible for the decline in GMEA in the DAA treatment. It is interesting to note that soil ÃŽ ²-glucosidase, as a proxy for soil organic matter mineralization capacity, was also negatively affected by the DMPP application. Maienza et al. (2014) revealed that DMPP application had adverse impacts on the growth of soil heterotrophic bacteria and fungi. All these results suggested that DMPP might have the potential to slow down soil organic matter decompositions, and this could get supports from previous research results that DMPP could reduce soil carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions (Weiske et al., 2001; Maris et al., 2015). The LEfSe analysis revealed that Gemmatimonadetes and Cytophagia families increased following DMPP application (Fig. 6). The Gemmatimonadetes containing photosynthesis genes could assimilate CO2 into organic material via phototrophic pathway and transform solar radiation into metabolic energy, which plays an important role in the increase of soil organic matter content (Zeng et al., 2014). Some strains of the Cytophagaceae family have the nifH gene and have the potential to increase soil N content by biological N fixation (Xu et al., 2014). Dong et al. (2013b) also reported that DMPP application could significantly increase soil nifH gene abundances. These results indicated that apart from inhibiting soil nitrification, DMPP application might have the potential to improve soil C and N contents via (1) decreasing CO2, CH4 andNOX emission;(2) slowing down soil organic matter decompositions; (3) promoting the flourish of some functional microorganisms; and (4) promoting activity of N-fixing bacteria. Consequently, although soil urease and ÃŽ ²-glucosidase were inhibited, the whole soil bacterial biomass increased following DMPP application (Fig. 2), and this is also one of the positive effects generate d by DMPP application. An increase in soil bacterial biomass is commonly found in parallel with increases in community diversity (Weinbauer et al., 2007; Torstensson et al., 2015). Based on the data presented in Table 2, we found that DMPP application promoted, rather than decreased, soil bacterial community diversity, which is consisted with the result of Dong et al. (2013a). Furthermore, both the PCoA and UPMGA indicated that a large proportion of soil bacterial community in the DAA treatment overlapped with that in the C

Witchcraft in Salem Essay -- Salem Possesed Witchcraft Witch Trials Es

Witchcraft in Salem In the past, the word Salem has always been somewhat synonymous with the infamous witch trials. Thanks to works such as Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible†, many people find it hard not to envision a community torn apart by chaos, even though Miller’s play was not so much about the witch trials but instead a commentary on the rampant McCarthyism going on at the time he wrote it. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, however, see a very different picture when the Salem witch trials are mentioned. Rather than overlook the â€Å"ordinary† people living in the towns in which they write about (in the case of Salem Possessed, the town of Salem, Massachusetts), they instead take the instance of the witch trials of 1692 and springboard from them into a detailed inquisition into the entire history of the small village of Salem; or, in their own words, Boyer and Nissenbaum have â€Å"exploited the focal events of 1692 somewhat as a stranger might make use of a li ghtning flash in the night: better to observe the contours of the landscape which it chances to illuminate† (xii). That is to say, the authors strive to show how the witch trials were not simply a completely spontaneous event, but rather a long, horrible process by which individuals were singled out, tried, and executed in order to vent emotions of hostility towards change. The way in which the authors go about this, however, is in a somewhat difficult to comprehend style that goes back and forth between the years, forcing one to rethink all the facts thus far each time a new chapter is introduced. In addition, the authors tend to focus mostly on the social and economic aspects of witchcraft, with little to nothing as far as further explanation of the actions of the women accused. In the year 1692, the small farming village of Salem, Massachusetts saw a social phenomenon that would propel the village into the history books: the calamity that was witchcraft. The witch trials were initiated whenever three young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam were caught performing fortune telling rituals in the woods, trying to gather information on what type of man would be best for them. Soon thereafter, the girls began experiencing hysterical fits, prompting Betty Parris’s father, Reverend Samuel Parris, to call in the authorities to confirm the cause of the girls’ symptoms. ... ...rought into the case would treat it as though it were a completely rational occurrence. But then again, this is perhaps more of a fault of my own than of the authors. In the end, Salem Possessed did indeed leave me with more of an understanding of the events that took place in Salem Village, even though that understanding did seem a little shallow, as I felt it only focused on one aspect of the whole. But regardless of my unpleasant viewpoint on said novel, Mr.’s Boyer and Nissenbaum have done an admirable thing by taking the Salem witch trials and examining them by today’s standards. By going strictly from church records and personal accounts, the authors have brought a whole new light to what was once percieved as a purely tyrannical act of prejudice against seemingly random people, letting the public know that it was in fact a calculated attack on many ‘radical’ individuals. And, while the book did occasionally fall short on offering a complete picture of the events, it was still a fairly succinct guide to the economic factors involved with the village of Salem and its â€Å"fifteen minutes†, as it were, a nd as such would be reccommended to history buffs around the world.

Body Fat and Eating Disorders Essay

Body composition is composed of lean tissues and fats in the body. Lean tissue includes muscle, bone, and organs, while fats include essential, non-essential, and storage. Obesity has environmental and lifestyle effects. Some effects include high availability of fast food and high fat content food. Advertisements for different types of foods are seen all over the television, and a lot of the ads are for unhealthy foods that are aimed at children. Many families are limited to buying the cheaper foods that are found in stores. Health foods are often more costly and low income families simply cannot afford them. Inexpensive foods are often served in portions that are well above the recommendations for servings. Families keep themselves so busy in this day and time, and this leads to buying foods that are convenient to make. Convenience foods can often be high in fat and calories, making them unhealthy choices. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that causes a fear of gaining weight. A person may feel fat even though he or she is extremely thin. Some of the health problems associated with anorexia are changes in brain chemistry, brittle hair and nails, weak muscles, bone loss, and fractures. Anorexia can also cause kidney failure and growth problems. Bulimia nervosa is when large amounts of food are uncontrollably eaten and then purged. A person with bulimia may use methods like abuse of diuretics and laxatives to get rid of the food that is eaten. Physical complications include irritation of esophagus, stomach, and throat from excessive vomiting. The teeth can become yellowed and damaged from the acid in vomit. Bulimia also causes lung irritation due to choking during vomiting. The choking allows food to enter the lungs. The loss of body fluids causes low potassium and sodium levels. Muscle spasms and weakness may also be experienced. Some of the health problems associated with it is low blood pressure, slow heart rate, bone loss, heart failure, or kidney failure. Bulimia nervosa is another eating disorder that can cause a lot of problems. Bulimia is actually a combination of anorexia and binging. Bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and anorexia nervosa can all be serious, life threatening eating disorders. Depression or stress can cause an individual to eat too much which causes an excess weight gain and if left untreated, can lead to serious health problems. Eating too little can cause an individual to be lacking necessary nutrients needed for the body to function properly. Binge eating leads to a loss of control over the binging and purging associated with this disease. Individuals afflicted with these eating disorders typically eat foods that are high in sugar and salt content. The foods these individuals choose are low in healthier nutrients. For this reason, these individuals are at risk for type 2 diabetes which is very serious. High blood pressure, high cholesterol and gallbladder disease are other health risks associated with bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and anorexia nervosa.

The Quest for the Best Word Ever

The Quest for the Best Word Ever The Quest for the Best Word Ever The Quest for the Best Word Ever By Mark Nichol Last year, an advertising executive named Ted McCagg embarked on a whimsical endeavor: Using a bracketing schematic like that employed to record the outcome of athletic tournaments in which, in each iteration, the number of selections displayed is reduced by half according to some criterion, until only one choice remains McCagg subjectively selected the best word ever. McCagg’s Final Four?: diphthong (two vowel sounds in one syllable), gherkin (a type of cucumber, or the vine from which it grows) hornswoggle (a hoax, or to hoax), and kerfuffle (a disturbance). Is there any practical use for this exercise? I see it as an entertaining vocabulary-building activity: Brainstorm any number of interesting words, whether you know their meaning or not. Subject them to match-ups, two words at a time, and select the one you favor on whatever merits definition, euphony, or some ineffable quality (I like euphony and ineffable). Repeat until you have a winner, then resolve to learn the word’s meaning if you don’t know it already, and use it in your writing. There are no losers in this game: The runner-up simply takes its place in line, followed by the favored term in the duel between the no. 3 and no. 4 seeds and then by the runner-up in that contest. Try to use each new front-runner as it is identified. Organize a tournament with a circle of friends (in real life or online), a writing group, or a class. Make submissions anonymous, match them up randomly, and have the participants vote on their favorite word in each pair, which then advances to a run-off with another favored word. Perhaps this activity seems silly. After all, maybe the writing you’re paid for is about finance or technology, or you produce marketing content. However, I doubt you work in a kerfuffle-free milieu, and hornswoggling may occur betimes (I like milieu and betimes), but you can apply your best-word-ever efforts to specific jargon and vocabulary. Oh, and McCagg’s best word ever? Diphthong. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Handy Expressions About HandsProved vs. ProvenWord Count and Book Length

How does Shakespeare present relationships Essays

How does Shakespeare present relationships Essays How does Shakespeare present relationships Essay How does Shakespeare present relationships Essay Essay Topic: The Taming Of the Shrew How does Shakespeare present relationships between men and women in The Taming of The Shrew? Shakespeare uses the relationships in the play in order to express his own views of society and the roles of men and women in the Elizabethan era. Through his portrayal of the two genders in the the Taming of the Shrew, in particular Petruchio and Katherina, Shakespeare demonstrates the idea that men are too dominant over the female race, and that women should be given a more contributory, and equal role in society. He does not explicitly show this, because it would have been seen as too diverse for 16th Century literature, but he does show parity as an underlying opinion in the play. A common motif in the play is the idea of money and wealth. This was seen as an important factor in life decisions such as marriage, particularly for men characters because, in the Elizabethan era, they owned all of their wifes belongings, riches and earnings, if any. Consequently marrying into wealth had a key part to play in happiness. In the Taming of the Shrew, this is apparent through Petruchio, and his marriage to Katherina. In the play, he is challenged to tame her, and agrees to it because she is rich enough. Katherina is referred to as shrewd and froward by the men, and is ridiculed by Hortensio who would not wed her for a mine of gold; Petruchio replies thou knowst not golds effect, suggesting that his determination to woo Katherina is not because of his love for her, but his lust of money. Shakespeare reinforces this when Petruchio is discussing his marriage agreement with Baptista, Katherinas father; he is keen to find out what dowry he shall have with her to wife? and by stressing his eagerness to find out, Shakespeare is showing a demonstration of Petruchios greedy character. The way in which Shakespeare has worded the phrase have with her to wife implies that Petruchio is seeing Katherina as a task he must complete and put up with in order to gain a prize. Hortensio is also used to strengthen this idea, as he is quick to give up his pursuit of Bianca for a wealthy widow. By doing this, Shakespeare is stating that men of his society did not value the relationships with their women and had little respect for their existence except for their bringing of wealth. This idea is furthered by Baptistas comment that is, her love, for that is all in all. On the surface he seems to be caring for his daughter and concerned with the fact that she falls in love with Petruchio, however, because he later adds well mayst thou woo, and happy be thy speed! suggests that he wants more for Katherina to be married quickly than to be happily in love, and perhaps Shakespeare may have used the first as a passing comment to appear interested in the well-being of his daughter, while ironically giving the impression that even fathers are uncaring and too concerned with themselves when it comes to relationships with their daughters as he wants to get them married quickly. Wealth imagery is used to present women also, as Bianca is referred to as a treasure, jewel and a prize, suggesting that women were seen as possessions that must be sold to merchants as assets. Baptista displays more of a fondness towards Bianca, the younger of his two daughters, and favours her over Katherina. For example, after breaking up an argument between the two, Baptista calls Katherina a devilish spirit which demonstrates his lack of care for her feelings, whereas Bianca is seen as a poor girl in his eyes as a result of the dispute. This favour is common in the sisters, as Bianca is described as meek and mild, an idyllic woman for men in Shakespeares time, and so people would have been more fond of this character. The contrast Baptista uses for his daughters could be seen as a high criticism of Shakespeares to his society in that they disregard the people, women in particular, that hold a fiery character or are unafraid to express their inner thoughts, but highlight those who comply with the social rules and fit in the boundaries set. He makes this clear toward the end of the play where it is Katherina, once rejected by the community, who is seen as the approving woman. Baptista still upholds his dominative role as a male by not letting Bianca marry until he has a husband for the elder. On the one hand, Baptista could be showing a concern to have both his daughters married because he wants them to both be happy, however, it could also be seen that he understood the importance of having his daughters marry, eldest first, for the sake of his own reputation, and also that it would create a motivation for someone to marry Katherina which looked unlikely otherwise. Shakespeare wants relationships in the play to be presented as important in terms of credibility and reputation, which perhaps is controversial to his own opinions. Shakespeare uses animal imagery, continuously throughout the play. These are mainly used in terms of portraying Katherina through mens eyes. She is viewed as intolerable curst by the people of her society and as a wildcat as Gremio says. In context of the Elizabethan era, women were expected to be polite and meek people who lived to play the role of a serving wife, and in view of Katherinas description, she clearly deviates herself from this norm. In describing her as a wildcat, Shakespeare enforces the idea of her undomesticated character that needs taming. Shakespeare constantly refers to Katherina in animal terms through Petruchio; he asks those who challenge him have I not in my time heard lions roar? This metaphor is used to compare Katherina to a lion, which is known for its danger, signifying again that she is the opposite of her expected role. While other men fear her, Petruchio is seeing her as a task for him to complete, which again implies the idea that men see women as a prize they must accomplish and win. Katherina is also referred to as a falcon, which is again is a fierce animal, however, it is classed as a bird of prey so Shakespeare may have wanted to use this description in order to give Katherina status in the play over the other women. The fact that these ideas of her does not change Petruchios mind implies that he may find it an attraction to her and that he may find it desirable for a woman to have a fiery personality. In which case, Shakespeare may be grounding his own implicit value of how he thinks women should be in a relationship.

Summary for the freedom writers movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summary for the freedom writers movie - Essay Example There are students who are not of ethical or acceptable moral conduct and some even belong to gangs. Initially they are not willing to share information or personal things with her. However, with time Erin figures out ways in which she can engage them. She directs them to write regular journals and in this way they start sharing some information and personal experiences with her. â€Å"As Erin tries harder and harder to have resources provided to teach properly (which often results in her needing to pay for them herself through working second and third jobs), she seems to face greater resistance, especially from her colleagues, such as Margaret Campbell, her section head, who lives by regulations and sees such resources as a waste, and Brian Gelford, who will protect his "priviledged" position of teaching the senior honors classes at all cost. Erin also finds that her teaching job is placing a strain on her marriage to Scott Casey, a man who seems to have lost his own idealistic way in life.†

Mini case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mini case - Essay Example The assistance and training to be offered to Kay would be first to evaluate her performance based on the achievement of set goals. This evaluation would provide analysis for advising her on the next steps to take to improve. A review of the bonus remuneration to appreciate the efforts Kay puts in her work. A review of the rise in ranks in the company and recognition of the efforts Kay has put to place the company where it is currently. If I were Dave Parrett, I would simply sit down with Kay; explain to her the situation about the management and explain to her about the consequences of her recent performance. After this I would then advise her on the need and ways to redeem her reputation back at the company. I would advise her to consult with the younger salespeople in the company to get their views of their work, and get fresh new ideas on improving her work tactics. Salespeople, like any other workers, have a ‘work span’ in the company based on their performance. They many have great influence on the business based on their performance. The best thing to do with salespersons that are no longer great is to give them a consultancy role in the company so that they may aid decision making with their expertise and