Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Essay

If you have read the books you will be glad to know that major key moments are intact. Much is missing however I will not dwell on that. The focus is on how well the movie plays out and for me it rolls wonderfully through thrills, excitement, drama and need I not forget romance: towards a satisfactory (though slightly rushed) conclusion. ‘It All Ends’, says the poster slogan, this may be a fairly miserable title for the bloodshot-eyed fans that have followed Harry Potter on his journey to defeating He-who-can-not-be-named. However, in my opinion, the film could not have ended on a better note. With the efforts of director David Yates and those involved in the production of the movie, a truly aesthetically amazing and visually captivating movie was created. Part two of the Deathly Hallows chapter has given David Yates justification on the decision to split the chapter into two films. The movie begins where part one left off, with Voldemort stealing the ‘elder wand’ from Dumbledore’s coffin. For those who have watched part one, the beginning is a smooth transition to part two, however for those interesting individuals who have watched the movie as a stand-alone may be left quite confused. Never-the-less in this episode Harry Potter (Danielle Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasely (Rupert Grint) continue their strides to destroying Voldemort’s ‘Horecruxes’ which are the vital objects that are keeping him alive and living for eternity. Harry and his companions find most of the Horecruxes, however the last two, one of which Harry later finds to be himself and the second being Voldemort’s snake Nagini become very tricky. Once Potter finds out that he is the final Horecrux, he confronts Voldemort for which the non-book-readers assume is the final time. Throughout this scene, a combination of emotions are portrayed, anger and disappointment from Potter’s career Hagrid, Self-fulfilment from Voldemort and grief from Draco Malfoy’s mother. Whereas the viewer’s feel mainly aghast from the fact that ‘the boy who lived came to die? – One of my favourite quotes from Voldemort himself. Throughout the Harry Potter saga we are revealed to new characters and new clues where it is almost all revealed in this film although the more in depth areas of the saga is left to be known to the elite book readers. The portrayal of Severus Snape has always been a joy to watch but in this movie we are left with a dramatic engraving in our memory. He elevates his portrayal as one of the most complex characters in young adult literature to an unforgettably piercingly emotional one. One of the most spectacular moments is when Severus Snape, played with magnificent disdain by Alan Rickman, is attacked by Voldemort’s snake Nagini, and we witness this only from behind a frosted glass screen – a nice touch from director David Yates. Even though the film ends with a classic villain verses hero face-off, the material is handled considerably well. Fans will know how it is going to end though Deathly hallows part two still has that rare ability to cause viewers to question the outcome of the film even though it was long ago decided. With JK Rowling’s final chapter being split into two, the first part was sombre, very long and deeply tedious. However the second part is exact opposite, it is concise, rousing and deeply moving, and of course answers many of the mind-boggling questions we have all been waiting to learn. For new-comers the movie may strike them as mystifying but for the committed and semi-committed fans the movie will definitely be a worthy climax to the end of the most successful film franchise in history. It’s surely as good as gold.

Presented in Romeo and Juliet Essay

During the Play of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare portrays a very strong relationship between Juliet and her father, Lord Capulet. His initial attitude shows him as a caring, protective father who wants what is best for his daughter. This caring manner continues until Scene 5 of Act 3, in which Juliet defies her father, who wishes for her to marry the County Paris. This scene acts as a turning point in the play; Lord Capulet is now shown as a malevolent father who has his own intentions for his daughter’s future. However, when Juliet returns apologetically to her father, and agrees to marry Paris, he once again returns to being the loving and caring father we initially identified. Lord Capulet’s initial attitude to his daughter was generally kind and compassionate. He calls her his ‘hopeful lady of my earth’ which implies that he expects her to do well for herself. We see him as a typical father late in the 16th Century. It was commonplace for fathers to be in charge of who their daughter married, and Lord Capulet decided that Paris, a handsome, wealthy kinsman to the prince, would be able to provide for his daughter’s future.  Lord Capulet is very protective over Juliet, he does not think she is ‘ripe to be a bride’ because she is ‘yet a stranger to the world’ and ‘hath not seen the change of fourteen years’. This prominently reminds us of both Lord Capulet’s protectiveness, and the ongoing theme of youth and age throughout the play. The point at which Lord Capulet ceases from acting behind the caring faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade come in Scene 5 of Act 3 in the play. Juliet refuses to marry Paris when her mother tells her that they have arranged her marriage. Juliet, who is secretly already married to Romeo, cannot go ahead with the marriage to Paris, and she tells her mother that she is not ready to be married so soon after Tybalt’s death. Although upset, her mother does not overreact to this situation, and it is only when her father enters that the situation becomes overwhelming. He shouts at her, is unpleasant towards her, and threatens to disown her if she does not do as he says. Lady Capulet is then drawn into more of a quarrelsome situation with her daughter, her line ‘Fie, fie! what, are you mad?’ could be interpreted either as directed towards her husband or Juliet. It would seem that it was towards her husband as later in the scene she says to Lord Capulet ‘You are too hot’, which indicates that he is becoming too aggressive and malicious to his own daughter. This would suggest that Lord Capulet has a very influential personality, and he is able to get other people to do what he wants them to because of his authority, and their fear of what he will say if they, like Juliet did, refuse to co-operate.  Lord Capulet’s view of a daughter is that they are almost like property, who should be married to a handsome and wealthy gentleman when they are old enough to take on this responsibility. It was usual for this to happen, and so was not treated with the same scepticism as today. In one of Paris’ meetings with Lord Capulet he tells him that ‘younger than she are happy mothers made’. This implies that girls who are younger than Juliet are not only already married, but mothers as well. Even when her own mother asks her about marriage, she says it is ‘an honour I dream not of’, suggesting she does not feel ready for marriage, even when her mother reminds us that ‘younger than you †¦ are already made mothers’. Generally, Lord Capulet does care for his daughter, but does not respect her wishes and opinions as we would expect in today’s modern society. Capulet’s anger at Juliet’s defiance was the first point when we saw another side to him. He returns to being the gentle father only when Juliet comes to apologise to him. She tells him she has been at confession and has come to accept the offer of marriage from Paris. Her father then becomes the agreeable jovial character we first knew. His angry personality is only evident if things are not going in according with his plans, or Juliet is disobedient to him; he is almost like a spoilt child who does not like it when he does not get what he wants. When Juliet appears to be dead in Scene 5 of Act 4, Capulet seems to be devastated. He states that death ‘lies on her like an untimely frost’ which to all the other people on stage is accepted as a genuine comment from a grieving father. Alternatively, this could have been interpreted as another selfish comment; the use of the word ‘untimely’ emphasising the inconvenience of it to his plans. Capulet is once again being slightly selfish, he feels as though he has lost a daughter, rather than his daughter has lost her life, and he is worrying about how it will affect him instead of grieving for her. At the end of the play when Friar Lawrence Tells everyone the truth about the events through the play, I think Lord Capulet realises how narrow-minded he has been. He recognises that he has not treated his daughter with the respect she needed, and is aware that she had to marry Romeo secretly because he would never have agreed to it.  It is this recognition of the error of his ways that leaves the audience feeling that Lord Capulet is a good father. He acts upon what he has learnt straight away by calling Lord Montague his ‘brother’, and asking him to ‘give me thy hand’ to help them reach a better understanding. Behind Lord Capulet’s capricious faade, we see a father who cares for his daughter, but does not always know how to show it. His unpredictable nature was due to this, and it is not until the end of the play when the ‘true’ Lord Capulet is revealed. He shows remorse towards the death of his daughter and Romeo also, and looks towards the Montagues to help each other in grieving for their children by settling the dispute between the families.  Overall, Capulet is a good father to Juliet, but his influential position makes him feel under constant pressure to do what is right; both for his daughter and his image to the rest of the Capulets.

Abstract Health Care

MIS 6324 Business Intelligence Dr. Syam Menon Term Project SUBMITTED BY : Group 6 Swetha, Priya, Ram, Vishal, Madan Business Intelligence in Health Care Management The  health  care system is more complex than most people know. Its business model is different from most  businesses  in that its consumers dont usually come willingly. That, plus not getting paid what they bill, hurts cash flow makes health care a shaky business. With uncertain revenue, costs not entirely within their control, and regulatory issues, health care management problems arent always easy to fix. Forward-thinking healthcare organizations realize that data and, thus, business intelligence (BI) is at the center of informed and precise decision-making that will improve patient and service outcomes in addition to ensuring their organizations’ future. This paper gives an insight into which business intelligence tools are currently being used in healthcare and their effectiveness in terms of sustaining the businesses of those organizations that use these tools. The paper also deals with common problems faced while implementing these techniques to patients’ data and ways to overcome problems. Outdated information management strategies and invalid statistics cause serious problems in investigating health outcomes and negotiating reimbursements. Predictive modeling, however, goes beyond standard regression techniques, expanding advanced analytical options for better, faster decision making. Predictive models use a variety of tools to deliver more accurate, long-range views of treatments and costs. Also there are many new reporting technologies designed to improve the productivity of business analysts and preserve information consistency throughout an organization. These analytical tools, the advantages vs. problems during implementation and their ability to shape the future of healthcare industry are focus of this paper.

Management Research Individual assignment Proposal

Management Individual assignment - Research Proposal Example According to Byrne (2003) and Harry (2000), Six Sigma can be classified as proven technique to improve quality of manufacturing process or reduce errors in manufacturing sector. Cho et al. (2011) found that people have common misconception regarding Six Sigma because most of the people believe Six Sigma can only be implemented in manufacturing sector but in real case, key ingredients of Six Sigma decide context of its applicability. Theoretically, it can be said from the argument of Cho et al. (2011) is that Six Sigma as part of Process Control (SPC) can be used in service industries like restaurants & hospitality sector, hospitality sector, banking services etc. However, in real business world scenario, use of Six Sigma in service sector is pretty scarce and even scholars like Crom (2000) argued that Six Sigma model is only developed for product driven sector. So, what is the actual problem in using Six Sigma in service sector? To answer this question, one has to understand the conj ectural and intangible nature of quality in case of service organizations. Gronroos (1984, p. 37) defined service quality as â€Å"The consumer compares his expectations with the service he perceives he has received, i.e. he puts the perceived service against the expected service. The result of this process will be the perceived quality of service.† It is evident from the mentioned line that service quality is being judged as par the expectation of customers and magnitude of service gap might be influenced by perception of a customer. Ladhari (2009) rightly argued that service quality cannot be easily measured due to four characteristics of services such as intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability and inseparability. According to Markovic (2006), in most of the service sectors like Quick Service Restaurants (QSR), banks, hospitals etc, customers has to consume the offering at the place of production. In case of production system, faults in output can be quantified but is p ossible to quantify service output which is intangible in nature? For Chakrabarty and Tan (2007), the answer to the question is no while Sulek (2004) stated that it is possible to implement Statistical Process Control (SPC) in order to improve quality of services. Consideration of research works of Cho et al. (2011) reveals the fact that one can measure service quality by identifying Six Sigma Key Ingredients (KIs). It is evident from the above discussion that significant amount of confusion exist regarding the use of Statistical Process Control (SPC) to measure service quality. Such level of arguments and existing confusion among scholars has influenced the researcher to take up this study and select the research topic named as â€Å"Identifying Six Sigma Key Ingredients (KIs) for Improving Customer Service in Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) in China.† Fact is that, apart from research work of Zhen (2011), very few research scholars ever tried to identify Six Sigma Key Ingre dients (KIs) as part of Statistical Process Control (SPC) in case of food service industry. According to limited knowledge of the

The Godmother of Drug Trafficking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Godmother of Drug Trafficking - Essay Example A lady employing a violent approach to her business, Griselda Blanco caused ripples in the southern region. She also went by the name; Verucca (a tough and fearless woman) among her dug related enemies (Davies 124). It is the violent nature of her business transaction that caused the intentional deaths of more than 200 people. The deaths show that Blanco was not hesitant to ward off any person who threatened her business. She did not tolerate any unwanted competition or betrayal during her reign. Those who would betray her were punished accordingly (Davis 124). At the tender age of her life, she is alleged to have kidnapped, asked for a ransom and firing a shot the kidnapped child from the well off part of her slum dwelling. At 14, she became a prostitute but later moved to the United States where her drug trafficking business kicked off. This history documents the inappropriate background that aided her ruthless and violent nature. Bob Polombo, US DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) agent said that â€Å"I just think it was inherent to Griselda Blanco. This goes back to her life, the way she was brought up. She was just a violent person† (Brown 96). Her first dwelling while in the United States was New York. She did not last long as she was eventually indicted bur fled to Miami where her business remained rooted for a long time. Among the most vivid case of her ruthlessness, the infamous bout with her rival drug dealer stands out. She commanded her gang to head to the Dadeland Mall (the busiest area in Miami) in her villainous white Econoline van to face off with the rival. (Swartz 193). The van was actually a â€Å"war wagon† because â€Å"its sides were covered by quarter-inch steel with gun-ports cut into them† (Brown 96). More so, the violent exchange of fire occurred in broad daylight. Ingram Mac-10 machine pistols and Baretta automatic handguns were widely used in this confrontation. (Swartz 193). What followed was a massacre that puzzled the Dade county coroner. He is quoted as describing it as â€Å"Swiss Cheese†. The continuation of her reign as the most fierce drug lord was facilitated by her most trusted commander tagged â€Å"Rivas†. She entrusted Rivas with heading her group of killers known as Pisteleros. (Riano-Alcala 42). Pisteleros and the subsidiary group known a s the Motorcycle assassins were the main enforcers to the smuggling work. With this group, she would organize a network of women who were mostly widows and use them in smuggling the cocaine all over the United States. She created a lingerie so that her female traffickers would ferry her drugs without being detected (Surovell 4). By protecting her business empire, she had massive success as her operations expanded greatly in the 1970s. She received large quantities of cocaine from Colombia. She was able to rake in large amounts of money (Brown 96). She eventually became one of the richest self made millionaires as well as the most powerful in Miami and its environment. The â€Å"black widow† was the name that she was branded due to her murderous instinct towards her husbands. (Smitten 2). Her sociopathic behaviors towards her husbands put in total disregard all the achievements of the pairs. Her admirers who dared to cross her path were not spared. She would either hire profes sional contract killers to execute the murders or do it herself. The most inhumane murder was that of Trujillo. Trujillo was eventually not credited by Blanco for introducing her to the dangerous world of guns, murderers, and the drugs in the Medellin Cartel (Gugliota 8). Although he taught her all the useful tricks of drug trafficking, he was a victim of her wrath over a small business dispute (Surovell 4).

Annotated Bibliography on Finance Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

On Finance - Annotated Bibliography Example Eugene Fama is one of the renowned economists, working as a finance professor in the University of Chicago. His interest in the concepts related to stock market prices have pushed him to walk through several untreated paths and notions about the subject. And in all researches of his, he has succeeded indubitably and his hypothesis on efficient markets has encouraged several other economists to pursue further research on the same subject. In this paper, he has described about the theories about random walks and through which he has raised concerns about the working aspects of a market. The author however has given only an introduction to the random walks theory and has not divulged more about its extrapolations. The stock prices can be evaluated and predicted based on their past performances. However, the authors Craig and Andrew have opposed this analysis and have shown through their experiments that stock market prices do not follow this theory. Robert Higgins, just like the author cited above, is also in the teaching profession taking classes in the field of Finance. He has done several researches in finance including on concepts that deal with the management issues present in dealing foreign exchange and money matters and also on theories that underlie the importance of valuation. In this book, the author has mainly focused on principles and issues that have to be followed and faced up in case of acquiring new resources. He also deals with the idea of managing the resources that are newly bought. The knowledge showcased by the author on the theories and ideas related to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the financial assets of a company is exemplary. In addition he showcases very useful tools that could be used in the evaluation of financial assets of a company (Higgins, 1992). The important characteristic of the entire book is that most of the technical jargons related to finance and economics which deal with income and balance statements have been explained to the readers in a common language. 4. Firth, Michael. Share Prices and Mergers: A Study of Stock Market Efficiency. UK: Saxon House. 1976 .Print The author, being a Ph.D. holder, has quite an experience in the field of accountancy after working as an accountant for several number of years in several organizations. He is an ardent follower of economics, of its feasibility and efficiency and has published several journals and books in relevance to the mentioned topics. In this book, the author has described about the practices involved in carrying out business activities and given a critical account of the predicting game that take place in share markets - that produces the most controversial and most sensational ideas

Humorous exhumation hypocrisy in Moliere's Tartuffe Essay

Humorous exhumation hypocrisy in Moliere's Tartuffe - Essay Example For an instance, the US involvement in the Iraq War can be described satirically as following: Mr. Bush, the President, along with his whole Army led an enterprise in Iraq to beat in the bush. But what he got there ultimately kept him busy with beating about the bush in America. Finally, the innocent Americans with blood-washed hands raised their voice: â€Å"Mr. Bush! Will you please stop beating around the bush? Now It is time to hear about the truth!† The salient ingredients of satire are humor, criticism and moral tone. The object of satire can be any foul and objectionable idea, concept and practice in either an individual or a group. The main literary tool of satire is the use of both sarcastic and mild ironies, sarcasm, exaggeration, etc. But sarcastic satires often pivot on bitterly cynical denunciation that tends to injure its intellectual brilliance. For example, if one says, â€Å"Once upon a time, in Iraq the Americans would chop the tender Iraqi boys and girls and prepared the dishes for the leaders†. This line is not satirical; rather it is sarcastic because it lacks humor as well as wit. Yet a satire can refer to some socially acknowledged taboos such as obscene sexuality, invectives against religion, etc. Griffin Dustin defines satire as following: Satire is a wit contest, a kind of game in which the participants do their worst for the pleasure of themselves and their spectators. . . . If the exchange of insults is serious on one side, playful on the other, the satiric element is reduced. (Dustin 23) Indeed a satire attacks foolishness, follies, vices, wrongs, etc by making fun of them wittily. Moliere’s â€Å"Tartuffe† is such a successful satire that humorously criticizes the religious hypocrisy during the latter half of the Seventeenth Century. Moliere has declared the moral purpose of the play in bold line in the preface of the play: â€Å"distinguish clearly the character of the hypocrite from that of the truly devout man† (Moliere 2). On the surface level, he depicts Tartuffe as a devoutly religious character. But the underlying message of the play is that Tartuffe is ultimately a fraud under the religious apparel. Obviously in the play, the object of his satire is to criticize the late seventeenth century religious hypocrisy with humor and wit. The most remarkable passage that is significant for its role in the satire as a whole is as following: Your husband? Why concern about that rube? He drinks in every story like a boob! If he caught us, en flagra nte, that dull lout, He'd offer up to God a joyful shout! And even when he realized, that clown, He'd chastise you, be careful of your gown! (Act IV Scene V) This passage -in fact, one of Tartuffe’s speeches- is the most precious part of the satire as a whole. Its satirical role is double-folds. On one hand, it exhumes the filthy nature of Tartuffe before his most devout follower, Oregon, who is hiding beneath the table. Indeed such exhumation of Tartuffe’s fraudulence before his most obedient devotee significantly refers to the witty and humorous exhumation of the hypocrisy of Moliere’s contemporary religious institution. On the other hand, it criticizes the blind faith of Oregon, generally the commoners while evoking the convulsion of laughter of the audience. Obviously Oregon stands for the death of common sense that is an essential part of a satire. At the beginning of the play he has been fooled by Tartuffe and remains befooled till this episode. Therefore this passage also contains the moral and pedagogic part of Moliere’s satire. Here Moliere opens Oregon’s as well as the audience’s eyes. In this passage, it is as clear as broad daylight to both Oregon and the

MGT599 - Strategic Management, Mod 5 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

MGT599 - Strategic Management, Mod 5 SLP - Essay Example It managed to expand its business on a large scale mainly due to its acquisition of AirTran Holdings in the year 2011 and as at December 31, 2011 the company operated a total of 698 aircrafts that includes 88 Boeing 7171s and 610 Boeing 737s. AirTran Airways is now operated as one of the wholly owned subsidiaries of Southwest Airlines. The company is regarded to be one of the lowest fare domestic airlines in United States and is committed towards providing best Customer Services in the airlines industry. The company encourages employees to express individual ideas to improve performance of the company. Employees are treated as greatest asset for the company and they have the independence to present their feedback in front of management of the company. The company encourages employees to compete against each other to meet performance standard but the competition level is always maintained as a healthy practice to develop personal skills. Although the organization structure works in a centralized manner but communication line follows both top vertical and horizontal approach. Organizational hierarchy of the organization has minimum number of layers to decrease the time for communication process. For example, flight attendants clean the flight themselves in order to save money and time. It is evident from the above mentioned organization structure that vice presidents report to their respective senior vice presidents and senior vice presidents report to CEO of the company. Multiple rol es playing by individual employee is the specialty of the company. The company gives importance on creating separate task force for various activities. They use guidelines for employees to perform daily work and work schedule is prepared according to the requirement. For example, top managers of the company perform as ticket agents, reservation agents or cabin crew member once in every

Discussion Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 8

Discussion Question - Essay Example Operations and supply management is vital in developing the supply chain of the vaccine to ensure that vaccines are delivered on time. More vaccines may be insufficient or unavailable if the patients and government paid more money because the producer or manufacturer may not have the capacity to generate more vaccines. Even if the manufacturer bought more machines to enhance production of the vaccine, it would consume a lot of time to ramp up and attain the expected vaccine capacity. The demerit or minus of producing more or extra vaccine at high cost is that it will automatically cut into profits because it needs new and modern machines to be bought. Further, it will require training and hiring of new workers, which may be costly. The process of manufacturing is devised in a manner that it balances costs, profits, and capacity. The producers and the government require to hold the vaccine to a high standard as this will enhance quick delivery of the vaccines to the patients. This could be devised in a manner that the government could test the quality of the vaccine and deliver it to the patients. The pluses of producing more vaccines at an increased cost is that it will enhance efficiency and quality of the vaccine produced because more money would have been used to conduct enough research about the vaccine. The government and producers can assess the risk of harm associated with the production of the vaccine. Therefore, they will determine if the intended vaccine confer immunity to certain virus or not. This will enable the government and the producers to provide advance warning that failure or harm of the vaccine may occur since vaccination is usually experimental each time it is administered on people. Vaccination may be risky or beneficial, therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the patients, the government should ensure that there manufacturers produce enough vaccines that can be delivered to be people in case the vaccine fails to confer immunity.

Humanities the ancient nearest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Humanities the ancient nearest - Essay Example The bards of England would narrate the travails and battles of kings. Putting great emphasis on the Kings might and exaggerating his strength and army. Thus, they are feared by their enemies wanting to take over their lands. Temples and halls are built to honor a king’s battle which further reminds the people that the king is all powerful. In China paintings showing the Emperor as God’s representative on earth show the people that they should pay homage and respect to the Emperor as he is ordained by God. He was chosen by God and is given power to protect and guide his people. Failure to follow and respect the Emperor would put the entire family to shame and, consequent, bad luck. This includes dead relatives or ancestors who will also be cursed. In India, circa 836-885 AD, King Bhoja marked his insignia on the coins. His insignia showed the boar incarnation of Vishnu. When this was seen by an arab invader, Salaiman, he remarked, â€Å"The king†¦ has great riches, camels and horses are numerous. There is no country in India more safe from robbers.† His statement shows that he acknowledges the wealth and power of the King, all because of the insignia on the coins.1 Also in India monuments were built by Kings to show their wealth. It was also a means to show their power over their people who would erect such monuments for them. 2 Although grandioso in itself this cannot be compared to the colossal monuments erected in Egypt in honor of the King. The great Sphinx of Giza is a true depiction of the Kings power. The Sphinx has the â€Å"head of the King wearing his headdress and the body of the lion.†3 This depicts the King as a strong and wise opponent. Aside from this are the Pyramids. The Pyramids are built during the life time of the Pharoah. Hiyroglyphs on the walls shows his life and the power he wields, powers given to him by the gods. These colossal monuments show opponents or enemies far and across

Development of the Bond Market in Bangladesh Essay Example for Free

Development of the Bond Market in Bangladesh Essay It is a privilege to be here this morning at this pioneering event, and I would like to congratulate the Bangladesh Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission for hosting the first-ever international workshop on the development of bond market in Bangladesh. Bond markets link issuers having long-term financing needs with investors willing to place funds in long-term, interest-bearing securitiBangladeshes. has both the issuers and the investors in place but it still has not been able to link them effectively through a bond market. The positive effect of developing a domestic bond market on the economy is well-known. On the one hand, bond markets are essential for a country to enter a sustained phase of development driven by market-based capital allocation and increased avenues for raising debt capital. On the other hand, the central position occupied by domestic bond markets in markedly increasing the resilience of a country’s financial system and insulating it against external shocks, contagion and reduction of access to international capital markets is established. Capital markets are essentially about matching the needs of investors with those that need capital for development. Bangladesh has no shortage of both such parties, a young and dynamic population that increasingly wants, and is able to, make provision for lifetime events, to save for children’s education, for the possibility of ill health and ultimately for old age and retirement. On the other side of the equation, Bangladesh has a pressing need for investment resources to bolster its stretched infrastructure resources, to build more power stations, bridges, ports and gas-pipelines to empower the people in the development of enterprise and the creation of jobs. Debt markets are an extremely effective mechanism for matching the long term needs of savers with those of entrepreneurs. Term capital is a precious commodity and it has been a frustration to see the process of long term savings, such as provident funds and life insurance contracts, being invested in short term instruments such as bank deposits, a process we call ‘reverse term transformation’ but we could equally call it â€Å"reverse alchemy† in which the gold of term capital is turned into the lead of short term iabilities. As a development institution it is our goal to establish sustainable capacity. As Bangladesh has led the world in its development of the microfinance industry, you have impressed us all with your ability to mobilize funds for productive purposes at the community level in the villages. What we need to see now is a similar degree of success at the institutional level in terms of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and other uses of long ter m funds. At the World Bank, we would like to help you in this endeavor; it is much more useful that Taka funds are mobilized to fund projects whose sole revenue source will be in Taka. I am sure that it is a shared ambition of us all that Bangladesh should play a larger role in mobilizing its own capital resources and reducing the dependency upon donor institutions such as ourselves. We at the World Bank would like to work with you to this end, so that we can move on from providing infrastructure finance for sustainable development to a higher level of developing a sustainable, national, infrastructure financing capacity. Bond markets in most countries are built on the same basic elements: a number of issuers with long-term financing needs, investors with a need to place savings or other liquid funds in interest-bearing securities, intermediaries that bring together investors and issuers, and an infrastructure that provides a conducive environment for securities transactions, ensures legal title to securities and settlement of transactions, and provides price discovery information. The regulatory regime provides the basic framework for bond markets and, indeed, for capital markets in general. Efficient bond markets are characterized by a competitive market structure, low transaction costs, low levels of fragmentation, a robust and safe market infrastructure, and a high level of heterogeneity among market participants. It is my hope that this Workshop will debate and discuss the various initiatives that are necessary to develop the intermediaries, infrastructure and the regulatory regime so that a vibrant bond market becomes a reality in Bangladesh soon. An important element of a domestic bond market is the government bond market. Development of a government bond market provides a number of important benefits if the pre-requisites to a sound development are in place. At the macroeconomic policy level, a government securities market provides an avenue for domestic funding of budget deficits and avoid a build-up of foreign currency-denominated debt. A government securities market can also strengthen the transmission and implementation of monetary policy, including the achievement of monetary targets or inflation objectives, and can enable the use of market-based indirect monetary policy instruments. The existence of such a market not only can enable authorities to smooth consumption and investment expenditures in response to shocks, but if coupled with sound debt management, can also help governments reduce their exposure to interest rate risk – a situation that is looming large in the National Savings Certificates market, currency, and other financial risks. Finally, a shift toward market-oriented funding of government budget deficits will reduce debt-service costs over the medium to long term through development of a deep and liquid market for government securities. The prerequisites for establishing an efficient government domestic currency securities market include a credible and stable government; sound fiscal and monetary policies; effective legal, tax, and regulatory infrastructure; smooth and secure settlement arrangements; and a liberalized financial system with competing intermediaries. Since pension and life insurance reform helps in the development of government securities market, starting the process of pension and insurance reform now might be prudent because of the time it takes to feel the positive impact of such reforms on the capital market. While some of these prerequisites have already been met, I hope that this Workshop will discuss the initiatives, their prioritization and the time horizon for their implementation, which will be necessary for putting the rest in place. Before ending, I would like to table a few suggestions for consideration in the Workshop. These are: 1. Creating a bond market in Bangladesh will be a long process, and the hard work of many architects, artisans and craftsmen will be required in the construction. I am optimistic that the foundations are now in place and this seminar is going to be one of many uilding blocks that will help create the market framework. This framework must be solid if a bond market is to gain investors confidence and hence allow public and private sectors to raise capital for the much needed investments in Bangladesh. 2. To ease the process, the Government bonds must come first. To increase the attractiveness of these bonds and to ensure their soundness, Bangladesh Bank w ill need to continue its initiatives to develop the secondary market, lower transaction costs and improve upon the market infrastructure to support secondary market liquidity. The Bangladesh Bank has already achieved a great deal to this end in a very short time. It was not so long ago that government debt market trading was effectively zero; now we see a disciplined, organized market taking shape with maturities in traded securities out to ten years. We congratulate the Governor and his team for their achievements in this field and are proud if we have been able to play some small part in support of the Government and the Bangladesh Bank in this success. 3. Banks are invariably amongst the major users of long term debt markets in order to raise long-term subordinate debt to supplement their capital bases. Many regulators now actively encourage the issuance of debt by banks in the local currency market as a step towards the discipline of â€Å"market monitoring† envisaged in the Basel II capital adequacy regime. It is probably the case that the state of the banking system in Bangladesh makes this a medium-term project, however, we have already been presently surprised by the progress we have seen in several fields in terms of banking sector reform and debt market development. A prior requirement to facilitate issuance of fixed income capital instruments is the adoption of international accounting standards, and more effective enforcement of Bangladesh Bank’s supervisory standards. The increased use of credit rating agencies has often accompanied this development, but this can add value only to the extent that the opinion of the rating agencies is valued by the market. We have noted with interest the nascent development of a debt rating capacity in Bangladesh and hope to see this sector rise to international standards. . One other extremely important role that debt markets can play is in the development of the housing finance market, an area of activity where the ordinary citizens need to have access to long-term loans to fulfill their dream of owning their own property. While capital markets can not bring down the price of real estate in Bangladesh, efficient capital markets can make housing more affordable, and more attainable, through extending t he maturity of loans and lowering monthly repayment terms. 5. Not only will a bond market require good financial foundations, but long-term investment institutions will also need to be developed with demand for longer maturity assets. The insurance and pension markets are currently not fully developed in Bangladesh. These markets should be reformed as they are the natural buyers of long-term securities. We understand that the Ministry of Commerce is now in the process of disseminating much awaited investment guidelines which will allow insurance companies to offer more competitive products to their clients by allowing them to invest more productively, and securely, in the capital markets. Reform and development of the pension sector, combined with a new approach to the NSS, should be next on the agenda. 6. The World Bank is already working with the Government and Bangladesh Bank on some of these key issues, and we shall be ready to work further with them within the limits of our own comparative advantage. We have been extremely pleased to see the coordinated approach of the Bangladesh Bank, Ministry of Finance, the SEC and the National Board of Revenue to work with IPDC to bring the first securitization transaction to market in Bangladesh. This has been one solid step towards mobilizing finance for entrepreneurs and has confounded those skeptics who thought that securitization is â€Å"too sophisticated† for Bangladesh. Perhaps those skeptics would benefit from seeing the collected talent and enthusiasm for development gathered here in this room today. We would very much like to hope that the next securitization will be another transaction close to our heart, that of the securitization of a portion of the toll revenues of the Jamuna Bridge. The IPDC loan securitization was a long time in the making and the Jamuna Bridge securitization appears to be following the same path. This is a transaction which all experts agree would have a major positive impact not only on capital market development in Bangladesh, but also in mobilizing taka finance for other strategic infrastructure developments such as the proposed Padma Bridge. We can only hope that the Jamuna Bridge securitization will enjoy the same long term success. To facilitate this process, it would be useful to have designated counterparts from the Government and Bangladesh Bank. Such a crucial market as a domestic bond market needs excellent domestic regulation and supervision if investors and borrowers are not to be disappointed or worse. It cannot be created by outsiders. Along with you all, I am eagerly looking forward to the technical sessions, which have been very well-organized. In conclusion, I would urge the participants to discuss the issues at length and provide some specific recommendations for the Government, Bangladesh Bank, the SEC, and indeed all the stakeholders, which can be implemented immediately. This could pave the path for a well-functioning bond market that can change the existing bank-oriented financial system to a multilayered system, where capital markets can complement bank financing. I wish the workshop and its participants all success.

The deleterious effects, and the risks of GM food Essay Example for Free

The deleterious effects, and the risks of GM food Essay It’s been said that humans are what they eat. The relationship humans have with food is unappreciated. Food is the fuel that keeps humans going, gives them the energy needed to be creative and productive; it is the building block of society, after all, it wasn’t until the Neolithic Era, when humans figured out a way to domesticate plants and animals, that any form of organized society formed. Even during the previous hunter-gatherer foraging era, humans were very connected to the food they ate; understanding where it came and having an idea of how it came to be was crucial to knowing what was vital to survive. In this time, food sources like grains, fruits, and vegetables were naturally abundant, whole. Humans could choose between many different types of nutritious food because there were thousands of varieties of species. Unfortunately, as populations grew and more civilized societies formed, various farming techniques were created, and a vast majority of these species became extinct to make way for the harvesting of a select few (Pringle). In the industrial era, societies around the world, especially western ones, emphasized the importance of technological advancements. With this pursuit of technology, nature became something to control rather than live with; an attempt at making life simpler, better. Breaching the gap between nature and technology is optimization. It is this obsession with optimization that most accurately characterizes contemporary America. Undoubtedly, it comes with great costs. As it turns out, optimization is a business, and a profitable one. Thus, the costs and ef fects of optimization are often hidden from the public by industrial leaders in an effort to maintain profits. They control the businesses they run and protect themselves by dumping millions of dollars into politics. Today, it seems that the gap between nature and technology has been breached with the propagation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The aliens that now fill supermarkets nationwide represent the ultimate disconnect from natural, whole foods necessary for a healthy lifestyle. People are relatively uninformed about GM foods, issues include: their benefits, the testing and safety, the harmful effects they can have on the body and environment, the government’s role as overseer, the labeling controversy, and the â€Å"substantially equivalent† principle; all of these issues are conveniently hidden vitalities in understanding the danger, the deleterious effects, and the risks of GM foods. In tackling these issues, an additional understanding of the historic background of how GMOs came to be is equally important. Advocates for the rapid advance of technology will cite the numerous positive breakthroughs, the internet, healthcare, the numerous inventions; it’s hard to argue with, which is why when addressing GM foods, the emphasis should be placed on the relationship between technology and nature, specifically within the food industry, and how this relationship has become too intimate, to the point where it’s difficult to differentiate between technology and nature. The courtship leading to the marriage between technology and nature is exemplified in Peter Pringle’s book, Food, Inc., in which he discusses the 1960’s Green Revolution, a turning point in agriculture during which producers moved from traditional to monoculture methods of farming. This vastly increased crop yields. But how? Farmers had high yields because they started to use fertilizers and pesticides containing chemicals like nitrogen, left over from World War II explosives. New irrigation systems were introduced and animals replaced some human labor in order to handle the large crop fields and monoculture agriculture provided food relief to starving nations post-war (Pringle). Farmers experienced a rude awakening when yields started to decline due to a number of unforeseen or unaddressed consequences. Although the Green Revolution saved or improved millions of lives during the 1960’s, little consideration was given to the future effects it could have on environmental sustainability. The lack of food plant diversity eventually led to multiple problems, like the mass destruction of crops that had contracted disease or succumbed to pesticide-resistant insects, chemically saturated and overly watered soils, and an inevitable decline in production yields (Pringle). Obviously, the United States needed to find a solution to this problem. By the late 1900s, many scientists and biotechnologists approved and advocated genetic engineering as the most viable solution. This process is best described by Lauren and Robin Ticciati in their book, Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide. According to the Ticciati’s, scientists planned to take a gene from one completely different organism and insert it into the plant in order to make it yield a desired outcome (Ticciati). The goal was to create food plants that could grow and withstand harsh conditions like pesticides, infertile soil, unfavorable climates, and geographical locations. Despite wariness from skeptical environmentalists about the unknown future effects of genetic food engineering, the companies who profit from this new food technology proclaimed it to be the wave of the future. As the Ticciati’s evidenced, in 1996, when the FDA approved the use of genetically engineered foods with no special label requirements, the GM foods were introduced on grocery market shelves with relatively no consumer awareness. This is just another example of how society is not clueless by choice. If this seems a harsh diagnosis, take into context what Kathleen Hart exemplified in her book, Eating in the Dark; a survey which took place just a couple years after GM foods were released revealed about two-thirds of the American adult population had no idea that supermarkets were carrying such items (Hart). Since then, GMOs have become part of the staple food products in the diets of the everyday consumer. Part of the problem is that nobody is exactly sure how harmful GM foods are, but there is substantial evidence to show that they can have a devastating effect on the economy, the human body, and the environment. In Food, Inc., Pringle discusses the farming method of artificial hybrid breeding which became a huge success in the mid-1900s and attracted a lot of commercial attention, spawning the term â€Å"agribusiness.† Scientists found that by crossing-breeding two varieties [of a species of plant] that had been inbred, [and] fertilized by their own pollen for three or four generations showed a tremendous leap in hybrid vigor, with grain yields up to 50 percent higher [than the natural bred variety] (Pringle). Unfortunately, when naturally crossed in the farmers’ fields, the hybrids strength did not withstand, so farmers had to rely on industry-produced super seeds. An economic boom occurred within the seed and fertilizer industries, with businesses rapidly sprouting up like the crops they helped produce. A few decades later the early warnings of genetic uniformity suddenly became a reality, (Pringle). One alarming discovery was the fact that since only one type of species was being harvested in a given area, if a crop contracted a disease, the entire field was wiped out, which meant no income that season for many farmers (Pringle). The companies who were invested in this new agricultural era and had seen the enormous profit potential in having a hand in controlling the food chain were not going to just quit. They pushed further into science, seeking ways to alter a species genetic make-up in order for it to conform to optimization, instead of considering natural solutions to these problems (Pringle). Today, there are GM super foods that are so genetically modified that they differ starkly from their ancestors. It is a teeter-totter industry; either profits are extremely high (like they have been for so long) or the industry fails and profits cease to exist. The latter doesn’t look like it’s going to occur any time soon because the government is firmly grasped by the biotech food companies that control the GM food industry. The most prominent of these companies, Monsanto, falsely advocates the necessity for GM foods, with the real motive the preservation of profits. Monsanto executive Hugh Grant claims â€Å"they [GM foods] can help feed the world and preserve the environment by reducing the need for pesticides,† (Harvest of Fear). Others advocate the hope that GM technology can save lives, like scientist Charles Arntzen, who is working on GM techniques to make edible vaccines to combat viruses in developing countries, (Harvest of Fear). More recently, companies like AquaBounty Technologies are working to develop genetically engineered animals. AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage salmon has been touted as â€Å"as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon,† by the FDA, but is still being met with numerous opposition (Pollack). The salmon â€Å"contain a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon and a genetic switch from the ocean pout that turns on an antifreeze gene,† which allows the salmon to make growth hormone in cold weather, whereas they usually produce it only in warm weather,† (Pollack). Genetic manipulation is causing drastic changes in the natural behavior of the organisms it’s implemented on, and it is believed that this could have multiple adverse effects on the environment and society. Those who have similar concerns, these cautious enemies to GM foods, can find strength in recent studies that are beginning to expose the numerous harmful effects of GM foods. In a study done by Gilles-Eric Sà ©ralini at the University of Caen in France, 200 rats were fed either genetically engineered corn or the herbicide Roundup and observed for two years, their entire life cycle and not just the normal ninety day period. It was found that they had an increased risk of developing tumors, suffering organ damage, and dying prematurely (Pollack, GMO Global Alert). Additional animal studies have shown other serious health risks associated with GM food consumption: infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen, and gastrointestinal system (Genetic Roulette). To exemplify how this is portrayed in humans, statistical evidence shows that after 1996, when GMOs increased in the American diet, disorders like inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic constipation, gastrointestinal infections, Crohn’s disease, and gastroephageal reflux have all risen dramatically and consistently (Genetic Roulette). Further evidence indicates that GMOs cause food allergies, have increased toxicity, decreased nutritional value, and promote antibiotic resistance (UMN). Not only do GM foods have a great potential for negatively effecting humans, they are harmful to the environment. Companies like Monsanto claim that genetically modifying foods is environmentally friendly, but this has been proven wrong on a multitude of levels. There is lack of nutrients found in soil in which GM crops are planted (Ticciati). These crops hurt the soil and the food chain. The chemicals found in pesticides were not only killing pests but also small animals, especially birds, were also facing extinction (Robbins). Tampering with natural selection creates a domino effect and damages the entire ecosystem. Imposing an unnatural element in the form of GM foods changes the equation and disrupts natural balance, even if things balance out, they will be forever different, even this is dangerous. Although GM foods are responsible for massive crop yields and the increased food supply, the industry is precariously perched given the increasing amount of deleterious effects that are being exposed more and more each day. For this reason, the government needs to take action. This is another dilemma; it is easy to wonder how the government can do anything when it has such close relationships with the companies that all the fingers are being pointed at. The primary antagonist in this story is the company Monsanto, the inventor of saccharin, an artificial sweetener, and many additional products. Monsanto accounts for over two-thirds of genetically engineered soy, corn, and canola crops worldwide (Robbins). Hendrik Verfaillie, Monsantos Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, described the company’s aggressive strategy with, The biggest mistake that anyone can make is moving slowly, because the game is going to be over before you start, (Robbins). It is understandable that a company this big has a profoundly large impact on government rulings regarding its industry. With Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide bringing in billions of dollars, the industry convinced the Supreme Court to allow the patenting of genetically engineered seeds so that the offspring would become the property of the seed manufacturer. In Genetic Engineering, Food and Our Environment, Luke Anderson exemplifies the impact of this ruling by stressing the profound repercussions it will have on the future of living organisms; This extraordinary decision by the U.S. Supreme Court heralded a new era. Once a shared heritage, the gene pool of plants, animals, and humans was now a commodity waiting to be bought and sold (Anderson). What appears to be mainly a business venture is an extremely important political issue, with companies pouring millions into politics to stay afloat. This is exemplified by the following quote, from the documentary The Future o f Food. Here, director D.K. Garcia focuses on the 2000 Presidential Election and the biotechnology issue: Agricultural biotechnology will find a support occupying the White House next year, regardless of which candidate wins the election in November (Garcia). The Future of Food reveals top ranking officials from the Supreme Court, such as Justice Clarence Thomas who previously represented Monsanto as their Lawyer for Regulatory Affairs, to Donald Rumsfeld, The Secretary of Defense, who was previously the President of Searle, a Monsanto subsidiary. Given their backgrounds, it is difficult to ignore the likelihood that their political stances would not be swayed. Even worse is Linda Fisher, who has switched roles between the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and Monsanto a number of times; she was Monsantos Executive Vice President for nearly a decade and Deputy Administrator for the EPA as well as Commissioner for George Bushs administration (Garcia). It’s frightening that the EPA, which acknowledges and regulates pesticides emitted into the environment, is likely to be biased in regards to the approval of genetically modified organisms into the environment. Needless to say, it’s shocking to see the connections that pose how much of an apparent influence Monsanto and the other leading biotech companies have on government regulations of GMOs. Evidence of this influence is presented in Seeds of Deception, in which Micah Sifry states, the four leaders of the biotech industry Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, and Novartis gave more than $3.5 million in PAC, soft-money, and large individual contributions between 1995 and 2000, three-quarters of it to Republicans (Smith). Stricter guidelines and extensive testing are not required because the companies have such strong political ties that they can influence the policy that is implemented upon them. In 1992, former U.S. Vice President, Dan Quayle, exemplifies this in his speech on behalf of the Council of Competitiveness, We will ensure that biotech products will receive the same oversight as other products, instead of being hampered by unnecessary regulation (Garcia). The FDA approved genetically modified foods with a high sense of hesitant reluctance. Consumers are supposed to rely on the FDA to determine if food is safe for consumption; the agency is supposed to be a protective one. This was a landmark decision for the FDA, a decision which required strong political influence for the agency to decide against its own principles. This is evidenced in The Future of Food; Dan Quayle and the Bush administrat ion appointed Michael Taylor as Deputy Commissioner for Policy, which Andrew Kimbrell divulges in an interview, noting that Taylor was formerly Monsantos Senior Counsel at the King and Spaulding law firm. Taylor instituted a no-regulation policy and left it to the biotech companies to determine whether or not genetically modified food was deemed safe for human consumption (Garcia). As the examples presented indicate, the successful clearance of GM foods has been engineered by companies like Monsanto and politicians, almost as much as the foods themselves. With the FDA swept out of the way, the companies that dominated the biotech industry were free to roam as they pleased, testing at their fingertips. How can the consumers trust Monsanto to act in their best interest, especially when the company’s Director of Corporate Communication, Phil Angell, says things like â€Å"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job,† (Robbins). Without extensive testing, which would almost certainly yield new truths about the harmful effects of GM foods, Monsanto can achieve its goal of selling as much as possible while disregarding the consequences this has on society and the environment. Testing is probably the biggest grey area of them all. The FDA has a persona of an overseer and protector, meaning that people generally believe that all food undergoes tests by the FDA to ensure their safety. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Testing genetically modified foods is dependent on the words of the companies that develop them. According to Consumer Unions Jean Halloran, When a company comes in with data, the FDA looks at it and writes a letter saying, Dear Monsanto, you supplied information regarding the safety of corn variety X and we are confident about what youve shown, It is your responsibility, (CBS). The FDA is in a difficult position. It is presented with its initial objective of protecting the American people but now, with biotechnology and GM foods, it is faced with a decision of whether or not to promote the biotech industry. The FDA regulates GM foods as part of the â€Å"coordinated framework† of federal agencies that also includes the EPA and the United States Department of Agriculture (Bashshur). The problem is that this framework has been the subject of critical analysis and calls for redesign; it is outdated, with the FDA policy unchanged since 1992. It is available online and contains a searchable database that covers â€Å"genetically engineered crop plants intended for food or feed that have completed all recommended or required reviews,† (Bashshur). The policy places responsibility on the producer or manufacturer to assure the safety of the food, explicitly relying on the producer or manufacturer to do so: â€Å"Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the producer of a new food to evaluate the safety of the food and assure that the safety requirement of section 402(a)(1) of the act is met,† (Bashshur). It is also this policy that establishes that the â€Å"substantially equivalent† concept, with which the FDA judges most GM crops as â€Å"substantially equivalent† to non-GM crops. In these cases, GM crops are â€Å"designated as â€Å"Gener ally Recognized as Safe† under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) and do not require pre-market approval,† (Federation of American Scientists). Although these products are described as substantially equivalent, their manufacturers stress that they are different so that they can patent them and continue to profit. In this situation, the consumer must take the producer’s angle. Their products are dramatically different; their genetic composition is very different in comparison with that of their ancestral forms. In deciding whether or not to ingest these products, the consumer must realize that if the companies that produce them stress they are dramatically different, and there is minimal testing done on them, these GM food products could be extremely dangerous. Currently, there is no regulatory scheme requiring GM foods to be tested to see if it is safe for humans to eat or not. FDA guidance to the industry issued in 1997 covered voluntary â€Å"cons ultation procedures,† but â€Å"still relied on the developer of the product to provide safety data,† (Bashshur). There are numerous pieces of evidence that indicate that GM food testing is completely unregulated. The FDA’s policy is outdated and weak, â€Å"substantially equivalent† cannot be justified when such a small level of testing has been done. The fact that this policy has remained unchanged for two decades is staggering; there’s probably a lot of money keeping it that way. In tackling what Ramona Bashshur describes as the FDA’s â€Å"dual mission,† rational thought is vital. Although the FDA cannot ignore the opportunity to make scientific advances with the potential to better society, it must reflect on its original role, as a protector. While scientific advances with GMOs are rapidly continuing, there hasn’t been enough testing on them to determine how dangerous they are. If testing was done and the foods proved safe , which they probably wouldn’t, there would be nothing wrong with promoting it. In the meantime, as more and more harmful aspects of GM foods come to the surface, it would be smart for the FDA to revise its policy, improve the extent of testing done on these foods, so that America can move forward in science with the assurance that it won’t hurt its citizens. This is a difficult task; there is so much political influence on the industry that it may never occur. If the policy for testing cannot be amended, there is action that can be taken that could have a similar outcome. Specialized labeling for GM foods would set them apart from normal foods and make it easier for consumers to make healthy choices. In the United States, they aren’t labeled, while in Europe, Russia, China, and other countries, they are. This is an extremely popular movement in the United States. An example is California’s Proposition 37, which would’ve required â€Å"labeling on raw or processed food offered for sale to consumers if made from plants or animals with genetic material changed in specified ways.† And it would prohibit marketing â€Å"such food, or other processed food, as ‘natural,’† (Bittman). The numbers don’t lie; people supported Proposition 37; roughly 65% for to 20% against, with 15% undecided. From a national perspective on the labeling issue, 91% of voters believe that the FDA should require that â€Å"foods which have been genetically engineered or containing genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled to indicate that,† (Bittman). With these numbers as a reference for the support that Proposition 37 had, it’s hard to believe that it was struck down. Again, this is an instance of money having the loudest voice in the room. Money flew in from both sides, but the food companies that stood to lose in the situation, like Monsanto and The Hershey Co., contributed to what was â€Å"eventually a $44 million windfall for No on Prop 37, while proponents were only able to raise $7.3 million,† (Almendrala). According to MapLight, an organization that tracks campaign contributions, biotech companies amassed $46 million to defeat the measure, with Monsanto contributing $8.1 million and Kraft Foods, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola each contributing at least $1.7 million (Pollack). In contrast, those who backed Proposition 37 were only able to contribute $9.2 million; money made the difference. Proposition 37 was close, garnering 47% of the vote, with campaigns like the online based â€Å"Just Label It† collecting signatures and comments on a petition to the FDA, requesting rules â€Å"similar to those in the European Union, Japan, China, India and Australia, stating what transgenic food is in the package,† (Moskin). The biggest thing about Proposition 37 is that it had national implications; it wasn’t just California that the food conglomerates were worried about. If it passed, it could’ve been the beginning of a national labeling revolution, potentially the beginning of an even greater revolution. Throughout history, organisms have developed through a recurrence of genetic mutations that have naturally selected the organisms that are most fit for survival. The rise of GMOs can be viewed through the same lens. GMOs arose from the conditions following the monoculture agricultural shift in the 1960’s Green Revolution. The key here is that they are not natural. The â€Å"mutations† that have aided the rise of GMOs are manmade, manufactured, and abnormal. GMOs are a result of the American obsession with optimization, which manifests itself in technology. After World War II and throughout the Green Revolution, America sought numerous technological advancements as it relished its role as a world power. With GMOs, America breached the gap between technology and nature in an effort to optimize food. Companies like Monsanto, with their growing number of political connections, began using their funds to pave the way for GMOs to become and remain a staple contingent of the American diet. Today, GM foods are still privately and minimally tested and they remain unlabeled in the United States. While the FDA stands by its outdated 1992 policy, claiming that GM foods are â€Å"substantially equivalent,† the producers stress that they are different in an effort to obtain patents. America cannot trust the sources it looks to for accurate information because there has been little testing but there is hope on the horizon after California nearly passed a law forcing GM foods to be labeled. As concerned parties seek an answer, they must first look towards labeling these foods, sparking a chain reaction that causes uninformed consumers to ask questions like, â€Å"Why are these foods specially labeled?† and â€Å"What makes these foods different?† Labeling could prove to be the beginning of a further revolution to enhance regulation of GM foods. This revolution, though currently nonexistent, must occur before this problem mutates even further, before not just the American people, but the entire world, reaps the consequences for playing the role of Creator. Anderson, L. (1999). Genetic engineering, food, and our environment. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. Clark, E. A. Lehman, H. (2001). Assessment of GM crops in commercial agriculture. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 14 (1), 3-28. Retrieved October 26, 2006, from ProQuest Research Library. Guidance for industry: Voluntary labeling indicating whether foods have or have not Been developed using bioengineering. (2001) Retrieved November 8, 2006, from http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/biolabgu.html. Garcia, D. K. (Director, Producer, Writer). (2004). The future of food. [DVD]. Mill Valley: Lily Films. Hart, K. (2002). Eating in the dark. New York: Pantheon Books. Pascalev, A. (2003). You are what you eat: genetically modified foods, integrity, and society. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 16 (1), 583-594. Retrieved October 29, 2006, from ProQuest Research Library. Pringle, P. (2003). Food inc. New York: Simon Schuster. Robbins, J. (2001). The food revolution: How your diet can help save your life and the world. Berkeley: Conari Press. Smith. J. (2003). Seeds of deception. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. Ticciati, L. Ticciati, R. (1998). Genetically engineered foods. Are they safe? You decide. New Canaan: Keats Publishing. http://documentarylovers.com/genetic-roulette-gamble-our-lives/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njd0RugGjAgfeature=related http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/business/gene-altered-fish-moves-closer-to-federal-approval.html?pagewanted=all_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/a-suit-airs-debate-on-organic-vs-modified-crops.html http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/15/g-m-o-s-lets-label-em/?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/business/energy-environment/21salmon.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/health/policy/04salmon.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/business/california-bid-to-label-genetically-modified-crops.html http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/energy-environment/disputed-study-links-modified-corn-to-greater-health-risks.html?_r=0 http://enhs.umn.edu/current/5103/gm/harmful.html http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-204_162-10004920-2.html http://www.americanbar.org/content/newsletter/publications/aba_health_esource_home/aba_health_law_esource_1302_bashshur.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/prop-37-defeated-californ_n_2088402.html http://www.fas.org/biosecurity/education/dualuse-agriculture/2.-agricultural-biotechnology/us-regulation-of-genetically-engineered-crops.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njd0RugGjAgfeature=related

Synthesis, Characterization and Thermal Studies of NDPAH

Synthesis, Characterization and Thermal Studies of NDPAH Synthesis, characterization and Thermal Studies of a Bis {N- (2, 4- dinitro- phenyl) N- (3- phenyl- allylidene)- hydrazine} Uranyl (VI) nitrate  [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Shahriar Ghammamy, Sajjad Sedaghat Abstract Bis {N- (2, 4- dinitro- phenyl) N- (3- phenyl- allylidene)- hydrazine} abbreviated as NDPAH was synthesized and characterized. Bis {N- (2, 4- dinitro- phenyl) N- (3- phenyl- allylidene)- hydrazine} Uranyl (VI) nitrate prepared r Keywords: Bis {N- (2, 4- dinitro- phenyl) N- (3- phenyl- allylidene)- hydrazine} Uranyl (VI) nitrate, synthesis, thermal analysis, FT-IR and UV–Visible spectroscopy, Schiff bases. Introduction A Schiff base, named after Hugo Schiff, is a compound with a functional group that contains a carbonnitrogen double bond with the nitrogen atom connected to an aryl or alkyl group, not hydrogen. Complexes of uranyl with nitrogen ligand are of considerable interest due to broad spectrum of biological activities. Formation of transition metal complexes with ligands of uranyl family are important because this ligands connected with various modes to the electron-rich and electron-poor metals. uranyl containing ligands are known to form stable complexes with class b metal ions, such as gold (I). Nitrogen-containing ligands is an important factor in the development of coordination chemistry such as Schiff bases and their metal complexes. and biochemically relevant studies of metal complexes [1]. A group of nitrogen-containing ligands represent a wide range of biological activities and this class of ligands known as pyrimidine system. These groups are valuable ligands in chemistry and on th e other hand have a huge impact on biological properties. For example, a furopyrimidine ring according to the isoelectric contact with purine, is highly regarded. Other uses are as a pesticide and medicine such as antifolates, antimalarials, and antivirus and other hand, protects against radiation. Recently, it has been found that the fluoropyrimidines to prevent some of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and high epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is used However, many synthetic protocols that have been reported as long-term reactions or quick reactions suffer from defects and flaws. Requires a multi-step reaction, requires without water conditions, low efficiency, the use of metal constructions containing materials and special tools or starting substances are examples of these flaws. Therefore achieve new techniques and efficient for the preparation of furo (2, 3, d) derivatives of pyrimidine is still highly desirable [7] Pyrimidine represents a very i nteresting group of compounds, because these compounds are used extensively in phytosanitary, pharmaceutical, and analytical . On the other hand, industrial aspects of this class of compounds is considered. For example, these compounds are used as anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. [8]. This class of compounds also have biological activities [9–13]. The role of metal ions in biological processes of life has long been known and is highly regarded. Studying the properties of transition metal complexes with this class of biologically active ligands is very interesting. In this paper, the synthesis and characterization of a number of the ligands and uranyl complexes have been studied. In this work, we report the synthesis and structural studies of the ligand and complex isolated from the reactions of: Bis {N- (2, 4- dinitro- phenyl) N- (3- phenyl- allylidene)- hydrazine} Uranyl (VI) nitrate. Experimental Solvents were purified by standard methods. All reagents were supplied by Merck and were used without further purification. Melting point was measured in an Electro thermal 9200. The FT-IR spectra were recorded in the range 400–4000 cm-1 by KBr disk using a Bruker Tensor 27 M 420 FT-IR spectrophotometer. The UV–Vis spectra in CH3CN were recorded with a WPA bio Wave S2 100 spectrophotometer. Thermo gravimetric analyses were done on a Perkin Elmer TGA/DTA lab system l (Technology by SII) in nitrogen atmosphere with a heating rate of 20 ºC/min from 35- 700  ºC.  ¹ H and  ¹Ã‚ ³ C-NMR spectra were measured on a BRUKER DRX-500 AVANCE spectrometer at 500 MHz. Synthesis of the [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+: For synthesis of the [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ to a magnetically stirred of ligand (0.88g, 2.8mmol) in acetonitrile(10ml) was added to uranyl (VI) nitrate (0.71g, 1.4 mmol) And the reaction is performed at room temperature. To ensure complex formation and precipitation of the complex. The solid complex obtained was filtered. And to remove material that did not participate in the reaction complex was washed with diethyl ether. Yield, 75%. Anal. Calcd of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+; C; 20.14, H; 1.34, N; 6.26; found: C; 20.24, H. 1.41, N; 6.32. Mp: 290  °C.  ¹HNMR (DMSO): 7.4-7.9 (CH phenol), 8.5-8.8 (CH dinitrobenzen), 8.4 (CH azomethyne), 7.1 (CH), FT-IR (KBr, cm-1): 1133 s (ÃŽ ½ N-N), 1614 s (ÃŽ ½ C=N), 420 w (ÃŽ ½ U-N), 935 s (ÃŽ ½ O=U=O), UV-vis (DMSO): à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ¬max 260nm(ÃŽ µ 26000), 320nm(ÃŽ µ 15000), 413nm(ÃŽ µ 32000) (Figure 1-8). [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ is soluble in chloroform, acetone, dichloro methane, DMSO and DMF and insoluble in water, hexane and diethyl ether and little soluble in methanol, Acetonitrile and ethanol. Figure 9, 10 shows Chemical structures of NDPAH and [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+. Analysis of NDPAH Ligand Anal: %68. Calcd of C15H12N4O4; C; 57.72, H; 3.84, N; 17.94; found: C; 57.81, H. 3.89, N; 17.99. Mp 254-256  °C,  ¹HNMR (DMSO): 7.3-7.7 (CH phenol), 7.8-8.5 (CH dinitrobenzen), 8.1 (CH azomethyne), 7.1 (CH), 9.1 (NH), FT-IR (KBr, cm-1): 1133 s (ÃŽ ½ N-N), 1613 s (ÃŽ ½ C=N), 3111 w (ÃŽ ½ NH). NDPAH is soluble in acetonitrile, acetone, chloroform, DMF, DMSO and diethyl ether insoluble in water, hexane, methanol and ethanol little soluble in dichloro methane. Results and discussion Preparation of Ligand and complex Compounds are quite stable and could be stored without any appreciable changes for long time. Compounds with multiple methods using FT-IR, UV-Visible and  ¹ H and  ¹Ã‚ ³ C-NMR spectra were identified. These compounds were evaluated for thermal analysis. In this paper, a new method for the synthesis of the Bis {N- (2, 4- dinitro- phenyl) N- (3- phenyl- allylidene)- hydrazine} Uranyl (VI) nitrate is presented . Following the single-step reaction between the UO2(NO3)2.6H2O and the NDPAH desired compound is obtained.This method has some advantages for the manufacture of complex. These include: there is no side products and does not require special conditions such as high pressure or high temperature, and that this reaction is a very fast reaction. The [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ has 290 °C melting points respectively. It is soluble in chloroform, acetone, dichloro methane, DMSO and DMF and insoluble in water, hexane and diethyl ether and slightly soluble in methanol, acetonitrile, and ethanol . The spectral data of the complexes have good relationship with the literature data. The IR spectra of the Schiff base show characteristic bands due to ÃŽ ½(NH), ÃŽ ½(C=N) and ÃŽ ½(N-N), in the region 3111cm-1, (1613, 1133) cm-1 respectively. The strong band in the region 1613, 1133cm-1 in the IR spectra of the Schiff base are assigned to ÃŽ ½( C=N), ÃŽ ½( N-N) respectively. In the case of U(VI) complex we observed the following changes. The bands appeared around 1133, 1614, 420 and 935cm-1 due to ÃŽ ½ N-N, ÃŽ ½ C=N, ÃŽ ½ U-N and ÃŽ ½ O=U=O. Thermo gravimetric analyses The thermal properties of these compounds were investigated by thermo grams (TG, DTG and DTA). Figure 11 shows TGA and DTA curves for [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+. In the temperature range 200-305ËÅ ¡C, 57.9% weight losing was observed which was related to the loss of most parts of compound. In the temperature range from 360-500ËÅ ¡C, 20.6% weight reduction was found, which was related to the loss of a part of compound. Conclusion It is clear from the above discussion that [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+complex and NDPAH ligand offer a new outlook for chemotherapy. The results of antitumor activity show that the metal complexes exhibit antitumor properties and it is important to note that they show enhanced inhibitory activity compared to the parent ligand. The mechanism by which these complexes act as antitumor agents is apoptosis. It has also been proposed that concentration plays a vital role in increasing the degree of inhabitation. References [1] R.J. Vidmar, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 21 (1992) 876-880. [2] A.S.N. Murthy, A.R. Reddy, Journal of Chemical Sciences. 90 (1981) 519-526. [3] V.N.K. Razakantoanina, P. Phung, Parasitology Research 86 (2000) 665-668. [4] R.E. Royer, D.L. Meck, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 38 (1995) 2427-2432. [5] M.R. Flack, P.R. G.yle, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism.  76 (1995) 1019-1024. [6] R. Baumgrass, M. Weiwad, Journal of Biological Chemistry. 276 (2001) 47914-47921. [7] M.B. Teimouri, R. Bazhrang, Bioorganic Medicinal Chemistry Letters.  16 (2006) 3697-3701. [8] M.B. Teimouri, Tetrahedron. 62 (2006)10849-10853. [9] J.M. Grevy, F. Tellez, Inorganica Chimica Acta. 339 (2002) 532-542. [10] A. Bernalte-Garc ´Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±a, F.J. Garc ´Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±a-Barros, Polyhedron. 18 (1999) 2907-2912. [11] K. Lemma, J. Berglund, Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry. 5 (2000) 300-306. [12] M.J.M. Campbell, Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 15 (1975) 279-319. [13] S. Padhy ´e, G.B. Kauffman, Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 63 (1985) 127-160. [14] B. Erwin, C. Omoshile, Journal of the Chemical Society Perkin Transactions. 2 (1995)1333-1338. [15] G.Zhao, H. Lin, Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. 70 (1998) 219-226. Figure 1: FTIR spectrum of NDPAH (KBr Disk) Figure 2: FTIR spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ (KBr Disk) Figure 3: 1H- NMR spectrum of NDPAH Figure 4: 1H- NMR spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Figure. 5. 13C- NMR spectrum of NDPAH Figure. 6. 13C- NMR spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Figure 7: UV/ Vis spectrum of NDPAH (DMSO, 5Ãâ€"10-4 M) Figure 8: UV/ Vis spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ (DMSO, 5Ãâ€"10-4 M) Figure 9: Chemical structure of NDPAH Figure 10: Chemical structure of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Figure 11: Thermal analysis data of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Figure 1: FTIR spectrum of NDPAH (KBr Disk) Figure 2: FTIR spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ (KBr Disk) Figure 3: 1H- NMR spectrum of NDPAH Figure 4: 1H- NMR spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Figure. 5. 13C- NMR spectrum of NDPAH Figure. 6. 13C- NMR spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Figure 7: UV/ Vis spectrum of NDPAH (DMSO, 5Ãâ€"10-4 M) Figure 8: UV/ Vis spectrum of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ (DMSO, 5Ãâ€"10-4 M) Figure 9: Chemical structure of NDPAH Figure 10: Chemical structure of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+ Figure 11: Thermal analysis data of [UO2(NDPAH)2]2+

An American :: essays research papers

What is an American? What does it mean to be "American?" What makes it "American?" And how does it make us "American?" American stands for the beliefs, the music, as well as the people that come from this great nation. The beliefs of this great nation speak every language. These beliefs stretch from the furthest reaches of Africa to the city life of New York. These beliefs are pride, freedom, and equality. American means to be proud. It means to stand up for what you believe in and to fight for it wholeheartedly. American also means to have freedom, freedoms to do what you wish, to practice your own religious ceremonies, customs, and beliefs. With these freedoms comes a responsibility, a responsibility to be accountable for your actions. Equality is the basis of American society. Before equality for all, there was slavery. With this slavery came accounts of cruelty and disillusioned violence. Without help from first hand accounts of slaves such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, we would have never emerged from this dark era in American history. American music is the envy of nations around the world. From Frank Sinatra to the Beatles, American music continues to diversify and grow. American bands develop large masses of followers in nations of all different ethnic backgrounds. From Asia to Germany, American music continues to influence the music styles of the rest of the world. Proud American men and women joined the armed forces to serve the country that they love and protect. These people show what it means to be American. Just as the colonists fought the British for Independence, they risk their lives, for something they believe in and cherish. These same people also stand for exploration and discovery.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart :: essays research papers

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s name is familiar even to people who know little or none of his music. However, Mozart’s fame is based on two different frames of reference: firstly, being the most famous child prodigy in music history (as both a performer and a composer) and secondly, his unquestioned brilliance as an adult composer of Classical symphonies, operas, chamber music, sonatas, church music, and concerti for various instruments. Perhaps what he is best remembered for are his operas.	 His astonishing rate of production continues to stupefy scholars today. In his short life, he composed over 600 works, including 21 stage and opera works. The most obvious distinction between Mozart and other opera composers is that he was the master of all other branches of composition. Mozart’s operas are from a mind that thought symphonically, so even if you don’t know what’s going on, you can tell you are listening to an extended piece of music in which the dramatic incidents form a part of a perfectly coherent whole. Mozart wrote from some excellent libretti, yet the music is always the dominant element, giving the action inflections of meaning the words alone couldn’t reflect. Furthermore, until Mozart’s emergence, operatic characters where generalized and typical. Mozart was the first to put real people up on the stage, people who had real emotions that were inconsistent and whose personalities were evolutionary. In 1767, the Mozarts went to Vienna where Wolfgang was commissioned to compose his first opera, La finta semplice, K. 51. Intrigues created by envious composers, prevented this first opera from being performed. However, another charming early theatrical work of Mozart, Bastien und Bastienne, an opera buffa, was performed in Vienna where it was greeted with much acclaim. His first major serious opera, Mitridate, was performed in Milan in 1770 when he was only fourteen, and it was received with unqualified raves that critics compared him to Handel. The 1780’s began the struggling times for Mozart, although the Emperor, who thought highly of Mozart, attended several of his "academies" but did little else for him. Eventually, there was an appointment as Court composer, but there were next to no orders for compositions. When a salary was added to the title, it was a meager one, and Mozart's last years, in spite of some notable successes (Figaro, 1786), were beset by financial worries, aggravated by Konstanze's (Mozart’s wife) many sicknesses and confinements. Although Mozart had initially thrived in Vienna, since he was in great demand as a performer and composition teacher, and his opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio, was a hit, life was seldom easy for him.

Freedom :: Essays Papers

Freedom College. It screams freedom. You plan and prepare for months and make decisions that will affect the rest of your life. You pack your room up and move it hundreds of miles from your controlling parents. This is it; freedom at last. No more curfews, no more rules, no more high school â€Å"mystery meat† day, and no more boring hometown. No need to worry about money, there’s plenty of it. Your parents are going to help pay for your living expenses and your scholarship and loan will get you through the tuition and fees. Everything will be perfect. The first week or so after moving into your new territory, be it a dorm or apartment, you realize how uneasy it feels to be away from the familiarities of your life before the move. You start to miss the little things. You wish that the ceiling fan made the same rattling noise that your fan at home made. You wish you were able to here the crickets outside at night instead of noisy neighbors or roommates. It doesn’t as seem perfect being in college as it did in your imagination. College can be a fun and exciting part of your life. But fun and excitement usually cost money. You have to pay for movie tickets, the late runs to Taco Bell, snacks, soda, and all the extras you want to decorate your new place with. Money is hard to come by in college. You spend most of your day in classes and if your parents have decided to not give you lots of money, you spend most nights working part-time. Working while attending school is not fun at all. It leaves you with little time to study or get homework done. And the little time you have is usually in the early hours of the morning, depending on how late you stay up. But you have to work in order to buy the things you want and to be able to eat out instead of eating the dorm food (which is surprising just as bad as high school lunch). Another thing college can do to a person is separate them from a boyfriend or girlfriend. Imagine spending every night with a person while you were in high school and then up and leaving one day.

Europe’s Interaction with Africa, Asia Essay

In the mid-15th century, European nations started sending merchants, explorers, colonizers and missionaries to various parts of the world. Historians often referred to this phenomenon as the Age of Discovery, an era in which unknown seas were traversed, new lands and peoples were discovered and an astounding new phase in global encounters was initiated (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). The Age of Discovery played an important role in the political and economic development of Western Europe. Some of its key legacies included colonization, the development of large-scale horticultural industries and the spread of Christianity. The Age of Discovery, however, is usually portrayed as exclusively European and historically unique. It must be made clear that such a description is misleading and incomplete. Exploration and expansion are not historical novelties, and neither are they uniquely European. Furthermore, they have other motivations, attitudes and cross-cultural perceptions apart from the desire to discover other lands (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). Muslim and Chinese explorers and traders have been traveling across Asia, Arabia and Africa centuries before Christopher Columbus set out from Spain in 1492. The journeys of Ibn Battuta in the mid-14th century, for instance, took him through the vast extent of the Islamic world. Zheng He, a fleet admiral who lived during the Ming Dynasty, sailed as far as the coast of east Africa in the mid-15th century (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 3). Tunisian philosopher and historian Ibn Khaldun traveled as far as Spain in the 14th century (Ahmed 102). But European and non-European explorers differed in terms of the motives behind their respective journeys. Non-European explorers traveled primarily to create extensive religious and trade networks. Muslims were partially bound by religion and commerce as a form of compensation for the near-absence of political unity in the Islamic world. Despite ethnic and regional differences, their adherence to Islamic laws and values provided them with a sense of unity and shared identity. The establishment of long-distance trading networks, meanwhile, allowed Muslim producers and consumers from different regions to communicate with one another, as well as with peoples of different religions (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4). Muslim traders therefore organized camel caravans to the frontiers of India and across the Sahara in Africa. They likewise established equally profitable trade routes by sea across the Indian Ocean. By the late 15th century, the commercial activity in most of the regions surrounding the Indian Ocean was almost under their control. Furthermore, certain localities in the Islamic world were gaining recognition for their excellence in specific industries. Persia, for example, was renowned in the 14th century for its exquisite glassware, jewelry and pottery (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4). Extensive trade and industry, in turn, provided the Islamic world with urbanized and cosmopolitan societies. Sophisticated commercial centers such as Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Timbuktu and Zanzibar attracted residents from distant regions that eventually converted to Islam. These new converts subsequently spread Islam and elements of Islamic culture to their respective homelands. The Delhi Sultanate of India and the West African kingdom of Mali are some examples of regions that were not originally Islamic but were later Islamized (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 4). In sharp contrast, the motive behind most European explorations was the pseudo-revival of the Reconquista (the struggle of the Spanish and Portuguese Christians to expel the Moors from their respective countries). In the 14th and 15th centuries, anti-Moor sentiment was still strong in Spain and Portugal – it was during these periods that Spanish and Portuguese Christians successfully expelled the Moors from Iberia. But this victory soon left many knights idle and looking for new adventures. Many knights thus joined overseas expeditions, viewing these as new opportunities to vanquish the hated Moors (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). Certain economic conditions in Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries were also responsible for the xenophobic attitude that many European explorers had during the Age of Discovery. In these eras, most European economies were still small, largely agrarian and geared towards meeting local needs. Muslim merchants and middlemen were the sole sources of spices and other luxury goods. In addition, Europe was politically fragmented – the continent’s monarchs wasted scarce resources and manpower in the numerous wars and conflicts that they waged against each other. Lastly, the Black Death (bubonic plague) killed millions and further weakened economies, adding to the pervasive atmosphere of dread and xenophobia (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). Given the insular, backward and unsophisticated nature of Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, it was no longer surprising that the expeditions from the continent had mostly detrimental effects. Many explorers viewed the natives that they encountered in foreign lands as â€Å"barbarians† that must be â€Å"civilized† by being subjugated to them. By the 16th and 17th centuries, therefore, many countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas ended up being the colonies of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain and France (Sanders, Morillo and Nelson 5). In addition, the transatlantic slave trade occurred from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Mainstream historians had indeed painted a misleading and incomplete picture of the Age of Discovery. By claiming that the Age of Discovery was an exclusively European and historically unique phenomenon, they are implying that it was an event that was born out of Europe’s benevolent desire to discover other lands. But the truth is that the Age of Discovery should not be glorified. Exploration and expansion have already been taking place long before it happened – proof that the inhabitants of the regions outside of Europe are not savages. The Age of Discovery occurred at a time when Europe was still insular, backward and unsophisticated. Thus, many of the continent’s explorers exhibited a fearful and xenophobic attitude when it came to dealing with people not of their own race. This paranoia, in turn, led to the colonization of several nations in Africa, Asia and the Americas. In addition, slavery became a centuries-old practice. Works Cited Ahmed, Akbar S. Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society. New York: Routledge, 1989. Sanders, Thomas, Stephen Morillo, and Samuel H. Nelson. Encounters in World History: Sources and Themes from the Global Past, Volume II: From 1500. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Food Systems and the Environment Essay

The status of food security in any community across the globe can be considered as the major principal outcome of food systems when these systems are defined generically and broadly. Increase in the productivity and efficiency of food systems have shown much success across the globe in improving nutrition and reducing the prevalence of hunger. However the efficiency and productivity of food systems have raised concerns as they pose serious threats to economic, environmental and social goals and hence they have undermined food security. On the other hand environmental changes around the world in the context of political, economic and social changes may result to unprecedented stresses to bear on food security and food systems. Food systems are conceived as set of activities that range from production through to consumption. In production process of raw materials for food the major trends have been intensification of agriculture which is accompanied by concentration in the agricultural inputs and the trend to larger agricultural lands sizes with hired labor. This trend is accompanied by increased fragmentation of land among the marginalized small holders. As a consequence there is increased demand of water for irrigation, increased pollution, soil loss and increased energy demands in the production sectors. (i. ) Environmental pollution resulting from food processing industries In the current economic systems farming is no longer the dominant economic activity in the overall food systems. This is because people are more concerned in adding value in the overall food product in the area of processing and packing of raw materials into food products. Due to increase of these activities many factories and industries have concentrated up and down the food production and supply chain. The expansion of industries has resulted to more toxic effluents being emitted from factories into water and air. The number of processing industries in both urban and rural areas has grown tremendously which have resulted to pollution of water bodies, air and soil (Richardson, pp 7). In some cases ground water quality has also been affected due to increasing production and use of pesticides and fertilizers aimed at promoting more intensive cropping and self sufficiency in food. Expansion of factories and food processing plants has also created major problems of waste disposal. Low lying fields are generally used for waste disposals without the benefits of using sanitary methods have resulted to major pollution problems. (ii) Over killing of animals species leading endangered species. Endangered animal species face the dander of becoming extinct since they are low in number and therefore need protection in order to survive. Human activities such as killing animals for food and commercial trade are rendering many animals to continue suffering high rates of exploitation. A species that is being overexploited become endangered or may become extinct due to the rate at which is being consumed. An example of over exploitation that has been experienced was the unrestricted whaling. The whaling industry during this time over exploited whales and resulted to low population sizes of whales. Due to the decreased number of whales and nearly some of them were nearly extinct several governments agreed to abide by international moratorium on whaling. Over exploitation of animals species harms livelihood since high proportion of world’s population depends on wildlife for their meat protein and their components provided traditional medicines. Over exploitation of plant and animal species does not only affects the following community and threatens the particular species but also it causes imbalance in the whole ecosystem (Guynup, para 4). (iii) Genetically modified foods ecological balance Genetically modified foods are produced from animals and plants which their genes are changed by scientists in the laboratory. Genes are written on the DNA and are the chemical instruction for building and maintaining life. Scientists modify these genes and alter the characteristics of an organism. In so doing yields and resistance to diseases can be improved in both plants and animals. However there are fears some of the genes which have been introduced into some crops can escape and be transferred to other plant species where they can have adverse effects. Some critiques believes that leakage of these genes will result to emergence of super weeds and extinctions of ordinary species of birds and insects and the food chain will became damaged (Eiswasser, Gan & Alia, pp 9). (b) Influence of environment to food systems (i) Effects of global warming and environmental pollution. The overall climate changes including global warming and the increased climate variability will result to variety of impacts on agriculture. Some of he effects of climate change are ecological, biophysical and some are economic. These factors include the following; first there will be shift in agricultural zone and climate towards the poles. Second, the production patterns would be changed due to higher temperatures. Third, agricultural productivity in some regions would be increased due to increased levels of carbon dioxide, fourth the precipitation patterns will be changed and finally most people will be vulnerable of becoming landless. In addition changes of weather patterns may lead to increased crop infestation by pests and chocking weed. In most of the low lying climate change will result to decreased crop yields and therefore in most regions net import of crops will increase. Higher prices of food will render most people to become at risk of hunger (Natural Resources Defense Council, para 8). (ii) Greenhouse production Greenhouse method of food production makes use of controlled environment in modern terms it is also referred to as controlled environmental agricultures. Those methods enables farmers to cultivate food or fruit producing plants in areas and at times when weather conditions would prevent them from growing or adversely affects them green house also prevents the crops from adverse weather conditions which due to the ever increasing population and more agricultural land being lost to urban development. Intensive food production in greenhouse will play a significant role in food production (Peet, para 11). (iii) Location and food prices Provision of food system impacts on what people choose to eat and evidently people can only choose foods that are accessible, affordable and available to them. Food availability is related to the prices and this is determined on the process that the food gets to the consumers and what is on offer. Development and changes of food distribution and supply may be parallel but there may remain strong cultural differences between regions in the way food is produced, distributed and made available to consumers. The cost of distribution of food also affects the food prices due to higher transport costs over long distances (Iton, pp 14). 2. Relationship between food and society. (a) Influence of food systems to the society. Alongside global environmental changes globalization of consumers’ preferences is another change that is taking place. In food systems the spread of fast food is considered synonymous with globalization. There has also been expansion of Asian Latin American and African and other international cuisines into national food cultures (Food and Fuel America. com, para 8). (ii) Food cultures bring people together. There are several areas which can help to bring cultures together. These include talent shows, style shows, and food court. These areas are more effective especially when they are organized for international cultural festivals. When people are eating from the same table they can speak and ask each other questions about their culture directly. Food cultures and style show displays expressions from different countries and therefore people can learn the cultures through hearing, feeling and experiencing the show. In addition people learn about each other when they start taking about food (Weickgenant, para 5). (iii)Treads in food production in the global economy In the year 1999 economic recovery had manifested itself globally after the global slow down which was cause by financial crisis in 1997 and 1998 in Asia. In the year 2000 there was further strengthening and the world GDP was expected to rise by not less than 3 percent which would reflect stronger economic activities. GDP in the developing countries is expected to rise by 4 to 5 percent. At this rate the growth of agricultural GDP in developing countries would not grow strongly than overall GDP in developed countries which is expected to grow at the rate of 5 to 6 percent (Rosegrant, Paisner & Witcover, pp 4). Emerging food safety technologies Due to the needs of the societies to keep food for longer, government agencies and departments of homeland security set targets on bulky food contamination as the focus of attention for food security. Tampering of food or contamination of bulky food poses a serious threat to society. New technologies on the other hand provide mean of monitoring food systems and modifies people behavior. The surveillance technology that has been developed influences individual behaviors and altitudes by introducing additional procedural arrangement (Hendrickx, para 10). Government enacts laws and policies in order to offer remedies of harms which might have been created in the past for example enacting new seed law. Government also aims at protecting safety, quality and health of its citizens (Niskanen, pp 13). Changing in demand and supply When the demand and of a particular product of food increases production and supply of that product increases. As a result there will be much of that product in the market leading to fall in demand and price of the product leading to reduced production and supply (Lee, pp 6). Work Cited Eiswasser E, Gan K & Alia K. 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