Close-Reading Xala Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Close-Reading Xala - Essay Example Close-Reading Xala Sembene has used his life to reveal the period of transition in Africa shedding light upon the corruption and greed that persisted in the African society. The story commences from the success of El Hadji and ends at the note where he is humiliated owing to his own acts and wrongdoings. El Hadji lived a life of pride and attained financial successes even through wrong means to fulfill his greed. He lived a lavish life and had two wives named Adja Awa Astou and Oumi N’Doye respectively. But he decided to marry a third woman, N'Gone and this was a matter of pride for him as he believed this symbolized his manhood and his capability of fulfilling the demands of three wives both physically and financially. His first two wives are not very happy with this decision but to uphold the African traditions of submissiveness for women, they obey his command and attend his wedding ceremony. El Hadji is very happy with his marriage but his marriage proves to be the commencement of his downfa ll. He is unable to consummate his marriage owing to the loss of potency on the first of his marriage. On the path of attaining the cure for his problem, he loses his wealth and he is deserted by his wives as well except for Awa. He is looked down upon by his colleagues who also leave him and continue with their financial projects. It is later that El Hadji finds out that he lost his potency owing to â€Å"xala† which was a curse of impotency that was spelled on him by a beggar as he had been unfair and had unjustly taken over the piece of land of the beggar. The only way that remained for him to regain his manhood was by taking off his clothes and by being spit by all the beggars. The author has interwoven the happenings in the life of El Hadji to reflect upon the wrongdoings in the African society. El Hadjis first wife is a traditional African woman who sticks by him till the end. She is submissive and follows the commands of her husband. Her character reveals the strength of an African woman who is patient and loyal. She converses with her husband in Wolof revealing that she wills to uphold the tradition of the African society. Their daughter Rama is used by the writer to portray the new generation of Africa who knew that they had fought their way out of colonialism and had to work towards upholding their culture and traditions. She was a strong character who argued with his father against his wrongdoings and atrocities. She also talked with her father in Wolof and did not wish to utilize the French traditions and products until and unless needed. It is seen that despite of her disapproval for her father’s acts, she still loved her father which is revealed when she stands by him and converses with the police officer when the beggars at their house for the ritual of spitting El Hadji for regaining his manhood. She also cries on seeing her father being disgraced. Africa was in a transitional phase and Oumi who is El Hadji’s second wife sy mbolizes as a character that is stuck between the French and the African traditions. Oumi is not patient and devoted like Awa. She highly disapproves of El Hadji’s third marriage. She was not completely over the French period of colonialism and preferred using their language and dressing. She adopted a more western style and her character denoted the existence of the French remnants in the African society. Oumi is materialistic and leaves El Hadji during his period of downfall and

Google Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Google - Case Study Example rnment’s stringent laws, Google agreement for self censorship is the right alternative as it provides it with option to tap the huge market for its other products like android services. Hence, I agree with Schmidt that some information is better than no information. Schmidt is right in his assertion as Google is a business proposition with the basic objective of disseminating information. In the contemporary environment of global competition, changes within business strategy become essential and decision to self censor in China is part of its strategy for global expansion. Google’s decision therefore is right conforms to its wider objective of business goals and mission. While Google’s business strategy is fundamentally based on free access to full information, it has to forego its principle of providing full access to information as per guidelines and restrictions of Chinese government. Hence, the Chinese customers cannot access information that is deemed objectionable by the Chinese government. But in the highly competitive global business, China presents huge scope of business expansion and therefore its decision to self censor is

Fragment Allocation In Distributed Database Design

Fragment Allocation In Distributed Database Design A database that consists of two or more data files located at different sites on a computer network. Because the database is distributed, different users can access it without interfering with one another. However, the DBMS must periodically synchronize the scattered databases to make sure that they all have consistent data, or in other words we can say that a distributed database is a database that is under the control of a central database management system (DBMS) in which storage devices are not all attached to a common CPU. It may be stored in multiple computers located in the same physical location, or may be dispersed over a network of interconnected computers. Collections of data (e.g. in a database) can be distributed across multiple physical locations. A distributed database can reside on network servers on the Internet, on corporate intranets or extranets, or on other company networks. Replication and distribution of databases improve database performance at end-user worksites. To ensure that the distributive databases are up to date and current, there are two processes: Replication. Duplication. Replication involves using specialized software that looks for changes in the distributive database. Once the changes have been identified, the replication process makes all the databases look the same. The replication process can be very complex and time consuming depending on the size and number of the distributive databases. This process can also require a lot of time and computer resources. Duplication on the other hand is not as complicated. It basically identifies one database as a master and then duplicates that database. The duplication process is normally done at a set time after hours. This is to ensure that each distributed location has the same data. In the duplication process, changes to the master database only are allowed. This is to ensure that local data will not be overwritten. Both of the processes can keep the data current in all distributive locations. Besides distributed database replication and fragmentation, there are many other distributed database design technologies. For example, local autonomy, synchronous and asynchronous distributed database technologies. These technologies implementation can and does depend on the needs of the business and the sensitivity/confidentiality of the data to be stored in the database, and hence the price the business is willing to spend on ensuring data security, consistency and integrity. Basic architecture A database User accesses the distributed database through: Local applications Applications which do not require data from other sites. Global applications Applications which do require data from other sites. A distributed database does not share main memory or disks. Main Features and Benefits of a Distributed System A common misconception among people when discussing distributed systems is that it is just another name for a network of computers. However, this overlooks an important distinction. A distributed system is built on top of a network and tries to hide the existence of multiple autonomous computers. It appears as a single entity providing the user with whatever services are required. A network is a medium for interconnecting entities (such as computers and devices) enabling the exchange of messages based on well-known protocols between these entities, which are explicitly addressable (using an IP address, for example). There are various types of distributed systems, such as Clusters [3], Grids [4], P2P (Peer-to-Peer) networks, distributed storage systems and so on. A cluster is a dedicated group of interconnected computers that appears as a single super-computer, generally used in high performance scientific engineering and business applications. A grid is a type of distributed system that enables coordinated sharing and aggregation of distributed, autonomous, heterogeneous resources based on usersà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ QoS (Quality of Service) requirements. Grids are commonly used to support applications emerging in the areas of e-Science and e-Business, which commonly involve geographically distributed communities of people who engage in collaborative activities to solve large scale problems and require sharing of various resources such as computers, data, applications and scientific instruments. P2P networks are decentralized distributed systems, which enable applications such as fil e-sharing, instant messaging, online multiuser gaming and content distribution over public networks. Distributed storage systems such as NFS (Network File System) provide users with a unified view of data stored on different file systems and computers which may be on the same or different networks. The main features of a distributed system include: Functional Separation: Based on the functionality/services provided, capability and purpose of each entity in the system. Inherent distribution: Entities such as information, people, and systems are inherently distributed. For example, different information is created and maintained by different people. This information could be generated, stored, analyzed and used by different systems or applications which may or may not be aware of the existence of the other entities in the system. Reliability: Long term data preservation and backup (replication) at different locations. Scalability: Addition of more resources to increase performance or availability. Economy: Sharing of resources by many entities to help reduce the cost of ownership. As a consequence of these features, the various entities in a distributed system can operate concurrently and possibly autonomously. Tasks are carried out independently and actions are co-ordinate at well-defined stages by exchanging messages. Also, entities are heterogeneous, and failures are independent. Generally, there is no single process, or entity, that has the knowledge of the entire state of the system. Various kinds of distributed systems operate today, each aimed at solving different kinds of problems. The challenges faced in building a distributed system vary depending on the requirements of the system. In general, however, most systems will need to handle the following issues: Heterogeneity: Various entities in the system must be able to interoperate with one another, despite differences in hardware architectures, operating systems, communication protocols, programming languages, software interfaces, security models, and data formats. Transparency: The entire system should appear as a single unit and the complexity and interactions between the components should be typically hidden from the end user. Fault tolerance and failure management: Failure of one or more components should not bring down the entire system, and should be isolated. Scalability: The system should work efficiently with increasing number of users and addition of a resource should enhance the performance of the system. Concurrency: Shared access to resources should be made possible. Openness and Extensibility: Interfaces should be cleanly separated and publicly available to enable easy extensions to existing components and add new components. Migration and load balancing: Allow the movement of tasks within a system without affecting the operation of users or applications, and distribute load among available resources for improving performance. Security: Access to resources should be secured to ensure only known users are able to perform allowed operations. Several software companies and research institutions have developed distributed computing technologies that support some or all of the features described above. Fragment Allocation in Distributed Database Design On a Wide Area Network (WAN), fragment allocation is a major issue in distributed database design since it concerns the overall performance of distributed database systems. Here we propose a simple and comprehensive model that reflects transaction behavior in distributed databases. Based on the model and transaction information, two Heuristic algorithms are developed to find a near-optimal allocation such that the total communication cost is minimized as much as possible. The results show that the fragment allocation found by the algorithms is close to being an optimal one. Some experiments were also conducted to verify that the cost formulas can truly reflect the communication cost in the real world. INTRODUCTION: Distributed database design involves the following interrelated issues: (1) How a global relation should be fragmented, (2) How many copies of a fragment should be replicated? (3) How fragments should be allocated to the sites of the communication network, (4) What the necessary information for fragmentation and allocation is. These issues complicate distributed database design. Even if each issue is considered individually, it is still an intractable problem. To simplify the overall problem, we address the fragment allocation issue only, assuming that all global relations have already been fragmented. Thus, the problem investigated here is determining the replicated number of each fragment and then finding a near-optimal allocation of all fragments, including The replicated ones, in a Wild Area Network (WAN) such that the total communication cost is minimized. For a read request issued by a transaction, it may be simple just to load the target fragment at the issuing site, or it may be a little complicated to load the target fragment from a remote site. A write request could be most complicated since a write propagation should be executed to maintain consistency among all the fragment copies if multiple fragment copies are spread throughout the network. The frequency of each request issued at the sites must also be considered in the allocation model. Since the behaviors of different transactions maybe result in different optimal fragment allocations, cost formulas should be derived to minimize the transaction cost according to the transaction information. Alchemi: An example distributed system In a typical corporate or academic environment there are many resources which are generally under-utilized for long periods of time. A à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"resourceà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  in this context means any entity that could be used to fulfill any user requirement; this includes compute power (CPU), data storage, applications, and services. An enterprise grid is a distributed system that dynamically aggregates and co-ordinates various resources within an organization and improves their utilization such that there is an overall increase in productivity for the users and processes. These benefits ultimately result in huge cost savings for the business, since they will not need to purchase expensive equipment for the purpose of running their high performance applications. The desirable features of an enterprise grid system are: Enabling efficient and optimal resource usage. Sharing of inter-organizational resources. Secure authentication and authorization of users. Security of stored data and programs. Secure communication. Centralized / semi-centralized control. Auditing. Enforcement of Quality of Service (QoS) and Service Level Agreements (SLA). Interoperability of different grids (and hence: the basis on open-standards). Support for transactional processes. Alchemi is an Enterprise Grid computing framework developed by researchers at the GRIDS Lab, in the Computer Science and Software Engineering Department at the University of Melbourne, Australia. It allows the user to aggregate the computing power of networked machines into a virtual supercomputer and develop applications to run on the Grid with no additional investment and no discernible impact on users. The main features offered by the Alchemi framework are: Virtualization of compute resources across the LAN / Internet. Ease of deployment and management. Object-oriented Grid thread programming model for grid application development. File-based Grid job model for grid-enabling legacy applications. Web services interface for interoperability with other grid middleware. Open-source .Net based, simple installation using Windows installers. Alchemi Grids follow the master-slave architecture, with the additional capability of Connecting multiple masters in a hierarchical or peer-to-peer fashion to provide Scalability of the system. An Alchemi grid has three types of components namely the Manager, the Executor, and the User Application itself. The Manager node is the master / controller whose main function is to service the user Requests for workload distribution. It receives a user request, authenticates the user, and distributes the workload across the various Executors that are connected to it. The Executor node is the one which actually performs the computation. Alchemi uses role based Security to authenticate users and authorize execution. A simple grid is created by Installing Executors on each machine that is to be part of the grid and linking them to a Central Manager Component. Advantages of distributed databases Management of distributed data with different levels of transparency. Increase reliability and availability. Easier expansion. Reflects organizational structure database fragments are located in the departments they relate to. Local autonomy a department can control the data about them (as they are the ones familiar with it.) Protection of valuable data if there were ever a catastrophic event such as a fire, all of the data would not be in one place, but distributed in multiple locations. Improved performance data is located near the site of greatest demand, and the database systems themselves are parallelized, allowing load on the databases to be balanced among servers. (A high load on one module of the database wont affect other modules of the database in a distributed database.) Economics it costs less to create a network of smaller computers with the power of a single large computer. Modularity systems can be modified, added and removed from the distributed database without affecting other modules (systems). Reliable transactions Due to replication of database. Hardware, Operating System, Network, Fragmentation, DBMS, Replication and Location Independence. Continuous operation. Distributed Query processing. Distributed Transaction management. Disadvantages of distributed databases Complexity extra work must be done by the DBAs to ensure that the distributed nature of the system is transparent. Extra work must also be done to maintain multiple disparate systems, instead of one big one. Extra database design work must also be done to account for the disconnected nature of the database for example, joins become prohibitively expensive when performed across multiple systems. Economics increased complexity and a more extensive infrastructure means extra labour costs. Security remote database fragments must be secured, and they are not centralized so the remote sites must be secured as well. The infrastructure must also be secured (e.g., by encrypting the network links between remote sites). Difficult to maintain integrity à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ in a distributed database, enforcing integrity over a network may require too much of the networks resources to be feasible. Inexperience distributed databases are difficult to work with, and as a young field there is not much readily available experience on proper practice. Lack of standards there are no tools or methodologies yet to help users convert a centralized DBMS into a distributed DBMS. Database design more complex besides of the normal difficulties, the design of a distributed database has to consider fragmentation of data, allocation of fragments to specific sites and data replication. Additional software is required. Operating System should support distributed environment. Concurrency control: it is a major issue. It is solved by locking and time stamping.

The Many Faces of Pride :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Many Faces of Pride   Ã‚   Pride is idolatry, boastfulness, and the failure to recognize deficiencies (Peters 87).   With time, people have become more accepting of pride in their societies.   This progression of acceptance has led to alterations in the definition.   It is the slight tweakings of the definition that have allowed us to perceive pride as a deadly sin and simultaneously an essential for success.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The beginning of all sin occurred when Eve listened to the evil snake, in the garden of Eden, who told her that she could acquire God's knowledge (Peters 87).   God forbid Eve to eat the apple of knowledge, but she did regardless.   Eve committed the first sin of humankind in an act of pride because pride has been defined as "an attempt at human self-divination" (Peters 87).   Since she was only the second person to walk the earth, Eve had few examples of how to act.   It seems to be that it was her sheer curiosity and amazement with Eden that caused her to eat the apple, not an attempt to become like God.   Despite her intentions, according to the ancient definition of pride Eve sinned the first sin of self-divination.   Another example of ancient, religious pride can be seen through an ancient Jewish sect, the Pharisees.  Ã‚   These men claimed to be the most religious of the land.   Although they did not seek to be at the same leve l as God, they sought answers and results for their village among themselves when they should have been talking to God.   Often times, the Pharisees bent the rules of the Ten Commandments for themselves but forced the villagers to strictly obey them. To make matters worse, these men wanted to be rewarded for their good deeds of "helping their community."   The Pharisees refused to admit their faults and were condemned "proud" by Jesus (Yancey & Stafford 1125).   God gives us a final example that pride is a deadly sin. Lucifer was created to be one of God's right hand cherubs, "the seal of perfection"   (Ezekiel 28:12-15).   However, one day Lucifer decided that he wanted more knowledge and power than God.   When God found out, Lucifer was kicked out of heaven and fell to the earth, bringing one third of the stars (fallen angels) with him (Isaiah 12:12-14 & Revelations 12:4).

Animal Rights

Do the rights of animals precede the advancement of science? The quicker the world answers this question and realizes the significance of animals for our own existence the better. Tougher rules on animal trafficking which is a 19 billion global industry, penalties on animal abuse and steps taken for animal conservation and banning animal testing are good primary steps taken by most European nations and the United States but a more positive effect will only come to show if the entire world takes this matter more seriously.Animal rights teach us that certain things are wrong as a matter of Renville, that there are some things which are morally wrong to do to animals. Human beings must not do those things, even If they do them In a â€Å"humane† way. The fact that people take animals as a means to fulfill their own desires and needs and not as a living being, something that feels pain just like any human does makes them do cruel things.Roughly 17 thousand species are known to be threatened with extinction a curve that increases every year as more and more species of birds, mammals and sea-life are pulled closer to extinction. In Africa Ivory poachers have ailed 65% of forest elephant population In the last 11 years. According to a Washington based wildlife conservation agency around a 100-million sharks are killed annually to make the popular Chinese delicacy, sharkskin soup.Most people are oblivious to the fact that most of their cosmetics and toiletries are first tested on innocent animals before they can be used by them these animals Include small rodents, great apes dogs etc. These apes which are known to be the smartest of all creatures and share 96% of Human DNA and largely sociable creatures and undergo both physical and mental trauma being kept in isolation for cascades. Statistics show that every year around 100 Million animals die in American laboratories for chemical, drug, food and cosmetics testing.Death Is probably the best thing that happens to them after they are confined to their barren cages. Before their deaths, some are forced to inhale toxic fumes, others are immobilizers in restraint devices for hours and some have holes drilled into their skulls. The only argument that people buy to Justify animal experimentation is that it helps improve Human health. The reality is that the majority of animal experiments do not intricate to Improving human health, and the value of the role that animal experimentation plays In most medical advances Is questionable.Diseases that are artificially induced in animals in a laboratory are never identical to those that occur naturally in human beings and hence the results are obsolete and useless. It makes no difference if the animals are given 5-star treatment throughout their lives and then killed humanely without any fear or pain – it's just plain wrong in principle, and nothing can make it right. Animal rights should receive careful consideration because equals not inferiors .

”As You Like It” by William Shakespeare Essay

Support the view that Shakespeare is examining different kinds of love and marriage in this play? In the play As You Like It there are quite a few different types of love. There are four sexual relationships in the play, all of which have different varieties, or examples of love The main couple in the play are Rosalind and Orlando. They first meet in a wrestling match that Orlando has been entered in against Charles. Rosalind notices him for his good looks and youth, and because of this is concerned he will be hurt. Orlando wins the match though and as a token Rosalind gives Orlando her necklace. Orlando instantly falls in love with Rosalind when he first sees her and is stuck for what to say to her, â€Å"Can I not say, ‘I thank you’? My better parts are all Thrown down, and that which here stands up is but a Quintain, mere lifeless block.† Rosalind then runs off into the forest of Arden dressed as a man called Ganymede. Orlando also flees to the forest where he writes ridiculous love poems and posts them on trees for Rosalind to find. Rosalind, dressed as Ganymede, then becomes friends with Orlando and gives him advice on ways to go about asking her to marry him. She does this by pretending to be Rosalind while dressed as Ganymede. This is so Orlando does not recognise it is her. This can get quite confusing at times. She finally reveals to him that it has been her all along though and they get married straight away. This is the first kind of love where both people love each other and no one else. This is the most simple love situation in the poem because it has no complications of people loving other people, or them not being allowed to love each other. The couple that show the least romance throughout the play is Silvius and Phebe. Silvius is a kind-hearted shepherd who lives in the Forest of Arden. Phebe though is a rough shepherdess who finds Silvius annoying. The reason for this is because Silvius is deeply in love with Phebe, and she has rejected him many times. Phebe just ignores him though and because of this Silvius keeps on asking her to love him, † Sweet Phebe, do not scorn me, do not, Phebe. Say that you love me not, but say not so in Bitterness†. The only person Phebe finds attractive in the play is Ganymede, who is actually Rosalind. She writes a letter to Ganymede asking him to marry her, and is rejected quite obviously. As a result of this Phebe is forced to marry Silvius in the end because she has no one else who likes her. I think the aspect of love that is showed her is a cruel side of love. The reason I think this is because Phebe is virtually forced to marry Silvius when she does not want to. Silvius though is overjoyed because she is the love of his life and marrying her is his dream. This is unfair on Phebe though because she does not love him, but she has no one else so has to go along with it. Celia and Oliver are the most surprising couple in the play I think. This is because they meet very close to the end of the play, and instantly fall in love with each other. Another reason for this is that Celia is a very kind, likeable woman throughout the play. Oliver on the other hand changes his personality. At the beginning of the play he is a very nasty man who says he hates his brother because of his good looks and his ability to be liked by everyone he meets. His personality changes though when he is sent into the forest to find his brother, Orlando, by Duke Frederick. He finds Orlando and then he meets Celia, who he instantly falls in love with. He then makes the story up of saving his brother from a lion and his personality completely changes. â€Å"‘Twas I, but ’tis not I. I do not shame to tell you What I was, since my conversion so sweetly tastes, Being the thing I am†. He turns into the complete opposite of his old personality, and becomes very nice. This also attracts Celia to him, as well as her thinking he is good looking. This attraction between the two of them means they become a couple and get married too. This is the same kind of love as Orlando and Rosalind experienced. This is where they have no complications and both of them love each other. They also fall in love with the first sight of each other, as did Rosalind and Orlando. The next couple I am going to examine from the play is the pairing of Touchstone and Audrey. This is possibly the strangest couple in the play. My reason for thinking this is that they are completely different people, and have very different backgrounds. Touchstone is a court jester, and has lived a sophisticated courtly life. Audrey on the other hand is a country girl who has been brought up on a farm. Even though there are these differences, the two still get married. They were meant to be wed quite early into the play, but this did not go as planned and they did not. They did how ever talk more about it and finally got married at the end of the play. â€Å"Come sweet Audrey, we must be married†. The love that this couple portray is lust. Touchstone may not have had the chance with a woman before, but he now has the chance of Audrey. He is only with her really because of the fact he can get things out of her, mainly sex. She is a country wench and Touchstone knows this, and I think this is the reason he goes after her, â€Å"Truly, and to cast away honesty upon a foul slut Were to put good meat into an unclean dish†.

Free Essays on Testin In The Medical Field

â€Å"Mandatory Testing In The Medical Field† Should AIDS testing be mandatory in the medical field? Of course it should. In a study done by the Washington Post in 1989, it was found that 5,815 health care workers had AIDS, this included 42 surgeons. It is known that 40 of those 5,815 contracted it through infected patients. Which means when a person goes to the hospital for any reason any one there could have this disease and very easily pass it on to them unknowingly. Is this the kind of risk patients should have to take. Obviously they are there for some type of illness already, do we need to add a more serious one to the list. One way to narrow the risk of contracting AIDS through health care workers using mandatory testing is by having those health care workers who test positive reveal their results to their patients. Some people believe this is a breech of confidentiality. According to Dr. Lonnie Britow, an AMA Trustee in California, â€Å"The implications are different from any other test that can be run†¦ other diseases don’t mean u lose your job and your insurance coverage† (Chicago Tribune, online). Does this mean that a person’s job and insurance coverage is more important than their patient’s lives. There is a case in which a 23 year old women named Kimberly Berghlis contracted AIDS from her dentist, Dr. David Acer. Now because this woman decided to go to Dr. Acer for her dental work she now has AIDS. Is that fair? Of course not. If Dr. Acer would have taken the proper precautions to protect his patients, either by using proper equipment or by revealing his results, this woman may have been able to lead a healthy life. Instead because of his carelessness or even thoughtlessness she was infected with the virus. Another way to narrow the possibility of contacting AIDS through mandatory testing is once known a person has AIDS, they should be limited to certain procedures that they may perform. F... Free Essays on Testin In The Medical Field Free Essays on Testin In The Medical Field â€Å"Mandatory Testing In The Medical Field† Should AIDS testing be mandatory in the medical field? Of course it should. In a study done by the Washington Post in 1989, it was found that 5,815 health care workers had AIDS, this included 42 surgeons. It is known that 40 of those 5,815 contracted it through infected patients. Which means when a person goes to the hospital for any reason any one there could have this disease and very easily pass it on to them unknowingly. Is this the kind of risk patients should have to take. Obviously they are there for some type of illness already, do we need to add a more serious one to the list. One way to narrow the risk of contracting AIDS through health care workers using mandatory testing is by having those health care workers who test positive reveal their results to their patients. Some people believe this is a breech of confidentiality. According to Dr. Lonnie Britow, an AMA Trustee in California, â€Å"The implications are different from any other test that can be run†¦ other diseases don’t mean u lose your job and your insurance coverage† (Chicago Tribune, online). Does this mean that a person’s job and insurance coverage is more important than their patient’s lives. There is a case in which a 23 year old women named Kimberly Berghlis contracted AIDS from her dentist, Dr. David Acer. Now because this woman decided to go to Dr. Acer for her dental work she now has AIDS. Is that fair? Of course not. If Dr. Acer would have taken the proper precautions to protect his patients, either by using proper equipment or by revealing his results, this woman may have been able to lead a healthy life. Instead because of his carelessness or even thoughtlessness she was infected with the virus. Another way to narrow the possibility of contacting AIDS through mandatory testing is once known a person has AIDS, they should be limited to certain procedures that they may perform. F...

Critical Writing Mary Kays Lesson in Leadership

Critical Writing Mary Kays Lesson in Leadership Executive Summary The article has been written by Alan Farnham. Mary Kay’s novel sales procedures and methods have aimed at enhancing the self-esteem of her sales force. Today, Mary Kay Ash Co. is the leading direct-sales company of cosmetic all over the United States. Mary Kay started her business in 1963 by selling beauty products under the name of Mary Kay Ash.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Critical Writing: Mary Kay’s Lesson in Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Mary Kay has developed important techniques to motivate and compensate her employees. She provides her consultants a high amount of compensation, Cadillacs, commissions, yearly trips for the best sales person of the year and above all enables them a highly friendly working environment to improve their self-esteem and sense of confidence. She has made her sales force a part of her family by calling them her â€Å"daught ers†. She has trained her employees in the same manner. Therefore, they also treat their customers in the same way. The writer has mentioned a number of positive aspects of the Mary Kay’s corporate culture, and the way she has applied the advanced techniques for motivating her employees. However, the article has been written in an informal manner. The author has not mentioned any biased opinions about the company. Furthermore, the writer has not emphasized upon the downturns the company had to face. The statistics should have been shown in the article to prove that the information provided is correct and prà ©cised. Although, the ending of the article is very appealing, as the writer has left a sense of enthusiasm in every person’s mind who is working for other companies by stating a tempting statement, The genius of great leaders is that they understand money is only one of the things that make people light up. Applause and prizes do it too† (Farnham, 199 3). Body The article depicts the corporate culture of Mary Kay Ash Co. In 1937, Mary Kay was working for Stanley Home Products. She was direct-selling cleaners and brushes to the housewives and other women. She was really poor at that time. She dreamed of having her own business. In the year, 1963 Mary Kay started her own business by selling beauty products. Her son Richard Rogers supported her in the business. The sales revenue of the company grew rapidly, and today it is the leading direct-selling cosmetic company in the United States. The company consists of more 300,000 employees, who are mostly women.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The corporate culture of Mary Kay Co. is egalitarian in which the company’s environment is impersonal, very task-oriented, the performance of employees is highly counted, motivation techniques applied in this cult ure are appealing and encouraging for the work force. Mary Kay is highly supportive to her employees, she calls them her â€Å"daughters†, and on the workplace they are called as consultants. The most exceptional features of Mary Kay Cosmetics is the eagerness of its employees. The top performers are showered with generous gifts and appreciation from the public. Every year she gives her best employees many awards such as pink Cadillacs, yearly vacation trips, diamond jewelry and a high amount of commission. As mention in the article John Kotter, the professor of Harvard Business School states that, â€Å"Mary Kay is an opportunity-generating machine† (Farnham, 1993). According to Mary Ash, feting is the most important aspect for creating a well-balanced corporate environment, and is the best means for the company’s success. The employees are given inspecting ribbons made up of gold or metal bands that helps to motivate the sales force, and helps to achieve the r equired tasks or goals. Every year a seminar is held for all the company’s work force on which Mary Kay crowns the women who are the best performers in the sales and recruiting throughout the year. She has built a sense of leadership and self-respect in her employees’ minds. She also provides benefits to the husbands of the women who are working for her company. The style and concepts of her corporate environment was once the focus of enjoyment in the business world, but today all other companies are highly impressed by her motivating techniques, and are studying her methods to boost the self-esteem of their employees. In the article, the writer has stated all the positive features of the Mary Kay Co. The article has also been written in an informal manner. The writer has overlooked the biased and opposing opinions for the company. The writing depicts that the company has never seen any ups and downs in the business world. The research shows the writer’s persona l ideas only.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Critical Writing: Mary Kay’s Lesson in Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It doesn’t show that a thorough research has been made. The author has used statistics to demonstrate the points, but fails to specify the source. There are no references included at the end of the article. The writing raises a number of questions in readers’ minds that should the reader rely upon the statistics the writer has mentioned, or is the information provided truthful. It can also be the writer’s personal creation because only the positive aspects have been mentioned in the article. Furthermore, there are no sources and references available creating a doubt in the reader’s mind. Conclusion The article has been written in a highly appealing manner, especially the ending leaves a curiosity in the reader’s mind that when will other companies also implement such ways and procedures to motivate their employees. However, if the writer would provided sources and reference at the end of the article, and would have mentioned some opposing opinions the article would have been more reliable and prà ©cised. References Farnham, A. (1993). Mary Kays Lesson in Leadership. Fortune , 1.

What Is a Preface (And Is It the Same as an Introduction or Foreword)

What Is a Preface (And Is It the Same as an Introduction or Foreword) What is a Preface? (and is it the Same as an Introduction or Foreword?) A preface is an introductory passage written about a book by its author. It's often viewed as an apologia  - which is not so much an apology as an explanation or defense of why the book exists. Because the preface is  part of a book's front matter (the pages at the start of a book with Roman numeral page numbers), it’s often confused with the foreword and the introduction.However, there are key differences between the three:A preface is written by the author about the book and is separate from the body of the book (the pages with Arabic numbers),An introduction is written by the author about the subject of the book and is part of the body,And a foreword isn’t even written by the author! It's separate from the body, and written by an expert in the field who adds credibility to the subject of the book.In this post, we'll cover all three in more detail to help you figure out how best to introduce your own book. What's the difference between a preface, foreword, and introduction? At last, the answer. Why use a preface?For an author, the preface presents the opportunity to introduce yourself, the book, and any previous projects or experiences that might have informed it. Prefaces are your chance to tell the book’s story - the story of how it went from a thought in your head to a book in our hands.Prefaces are most common in nonfiction (prologues are more popular for fiction books). However, they are present in both. They enable you to speak directly about:What you’ve created,How you created it, andWhy it’s important - or why you specifically are qualified to write about it.Many authors will even sign the end of a preface, date it, and list the location from which they wrote it (rounding out the who, when, and where of it all), like Mark Twain did below: How are you going to start your book? Let us know if you're opting for a preface, foreword, or introduction in the comment box below.

Make a tipic for me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Make a tipic for me - Essay Example This term post colonial is a loose definition. For example: the United States might also be described as a postcolonial country, but it is not perceived as such because of its position of power in world politics in the present, its displacement of native American populations, and its annexation of other parts of the world in what may be seen as a form of colonization. The term post colonial means a native people breaking free from an oppressor. America is not post colonial, because the Native Americans never conquered the settlers from Europe. However, in America’s defense, an attempt to create a melting pot has been attempted, although this has not been completely successful. The European empire is said to have held sway over more than 85% of the rest of the globe by the time of the First World War, having consolidated its control over several centuries. The sheer extent and duration of the European empire and its disintegration after the Second World War have led to widespread interest in postcolonial literature and criticism in our own times. (Deepika). When a country is liberated, either by force or peacefully, from colonists, some colonists remain. Not only do some colonists remain, but the traditions the native country endured remain. The European colonization of many nations transformed the native culture, and the colonizers actually living in these countries irrevocably. In a post colonial community a division exists between the natives and former colonists. Colonists want to control natives, to civilize them. The text book states Westerners see, â€Å"former colonial subjects as Others; as people different from â€Å"us†; as those in need of Western guidance, expertise, and guidance† (George and Trimbur, 522). An example of trying to civilize natives in a post colonial community is India. Robert Young writes: In

Business Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Business Communication - Essay Example Hideaway Pizza was established in 1957 in Stillwaters, Oklahoma near the State University. Dermer Richard and his wife Marti bought the business in order to expand it exploiting the fact that there was so much obsession of pizza. Richards’s idea was that a relaxed and friendly environment provided a great ambience for pizza service and he thought that would definitely excite the employees and consumers. By 1960’s to 1970’s, the restaurant was getting so many clients flocking at the restaurant and a fleet of delivery vans. The restaurant was decorated by colourful and miscellaneous designs of black and white stripes, and flowers (The Staff 2008). Waste management would include steps like composting, hygienic landfill, waste to energy and source recycle and reduction for a cleaner environment. (Brennan 2003). Waste management involves all the activities that take care of ravage i.e. garbage collection, waste recycling, transportation and processing of refuse. Waste management in pizzeria is very important in reducing health hazards, providing clean environment and maintaining the beauty of the place. Waste products of pizza industry include food remains and packaging materials, successful venture like Hilton Hotels have done it. Many different industries have different ways of managing their waste products, the difference ranges from recycling to composting. In most occasions, the management of waste in resident and institution environment is the local government’s duty. On the other hand management of waste in industrial and commercial (e.g. Hilton Hotels) setting is the accountability of the producer. In pizza industry the management of wastes has become the responsibility of pizzeria owners. There are several ways which hideaway can employ to make sure it manages its waste effectively. The most commonly used is the

INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION Essay

INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION - Essay Example However, each unit works towards a single mission or vision of the organization in general. In this regard, the system approach to organization structure and management is superior to the general system theory. This is explained by the fact that synergy of the production of the different subsystems of the larger system enable an organization to effectively and efficiently achieve its objectives. Caro, Guevara and Aguayo (2003, p. 298) point out that the application of information system within an organization is congruent with the system approach of organization management and design. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) allows organizations to integrate the subsystems or units of an organization so that they work towards a common goal regardless of the uniqueness of their individual functionalities. Human resource is the most significant entity of a system or organization. As a result, the development of an information system by the IT professionals must involve human capital. This es say is a critical analysis, evaluation and discussion of the need for collaboration of HR with IT professionals in the adoption and implementation of an information system. The essay covers issues related to organizational preparedness in the implementation of an information system, the significance of all the stakeholders of the system, system approach and management approaches of the systems. It is through Enterprise Resource (ERP) planning that the achievement of an information system which integrates all units of an organization as a system is made possible. Bocij, et al., (2003) say that Porter’s Model which describes the implications of external forces on a system clearly demonstrates the significance of suppliers, buyers, new entrants, competition and substitution in an information system. Therefore it is argued that during the process of ERP, the design of an information system must give due consideration of the impact that the external factors and stakeholders have o n the success of an information system implementation. According to Elliot (2004), design of an information system must take into consideration of its suitability in meeting the objectives of the organization and the needs of the human resource, and the stakeholders of the organization such as suppliers and distributors. Moreover, the design of an information system must also be considerate of the competition so that its implementation gives the organization a competitive edge against the competition. Caro, Guevara and Aguayo (2003, p. 298) point out that the components of an information system illustrate the importance of integration of the designers or the system and the users. Information systems are composed of hardware, software, people, policies, procedures and data. Hardware and software represent the computing systems within the information system including business application software. The people within the information system are the individuals who use the information sys tem or users, the IT personnel and the administrators or managers of the system. Barros (2005) adds that the users of an information system include the human resource, suppliers, distributors and even agents of an organization. Procedures and policies are the guidelines and standards of the system which provide the appropriate approaches of implementing the information system. The data within any information system is composed of the statistics or quantitative data within the databases of the system which is usually synthesized into usable information. Dalcher and Brodie (2007) argue that for the implementation of an information system to be successful, all of its components must work in unison. This means that the componen

Global operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global operations management - Essay Example PPQ only maintains five percent of the global market share on SUVs, however the firm seeks to improve this to nine percent at the end of the next four years. Rising commodity prices related to fuel consumption, fortunately, has not had much impact on consumer attitudes related to SUV purchases. Autodata provides statistics that highlight SUV sales growth of 27 percent just since 2010 (Isidore, 2011). An analyst with Truecar.com offers, â€Å"We’re seeing consumer demand coming back stronger than we anticipated, with loans and leases easier to get† (Isidore, p.1). This suggests that the financial industry from auto-sponsored loans systems and banking facilities loosening their restrictions on consumer funds granting. This is a significant advantage for PPQ. The long-term strategy is to devote a considerable portion of production to SUV parts production and ensure an operational strategy to market SUV parts to major automobile manufacturers. This will require a heavier fo cus on relationship marketing and the development of a training package for existing off-site sales representatives, developable through human resources at the end of 2011. Competition in this industry is intense, including new auto parts suppliers in emerging economies such as China. Imports continue to rise due to loosening restrictions on import tariffs, making foreign auto suppliers a novel choice. Again, this will require heavier emphasis on business-to-business marketing to improve our relationship standing with major manufacturers. Expansion is a key success factor in this four year plan, thus exploring international destinations for tax incentives and other financial benefits must be conducted. Initial environmental scanning has identified Singapore as a quality location for expansion. The country has recently been recognized as sustaining one of the most

Intercultural communication( this is the course I'm studying, not the Assignment - 2

Intercultural communication( this is the course I'm studying, not the topic) - Assignment Example This is why I avoided talking about prohibited food items and drinks as it is uncommon in the country. Hence it is visible that the intercultural context is an important consideration in choosing the subject of any conversation. The cultural setting of the American society along with its diverse population calls for the need to avoid topics such as religion, politics, etc to avoid instigating disagreements. In many cultures, communication is more open and straightforward such as the student’s Dutch relative. In such a case, an American may seem more reserved in initial conversations whereas the Dutch are more casual in their communication. War and peace is a slippery subject matter. Subjects related to war are typically not viewed in a positive light which is evident in the response by the old ladies. Most people view war as an aggressive and violent action, which is why the old ladies responded thus depicting

Big brother show Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Big brother show - Research Paper Example The relevance of a media product encompasses political, social, technological, and cultural features. With urbanization and globalization, societies integrated resulting in cultural and contextual fusions. Because of the integration, social and cultural features became common as the media became an integral influencer of cultures (Kopp and Max 25). The increased human interaction broke the previously existing definitive cultures resulting in independent families with relative lifestyles. In such societies, the consumption of media content thus becomes relative as some of the features of television shows require social advisories and have relative relevance to the contemporary social and cultural structures as presented in the analysis of the Big brother show below. The Big brother show is one of the most watched television programs globally; the program is a reality show measuring the adaptability of housemates to different environments. It is a personality evaluation program. The mu ltibillion-dollar program selects participants from all over Africa and converges them in a single institution for a duration of two months a period within which the moderators evaluate their personality traits and their ability to adapt to the new metropolitan environment. While at the facility, the contestants face numerous challenges and evaluated on their ability to overcome the different social, cultural, and political challenges. The program has massive viewership and the organizers continue to market the show through the social media such as Facebook and twitter thus creating a big international viewership for their show. Just as with any other media product in the contemporary society, the show presents a number of both disadvantages and disadvantages thereby imploring relative consumption and assimilation of the ideas it represents. Africa is a multi-ethnic society with hundreds of smaller societies each speaking different dialects. The different societies thus exhibited di verse cultural practices effectively communicated through their different native languages. However, with colonization the different African states further adopted different European languages such as English, French, and German among others, which thus became their official languages. The Big Brother show draws participants from these societies indiscriminately creating a virtual society with several smaller cultures. The Big Brother show is a typical representation of a modern social setup, the show seeks to integrate the countries in Africa by uniting the people in their differences. Most of the participants and their fans align their likeness or hatred of the different countries depending on the nature of the relationship among them while at the house. The show’s main objective is to unite Africa thereby developing a cohesive society that share cultural and social values despite their differences (Andrejevic 33). Different African countries have previously had civil wars and political conflicts thus disintegrating the societies further. Such a social television program as the Big Brother provides an effective social platform for uniting the disintegrated countries. Citizens of a country unite and rally behind contestants from their countries a feature that effectively unites the diverse ethnic groups in the countries. The fans interact extensively on the social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter among others. In the normal political context, such societies fight and antagonize each other for presenting conflicting political and social ideologies. However, during their patronage of the Big Brother show, they all unite thereby presenting similar views and support about the different

Intercultural communication( this is the course I'm studying, not the Assignment - 2

Intercultural communication( this is the course I'm studying, not the topic) - Assignment Example This is why I avoided talking about prohibited food items and drinks as it is uncommon in the country. Hence it is visible that the intercultural context is an important consideration in choosing the subject of any conversation. The cultural setting of the American society along with its diverse population calls for the need to avoid topics such as religion, politics, etc to avoid instigating disagreements. In many cultures, communication is more open and straightforward such as the student’s Dutch relative. In such a case, an American may seem more reserved in initial conversations whereas the Dutch are more casual in their communication. War and peace is a slippery subject matter. Subjects related to war are typically not viewed in a positive light which is evident in the response by the old ladies. Most people view war as an aggressive and violent action, which is why the old ladies responded thus depicting

Renaissance Medicine and Medical Practices Essay Example for Free

Renaissance Medicine and Medical Practices Essay In the beginning of the Elizabethan Era medicine was the beginning of advancements. During the Renaissance, disease was a big problem. Medicine was not as advanced as it is today, but being discovered from witchcraft and superstitions, to cures for the sick. Medicine was not advanced then so the citizens looked for cure from the witches and their beliefs just led them to their deaths. Religious citizens prayed, or consumed blood from someone else as they believed to contain the soul of the deceased. â€Å". octors sought for explanations [for illnesses] in the stars rather than in the blood stream and preferred magical to clinical experiment. † (Netzley 70). They believed the illness or sickness was spiritual rather than from the body. Superstitions were a big thing in this era. Black Death a plague that spread in Florence in 1348 was believed to be punishment from God. As medicine was being discovered the new knowledge was slowly being accepted by the citizens. Medicine discovered by the Europeans was not as accurate though. As time passed, medicine was then based on Aristotle ideas; on four humors in the body. They are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile; which determine the imbalance and were thought to be related to their personality. Leonardo Da Vinci had sketched accurate anatomies at which influenced medicine studies. that his ideas were familiar to the scientific environment in which he found himself, the likelihood is that Leonardos thoughts was important landmark in the development of scientific ideas, (Walker 94). Eventually the Hippocrates studies were discovered, they had lived in B. C. era. Their studies were used for comparison at which proved their discoveries and solutions wrong and the Hippocrates were very accurate as they had sketched the structures and their thoughts on how the human body functioned which led them to new discoveries. There were many medical practices that were believed to cure the person and in contrary some made them more sick or led them to death, Bloodletting was a popular practice done at which they would cut the patients artery on their arm or sometimes both arms, and were bled until they felt drowsy which was consider to be when the felt better. This practice sometimes was done too often the patient would simply die of lack of blood supply. The medical practice of the four humors determined imbalance in patients. In order to diagnose the doctors would check patient’s pulse and urine; looking as color and smell. The remedy or are used where herbs and spices. Spices were believed to balance the humors rated on a scale from hotness, coldness and wetness. Renaissance doctors . . . . . followed the traditional herbal medicine practiced throughout the Middle Ages† (Walker 96). Most common used herb was the theriac for medicinal recipes, an antidote for poison. Cinnamon and pepper were two spices commonly used and were rated hottest. Surgeries were not very popular and were rarely ever done, in small towns the barbers will be the surgeon as they couldn’t afford to pay a qualified doctor. Medicine advanced through the years till today, but the Renaissance era seemed to be the discovery of new medicine that help cure the sick. Never less did they learn more about the human and animal body but discovered diseases and several cures for them.

3-Methylglutaconic Aciduria Research

3-Methylglutaconic Aciduria Research A distinct type of 3-methylglutaconic aciduria due to a mutation in the Translocase of Inner Mitochondrial Membrane 50 (TIMM50) gene Abstract BACKGROUND: 3-methylglutaconic aciduria biochemically characterized by increased urinary excretion of 3-methylglutaconic acid result from defective leucine metabolism and disorders affecting mitochondrial function though in many cases the cause remains unknown. Recently mutations in mitochondrial TIMM50 gene has been reported in four patients from two unrelated families. We report additional mutations in TIMM50 gene in 6 individuals from two unrelated consanguineous families with a distinctive type of 3-methylglutaconic aciduria. METHODS:Â  We report on three patients of South Asian ancestry with intractable epilepsy, microcephaly, developmental delay, visual deficit spastic quadriplegia and three Caucasian patients of eastern European origin with intellectual disability with or without seizure. Metabolic testing revealed mild lactic acidosis and excretion of large amount of 3-methylglutaconic acid in urine in all patients. Full exome sequencing was performed using genomic DNA isolated from one surviving patient, two healthy siblings and both parents of South Asian family. Exome sequencing was also performed for Caucasian patients of eastern European origin. RESULTS:Â  Exome sequencing identified two homozygous mutation Gly372Ser and Iso392Thr mutations in the gene TIMM50. There were no other candidate alterations in exome that could explain the phenotype in the proband. The mutations are located in the conserved C-terminal domain of the Tim50 protein that interacts with the N-terminal domain of the Tim23 protein in the intermembrane space and regulates mitochondrial protein import of presequence-containing polypeptides Both parents are heterozygous. CONCLUSION: Given the phenotypic similarilty of the patients from two unrelated families and an earlier report of mutations in additional family, we conclude that TIMM50 gene mutation results in a novel mitochondrial disorder with 3-methyl glutaconic aciduria. INTRODUCTION 3-methylglutaconic aciduria (MGCA), an increase in urinary 3-methylglutaconic acid or 3-methylglutaric acid, can be a nonspecific finding in mitochondrial disorders, organic aciduria, urea cycles disease, neuromuscular disorders. but is a consistent abnormality of 3-methylglutaconyl-CoA hydratase deficiency and patients with mutations in TAZ, SERAC1, OPA3, DNAJC19 and TMEM70 gene1. These genes all encode mitochondrial membrane or membrane related proteins. In 3-methylglutaconyl-CoA hydratase deficiency due to mutation in AUH gene , 3-methylglutaconic acid derives from 3-methylglutaconyl CoA (3MG CoA), an intermediate in leucine catabolism1. It has been proposed that in other disorders, 3-methylglutaconic acid derives from aberrant isoprenoid shunting from cytosol to mitochondria via mevalonate pathway or redirection of mitochondrial acetyl CoA toward production of 3MGA due to an increase in the intra-mitochondrial NADH/NAD+ ratio resulting from mutation induced impairment in electron transport chain or Kreb cycle function 2. Examples of mitochondrial include Barth syndrome, a cardioskeletal myopathy with neutropenia, abnormal mitochondria and MGCA. Barth syndrome is caused by X-linked recessive mutations in the TAZ gene which encodes the mitochondrial membrane localized transacylase involved in the maturation of cardiolipin. Autosomal recessive mutations in the OPA3 gene (OMIM: 606580), the mouse ortholog of which encodes a mitochondrial inner membrane protein of unknown function, cause MGCA3 (OMIM: 258501), a neuroopthalmologic syndrome characterized by early-onset bilateral optic atrophy and later-onset spasticity, extrapyramidal dysfunction and cognitive deficit. MGCA5 (OMIM: 610198) is yet another form of MGCA caused by autosomal recessive mutations in the DNAJC19 gene (OMIM: 608977) and in addition to increased urinary excretion of 3-methylglutaconic acid, patients present with infancy or childhood onset dilated cardiomyopathy, microcytic anemia, mild muscle weakness and ataxia. Many patients die of cardiac failure. The DNAJC19 gene encodes the human homolog of the yeast Tim14 which is a part of the Tim23 mitochondrial protein import machinery and hasbeen shown to interact with the mtHsp70 in an ATP-dependent manner to regulate Tim23 function (Davey, 2006). WE report a distinct type of 3-methylglutaconic aciduria resulting from a mutation in mitochondrial TIMM50 gene in 3 sibs from a consanguineous family. We initially reported these xases in abstract form. Recently two different mutations in mitochondrial TIMM50 gene have been reported in four patients with 3 methylglutaconic aciduria, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability and lactic acidosis. Subjects Family 1 Family 1 has three affected sibs of South Asian ancestry with intractable epilepsy, microcephaly, developmental delay, visual deficit spastic quadriplegia. Two affected sibs died unexpectedly when they were visiting families in a remote area of a South Asian country. Metabolic testing had revealed large amount of 3-methylglutaconic acid in urine in all three affected sibs. The patients have a healthy brother and a healthy sister. Mother and father are first cousins. Detailed clinical history, imaging, EEG and metabolic testing were obtained for all affected persons. Full exome sequencing was performed using genomic DNA isolated from one surviving patient, two healthy siblings and both parents. Patient IV-1. Patient IV-1 was the first born child of the parents and was born at 36 weeks gestation after a normal pregnancy and delivery. Her weight at birth was 1.99 kg. Her weight, height and head circumference were always below 5th centile. She also had asthma and frequent episodes of pneumonia presumably due to aspiration, but the family refused G-tube placement. She was severely delayed. She never sat, stand or spoke. She has poor head control, truncal hypotonia but very brisk tendon jerks and sustained clonus. Funduscopy revealed bilateral optic atrophy. She developed seizures at 1 year of age. EEG revealed multifocal spikes arising from both hemispheres. She was treated with phenobarbital and Zonegran but family was noncompliant with medications. She continued to have daily myoclonic jerks. MRI at 2.5 and 5 years of age showed increased T2 signal in basal ganglia and periventricular white matter, brain atrophy, prominent ventricle, increased extraxial fluid. Normal liver en zymes and blood count, normal blood and CSF glucose and a serum ammonia of 21. Several serum lactate levels were mildly elevated. Lactate 2.8, 4.5 (Pyruvate 0.23), 5.4 (normal 0.7 to 2.1) Lactate to pyruvate ratio 20:1. Urine organic acid analysis revealed very high lactic acid, 3-methylglutaconic acid, and 3-methylglutaric acid. Muscle biopsy revealed only scattered atrophic muscle fibers on electron microscopy. Respiratory chain enzyme activities were within normal limits. She died at 7.5 years of age apparently due to complications from an infection while she was visiting families in a remote area of a South Asian country. Patient IV-4 was twin A born at 36 weeks gestation after an uncomplicated twin pregnancy. Her weight, height and head circumference were always below 5th centile. She was severely delayed. She never sat, stand or spoke. She has poor head control, truncal hypotonia but very increased reflexes and spasticity in the limbs. At nine-month-of age, she started to experience several episodes of eye fluttering and body jerking. Her EEG reved slow background, poor sleep architecture and frequent multifocal spike and sharp wave activities coming from both the left and right hemispheres. Her seizures were treated with Zonegran and was poorly controlled but parents refused more aggressive treatment of seizures. Metabolic testing revealed mild elevation of lactate and moderate increase of 3 methylglutaconic, 3 methylglutaric acids in urine. A brain MRI at 11-month-of age revealed diffuse volume loss supratentorially with prominent sulci and extraaxial fluid spaces, mild enlargement of the ventricl es and patchy signal abnormalities in the basal ganglia bilaterally, especially involving the caudate nuclei and putamen. On spectroscopy with voxel placed in the right basal ganglia with short and long TE, there was a lactate peak which inverted on long TE spectrum. Also, the NAA peak was low with NAA to creatinine being 1.15 on short echo and 1.29 on long echo spectrum. Also, the choline was elevated with choline/creatine ratio being 1.00 on short echo and 1.41 on long echo images. She died at 1.5 years of age apparently due to complications of an infection while she was visiting families in a remote area of a South Asian country. Patient IV-5 is a 13 year old female of South Asian ancestry, with 3-methylglutaconic aciduria intractable epilepsy, microcephaly, developmental delay, visual deficit and spastic quadriplegia. She was born at 36 weeks gestation after an uncomplicated twin pregnancy. She was twin B and stayed in NICU for 18 days for feeding issues. Her weight was 1.4 kg and she was not intubated. Patient first presented with seizures at 3 months of age with eyelid fluter and jerking of extremities. Her initial EEG revealed multifoal spikes. Initial biochemical evaluation revealed normal serum and CSF glucose, normal ammonia and liver enzymes. Serum lactate and CSF lactate 4.24 mmol were mildly elevated . Lactate was 2.7. Ammonia 25. Serum amino increased alanine 43.6 micromol/dl (9.9-34.5). Csf lactate 4.24 mmol. CSF alanine 7 micromol/dl (0.6 -4.7). There were also mild elevations of serum and CSF valine, leucine, isoleucine and alanine and lysine. Urine organic analysis revealed moderate increase of 3 methylglutaconic, 3 methylglutaric, glutaric, adipic, suberic, and sebacic acids. MRI of brain at 11 months of age revealed severe atrophic changes involving gray and white matter, predominantly of the cerebrum. Grossly abnormal signal is seen in the basal ganglia, particularly the caudate nucleus and the putamen with relative sparing of the globus pallidus and thalamus. A recent MRI (at age 13 years) reveals severe but stable atrophic changes of the gray and white matter of the supra and infratentorial brain, stable white matter changes of the putamen, caudate nucleus and periventricular white matter, Scattered diffusion restriction in the retrotrigonal white matter, compatible with active demyelination and atrophic changes of the optic nerves. Her seizures were treated with with Keppra, Lamictal, Zonegran and Onfi. She also receives carnitine. She continues to have brief episodes of whole body stiffening each week, but the family was also not very compliant with medications. He r current EEG shows slow background for age, poorly formed sleep spindles indicatvie of diffuse neuronal dysfunction, frequent multifocal interictal spike and wave suggests increased risk of seizures arising from multiple foci and hypsarrhythmia in sleep . She has failure to thrive despite G-tube feeding. At 12 years of age, G-tube was placed due to history of aspirations. Height, weight and head circumference below 5th centile. She is severely delayed. She is nonverbal and never learned to sit independently, stand or walk. She recognizes family members, responds to their voice and looks and smiles at them. Her fundoscopy shows mild optic atrophy. She has bilateral esotropia and dysconjugate gaze. She has poor head control and truncal hypotonia, but her limbs are spastic and her tendon reflexes are very brisk. Family 2 Patient V:1 was the first son of Caucasian consanguineous parents (IV:4 and IV:5) of Eastern European origin. Within the context of an organic acid and amino acid study in young and adult subjects with non-syndromic developmental delay and intellectual disability, he was investigated at the age of 17 years and presented with a developmental language disorder (involving semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic components of the linguistic system), emotional and communicative problems (fearful, aggressive, and loner), and hyperactivity. On neuropsychological testing he showed a short attention span. The child was born at term after an uneventful pregnancy and his birth weight was 2.9 kg. At 4 months of age he was affected by myoclonic jerks that were controlled by administration of valproic acid and lamotrigine. Developmental delay was observed starting from the middle of the first year of life, accompanied by decreased muscle tone. He could walk without support only at 6 years. At last medi cal exam, the patient showed a reduced muscle mass (height 148 cm, Z-score 3.43; weight 38 kg, Z-score 4.21; BMI 17.1 kg/m2, Z-score 2.02) and a head circumference of 51 cm (Z-score 2.76). Due to refusal of parents, no brain imaging studies could be performed. Fundoscopic examination was normal. Laboratory tests, including creatine phosphokinase (CPK), liver enzymes and plasma amino acids, were normal. The profile of urinary organic acids showed a large peak of 3-methylglutaconic acid (113 mmol/mol creatine) and a slightly increased level of 3-methylglutaric acid (17 mmol/mol creatinine). Patient V:3 was the younger brother of V:1, the third child of IV:4 and IV:5. He was investigated at the age of 11 years and presented with a clinical phenotype (developmental delay and intellectual and behavioral disorder) similar to that of his brother. The pregnancy and early postnatal course was unremarkable and birth weight was 3.1 kg. At 3 months he received valproic acid and lamotrigine to control tonic seizures with sudden stiffening movements of arms and legs. The boy walked independently at 4 years. When he was 9 years, his growing parameters were: height 119 cm (Z-score 2.47), weight 22 kg (Z-score 1.91), BMI 15.5 kg/m2 (Z-score 0.38), and head circumference 48 cm (Z-score 3.52). Neuropsychological exam revealed mental retardation and impaired communicative skills, including poor language abilities (few repetitive words with no sentences). Occasionally, the patient is aggressive. Ophthalmologic examination revealed left esotropia. High levels of 3-methylglutaconic acid (15 5 mmol/mol creatine) were identified in urine, together with smaller amounts of 3-methylglutaric acid (22 mmol/mol creatinine). Patient V:5 was the second son of consanguineous parents (IV:9 and IV:10) related to those of patients V:1 and V:3. The girl was delivered by cesarean section because of growth arrest at 37 week. The neonate showed no external malformations. Birth weight was 2.1 kg. In the following years, the clinical phenotype was characterized by delayed developmental milestones, nocturnal enuresis, severe cognitive impairment, speech retardation, and lack of communicative skills. Results of the electroencephalogram were normal. No brain imaging data are available. On a few occasions, levels of ammonia and lactic acid were found to be slightly elevated, but these results could not be confirmed by repeated blood analyses. Plasma levels of amino acids are within normal range. Fundoscopic examination was normal up to 7 years, but since then there is evidence of mild bilateral optic atrophy. Urine levels of of 3-methylglutaconic acid and 3-methylglutaric acid were 176 mmol/mol creatine and 29 mmol/mol creatinine, respectively. DISCUSSION Deleterious Nature of the TIMM50 gene alteration: TIMM50 NM_001001563 c.1114G>A p.G372S The p.G372S variant (also known as c.1114G>A), located in coding exon 9 of the TIMM50 gene, results from a G to A substitution at nucleotide position 1114. The glycine at codon 372 is replaced by serine, an amino acid with somewhat similar properties. The alteration is not observed in healthy cohorts: Based on data from the NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project (ESP), the TIMM50 c.1114G>A alteration was not observed among 6,503 individuals tested. Allele frequency data for this nucleotide position are not currently available from the 1000 Genomes Project and the alteration is not currently listed in the Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP). Though some variants may appear to be rare due to database-specific ethnic underrepresentation, rare missense alleles commonly exhibit a deleterious effect on protein function (Kryukov, 2007; Tennessen, 2012). The altered amino acid is conserved throughout evolution: The G372 amino acid position is completely conserved in eukaryotes all th e way from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to humans (Mokranjac, 2003). The alteration is predicted deleterious by in silico models: The p.G372S alteration is predicted to be probably damaging and deleterious by PolyPhen and SIFT in silico analyses, respectively. The amino acid is located in a functionally important protein domain: The p.G372S alteration is located in the conserved C-terminal domain of the Tim50 protein that interacts with the N-terminal domain of the Tim23 protein in the inter membrane space and regulates mitochondrial protein import of presequence-containing polypeptides (Geissler, 2002; Yamamoto, 2002; Guo, 2004). The alteration cosegregated with disease in the family herein: Co-segregation analysis revealed that this alteration is present in a heterozygous form in the mother, father and brother, and absent in the sister. Based on the available evidence, the TIMM50 c.1114G>A (p.G372S) alteration is classified as a likely pathogenic mutation. The TIMM50 gene is not currently known to underlie Mendelian disease (aka clinically novel). The TIMM50 gene function is consistent with the probands clinical presentation: The Translocase of Inner Mitochondrial Membrane 50 (TIMM50) gene (OMIM: 607381) is located on human chromosome 19q13.2 and consists of 11 exons. It encodes the Tim50 protein, a 353 amino acid 40 kDA homolog of the yeast Tim50 protein that functions as an integral part of the mitochondrial Tim23 protein import machinery by linking protein translocation across the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes. This interaction was confirmed by the coprecipitation of Tim50 with an antibody against Tim23 (Geissler, 2002; Yamamoto, 2002; Guo, 2004). The authors further confirmed that the C-terminal domain of Tim50 is located in the inter-membrane space (IMS) where it stably binds to the segment of Tim23 that spans the IMS and regulates its function. Nuclear encoded mitochondrial proteins are synthesized in the cytosol and subsequently imported into the mitochondria through the function of translocators, the TOM complex of the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM), and the Tim23 and Tim22 complexes of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) (Jensen, 2002). While the Tim22 complex is involved in the transport and insertion of proteins lacking the presequence into the inner membrane, the Tim23 complex is required to process and insert presequence-containing precursor proteins. The IMM generates a proton motive force that is critical for cellular energy synthesis (Stock, 2000) and the permeability barrier of the IMM needs to be maintained during the transport of proteins through the pore-forming Tim23 protein associated with other IMM proteins such as Tim14 (human DNAJC19), Tim17, Tim21, Tim44 and Tim50. Using various yeast IMM protein mutants, Meinecke et al. (2006) demonstrated that tim17 and tim21 mutant mitochondria displayed membra ne potential values that were comparable to wild type mitochondria, whereas tim50 mutant mitochondria showed a drastic reduction of the membrane potential. Further functional studies revealed that the Tim23 channel is tightly regulated by Tim50 in its inactive state to maintain the IMM permeability barrier and is opened only when presequence-containing polypeptide chains need to be translocated into the mitochondrial matrix or the inter membrane space (IMS). Loss of Tim50 function in yeast led to cellular growth arrest and reduced cell viability (Mokranjac, 2003). Knockdown to Tim50 expression in cultured human cells using RNA mediated interference resulted in an increase in the release of cytochrome c and apoptosis in response to cell death stimuli (Guo, 2004). A 50 kDa isoform of the human mitochondrial TIM50, TIM50a, consisting of 456 amino acids has been found to localize in nuclear speckles, specifically in the Cajal bodies, and interact with small nuclear ribonuclear proteins (snRNPs), the coilin protein and the Survival of Motor Neurons (SMN) protein (Xu, 2005) which has been implicated in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The protein sequences of the mitochondrial TIM50 and the nuclear TIM50a are identical with the exception of additional 103 amino acids at the N-terminal of TIM50a that are the result of an alternative translational start sequence. This additional N-terminal sequence in TIM50a is thought to contain a putative nuclear localization sequence that allows the Tim50a isoform to display a nucleus specific localization. Based on their results, Xu et al. hypothesized that Tim50a might be involved in the regulation of snRNP biogenesis and possibly the function of the nuclear SMN protein encoded by the SMN1 gene. One of our patien ts had mulsle biopsy. Although there were atrophic changes, no neuropthic pattern was seen. Reference List (1) Wortmann SB, Kluijtmans LA, Rodenburg RJ et al. 3-Methylglutaconic acidurialessons from 50 genes and 977 patients. J Inherit Metab Dis 2013;36:913-921. (2) Ikon N, Ryan RO. On the origin of 3-methylglutaconic acid in disorders of mitochondrial energy metabolism. J Inherit Metab Dis 2016;39:749-756. Legends Legend to Figure 1 Five-generations pedigree of the family with mild 3-methylglutaconic aciduria in which the TIMM50 p.(Ile293Thr) was identified. Subjects V:1, V:3, and V:5 (filled symbols) are patients suffering from intellectual disability and increased urinary excretion of 3-methylglutaconic acid. They are born to consanguineous parents and homozygous for the TIMM50 c.1011T>C mutation predicting the replacement of isoleucine 293 with threonine in the encoded protein. The mutation was inherited by a common ancestor (either I:1 or I:2) and has been identified in the heterozygous state in the clinically and biochemically unaffected subjects III:3, III:4, III:9, IV:2, IV:4; IV:5; IV:9, IV:10, and V:2.

Humanity Educating Philosophy :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Humanity Educating Philosophy ABSTRACT: In what follows, I focus on the partiality and fallibility of each of us as individuals, and explore what that means for us as epistemic agents. When we examine the tradition of Western European thought, we note that most epistemological theories assume individuals can know the answer, and are able to critique what is passed down to others as socially constructed knowledge. Many have made the argument that while humanity can be deceived, one individual can know, and therefore teach the others about their deceptions and false beliefs. I argue that because we are embedded and embodied social beings who do not have transcendental, objective, "God's eye views" of the world in which we live, we need each other to help us be potential knowers able to make knowledge claims. Others help us become aware of our own situatedness and help us develop enlarged views. Rather than thinking that individual philosophers, credentialed experts in their field of study, know more and therefore h ave knowledge they can teach humanity, I argue that all of us, as members of humanity, have much that we can teach each other. My position is that it is only with the help of others that we are able to know anything. Introduction The theme of this conference is Paideia: Philosophy Educating Humanity. What I address as my topic is "What humanity can teach philosophy." In particular, I focus on the partiality and fallibility of each of us as individuals, and explore what that means for us, as epistemic agents. I argue that because we are embedded and embodied social beings who do not have transcendental, objective, "God's eye views" of the world in which we live, we need each other to help us be potential knowers able to make knowledge claims. Others help us become aware of our own situatedness and help us develop enlarged views. Rather than thinking individual philosophers, with credentials as experts in their field of study, know more and therefore have knowledge they can teach humanity, I argue that all of us, as members of humanity, have much we can teach each other. My position is that it is only with the help of others that we are able to know anything. Ever since Plato made the argument that each one of us has all knowledge in our souls, that each of us already knows all truth (the Forms), but that when our soul inhabited a body it "forgot" and so it must spend a lifetime "remembering" what it already knows, (1) he set the tone for the Western European world to consider how it is that each one of us knows truth.

Love and Hate in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Essay examples -- Shake

Analyze the Portrayal of Love and Hate in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ The emotions of love and hate are at the forefront of the theme in this play by William Shakespeare. The Oxford Standard English Dictionary defines ‘love’ as ‘to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family’ and defines ‘hate’ as ‘a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action dislike intensely, to feel antipathy or aversion towards someone or something’. However, words cannot portray such wide and powerful emotions. Love and hate include elements of life, passion, long-term bonding and dislike, disgust and loathing respectively. It is because Shakespeare incorporates each of these elements into the play that Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate story of love and hate. The feud that exists between the two houses is demonstrated to the audience in the very first scene and this sets the tone for the rest of the play. As you know, the first impressions of the characters are extremely important so the quarrels and the duel prepare the audience for what is to come. We also learn that the feud isn’t just between the heads of the two household, but ‘The quarrel is between our masters and us their men’ (I.i.17). Only the disgust and contempt that each house shows for the other on this level can be regarded as true hate. The deep feelings of hate that are demonstrated here show that the characters are serious in what they say, and this helps to add a serious note to their joking and mocking of each other, which in turn adds credibility to their proposed actions. The first impression of Tybalt is one of evil as he enters during a fight which associa... ...rs a resemblance to the works on which it is based, it is also quite similar in plot, theme, and dramatic ending to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Shakespeare was well aware of this similarity, he includes a reference to Thisbe in Romeo and Juliet and one can look at the play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a distortion of the story that Shakespeare tells in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in full knowledge that the story he was telling was old, clichà ©d, and an easy target for parody. In writing Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare unreservedly set himself the task of telling a love story despite the considerable forces he knew were stacked against its success. Through the incomparable intensity of his language Shakespeare succeeded in this effort, writing a play that is universally accepted in Western culture as the ultimate love story. Love and Hate in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Essay examples -- Shake Analyze the Portrayal of Love and Hate in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ The emotions of love and hate are at the forefront of the theme in this play by William Shakespeare. The Oxford Standard English Dictionary defines ‘love’ as ‘to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family’ and defines ‘hate’ as ‘a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action dislike intensely, to feel antipathy or aversion towards someone or something’. However, words cannot portray such wide and powerful emotions. Love and hate include elements of life, passion, long-term bonding and dislike, disgust and loathing respectively. It is because Shakespeare incorporates each of these elements into the play that Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate story of love and hate. The feud that exists between the two houses is demonstrated to the audience in the very first scene and this sets the tone for the rest of the play. As you know, the first impressions of the characters are extremely important so the quarrels and the duel prepare the audience for what is to come. We also learn that the feud isn’t just between the heads of the two household, but ‘The quarrel is between our masters and us their men’ (I.i.17). Only the disgust and contempt that each house shows for the other on this level can be regarded as true hate. The deep feelings of hate that are demonstrated here show that the characters are serious in what they say, and this helps to add a serious note to their joking and mocking of each other, which in turn adds credibility to their proposed actions. The first impression of Tybalt is one of evil as he enters during a fight which associa... ...rs a resemblance to the works on which it is based, it is also quite similar in plot, theme, and dramatic ending to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Shakespeare was well aware of this similarity, he includes a reference to Thisbe in Romeo and Juliet and one can look at the play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a distortion of the story that Shakespeare tells in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in full knowledge that the story he was telling was old, clichà ©d, and an easy target for parody. In writing Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare unreservedly set himself the task of telling a love story despite the considerable forces he knew were stacked against its success. Through the incomparable intensity of his language Shakespeare succeeded in this effort, writing a play that is universally accepted in Western culture as the ultimate love story.

Religion and Ethnic Diversity Essay

Religion and Ethnic Diversity Buddhism was first found in India about 2,500 years ago. Buddhism is an increasing popular religion that continues to be the leading religion in the Far East. Buddhism has advanced over to a large amount of countries that have embraced a vast variety of customs, rituals, beliefs, and practices. Buddhist’s do not believe that a God created Earth. Buddha is the only Master, Buddhist’s believe in. Buddhist’s acknowledge that the ultimate purpose of life is to establish consideration for all living beings without inequity and to perform for their piece, good, and happiness. Buddhist’s have incorporated the Four Noble Truths in their lives, which are Dukkha, SamudÄ ya, Nirodha, and Magga. According to â€Å"The Four Noble Truths† (2013), † 1.The truth of suffering (Dukkha). 2. The truth of the origin of suffering (SamudÄ ya). 3. The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha). 4.The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga),â₠¬  (The Four Noble Truths). Buddhism does not share common characteristics with other religion groups. Buddhism is, however, receptive to other religions and beliefs. This religious group acknowledges the way other religions teach those involved. These individuals do not believe in a God. It is a belief system like all other religious groups. There are individuals who do not accept Buddhist and believe that those who do are not going to heaven. Others who refuse to understand Buddhism and how it works dismiss it completely because it is not what they believe in. Even though Buddhism is not America’s most practiced religion, its beliefs and ideas have been passed into American culture. It has helped blend American culture. Today there is a large amount of Buddhist’s who contribute to promoting peace amongst one another, reaching out to those who are in prison and who are homeless, and some even do advocacy for the environment. Buddhist’s experience hate just like other people in other religions. In 2003, Chung Tai Buddhist Group applied to construct a meditation and worship center in the city of Walnut, California, but the application was later denied. Not only did the City Planning Commission deny the application, but also residents were against building the center. Residents disputed against the plan because they believed there would be an increase in traffic and noise. A few years later the City Planning Commission approved an application to build on some of the area Chung Tai had prepared to use. In 2010, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit stating the city of Walnut; California treated the group unreasonably while dealing with the permit to build the worship and meditation center for Chung Tai Buddhist Group. The Department of Justice came to the conclusion that it was religious discrimination. After learning what Buddhism is and where it originated from allows me to understand it more. I now know that it is not only about humming and repeating a few words in another language, but also learning how to live a happier, more pure life even with the struggles and unfortunate events that can occur. Not only that, but respecting every living thing as it is. The Chinese are quite different from other racial/ethnic groups. The two most common languages used in China are Mandarin or Cantonese. Mandarin is t he government, education, and media’s main language that is used in China. Known as the ‘common language,’ mandarin is the first language that is spoken. The Chinese are a combined society with the urge to associate themselves in groups, whether it is to their work group, family, country, or associates. The Chinese depend on non-verbal communication like tone of voice and facial expression, to reveal what other maybe thinking or feeling. The Chinese believe in an ethical system known as Confucianism. Confucianism is a set up of ethics and behaviors that signify responsibilities of people towards one another based on their relationship. The Chinese have and continue to contribute to American culture in many ways. Many Americans embrace Chinese religions. Converting to Buddhism and so many other Asian religions. In the 1800’s Chinese immigrants helped working with the gold miners. These men helped construct the intercontinental railway. The Chinese have brought their recipes to American cultures that have been passed down from generation to generation. The Chinese brought their customs, language, and social organization into Amer ican culture. On May 6, 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law. It was brought about in reply to economic concerns in the West Coast, where Americans imputed unemployment and withheld wages to Chinese workers. Americans at the time viewed the Chinese as racially indifferent. Even though the act was repealed during World War II it only allowed 105 Chinese immigrants per year into the United States,  which still showed prejudice against the Chinese. I believe the source of prejudice against the Chinese was economic benefit. A large amount of Chinese immigrants came to the states to seek employment opportunities, but were denied at times because of the direct need for employment. I do believe what I have learned about the Chinese helped me understand this group. I learned what a big contribution to our culture they provided. I also learned that because of their great impact on American culture some individuals take those same customs and values and incorporate them into their own lives. The Chinese and Buddhist experienced similar situations dealing with discrimination because they were both persecuted for being who they are as individuals. Neither one of these groups tried to be something they were not, so they were prejudged and treated unfairly. These groups experienced different situations dealing with discrimination because the Chinese were discriminated against based on real and observed racial dissimilarities. Buddhistâ₠¬â„¢s were discriminated against based on who or what they believed in. Buddhist’s were also discriminated against because of their feeling towards their religion and those belonging to other religious groups. Discrimination towards these two groups and the many others is wrong. It has restricted these groups from opportunities that should have always been available to not only one group, but also all groups of individuals regardless of their appearance or their beliefs. 1. The Four Noble Truths. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/fournobletruths_1.shtml 2.