Discuss the causes and consequences of infertility for individuals, Essay

Discuss the causes and consequences of infertility for individuals, families and wider society - Essay Example In addition, infertility can also entail the inability to carry a pregnancy to full term leading to miscarriages (Perkins & Jackie, 2011, p.1). Infertility does not only affect the couple trying to have children but it also impacts greatly on their families and the wider society, especially in the contemporary western culture (Peters, Jackson & Rudge, 2011, p.130). Nevertheless, this topic remains a taboo issue that people do not want to talk about yet it interferes with the most fundamental human activity of building a family. Infertility is a very serious reproductive health problem that may result from a number of preventable and non-preventable conditions related to both males and females and it may have far-reaching consequences on the individuals trying to conceive, their families and the wider society. Infertility has numerous causes. Initially, people thought that only women were infertile but the truth is males-factor conditions are responsible for half of all the couples who are infertile. The non-preventable conditions that may cause infertility include various genetic, immunological, hormonal and anatomical problems that are responsible for preventing successful pregnancies (Solinger, 2013, p.100). The prevalence of non-preventable conditions is the same within and across populations and is responsible for causing infertility in five percent of all infertile couples. Most of the times infertility is due to preventable conditions and this is the reason why the variations in infertility rates are significant in any given population due to the preventable conditions being more or less prevalent in a given population. The preventable infertility causes are due to occupational or environmental factors and various infections (Kirch, 2009, p.782). There are some sexually transmitted infections (STIs) related to infertility such as gonorrhea (Fauser & Devroey, 2011). Since these symptoms

Personality Attributes Essay Example for Free

Personality Attributes Essay Locus of control  is a theory in  personality psychology  referring to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Understanding of the concept was developed by  Julian B. Rotter  in 1954, and has since become an aspect of personality studies. A persons locus (Latin for place or location) is conceptualised as either internal (the person believes they can control their life) or external (meaning they believe that their decisions and life are controlled by environmental factors which they cannot influence). Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events in their life derive primarily from their own actions; for example, if a person with an internal locus of control does not perform as well as they wanted to on a test, they would blame it on lack of preparedness on their part. If they performed well on a test, they would attribute this to ability to study. [1]. In the test-performance example, if a person with a high external locus of control does poorly on a test, they might attribute this to the difficulty of the test questions. If they performed well on a test, they might think the teacher was lenient or that they were lucky. [1] Those with a high internal locus of control exhibit better control of their behavior[citation needed], tend to be more politically involved[citation needed]  and are more likely to attempt to influence others than are those with an external locus of control. [citation needed]  They also assign greater likelihood to their efforts being successful, and more actively seek information concerning their situation. [citation needed] Locus of control has generated much research in a variety of areas in psychology. The construct is applicable to fields such as educational psychology, health psychology or clinical psychology. There will probably continue to be debate about whether specific or more global measures of locus of control will prove to be more useful. Careful distinctions should also be made between locus of control (a concept linked with expectancies about the future) and attributional style (a concept linked with explanations for past outcomes), or between locus of control and concepts such as self-efficacy. The importance of locus of control as a topic in psychology is likely to remain quite central for many years. Locus of control has also been included as one of four dimensions of  core self-evaluations  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ ones fundamental appraisal of oneself – along with  neuroticism,  self-efficacy, and  self-esteem. [2]  The concept of core self-evaluations was first examined by Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997), and since has proven to have the ability to predict several work outcomes, specifically, job satisfaction and job performance 2. Machiavelllianism: Machiavellianism is also a term that some social and personality  psychologists  use to describe a persons tendency to be emotionally cool and detached, and thus more able to detach from conventional morality and to  deceive  and  manipulate  others. In the 1960s, Richard Christie and Florence L. Geis developed a test for measuring a persons level of Machiavellianism. Measured on the Mach-IV scale, males are on average slightly more Machiavellian than females  [6]  [8]. Motivation: A 1992 review described Machiavellian motivation as related to cold selfishness and pure instrumentality, and those high on the trait were assumed to pursue their motives (e. g. sex, achievement, sociality) in duplicitous ways. More recent research on the motivations of high Machs compared to low Machs found that they gave high priority to money, power, and competition and relatively low priority to community building, self-love, and family concerns. High Machs admitted to focusing on unmitigated achievement and winning at any cost. Due to their skill at interpersonal manipulation, there has often been an assumption that high Machs possess superior intelligence, or ability to understand other people in social situations. However, research has firmly established that Machiavellianism is unrelated to  IQ. Furthermore, studies on  emotional intelligence  have found that high Machiavellianism actually tends to be associated with low emotional intelligence as assessed by both performance and questionnaire measures. Both empathy and emotion recognition have been shown to have negative correlations with Machiavellianism. Additionally, research has shown that Machiavellianism is unrelated to a more advanced theory of mind, that is, the ability to anticipate what others are thinking in social situations. If high Machs actually are skilled at manipulating others this appears to be unrelated to any special cognitive abilities as such Self esteem: Self-esteem  is a term in  psychology  to reflect a  persons overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Conversely, low self-monitors do not participate, to the same degree, in expressive control and do not share similar concern for situational appropriateness. Low self-monitors tend to exhibit expressive controls congruent with their own internal states; i. e. beliefs,  attitudes, and  dispositions  regardless of social circumstance. Low self-monitors are often less observant of social context and consider expressing a self-presentation dissimilar from their internal states as a falsehood and undesirable.

FTIR spectroscopy of SO2

FTIR spectroscopy of SO2 Abstract In this lab, the IR spectrum of SO2 gas was taken. The spectrum was then used to determine which peaks corresponded to the vibrational modes of SO2 ­. Once the modes had been determined, the experimental wavenumbers of the v1 and v3 modes and the overtones were used to determine the anharmonicity of the two different modes. While there was a difference between the two modes anharmonicity, overall there was not a significant difference. The modes and their corresponding wavenumbers were also used to calculate the force constants of SO2. The experimental data produced a force constant k1 with 3.112% error while the kÃŽ ´/l2 constant had a 2.963% error. Introductions IR spectroscopy is the detection of a transmittance or absorption intensity of change as a function of frequency1. In recent years, Fourier transform spectrometers replaced the traditional dispersive spectrometer because they are faster and more sensitive. They have made it possible to analyze many areas which were not possible with the dispersive spectrophotometer. The difference is the simultaneous examination of all frequencies. The three basic spectrometer components in a FT system are the radiation source, interferometer and detector. The radiation source in precision FTIR instruments is often water-cooled in give it more power and stability2. Figure 1. shows a diagram of the interferometer and the schematics of the spectrophotometer as a whole. The interferometer has the following three components: a moving mirror, fixed mirror, and a beamsplitter.. The beamsplitter is a semireflecting geranium thin film of small particles deposited on flat KBr substrate. Radiation from the broadband IR source is focused into the interferometer, and hits the beamsplitter. Once the beam hits the beam splitter, half of it is transmitted to the fixed mirror while the other half is transmitted to the moving mirror. The changing position of the moving mirror relative to the fixed one generates an interference pattern and causes the two beams to oscillate in and out of phase. When the beams are in phase, there is a constructive interference resulting in the maximum detector response. However, when the beam is out of phase, there is a deconstructive interference between the two beams. Once they have been reflected from both mirrors, they recombi ne at the beam splitter. The recombined beam passes through the sample and then focuses on the detector2. The intensity of the radiation hitting the detector will vary in a sinusoidal manner while the mirror is moving at constant velocity. The record of the interference signal is the interferogram and is a time domain spectrum. The detectors response changes versus time within the mirror scan are recorded. When a sample absorbs at a certain frequency, the amplitude of the sinusoidal wave reduces proportionally to the amount of sample in the beam. In an IR spectrophotometer, this process happens in three component frequencies, which creates a more complex interferogram2. To convert these interferogram recordings to the IR spectrum, a Fourier transformation is used. Small, precise intervals are used during the mirror scan. The rate of the sampling behavior is controlled by a monochromatic beam produced by a helium neon laser focused on a separate detector2. For this analysis, the mid IR spectrophotometer utilized a KBr beamsplitter and a mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector. MCT detectors are photon detector with a dependence on the quantum nature of radiation. They also exhibit very fast responses. They must be at a constant temperature of 77^(o)K, the temperature of liquid nitrogen. It is faster and more sensitive than the alternative detector, the deuterated triglycine sulfate (DTGS) 2, which was used for the far IR analysis. The cell used to hold the SO2 gas can be seen in Figure 2. A molecules energy can be split into three components: the electrons motion, the constituent atoms vibrations and the whole rotation of the molecule. While electronic transitions happen on a short timescale, rotational transitions happen on a longer time scale. When a molecule is placed in an electromagnetic field, such as light, energy from the light is transferred from the field to the molecule. This happens upon the satisfaction of Bohrs frequency condition: ΔE = hv When a molecule is excited from one state to another, the energy difference between the two states is absorbed by the molecule. When the molecule reverts back to the previous state, the change in energy which was absorbed upon excitation is then emitted1*. A molecule will be excited by photons which possess the appropriate energy3. Vibrational transitions are observed in the infrared (IR) spectra which are about the 103 ~ 104 cm-1 region. These transitions are caused by the vibration of the nuclei constituting the molecule. The rotational transitions occur at 1-103 cm-1 region, the microwave region, while the electronic transitions occur at 104-106 cm-1 region, the UV-visible region. As the vibrational quantum number v increases, the rotational intervals tend to decrease. The vibrational fine structure of electronic transitions can give insight to the structural and bonding information about molecules which are electronically excited1*. A system displaced from its equilibrium force will be restored due to a restoring force provided by the elasticity of the system. However, there is a property of inertia which causes the system to over correct for the displacement. The back and forth actions of elasticity and inertia cause the system to have oscillatory motion4. When the potential energy is graphed versus the internuclear separation, a perfect harmonic oscillator forms a parabola. The energy spacing in a harmonic oscillator does not change throughout the well of the parabola and is equal to hω where ω=km12 and the zero point energy is Eo= 12hω When a system is not a perfect harmonic oscillator, it is considered anharmonic. Anharmonicity forces the right side of the parabola to widen and asymptotically approach zero. The spaces between the permitted states are not evenly spaced as they were in the harmonic system5. The comparison of the two graphs can be seen if Figure 3. One of the possible ways to calculate xe, a term which shows the anharmonicity of a system is to graph ?G/? versus (?+1). This yields a graph with an equation as follows ΔGv=v+ 1xeve+ ve By dividing the xeve term by ve, the xe term is found. The larger this number, the more anharmonic the system is and vise versa5. Covalent bonds of molecules are not rigid as ball and stick models would suggest, but rather they can be compared to stiff springs which are capable of stretching and bending. More energy is required to stretch and compress a bond than it does to bend it. There is a direct relationship between the energy or frequency which characterizes the stretching vibration of a bond and the bond dissociation energy3. The major factors which are influencial in the stretching frequency of a covalent bond can be seen in the following equation: v = 12rck(m1+m2)m1+m2 where v is the frequency, k is the force constant, c is the speed of light, and m1 and m2 are the masses of the two atoms on each end of the bond. This equation corresponds to the rigidness of the oscillation. However, it should be noted that not all molecular vibrations are capable of being observed in the infrared region. In order to be seen in an IR spectrum, a vibration must cause a change in the dipole of a molecule. This change in charge distribution allows the molecule to absorb infrared light. There is a proportional relationship between the change in charge distribution and the absorption: the greater the change, the stronger the absorption3. All vibrating physical objects have a set of normal modes6. A normal mode can be defined as a simple harmonic oscillation which occurs about an area which is local and low in energy. The normal modes are determined by the systems structure R and its energy function V(R ). Any motion can be expressed as a superposition of normal modes when a pure harmonic V(R ) is being considered. However, the near minimum potential can still be approximated by a harmonic potential for an anharmonic V(R ). Also, small-amplitude motions can still be described by the sum of normal modes. This means that all systems behave harmonically at low temperatures7. For SO2, it is necessary to have nine Cartesian coordinates in order to determine the positions of all three nuclei. Therefore, the molecule is considered to have nine nuclear degrees of freedom. The first three are necessary to describe the position of the center of mass of the molecule. If these three degrees change, it represents the translational movement of the molecule in space. The next three degrees of freedom refer to the orientation of the molecule. These three degrees can be described as the angles of the molecule. If these three degrees change, then the molecule has rotated. The three remaining coordinates are those used to describe the relative positions of the three atoms. These are called vibrational coordinates8. To describe the vibrations of a bent trigonal molecule, it makes sense to use the valence coordinates. The valence coordinates consist of the two bond lengths and the bond angle. However, they do possess a drawback. If energy is put into a bond so that it stretches, to observe how the molecule reacts is difficult due to the energy put into the stretched bond quickly flowing into the vibrations of the other bond in the molecule. Because of this, it is said that the stretching of a single bond and other vibrational motions are coupled8. By varying the coordinates, which are the linear combinations of changes in the bond lengths and bond angles, a good uncoupled approximation can be made. These coordinates are called the normal coordinates. Motions which take place in these coordinates are appropriately called normal modes of vibration. The center of mass does not move in these coordinates8. A non symmetric molecule with N number of atoms will have 3N-6 normal modes. This means SO2 will have 3(3)-6 = 3 normal modes. The normal modes for SO2 can be seen in Figure 3. The symmetric stretch is labeled as v1, the bend is labeled v2, and the asymmetric stretch is labeled v3. When a molecule is exhibiting one of the vibrational modes, it travels the path indicated by the arrow, stops, and then returns back to its starting position8. It is possibly to express the three normal modes as a potential-energy function written in terms of bond stretching and angle bending as shown in the following equation: V = 12k1(R1-Re)2+ 12k1(R1-Re)2+ 12kb(ÃŽ ¸-ÃŽ ¸e)2 where R1 and R2 are the first and second bond length of S-O, Re is the equilibrium S-O bond length, ? is the bond angle of O-S-O, and ?e is the equilibrium value. The constants ks and kb ­ are for the stretching and bending respectively9 ­. Though the derivations are difficult, it was found that the following equations are derived from eq. (1) and are used to calculate both constants: 4r2v32 = 1+2momssin2ÃŽ ±k1mo 16r4v12v22 = 21+2momssin2k1moÃŽ ±kÃŽ ´l2 4r2v12+v22 = 1+2momscos2ÃŽ ±k1mo+2mo1+2momssin2ÃŽ ±kÃŽ ´l2 where v# is the wavenumber of that particular mode, 4?3 is expressed as 5. 8918E-5 in order to obtain units of Nm-1, mo is the mass of oxygen, ms is the mass of sulfur, ? is 59.75^(o), and k?/l2 is the same as the kb constant used in equation (6)10. Diatomic molecules possess only one vibrational coordinate which is quantized. This means that only specific results will be obtained for the value of the vibration. The quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator upon first approximation gives the allowed levels of a diatomic molecule. Polyatomic molecules are similar. Each normal mode has quantized energy, and can be approximated by the harmonic oscillator model when at low energy levels. The frequencies associated with bending tend to be lower than the frequencies associated with stretching10. It is possible to see normal modes via IR spectroscopy if they have a change in dipole in the molecule when it stretches or bends10. All of the normal modes in SO2 are IR active and therefore can all be seen in the IR spectrum at the fundamental frequency. It is possible to observe other weak bands in the spectrum which are a result of overtones. Overtones occur because anharmonicities. They usually happen at integer multiples of 2 or 3 of the fundamental frequencies and are caused by two modes being simultaneously excited10. These bands are located at frequencies which are approximately the sum or difference of the two modes which were excited and are weak10. Method About 1.5g of drierite was weighed out and placed in the barrel of a syringe and the plunger was inserted almost entirely into the barrel. A 3 cm piece of rubber tubing was attached to the tip of the syringe. A 1.5 g of sodium hydrogen sulfite was measured and placed in a vial cap that was small enough to fit into the syringe barrel. The filled vial cap was then into the syringe using a bent spatula to prevent the sodium hydrogen sulfite from spilling into the barrel. The plunger was pushed into the syringe as far as it would go. To ensure that none of the sodium hydrogen sulfite was spilled, the syringe was placed tip down in a beaker. The next step was placing 15 mL of 6 M HCl into a small beaker. All of the acid was then drawn into the syringe containing the vial cap very carefully as to not let any of the acid mix with the sodium hydrogen sulfite. The plastic lid was then screwed onto the syringe. Once the cap was secure on the tip, the syringe was shaken so that the acid and the sodium hydrogen sulfite mixed. As SO2 gas was being produced, the plunger on the syringe was pulled out simultaneously. The high pressure of the gas in the syringe caused the cap on the tip to leak so it was necessary to apply pressure to the tip to prevent it from spitting acid out. Once the reaction had stopped producing gas, the syringe was inverted so that the tip was pointing up and the liquid was at the bottom of the barrel. The cap was removed and the tip was connected to the other end of the rubber tubing attached to the syringe containing drierite. At this point the syringe containing drierite was above the syringe containing the SO2 gas. As the plunger in the bottom syringe was being pushed in, the plunger in the top syringe was being pulled out; making sure no liquid was pushed through the tubing and into the top syringe. The top syringe, now containing the SO2 gas, was capped and allowed to sit for five minutes in order for the drierite to dry the SO2 gas. The excess HCl in the reaction syringe was expelled into a waste beaker. 15 mL of NaOH was placed in a beaker and then drawn up into the syringe in order to destroy any remaining SO2. The NaOH was then also expelled into the waste beaker. After the syringe containing the gas had sat for five minutes, the IR gas cell was placed in the hood. The syringe containing the SO2 was then attached connected to the gas cell using another piece of rubber tubing. Both stopcocks on the gas cell were opened and the gas was pushed into the cell. Both stopcocks were then immediately closed to prevent any of the SO2 from leaking out. A spectrum in the range of 700-2500 cm-1 was obtained using an FTIR spectrophotometer. In order to get a good spectrum from the mid IR range, the cell was undiluted. However, to obtain a good spectrum in the far IR range, it was necessary to dilute the gas cell. Once the spectrum had been obtained, the gas cell was placed inside a fume hood. Both stopcocks were opened up and a syringe was used to flush air through the gas cell. The gas cell was then placed in a vacuum sealed dessicator with the stopcocks open in order to dry out any moisture that may have entered the cell during the experiment. Results The IR spectra of SO2 can be seen in Figure 5. By looking at what wavenumbers the peaks appeared at, it could be concluded which peak corresponded to each vibrational mode of SO2. The bending of a molecule happens at lower wavenumbers, so it was concluded that graph in the top right corner corresponds to the ?2 vibration. It was known from literature that the stretches occur somewhere between 1000 and 1500 cm-1 so the graph in the bottom right must correspond to the overtones of SO2s ?3 and ?1 modes. It is known that asymmetric stretches always correspond to higher wavenumbers. So it was concluded that the next two peaks on the spectrum were ?1 and ?3 respectively. The actual experimental wavelengths of each mode can be seen it Table 1. There are two overtones present, one from the ?1 mode and another from the ?3 mode. The lower frequency overtone corresponds to the lower-frequency mode. Thus the lowest overtone is that of ?1 while the second seen overtone comes from the ?2 mode. Using the experimental wavenumbers for each mode, both constants could be found using eq. (7) first to solve for k1. This values was calculated to be 1000.858 Nm-1. The litereature value is 1033 Nm-1 and the percent error in the experimental value was 3.112% The calculated value of k1 was then used in eq. (8) to find the k?/l3 constant. The second constant was calculated to be 78.60 Nm-1. Literature value for this constant is 81 Nm-1 and the percent error in the experimental calculation was 2.963%. To evaluate the effectiveness of this method for finding the constants, both sides of eq. (9) were solved for. The left side equaled 93.77 Nm-1 while the right side equaled 95.54 Nm-1. The percent difference between these two values is 1.85%. In order to determine the harmonicity of each of the modes of vibration, the ve and vexe values were calculated. This was done by graphing ?G/v versus (v + 1) in Microsoft Excel. The ?G corresponds to the wavenumber of the overtone seen on the IR spectrum. ?G was then divided by v. The overtones corresponded to v=2 while the normal mode bands corresponded to ?=1. Graphs for both the ?1 mode and ?2 mode can be seen in Figure 6. Excel was then used to fit a trend line and produce a y = mx + b equation for the data. The slope of the equation was vexe and the intercept was ve. To determine the anharmonicity of the two modes, it was necessary to solve for xe. This was done using eq (4). The calculated values for xe in the ?1 mode was 1.0612 and for the ?3 mode was 0.07891. This means that the ?1 mode is more anharmonic than the ?3 mode. Conclusion For this lab, SO2 ­ was prepared and then studied via FTIR spectroscopy. The three modes of SO2 were identified on the IR spectra obtained. It was determined that the lowest energy of bending correlated to the lowest frequency peak. The second highest frequency peak was determined to be ?1 since the symmetric stretch is lower in energy than the asymmetric stretch (?3) which is the third highest frequency peak. The wavelengths determined from the IR spectra were used to calculate the constants k1 and k?/l3. It was determined from the numbers crunched from eq. (6) that the used method of determining the constants was an accurate method. Also, the anharmonicity of the modes ?1 and ?2 were calculated and compared. The graph of ?G/vversus (v + 1) produce an equation of y = mx + b which provided the values of xeve and v ­e. These values were then used to find xe, which described the anharmonicity of each mode. The ?1 mode was found to be more anharmonic due to its greater xe value whil e the ?3 was found to be more harmonic. Refrences What is Infrared Spectroscopy?. (n.d.). Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~mlyount/MySites/ForensicSpectroscopy/WhatIsIR.html Nakamoto, Kazuo.Infrared and Raman Spectra of Inorganic and Coordination Compounds. Sixth Edition ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Sons, Inc., 2009. Print. Hsu, S. (n.d.). Infrared Spectroscopy. prenhall.com. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from www.prenhall.com/settle/chapters/ch15.pdf Chem.msu.edu. (n.d.). Nature of Vibrational Spectroscopy. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from 2http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/Spectrpy/InfraRed/irspec1.htm#ir1 The Simple Harmonic Oscillator. (n.d.). PAWS Personal Accessible Web Space Kettering University. Retrieved December 12, 2009, from http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/Demos/SHO/mass.html Atkins, P., Friedman, R., Paula, J. D. (2008). Rotational and Vibrational Spectra. Quanta, Matter and Change: A Molecular Appraoch to Physical Change (pp. 315-318). New York: W. H. Freeman. Normal mode Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mode Normal Mode (Harmonic) Analysis. (n.d.). Center for Molecular Modeling. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://cmm.cit.nih.gov/intro_simulation/node26.html Vibrational Spectroscopy. (n.d.). med.upenn.edu. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from www.med.upenn.edu/bmbgrad/Faculty/Master_List/Vanderkooi/course_notes/8.vibrational.pdf Sulfer Dioxide Vibration. (n.d.). d.umn.edu. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from www.d.umn.edu/~psiders/courses/chem4644/labinstructions/SO2spartan.pdf Infrared Spectroscopy of SO2. (n.d.). Spectroscopy and Structure Chem 4591. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from 3http://www.colorado.edu/chemistry/chem4581_91/SO2.pdf

The American Revolution: Freedom for the White Man :: Essays on American Revolution

The American Revolution was a glorious war fought to free the American colonies from the British rule. Although we won that war, there were still many people who were not free from our rule. One group of people were the black slaves. The black people had many struggles to freedom which helped shape our American culture today. Three different periods characterized there struggles: the slaves before the Civil War, during Reconstruction, and during the civil rights movements. These three eras mark a pivotal point in the movement and advancement of the black race to social equality. During the time before the Civil War, it was not easy for slaves to organize and rebel against their slaveholders or whites in general. There were numerous laws that specifically took away slaves rights as men. Slaves also feared the whip and even death if they were to act out against their owners. The Declaration of Independence did not apply to many groups and the black race was one of those excluded groups. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness"(Primus 295). Thomas Jefferson, having slaves himself, recognized the fact that he could not free the slaves himself in that document. It was difficult enough for him to get the Declaration approved by all of the colonies in itself. In fact the last man to sign the Declaration of Independence did not do so until the year 1778. The slaves were kept in ignorance of any knowledge which might have led to their freedom. Laws forbade reading and writing for slaves. They also forbade anyone to teach a slave to read. To keep the slaves obedient, slaveholders often made an example of a slave by beating him with the cow skin, or even killing him. "He[Gore] gave Denby but few stripes; the latter broke away from him and plunged into the creek, and, standing there to the depth of his neck in water, he refused to come out at the order of the overseer; whereupon, for this refusal, Gore shot him dead!"(My Bondage and My Freedom 122). This era was definitely a period were the black people had little voice in their future and society. Most people in the north felt differently however. These people were called the abolitionists, and they were dedicated to freeing the slaves. The southern states, strongly disagreed with their views and

Masculinity in Deliverance by James Dickey Essay -- Establishment of M

Masculinity in Deliverance by James Dickey The novel Deliverance by James Dickey portrays the essence of middle-aged men experiencing the mid-life crisis through which they must prove to themselves and more importantly every one else that they still possess the strength, bravery, intelligence, and charm believed to be society's ideal of "masculinity." Dickey's four main characters undertake a risky adventure to satisfy their egotistical complexes and prove to the world that they are still the strong young men their wives married. Each character represents a different stereotype of the middle-aged man, and therefore experiences a different type of psychological and physical journey than their peers. The character Drew Ballinger in Deliverance is a sales supervisor at a soft-drink company who is very devoted to his son and his job. Drew is the character who represents the middle-aged man's desire for talent and attention. Drew plays the guitar and his music is his true companion. Without having any talent, as he would be the first to tell you, Drew played mighty well, through sheer devotion.(Dickey, 11) For Drew the highlight of this trip is his duo with Lonnie, an uneducated banjo player. Drew obviously finds this the most exhilarating part of the adventure in that he is the center of attention and is playing very well with a talented young man. I had never heard him play so well, and I really began to listen deeply, moved as an unmusical person is moved when he sees that the music is meant†¦.I could not see Drew's face, but the back of his neck was sheer joy†¦I was glad for Drew's sake that we had come. Jus... ...ecame a possession to me, a personal, private possession, as nothing else in my life ever had. Now it ran nowhere but in my head, but there it ran as though immortally. I could feel it - I can feel it - on different places on my body. It pleases me in some curious way that the river does not exist, and that I have it. In me it still is, and will be until I die, green, rocky, deep, fast, slow and beautiful beyond reality†¦The river underlies†¦everything that I do. It is always finding a way to serve me†¦(Dickey, 275-6) Thus, Ed is the protagonist and hero of Deliverance. It is through this perilous voyage that Drew, Bobby, Lewis, and Ed undertake, that they prove their "masculinity," or lack there of, to themselves and to the society in which they live. Works Cited Dickey, James Deliverance. 1970. New York: Dell Publishing, 1994. Masculinity in Deliverance by James Dickey Essay -- Establishment of M Masculinity in Deliverance by James Dickey The novel Deliverance by James Dickey portrays the essence of middle-aged men experiencing the mid-life crisis through which they must prove to themselves and more importantly every one else that they still possess the strength, bravery, intelligence, and charm believed to be society's ideal of "masculinity." Dickey's four main characters undertake a risky adventure to satisfy their egotistical complexes and prove to the world that they are still the strong young men their wives married. Each character represents a different stereotype of the middle-aged man, and therefore experiences a different type of psychological and physical journey than their peers. The character Drew Ballinger in Deliverance is a sales supervisor at a soft-drink company who is very devoted to his son and his job. Drew is the character who represents the middle-aged man's desire for talent and attention. Drew plays the guitar and his music is his true companion. Without having any talent, as he would be the first to tell you, Drew played mighty well, through sheer devotion.(Dickey, 11) For Drew the highlight of this trip is his duo with Lonnie, an uneducated banjo player. Drew obviously finds this the most exhilarating part of the adventure in that he is the center of attention and is playing very well with a talented young man. I had never heard him play so well, and I really began to listen deeply, moved as an unmusical person is moved when he sees that the music is meant†¦.I could not see Drew's face, but the back of his neck was sheer joy†¦I was glad for Drew's sake that we had come. Jus... ...ecame a possession to me, a personal, private possession, as nothing else in my life ever had. Now it ran nowhere but in my head, but there it ran as though immortally. I could feel it - I can feel it - on different places on my body. It pleases me in some curious way that the river does not exist, and that I have it. In me it still is, and will be until I die, green, rocky, deep, fast, slow and beautiful beyond reality†¦The river underlies†¦everything that I do. It is always finding a way to serve me†¦(Dickey, 275-6) Thus, Ed is the protagonist and hero of Deliverance. It is through this perilous voyage that Drew, Bobby, Lewis, and Ed undertake, that they prove their "masculinity," or lack there of, to themselves and to the society in which they live. Works Cited Dickey, James Deliverance. 1970. New York: Dell Publishing, 1994.

A Whale Hunt :: essays research papers

Envision the Makah nation before white men came to reduce their lands, diminished their way of life, and contaminate them with new diseases. The Makah tribe was once free to roam along the dark sandy beaches of the Olympic Peninsula and experience the fiery glow of the sinking sun creep into the depths of the vast Pacific Ocean. They are no longer able to undergo this majestic cycle in the same tranquility that their ancestors once did. After dealing with the inequities that were brought upon them by the European settlers, such as being forced to speak a new language and being confined to a minute area of land, that cannot compare to the greatness of the territory where they once lived. On top of that their traditional whale hunt was abstracted from their community. Now with the chance to hunt again, the Makah faced a difficult decision against the opposition. The Makah tribe decided to return to hunting the whale in attempt to restore their culture and traditions. They agreed not t o use the hunt for commercial purposes and to hunt the whale in the same way their ancestors did. I think the Makah nation should be able to hunt the whale as means of renewing their culture and pride. The whale hunt provides the Makah with the ability to restore their culture and traditions, provide reparations for America's mistreatment, all while following strict guidelines for the crew and the process of taking the whale. The Makah’s decision to hunt the whale produced hostile reactions among the many supporters of the whale. Protestors from around the world arrived in mass. They were very unsympathetic, rude, and even aggressive toward the Makahs. An example of this is shown by their behavior toward the Makahs: Very soon, a woman shouted at the crew, ‘Real men don’t kill animals! Only a coward kills whales! You are a coward and a sissy!’ Another woman shouted that the Makah shouldn’t have special rights just because they were Indians. Another woman said her soul was connected to the soul of the gray whale. (Sullivan 136) This shows the emotion that the protestors brought to the controversy against the hunt. Their argument is that the whale is sacred to them too, and that slaughtering the whale is a criminal act. Everybody involved in the hunt is not perfect, but everybody deserves a chance.

Problem Caused by Anti-Smoking Legislation in Hong Kong

Title: Analyse the problems caused by the implementation of anti-smoking legislation in Hong Kong. Identify some solutions to these problems. Paragraph 1 In recent years many countries have enacted anti-smoking legislation. For example, on 1 January 2007 Hong Kong extended no smoking areas to cover the inside of restaurants, as well as offices and some public outdoor areas (Tobacco control, 2007).While these laws have been largely welcomed by both health advocates and the general population, they have had some unintended consequences including an increase in cigarette litter and congestion in areas where smokers congregate, and a decrease in working efficiency in workplaces with significant numbers of smokers. This essay will examine these effects in more detail before considering some possible solutions. Paragraph 2 One of the outcomes of preventing office and shop workers from smoking in offices and shopping centres is that smokers are more likely to gather on pavements in the area near the entrance to the office building or mall.The assembly of these smokers has produced an increase in litter, with waste such as cigarette butts and packaging often discarded on the street. Novotny and Zhao (1999) argue that this litter is plainly observable, may remain in the environment for a long time and might be hazardous to young children and animals if ingested. Given the densely packed office environment in the central business district of Hong Kong, it is apparent that the litter problem from smokers who smoke outside can be quite serious. Paragraph 3As well as the littering problem, groups smoking on pavements can pose a physical danger to young children. Nakahara (2005) mentions that children are often at a height where they can be easily struck by smokers holding lit cigarettes. As the head of the child is often only at leg level to the adult smoker, the burning cigarette could easily harm the eye or other facial features of the child. It is suggested by Nakahara ( ibid) that street smoking has become more widespread after stricter smoking legislation began to be enforced.In the crowded urban parts of Hong Kong, such as in Mongkok and Causeway Bay, even if there are only a small proportion of pedestrians smoking, this would still generate a hazard to young children. Paragraph 4 Besides the outdoor effects of smoking legislation, those companies operating in Hong Kong who employ smokers have also probably suffered. Considering the USA,  Halpern, Shikiar, Rentz and Khan  (2001) find that smokers have appreciably more absences from work than those who have never smoked.The reason for this is believed to be due to increased rates of sickness among smokers. It could also be speculated that as smokers are more likely to take extended breaks than non-smokers, this would precipitate further reductions in working efficiency in offices with many smokers. As business is very important in the Hong Kong economy, maintaining a high working efficiency is vital to Hong Kong competitiveness. Paragraph 5 Regarding the first problem of increased littering, there are four possible methods to counter this issue.According to Bitgood, Carnes and Thompson (1988), these are environmental education, prompting, environmental design and punishment. Environmental education would include TV campaigns against littering, while prompting would mean signage outside offices reminding smokers not to litter. Environmental design would mean improved design of cigarette bins, and punishment means fines. A combination of these methods, together with increased frequency of visits by cleaners, would plausibly be the most effective solution to littering, and this already happens in Hong Kong (Clean Hong Kong, 2012).Paragraph 6 The physical risk caused by smokers in public areas to young children can perhaps be solved by the establishment of smoking zones. While in Hong Kong, universities are supposedly smoke free, in the United States there are moves by some universities to have areas where smoking is allowed (Ryman, 2010). Although the presence of these smoking zones is common in airports, the proposal by universities in America would be for outdoor zones so this could lead to opposition by some non smokers.As  Kennedy et al. (2012) observe, in countries where restrictions have been placed on indoor smoking, thereby prompting greater outdoor smoking, a majority of interviewees now support outdoor smoking limits in certain settings. Paragraph 7 Finally, the issue of working efficiency has also begun to be addressed in the United States, with certain employers, for the most part health care facilities, now actively not employing those applicants who state that they smoke on the application form.Koch (2012) points out that while a tobacco-free recruiting procedure is intended to endorse health and decrease insurance costs, these polices of discrimination against smokers might have unintended repercussions with smokers feeling punished r ather than encouraged to quit smoking. As a result, some States in America have started passing laws forbidding the discrimination in the workplace of smokers (Summary of District of Columbia Laws, 2010), although in Hong Kong this is not currently proscribed under the labour ordinance (Labour Department, 2012).Paragraph 8 This essay has examined the problems created by the ban on smoking in offices and many indoor public venues in recent years. These problems include a deteriorating litter problem, a danger to young children from lit cigarettes and decreased working efficiency among smokers. Solutions that were considered include intensifying and varying litter prevention schemes, establishing smoke free zones and implementing legislation to prevent smokers from being employed. Paragraph 9It is the belief of this writer that while the anti-smoking legislation was welcome, there was not enough thought regarding the consequences of this legalisation before it was implemented. While r emedial measures can be introduced to partially solve some of these problems, the only certain way to eliminate these problems is to further reduce the number of smokers. For this to happen, it is likely that further legalisation which further restricts the advertising, sale, and consumption of tobacco is needed by the Hong Kong Government.