Biology Lab Essay

Introduction This week in Biology Lab we learned the effects of caffeine and nicotine on heart rate. Based on previous knowledge of caffeine and nicotine, I came up with the following hypothesis; The presence of nicotine will slow the heart rate of the worm and the presence of caffeine will speed the rate up. My hypothesis was based on what I seen in everyday life. A person who smokes a lot of cigarettes usually have a slower heart rate, whereas a person whom drinks a lot of caffeine sodas are hyper and have a faster heart beat. I think the effect of caffeine and nicotine will have the same effect on the species we are using in class, a freshwater blackworm. Materials & Methods To begin this lab we first had to build a viewing chamber to view our worms under the microscope. To make the viewing chamber we had to use about 12 wax like parafilm sheets on a slide. We made sure each of the sheets fit on the slide, and stacked them up to make sure that the worm could not get out. We used a heating plate to melt the parafilm sheets but we had to be careful not to let the slide get to hot because it would burn. Using a razor we had to cut out a trough. This is where the worm would sit in so we could view it under the microscope. Our teacher has prepared us with 3 different molarities of caffeine and 3 different molarities of nicotine. Using a dropper we had to put about 3 drops of caffeine or nicotine on the worm. A new worm is used for each different trial/molarity. At the end of each trial we had to record what happened to the worm and what we saw under the microscope. The old worm was to be disposed in a bowl with everyone else’s used worm. Results & Data The first picture above shows how the worm looked under the microscope with just water. Notice that the vessels are spaced apart allowing the blood to flow with ease. With the presence of caffeine the blood vessels of the worm relaxed or separated more allowing blood to flow causing the heart to beat faster. The final picture shows what was saw under the microscope when the worm had nicotine in it. The vessels are more closer together making it harder for the blood to flow. Decreased blood flow equals decreased heart rate. On a few attempts the worms died because at first I did not know that the worms lived on water, or because I would put to much of a solution into the viewing chamber than the worm could take. The higher the concentration the more drastic the results. The pictures shown are only for the lowest molarity of caffeine and nicotine used in this lab. Conclusion My hypothesis for this lab was correct. The effect of nicotine made the worm heart rate lower and the effect of caffeine made the heart rate speed up. Caffeine and nicotine effect worms and humans in the same way.

Online Grading System Essay

Computer technology has become an essential tool in the current human race. Computers serve as efficient data storage systems and excellent information processors. It can store, organize and manage huge amount of data. Moreover, it operates on incomparable speeds, thus saving human time and effort to a large extent. True, computers are an integral part of the lives of the people today. It said that inventions change the way people live. Computer technology is a classic example of this adage. It has indeed changed the way of living of the people all over the world. In essence, grading is an exercise in professional judgment on the part of instructors. It involves the collection and evaluation of students’ achievement or performance over a specified period of time, such as one month, a semester, or entire school year. Through this process, various types of descriptive information and measures of students’ performance are converted into grades that summarize students’ accomplishments. The increasing usage of computers gave way for the birth of a new technological advancement that had assisted teachers to easily compute for grades, the digitization of spreadsheets. The main advantage is speed, since no manual calculations are needed, and confirmation of grade for any further necessary alterations can also be performed more quickly than traditional means. Managing grades had become easier for instructors when using electronic spreadsheets1. With the advancement of information technology, the Internet suddenly became an important aspect for local and global connectivity. Because the computers around the globe were logically connected through the Internet, communication had been easier with the use of E-Mail, message boards and other communication programs. As the technology’s complexities and bandwidth arise, so does the need for software to utilize them. From basic text and images, innovation pushed web sites to include tools for specialized services. The need to inject applications to the fundamental web pages gave birth to server-side scripts like PHP, and database applications like MySQL. Thus, having an online system for a particular company, means having advantages, advantages like having to visit the own website whenever wanted with comfort and without having to walk yourself to the company itself. The current Grading System of Asian Development Foundation College is done manually. The researchers observed that the current aforementioned system allocates a lot of time before having to submit the grades of the students from the teachers. The posting and viewing of grades in Asian Development Foundation College is also manually processed. The teachers go through a lot of computations for each of their student’s grade which causes a lot of effort and consumes time as well, then after computing the grades, the teachers then presents the grades to the school administration of Asian Development Foundation College to provide it for the students. The students will have to wait for their teacher to finish computing their grade and will need to go to school to ask for their grades. So if there would be a much easier way in posting the grades by the teachers and viewing the grades by the students, it is through an Online System. The researchers proposed an Online Grading System of Asian Development Foundation College so that the submission and viewing of grades would be much easier. It is far more convenient for a student to visit a website of their school and is able to view their grades through online without any hassle. Moreover, it is very less stressing for the teachers to just input the grades of the students through online without computing manually. So if an Online Grading System for Asian Development Foundation College would be developed, then the process of submitting the grades of the students by the teachers would be easier and less stressing. Because the teachers will not have to compute manually anymore, the Online System will be the one to compute the grades once inputted. And the students of Asian Development Foundation College will be able to see their grades through online. Statement of the problem The proposed Online Grading System is exclusively designed for Asian Development Foundation College Tacloban city. It aims to answer the following: 1. What are the problems encountered by the respondents on the present Grading System of Asian Development Foundation College(High School Department)? 2. What system will be proposed to lessen the problems with regards to the Grading System of the institution? 3. What are the inputs needed to develop an Online Grading System of the Aforementioned institution? 4. What are the assessment of the respondents on the developed Online Grading System of in terms of: a. Contents? b. Usefulness? Theoretical Framework As saying knowledge is power. Gagne suggest that learning tasks for intellectual skills can be organized in a hierarchy according to complexity: procedure following, the use of terminology, discriminations, concepts formation, rule application and problem solving. The primary significance of the hierarchy is to identify prerequisites that should be complete to facilitate learning at each level. Doing a task analysis of learning and training task identifies prerequisites. Learning hierarchies provide a basis for the sequencing of instruction. Learning strategies refer to methods that students use to learn. These ranges from techniques for improved memory to better studying. The method of logic is a classic memory improvement techniques, it involves in making associations between facts to be remembered in a particular location. In order to remember you have to visualize place and associated facts. Some learning strategy involves changes to the design of the instruction. For example, the use questions before, during or after instruction has been shown to increase the degree of learning that occurred have called â€Å"mathemagenic†. Information Processing Theory, this concept of information processing states that this theory is primarily concerned with the study of memory and on the evaluation of information. Like computer the human mind takes in information and performs operation when needed and retrieval. Having accurate information in conducting the study will help in the process evaluation primary concern. The researchers in getting information to their pilot area that will be needed as the study continues have applied the theory2. Constructivism Theory views that knowledge is not about the world but rather constitutive of the world. Knowledge is not a fixed about the individual through his practice of the object constructs it. A person who has the exact knowledge of a certain activity is so much important. When people work collaboratively in an authentic activity they bring their own framework and perspective to the activity. They can see the problems form different perspective and are able to negotiate and generate meaning and solution through shared understanding3. Elaboration Theory of Instruction deals with the macro level of instruction. It is primarily concerned with the sequencing of ideas as opposed to the individual ideas themselves and examples relating to them. The sequencing of ideas relates to fundamental and representational ideas or core principles. This theory serves as foundation from which more specific maybe developed. This is applicable to the researchers study because this ideas with the analyzing of the program4. Conceptual Framework The basis for conceptualizing the Online Grading System of Asian Development Foundation College which is proposed by the researchers is that it can help envision the path that the aforementioned system would be heading to.

Banking Sector Reform Essay

From the 1991 India economic crisis to its status of third largest economy in the world by 2011, India has grown significantly in terms of economic development. So has its banking sector. During this period, recognizing the evolving needs of the sector, the Finance Ministry of Government of India (GOI) set up various committees with the task of analyzing India’s banking sector and recommending legislation and regulations to make it more effective, competitive and efficient.[1] Two such expert Committees were set up under the chairmanship of M. Narasimham. They submitted their recommendations in the 1990s in reports widely known as the Narasimham Committee-I (1991) report and the Narasimham Committee-II (1998) Report. These recommendations not only helped unleash the potential of banking in India, they are also recognized as a factor towards minimizing the impact of global financial crisis starting in 2007. Unlike the socialist-democratic era of the 1960s to 1980s, India is no longer insulated from the global economy and yet its banks survived the 2008 financial crisis relatively unscathed, a feat due in part to theseNarasimham Committees.[2] Contents [hide] * 1 Background * 2 Recommendations of the Committee * 2.1 Autonomy in Banking * 2.2 Reform in the role of RBI * 2.3 Stronger banking system * 2.4 Non-performing assets * 2.5 Capital adequacy and tightening of provisioning norms * 2.6 Entry of Foreign Banks * 3 Implementation of recommendations * 4 Criticism Background During the decades of the 60s and the 70s, India nationalised most of its banks. This culminated with the balance of payments crisis of the Indian economy where India had to airlift gold toInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) to loan money to meet its financial obligations. This event called into question the previous banking policies of India and triggered the era of economic liberalisation in India in 1991. Given that rigidities and weaknesses had made serious inroads into the Indian banking system by the late 1980s, the Government of India (GOI), post-crisis, took several steps to remodel the country’s financial system. (Some claim that these reforms were influenced by the IMF and the World Bank as part of their loan conditionality to India in 1991).[3] The banking sector, handling 80% of the flow of money in the economy, needed serious reforms to make it internationally reputable, accelerate the pace of reforms and develop it into a constructive usher of an efficient, vibrant and competitive economy by adequately supporting the country’s financial needs.[4] In the light of these requirements, two expert Committees were set up in 1990s under the chairmanship of M. Narasimham (an ex-RBI (Reserve Bank of India) governor) which are widely credited for spearheading the financial sector reform in India.[3] The first Narasimhan Committee (Committee on the Financial System – CFS) was appointed by Manmohan Singh as India’s Finance Minister on 14 August 1991,[1][5] and the second one (Committee on Banking Sector Reforms)[6] was appointed by P.Chidambaram[7] as Finance Minister in December 1997.[8] Subsequently, the first one widely came to be known as the Narasimham Committee-I (1991)and the second one as Narasimham-II Committee(1998).[9][10] This article is about the recommendations of the Second Narasimham Committee, the Committee on Banking Sector Reforms. The purpose of the Narasimham-I Committee was to study all aspects relating to the structure, organization, functions and procedures of the financial systems and to recommend improvements in their efficiency and productivity. The Committee submitted its report to the Finance Minister in November 1991 which was tabled in Parliament on 17 December 1991.[6] The Narasimham-II Committee was tasked with the progress review of the implementation of the banking reforms since 1992 with the aim of further strengthening the financial institutions of India.[4]It focussed on issues like size of banks and capital adequacy ratio among other things.[9] M. Narasimham, Chairman, submitted the report of the Committee on Banking Sector Reforms (Committee-II) to the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in April 1998.[4][9] Recommendations of the Committee The 1998 report of the Committee to the GOI made the following major recommendations: Autonomy in Banking Greater autonomy was proposed for the public sector banks in order for them to function with equivalent professionalism as their international counterparts.[11] For this the panel recommended that recruitment procedures, training and remuneration policies of public sector banks be brought in line with the best-market-practices of professional bank management.[4][6] Secondly, the committee recommended GOI equity in nationalized banks be reduced to 33% for increased autonomy.[4][12][13] It also recommended the RBI relinquish its seats on the board of directors of these banks. The committee further added that given that the government nominees to the board of banks are often members of parliament, politicians, bureaucrats, etc., they often interfere in the day-to-day operations of the bank in the form of the behest-lending.[4] As such the committee recommended a review of functions of banks boards with a view to make them responsible for enhancing shareholder value through formulation of corporate strategy and reduction of government equity.[11] To implement this, criteria for autonomous status was identified by March 1999 (among other implementation measures) and 17 banks were considered eligible for autonomy.[14] But some recommendations like reduction in Government’s equity to 33%,[13][15] the issue of greater professionalism and independence of the board of directors of public sector banks is still awaiting Government follow-through and implementation.[16] Reform in the role of RBI First, the committee recommended that the RBI withdraw from the 91-day treasury bills market and that interbank call money and term money markets be restricted to banks and primary dealers.[6][14] Second, the Committee proposed a segregation of the roles of RBI as a regulator of banks and owner of bank.[17] It observed that â€Å"The Reserve Bank as a regulator of the monetary system should not be the owner of a bank in view of a possible conflict of interest†. As such, it highlighted that RBI’s role of effective supervision was not adequate and wanted it to divest its holdings in banks and financial institutions. Pursuant to the recommendations, the RBI introduced a Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) operated through repo and reverse repos in order to set a corridor for money market interest rates. To begin with, in April 1999, an Interim Liquidity Adjustment Facility (ILAF) was introduced pending further upgradation in technology and legal/procedural changes to facilitate electronic transfer.[18]As for the second recommendation, the RBI decided to transfer its respective shareholdings of public banks like State Bank of India (SBI), National Housing Bank (NHB) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to GOI. Subsequently, in 2007-08, GOI decided to acquire entire stake of RBI in SBI, NHB and NABARD. Of these, the terms of sale for SBI were finalised in 2007-08 itself.[19] Stronger banking system The Committee recommended for merger of large Indian banks to make them strong enough for supporting international trade.[11] It recommended a three tier banking structure in India through establishment of three large banks with international presence, eight to ten national banks and a large number of regional and local banks.[4][9][11] This proposal had been severely criticized by the RBI employees union.[20] The Committee recommended the use of mergers to build the size and strength of operations for each bank.[12] However, it cautioned that large banks should merge only with banks of equivalent size and not with weaker banks, which should be closed down if unable to revitalize themselves.[6] Given the large percentage of non-performing assets for weaker banks, some as high as 20% of their total assets, the concept of â€Å"narrow banking† was proposed to assist in their rehabilitation.[11] There were a string of mergers in banks of India during the late 90s and early 2000s, encouraged strongly by the Government of India|GOI in line with the Committee’s recommendations.[21]However, the recommended degree of consolidation is still awaiting sufficient government impetus.[16] Non-performing assets Non-performing assets had been the single largest cause of irritation of the banking sector of India.[4] Earlier the Narasimham Committee-I had broadly concluded that the main reason for the reduced profitability of the commercial banks in India was the priority sector lending. The committee had highlighted that ‘priority sector lending’ was leading to the build up of non-performing assets of the banks and thus it recommended it to be phased out.[10] Subsequently, the Narasimham Committee-II also highlighted the need for ‘zero’ non-performing assets for all Indian banks with International presence.[10] The 1998 report further blamed poor credit decisions, behest-lending and cyclical economic factors among other reasons for the build up of the non-performing assets of these banks to uncomfortably high levels. The Committee recommended creation of Asset Reconstruction Funds or Asset Reconstruction Companies to take over the bad debts of banks, allowing them to start on a clean-slate.[4][22][23] The option of recapitalization through budgetary provisions was ruled out. Overall the committee wanted a proper system to identify and classify NPAs,[6] NPAs to be brought down to 3% by 2002[4] and for an independent loan review meachnism for improved management of loan portfolios.[6] The committee’s recommendations let to introduction of a new legislation which was subsequently implemented as the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 and came into force with effect from 21 June 2002.[24][25][26] Capital adequacy and tightening of provisioning norms In order to improve the inherent strength of the Indian banking system the committee recommended that the Government should raise the prescribed capital adequacy norms.[9] This would also improve their risk taking ability.[11] The committee targeted raising the capital adequacy ratio to 9% by 2000 and 10% by 2002 and have penal provisions for banks that fail to meet these requirements.[4][6] For asset classification, the Committee recommended a mandatory 1% in case of standard assets and for the accrual of interest income to be done every 90 days instead of 180 days.[14] To implement these recommendations, the RBI in Oct 1998, initiated the second phase of financial sector reforms by raising the banks’ capital adequacy ratio by 1% and tightening the prudential norms for provisioning and asset classification in a phased manner on the lines of the Narasimham Committee-II report.[27] The RBI targeted to bring the capital adequacy ratio to 9% by March 2001.[28] The mid-term Review of the Monetary and Credit Policy of RBI announced another series of reforms, in line with the recommendations with the Committee, in October 1999.[14] Entry of Foreign Banks The committee suggested that the foreign banks seeking to set up business in India should have a minimum start-up capital of $25 million as against the existing requirement of $10 million. It said that foreign banks can be allowed to set up subsidiaries and joint ventures that should be treated on a par with private banks.[4] Implementation of recommendations In 1998, RBI Governor Bimal Jalan informed the banks that the RBI had a three to four year perspective on the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations.[27] Based on the other recommendations of the committee, the concept of a universal bank was discussed by the RBI and finally ICICI bank became the first universal bank of India.[18][29][30] The RBI published an â€Å"Actions Taken on the Recommendations† report on 31 October 2001 on its own website. Most of the recommendations of the Committee have been acted upon (as discussed above) although some major recommendations are still awaiting action from the Government of India.[31] Criticism There were protests by employee unions of banks in India against the report. The Union of RBI employees made a strong protest against the Narasimham II Report.[20] There were other plans by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), representing about 1.3 million bank employees in India, to meet in Delhi and to work out a plan of action in the wake of the Narasimham Committee report on banking reforms. The committee was also criticized in some quarters as â€Å"anti-poor†. According to some, the committees failed to recommend measures for faster alleviation of poverty in India by generating new employment.[3] This caused some suffering to small borrowers (both individuals and businesses in tiny, micro and small sectors). Reception Initially, the recommendations were well received in all quarters, including the Planning Commission of India leading to successful implementation of most of its recommendations.[32] Then it turned out that during the 2008 economic crisis of major economies worldwide, performance of Indian banking sector was far better than their international counterparts. This was also credited to the successful implementation of the recommendations of the Narasimham Committee-II with particular reference to the capital adequacy norms and the recapitalization of the public sector banks.[2] The impact of the two committees has been so significant that elite politicians and financial sectors professionals have been discussing these reports for more than a decade since their first submission applauding their positive contribution Prime Minister’s address at RBI Platinum Jubilee Celebrations| The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Reserve Bank o f India in Mumbai today. Following is the text of the Prime Minister’s address on the occasion: â€Å"It is indeed a great pleasure to be here in Mumbai for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Reserve Bank of India. For me, this is also a very special moment of nostalgia. I spent some very memorable years in this institution as its Governor. My wife and I cherish the memories of many new enduring friendships that we made during those memorable days. I also recall with deep appreciation the role played by the Reserve Bank in helping the Government of India in the implementation of the agenda for economic reforms when I was the Finance Minister of India at a very difficult time in our country’s economic history. To return as Prime Minister for the Platinum Jubilee of this great institution is indeed an emotionally moving experience for me. When I took over as Finance Minister in 1991, I was convinced that the economic liberalisation and reforms could only succeed if complemented by broad based reform in the banking and financial sectors. I turned to my old friend and former RBI Governor Shri M Narasimham to Chair a Committee to make recommendations on this very important issue. The Report of the Narasimham Committee outlined a comprehensive agenda of reform which served as a blue print of what we needed to do in subsequent years. It would have been difficult to implement those reforms had they not received enthusiastic support, as they did, from the Governor of the day, Shri S. Venkitaramanan and Dr. Rangrajan. Subsequently as Venitramanan’s successor Dr C. Rangarajan took the financial reform agenda further forward in many critical areas, including especially the ending of automatic monetisation of the government’s deficit. As with economic reforms in general, financial sector reforms in India were implemented at a gradual pace. We were often criticised for our incremental approach which critics often complained was far too slow. But few would deny that we have accomplished a great deal over the years and Reserve Bank has made important contribution towards this. We have successfully eliminated stifling controls on industry and investment. We have opened the economy to foreign trade, lowered tariffs and switched over to a market determined exchange rate. We have liberalised capital controls enabling the economy to absorb substantial inflows of capital in the form of both FDI and FII flows into the stock market. In recent years, foreign investment has also become a two way flow as many Indian companies have established a presence abroad through investment or acquisition. All of this has been achieved without experiencing a serious macro economic crisis or severe inflation over an extended period. Most importantly, the real economy has clearly prospered. The rate of growth of GDP has increased steadily over the past two decades, culminating in an unprecedented 9 percent growth per year in the four year period just before the global financial crisis. Poverty too, has declined steadily, though this is an area where much more remains to be done. The Reserve Bank of India has played a major role in this transformation. It has been a lead player in banking and financial sector reforms and has acted as a confidential adviser to the Government on many other issues relevant to the complex task of macro economic management in an increasingly open and liberalised economic environment. Indeed, it is one of our great institutions of which we can all be truly proud. The past two years have been difficult years for governments and central banks all over the world. Excessive credit expansion and asset price inflation both fuelled by so-called â€Å"financial innovations† of dubious value, and a lax regulatory environment led to an accumulation of risk that was not adequately understood and ultimately produced a severe crisis. India was relatively insulated from these developments because our financial system was much less integrated with the global system. However, the RBI deserves credit for having been prescient about the dangers posed by property bubbles. The action taken by Governor Reddy, who is present here, well before the crisis to tighten bank credit against real estate, limited bank exposure on this account. When the crisis exploded in September 2008, the RBI rapidly reversed its earlier tightening of credit to meet the new and changed circumstances. The CRR and the repo and reverse repo rates were rapidly lowered in a series of quick steps. Some initiatives were also taken to enhance access to bank credit by Non Banking Finance Companies. Signs of panic withdrawals from some private sector banks in the initial weeks of the crisis were met with strong reassurances by both the Government and the RBI that our banks were sound and would be fully supported. Ensuring that the Indian financial system remained stable in these very difficult times was a major achievement in financial and economic management. I would like to compliment Governor Subbarao and his team at the RBI for the role they played in this period.

Associations of Diet and Lifestyle with Hyperlipidemia for Middle-Aged Assignment

Associations of Diet and Lifestyle with Hyperlipidemia for Middle-Aged and Elderly Persons among the Guangxi Bai Ku Yao and Han Populations - Assignment Example Since the study is focused Guangxi Bai Ku Yao and Han Populations, all other populations apart from ones used as control samples will be excluded from the study. Information on demography, dietary intake, and lifestyle factors was collected by standard questionnaires. Blood pressure, height, weight, waist circumference, and serum lipid levels were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg) divided by height (m) squared. Data will be collected depending on various methods that will be used in the study to collect data. Since study will be conducted within certain period of time, there will be specific timing of measurements collected, depended variable like diet and lifestyle, and independent variables like middle-aged and elderly people. There will also be control variables as discussed above. In this study, people between the age of 25 and 65 (both male and female) were used in this study. This study will be focused on two clans Bai Ku Yao and Han. Their lifestyle and eating habits will also be used in this study. The prevalence rates of hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hyperlipidemia in Bai Ku Yao and Han were 19.59% vs 36.13% (P0.05), and 28.45% vs 43.11% (P

Prpperties of an element Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Prpperties of an element - Essay Example On the Word file, the links (hyperlinks) to your references must be hot! 4) Neatly typed narrative description (500 words minimum, i.e., about one page minimum) of the uses, importance, biological significance (if any) historical information, and any additional interesting information for the element. This should be written in paragraph format with proper grammar and spelling. Outlines or lists will not be given credit. Information must be properly cited (see #5). Plagiarism will result in a zero grade for this project with no chance to earn the lost points through other means. Your in-text citation to a printed source should hyperlink to the reference in your bibliography. Your in-text citation to an online source should also hyperlink to the reference in your bibliography. However, the hyperlinks from each of your references should be to the specific webpage(s) where you obtained the

The supply and demand of Crude Oil Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The supply and demand of Crude Oil - Term Paper Example Supply of oil at the global level is becoming progressively tighter with the passing of the day and this phenomenon is referred to as one most decisive factor that has lead to the recent massive towering of oil prices. This paper is intended to study in detail the price condition of the current global oil market and the trend of demand and supply shown by the different importers and exporters. Information collected from secondary sources is reviewed in the next section of the paper and is analyzed in the third section. Based on the analysis recommendations are added to the concluding portion of the paper. Literature Review Demand for petroleum products in the region of the Asia-Pacific countries is showing a growing trend. China is in particular, one of the fastest growing economies in the world and its noteworthy economic development creates high demand for crude oil. India is the other significant developing country where the demographic factor leads to high demand of crude oil. Th ese countries are big importers of oil in the international market. According to the preliminary statistics published in the reports of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the history of the US, it is the first instance in 40 years time, that China has reached the top position in the rank of net oil importers in the world exceeding the net import of the United States. This outcome has partly occurred due to the rise in taxes in the United States that is considered as a potential reason by analysts behind distorting the country’s net oil imports (Oil Price, 2013). On one hand, a score of regulations related to the petroleum industry are relaxed by a number of countries, which assures that the pressure for compressing the demand and supply of petroleum is going to be reduced to a certain extent. This is because deregulation is expected to expand the worldwide trade in crude oil and petroleum products over the years. However, on the other hand, the regulation is being implemented in the different countries at differing paces, which creates differential levels of participation in international trade by these countries. Free trade might be hampered by the economic condition and the policies adopted by the importing country which dictates the level of import in the country (Nakanishi & Komiyama, 2006). Trends in energy consumption trends show that the total consumption of primary energy in the world was near about 10,800 million tons oil equivalent (MTOE) in 2010. The forecast of the total consumption for the year 2030 is around 16,000 MTOE. This shows approximately 1.2 times and 1.7 times the total consumption figure estimated for 2003 (estimated at about 9,300 MTOE) respectively. American oil boom The newly arising oil boom in America is bringing marked changes in the petroleum market in the whole world. According to the opinion of experts, the emerging importance of America in the petroleum market is reducing the influence of the OPEC count ries on this market and reducing the OPEC’s impact on political upheavals related to prices (Incantalupo, 2013). The U.S. government has revealed after a study conducted by the Energy Information Administration that technically estimated amount of recoverable oil from proven shale reserves in 41 countries is approximately 345 billion barrels (Reuters,

Globally relevant Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globally relevant - Essay Example This results in no disarmament at all. Also, certain counties have threats from other countries. Such countries have, therefore, a national interest in having weapons. Countries that have weapons are facing a lot of pressure from other countries. The powerful countries of the world are co-operating the least in the movement against weapons. Such countries have the capacity to create weapons of mass destruction that include nuclear and biological weapons. However, poorer countries are also gaining access to such weapons. That is continuously giving chances to terrorists to strengthen themselves and create big disasters. Further, many countries allot a great portion of their budgets to making or acquiring of weapons. The same amount can also be spent on education, environment or other development projects, but it does not happen due to the requirement of a strong military. There is also very limited gun control in many countries which is why the percentage of gun violence related incid ents is very high. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)’s recent trends summary, world military expenditure in 2010 was estimated to have reached $1.63 trillion at 2010 prices. This is almost 2.6 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP) or $236 for each person in the world. Out of the total military expenditure in the whole world, the expenditure by the US accounts for 41% of it. SIPRI also found out that the major portion of the total military expenditure in the world is made by large countries. 15 major countries of the world spend 81.8% of the total military expenditure. An important point is that the world faced a very bad economic depression in 2008 hence resulting in many countries cutting their spending in various sectors. However, the spending in the military sector is continuously on a rise. It does not seem to be justified but it has valid reasons. (GlobalIssues) Just before the time the depression arrived, it was not reasonably foreseeable. It could not have been expected that a crisis of such magnitude was about to hit. Many countries were happy with their economic growths and they had easy access to credit. They had their fixed or pre-planned foreign policy objectives, the knowledge of available resources were satisfactory, the peacekeeping operations were expected to go as normal and the policies were fixed. Countries like China and India saw a boom in the economies and they increased the spending on military. Also, the high prices of minerals and fossil fuels enabled quite a few countries to increase military expenditure. However, after the 2008 financial crisis had hit, military spending still appears to have increased. It has been observed by SIPRI that some nations like China and India did not face a financial crisis but continued to grow. As the financial crisis hit big countries like the US, the governments responded by employing expansionary fiscal policies according to which they increased the government expenditure. Among these expenditures which were made to counter the crisis, many new military projects were started too which is why there has been an increase in the total military spending. Most importantly, many countries have continued to put the strategic and geopolitical concerns above other matters. If these concerns demanded an increase in military expenditures, the governments did not hesitate to increase the spending despite dire economic straits. In contrast,

Reading Summary 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reading Summary 5 - Essay Example Most organizations, do not involve the shareholders and other directors in the policy making process. They are only involvement in the final output. For effective optimization of distribution channels, all the key stake holders should be involved from the time the company is drafting its distribution strategy (Kotler & Lee, 2007). A good distribution channel, should look at all the key sections of an organization that need to be looked at and questioned. For example, if the goods delivery time is delayed, what will impact will the effect have on the overall sales revenue? This type of questions need to be asked and answered by an organization in order to optimize of distribution channels (Kotler & Lee, 2007). One of the areas, which organizations give little attention is the inventory. The way a company manages its inventory, becomes more and more important. A company needs to know where and how it’s going to stock all the products (Kotler & Lee,

Memo 1 about health policy analyses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Memo 1 about health policy analyses - Essay Example Expansion of a weight loss program constituting of obese adults would aid in saving Medicare expenditure. The lifestyle intervention program had the capacity to generate weight loss and the initial phase of this program involved random global clinical trials. The trials demonstrated the ability of this program in generating weight loss and preventing the development of prediabetes to diabetes (Thorpe & Yang, 2011). The participants of this program were obese adults and the immediate goal was to attain and maintain a seven percent weight loss of an individual. Moreover, the program was inclusive of exercise and behavioral alterations that lasted for six month and proved to be the most effective approach in weight loss. It led to an average of seven percent weight loss among the participants, which also persisted after a follow up of three years. In addition, it minimized the occurrence of diabetes among the participants aged twenty-five and above by a margin of fifty eight percent (Thorpe & Yang, 2011). Moreover, it reduced diabetes by seventy percent to the participants aged sixty and a bove. The community-based program had the same goal of attaining a seven percent weight loss and inclusive of a curriculum developed to accomplish diet, exercise, and behavioral alterations (Thorpe & Yang, 2011). This program generate reductions comparable to those achieve in the lifestyle program. It achieved a six percent weight loss after six months. This program was advantageous because it involved low administration costs. The low costs of the program generated a decrease in health care expenditure over a period of two years. The health law has prompted the existence of a body responsible for funding these programs. Moreover, this law has enabled identification of approaches aimed at improving the worth of health care, and minimizing costs. The lifestyle intervention and community based programs have demonstrated their

Introduction to China Essay Example for Free

Introduction to China Essay IntroduMing emperor Yung-lo and commander in chief of the Chinese expeditionary fleet to the South Seas in the early years of the 15th century. Born into a family named Ma, presumably of Mongol- Arab origin, In central Yunnan Province, Cheng Ho was selected to be castrated by the general In charge of recruiting eunuchs for the court In 1381, when he was about 10. Assigned to the retinue of Chu Tl, who later became emperor, Cheng accompanied him on military campaigns, culminating in the usurpation of the throne by Chu Ti in 402. Ma Ho proved himself to be an exceptional servant to Prince Zhu Di. He became skilled in the arts of war and diplomacy and served as an officer of the prince. Zhu Di renamed Ma Ho as Cheng Ho because the eunuchs horse was killed in battle outside of a place called Zhenglunba. (Cheng Ho is also Zheng He in the newer Pinyin transliteration of Chinese but hes still most commonly called Cheng Ho). Cheng Ho was also known as San Bao which means three Jewels. Cheng Ho, who was said to have been seven feet tall, was given greater power when Zhu Di became emperor in 402. One year later, Zhu Di appointed Cheng Ho admiral and ordered him to oversee the construction of a Treasure Fleet to explore the seas surrounding China. Admiral Cheng Ho was the first eunuch appointed to such a high military position In China. Because of a report that the former emperor Hul-tl had fled overseas, but probably with other good reasons, such as promoting Chinese influence or trade opportunities, Yunglo sent out expealtlons overseas unaer cnengs command. In a perloa 0T 2 years, from 1405 to 1433, Cheng directed seven expeditions and visited no fewer than 7 countries, stretching from Champa in the east to the African coast in the west. In preparation for these expeditions, some 1,180 ships of various types and measurements were constructed. The size of the fleet varied from voyage to voyage. The first expedition consisted of a 27,800-man crew and 62 large vessels and 255 smaller ones carrying cargoes of silk, embroideries, and other valuable products. Cheng took personal command of each voyage, but he often entrusted his lieutenants to undertake side trips away from the main itinerary. The countries visited ranged rom the nearby states, such as Champa, Sumatra, and Java, to the faraway lands to the East, including Arabia and places on the east African coast, such as Mogadishu and Brawa. The purpose of these trips was to assure foreigners of Chinas friendliness, extend imperial gifts and greetings to the chiefs of the foreign kingdoms, and report the conditions of these distant lands to the court. But at the same time, Chengs fleet also managed to annihilate a powerful Chinese pirate, interfere in a Javanese war, and reinstate a legitimate ruler in Ceylon. Yielding loads f exotic native products, the expeditions were often followed by tribute-bearing envoys from across the sea. Nonetheless, these voyages were criticized by Chinese officials as useless and wasteful of resources. After Yunglos death in 1424, the expeditions were suspended, and Cheng was made a garrison commander of Nanking. The last voyage (1432-1433) took place under the auspices of Emperor Hs?an-te. Cheng is customarily said to have died in 1435/1436, at the age of 65, but one source holds that he died early in 1433. Chengs expeditions, undertaken almost century before those of Christopher Columbus and Vasco de Gama, not only strengthened Chinas influence over its neighbors but also marked a unique achievement in the history of maritime enterprise. A navigational chart attributable to the expeditions has been preserved and translated into English. First voyage (1405-1407) The first Treasure Fleet consisted of 62 ships; four were huge wood boats, some of the largest ever built in history. They were approximately 400 feet (122 meters) long and 160 feet (50 meters) wide. The four were the flagships of the fleet of 62 ships assembled at Nanjing along the Yangtze (Chang) River. Included in the fleet were 339-foot (103-meter) long horse ships that carried nothing but horses, water ships that carried fresh water for the crew, troop transports, supply ships, and war ships for offensive and defensive needs. The ships were filled with thousands of tons of Chinese goods to trade with others during the voyage. In the fall of 1405 the fleet was ready to embark with 27,800 men. The fleet utilized the compass, invented in China in the 1 lth century, for navigation. Graduated sticks of incense were burned to measure time. One day was equal to 10 watches of 2. 4 hours each. Chinese navigators determine latitude through monitoring the North Star (Polaris) in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere. The ships of the Treasure Fleet communicated with one another through the use of flags, lanterns, bells, carrier pigeons, gongs, and banners. The destination of the first voyage of the Treasure Fleet was Calicut, known as a major trading center on the southwestern coast of India. India was initially discovered by Chinese overland explorer Hsuan- sang In tne seventn century. I ne meet stopped In Vietnam, Java, ana Malacca, ana hen headed west across the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka and Calicut and Cochin (cities on the southwest coast of India). They remained in India to barter and trade from late 1406 to the spring of 1407 when they utilized the monsoon shift to sail toward home. On the return voyage, the Treasure Fleet was forced to battle pirates near Sumatra for several months. Eventually Cheng Hos men managed to capture the pirate leader and take him to the Chinese capital Nanjing, arriving in 1407. second voyage (1407-1409) A second voyage of the Treasure Fleet departed on a return trip to India in 1407 but Cheng Ho did not command this voyage. He remained in China to oversee the repair of a temple at the birthplace of a favorite goddess.

Essential Aspects of Pantomime

Essential Aspects of Pantomime What were the essential aspects of pantomime and how have they come down to us in the present day? Although it is currently most commonly seen as a peculiarly British pastime, pantomime in fact has its origins in the medieval period of European history (Lathan, 2004). Specifically in terms of tradition and heritage, pantomime as it is known today emanates from Italy and the Commedia ‘dell Arte. This Italian street festival was akin to a carnival and it managed to combine elements of parody, drama and the aesthetically grotesque in order to create a unique fusion of art and farce. The characters tended to improvise their way through a set of well‑known plots, which involved a great deal of song and dance being integrated into the Commedia ‘dell Arte routine. These medieval festivals travelled through the towns and cities of Italy and then France in the Middle Ages, which helped to create an air of familiarity between the performers and the audience who would take part in the show. This is without a doubt the most significant tradition that has survived through to the modern era whereby the audiences of contemporary pantomime are expected to know the plot and the main characters and to take part in the proceedings at designated intervals within the script. As the quotation below suggests, this marriage between the performers and the audience has been an essential part of the longevity of the pantomime because of the way in which it managed to transcend historical divisions between classes. â€Å"All were considered equal during carnival. Here, in the town square, a special form of free and familiar contact reigned among people who were usually divided by the barriers of caste, property, profession, and age.† (Bakhtin, 1993:10) The existence of a stock set of characters and plots is likewise a historical tradition of European festivals that have managed to survive in the guise of the pantomime. There are only a handful of productions that are classed as pantomime in the modern era and these productions are almost always played exclusively during the festive Christmas period, which is another connection to its carnival past. ‘Snow White’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘Dick Whittington’ and ‘Babes in the Wood’ are high profile examples of the pantomime titles that are produced each and every year in the UK. This deep-seated sense of repetition is an important part of the pantomime tradition as it continues the dominant theme of the medieval period, which was to breed familiarity in order to secure the participation of the audience in the plot of the play. â€Å"Magic, romance, suspense and comedy are the lifeblood of most theatre performance, but there is one factor of our pantomime tradition that exists in no other theatre production. The audience has learnt its lines and rehearsing its roles every Christmas since early childhood. Every English speaking person knows that ‘Oh No, its not!’ should be answered with ‘Oh Yes, it is!’ And that villains must be booed and hissed as they lay their evil plots.† (Bicat et al, 2004:9) Furthermore, these well‑know stories that constitute the foundations of the pantomime tradition all have their roots in fairy tales, which helps to further simplify the plot and aid audience participation. Traditionally, pantomimes require a battle between good and evil. The villain has historically always been the first actor to appear on stage and always to the left, which was used to donate hell in the Middle Ages. Conversely, the hero is supposed to appear on stage from the right – the manifestation of heaven in the past. Although the remainder of the pantomime production tends to descend into farce and improvisation, these central precepts remain an integral part of the festival in the modern era with plays overseeing a duel of good versus evil before inexorably concluding with the ultimate triumph of the hero over the villain. As time passed, pantomime was inevitably influenced by the evolution of mainstream theatre and it gradually took its place as an annual spectacle to operate alongside regular theatre productions. The two (theatre and pantomime) were especially closely linked during the Restoration period (1660‑1700) when the farce of pantomime was facsimiled in the most popular plays of the age. In the process, pantomime has had to move away from the notion of an almost entirely ad hoc, ad lib production into a more formal, organised play that is able to be divided into visible scenes and segments with a running time that is in line with the lifestyles of the contemporary audience. Thus, while it is correct to underscore the inherent differences between the festive, annual element of pantomime and the intrinsically more philosophical components of mainstream and high‑brow drama, there is no longer a sense that two completely different sets of rules apply. This is an important point and one that is all too often overlooked in the analysis of modern day incarnations of the pantomime. The most pronounced change prevalent in contemporary versions of traditional pantomime resides is the way in which productions are increasingly linked with young children. Whereas the adult section of the local townspeople would have constituted the overwhelming majority of the audience in previous centuries, there is today an association between the infantile and pantomime that is a central reason as to why pantomimes have been able to survive for so long in such a commercially aggressive contemporary economic climate. Without the active participation of children it is doubtful whether pantomimes would be able to entice the requisite audiences necessary to make a profit for the impresarios. Of much greater importance, without the festive childhood memories that pantomime bequeaths, much of the interest that remains in its tradition would more than likely begin to disappear. One thing is, however, for sure. Though pantomimes remain rooted in their medieval past, they will never lose their relevance to the contemporary audience as the list of modern‑day celebrities who have taken part in productions in recent years underscores. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bakhtin, M. (Translated by Helene Iswolsky) (1993) Rabelais and His World Bloomington: Indiana University Press Bicat, T., Staines, R. and Winslow, C. (2004) Pantomime: A Practical Guide Marlborough: The Crowood Press Frow, G. (1985) Oh Yes it is! : A History of Pantomime London: BBC Books Lathan, P. (2004) It’s Behind You! The Story of Panto London: New Holland Wilson, A.E. (1974) The Story of Pantomime London: Rowman Littlefield

Collection of Film Review Examples

Collection of Film Review Examples Shane Meadows is known to make movies about his own experiences. This is England is no exception. The idea for the movie came from the director s childhood, and it is the most personal film Shane Meadows has made so far, as he said himself. In an interview at the British Film Institutes Southbank theatre in April, Meadows talked about his upbringing. Yeah, every moment of joy in my life usually stunk of sadness. Every time I was just about to get somewhere someone stuck a dart up my arse. Thats how I remember growing up in Uttoxeter. When things were at their shittest, people seemed to be at their best and when things were at their best, people seemed to be at their worst The film starts with a sequence of clips, introducing the viewer to England in 1983. When watching the intro, I got the feeling I am about to see some kind of documentary, due to the footage being shown. The mise en scene is outstanding in this piece C to be perfectly honest, I was silly enough to believe it was actually shot in 1983 in the beginning, which makes me extremely embarrassed. The careful casting, costumes, sets and props makes it hard to believe the film was actually shot in 2006, which makes the story much more believable and easier to get into. The piece is put together extremely well and the soundtrack comprises of the hits from the eighties, which sets the mood perfectly. The main character is alone in the beginning C he doesnt really have friends, he is being bullied at school, he gets in a fight with a boy, who makes fun of his dead father. Although the movie talks about some really serious issues like gang culture and racism, lack of jobs and immigration, it still manages to make you smile, like the bit when Shaun comes back home to his mother and complains about his trousers. This way not only are you amused and it takes off the depressing mood in the movie, but it also feels more real, less movie-like. The movie is a typical coming-of-age sort of piece, where the main protagonist changes and matures as the story unfolds. His story basically starts when he crosses paths with skinheads and discovers belonging to a group makes things easier. They go out hunting together, and this comes from a real story of the director s childhood. The group he joins is relatively harmless C compared to what lies ahead. The good days don t last long C soon enough, Combo comes back from prison and steps up as the leader of the group. There is a feeling of tension building and although we see Shaun developing attachment to Combo, who is now like the father figure the boy never had, there is a strong feeling something will go seriously wrong. Soon everything goes from a group of youngsters, fooling around, to Shaun attending a National Front meeting. For me, a person, who isn t too political, this movie is also educating C seeing what life and politics were like in 1983. In the movie we see Shaun becoming a man in a very short period of time. A very important scene in This is England is when Shaun gets his cross tattoo. The director, Shane Meadows, has the exact same tattoo on the same finger. This marks Shaun, as a worthy member of the Skinheads, who agrees to stay in the group for the rest of his life. Although Shaun is now Combos protegee   and receives his undivided attention, we see that his relationship is starting to become dangerous and Combo is a bad influence on the young boy. Silly hunting games that Shaun used to play with the previous skinhead group turn into real acts of violence in Combo s. It must be noted that the performance by Stephen Graham, who plays Combo, is simply astonishing C when the group robs the shop, the intimidation and hatred he created were so real and believable, for one moment there I got into the action so much, I was scared for the shop owner s life, only to realize it s just an actor. In my opinion, Combo is just as important as Shaun, because the complexity of Combo s character is what drives the story. One second he is talking to Milky with respect and treating him like a brother, the other, he bursts out and beats him to death, which shows Shaun the real face of his beloved idol, when the latter unleashes his fury even upon his close friends. The piece ends with a reference to 400 blows , which is another coming-of-age film. The main character Shaun runs to the sea, which is considered to be a symbol of freedom and throws the England flag into the water, freeing himself and making clear that he is not coming back to the group. The last shot, exactly like in 400 blows , is him, looking up at the camera, making a connection with a viewer. After all, this is exactly what Shane Meadows intended to do in the first place. Pierrot Le Fou by Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard always said that he doesn t really plan his movies too carefully, and he does not intentionally leave any secret messages in them. It is all up to the viewer, to make what he or she wants of it. After watching it I think Pierrot Le Fou is one of those films that you either hate or love and it is definitely not for everyone C the plot here can be confusing sometimes and the main characters hard to understand. Also, there are references to Vietnam War, which I didn t even notice and thought it was another random element of the main characters fooling around. The movie is about Ferdinand and Marianne, a complicated couple who decide to run away together. They find each other, two misfits, and realize they want to isolate themselves from the fake reality they live in. This is really well portrayed in the beginning of the movie. We see Ferdinand in a party, which looks a lot like a parody for TV commercials. The guests are talking about different products in such manner you would expect to find in a commercial. The effect of it all being fake and distant to Ferdinand is also strengthened with experimental lighting. I think one of the most brilliant scenes in the movie is at the same party, when Ferdinand meets a movie director and talks about cinema with him. This is obviously self-referential, but it was also brilliant to observe the misconnection between the two of them, because of the language barrier. The funny thing is, when Ferdinand asks the American director what is cinema, although the woman translates the sentence completely wrong, asking about his movie, not cinema in general, his answer, in my opinion, is exactly right. It is a battleground. It is love. Hate. Action. Violence and death. One word C emotions. This conversation, that might not leave a big impression on the others, left me in awe of the script-writing for Pierrot Le Fou . Another thing that I realized is the lighting changing, when he moves on from the TV-ad conversation to the American director. It goes from red, which is usually considered a colour of danger, alarm, awareness to green, which is soothing, nature-like. It is another way of the director showing that Ferdinand is very interested and comfortable talking about the arts. The colour scheme in Pierrot le Fou is very important; I would say that at some points the colours even tell the story better than the action. I noticed two leading colours, which represent the main characters C red and blue. Blue is Ferdinand s colour C he is often shot next to the blue sky, or the sea, he drives a blue car and even paints his face blue, before committing suicide. I think the blue also represents his character, quite calm, relaxed, and even cold sometimes. Red, on the other hand, is the complete opposite and it is the colour of Marianne C she drives a red car, wears red clothes, and is simply a vivid, energetic character. Another important colour in the film is yellow, which is represents jealousy and betrayal. Toward the end of the movie, we see the exchange of the colours C Ferdinand s head, wrapped in a red scarf, when being tortured; symbolizing the fact that it s all happening because of his relationship with Marianne. Also, the couple exchanging cars and Ferdinand starting to wear a bright red shirt. When Ferdinand and Marianne separate, after Marianne taking the briefcase with her, we notice yellow flowers in the background. When Ferdinand approaches the dock, where Marianne is leaving on a boat, with her new lover, on his way there, red and yellow are dominating in the background. Ferdinand reaches the dock, where a single yellow barrel is standing, as he watches the woman he loves running away with another man. The next shot of him is approaching a man sitting the ground, singing. We now see yellow taking over, as it is seen, as Ferdinand walks with his head down. When he is on the boat, in the front there is a big yellow box, as if it was telling us that jealousy is driving him to the island. Ferdinand is walking through a field and singing Do you love me at the same time as he passes yellow flowers. The yellow starts to dominate again, as he approaches and shoots Marianne. The climax of this is Ferdinand s suicide, when he is wearing the red shirt, painting his face blue, and wrapping himself with red and yellow dynamite, which represents Marianne s betrayal. Pierrot Le Fou is definitely now one of my favourite films of all time, and has so many different sides to it, that to decode the whole piece would take me an eternity, but I guess that is one of the reasons why I fell in love with it. Meshes of the Afternoon by Maya Deren Although I am not a big fan of surrealism, Maya Deren s film had much more meaning to me, than Dali s and Bunuel s work. Meshes of the Afternoon , in my opinion, was less random, more carefully set and the symbols carefully picked to convey a message. It s a movie about a woman s state of mind, her dream world and her reality mixing together in the end. This film, just like many surrealism films, is an experience C you cannot watch it like you would watch a drama or a comedy. You could call it brain exercise, if you wish. Throughout the film there are a lot of symbols and the randomness at first might seem pointless, but the production is made really carefully. The film starts with a flower, put in the middle of the road by a long female hand. We instantly realize this is not going to be an ordinary movie C both time and space are distorted C the hand comes from nowhere, and suddenly disappears. The flower, of course, symbolizes beauty, love and femininity. Soon after this we see a woman picking up the flower, which indicates it is a piece about her and her place, as a woman. The fact we do not see the main character s face, creates tension and curiosity about her intentions. As she tries to open the door, she loses the key and it falls all the way down the stairs. To me the key probably symbolizes answers, freedom and solutions. She enters the house and sees things scattered all over the place C newspapers, a knife and a telephone. Once again, I can only interpret it in my own way C a knife is an obvious danger, also a possible symbol of a phallus. A telephone is probably a representation of the main character s connection, in this case C with herself. When she goes upstairs, she sees a window open, which also can be interpreted as a symbol of freedom and escape. She notices a record player working, but not making any noise. I cannot really explain why, but to me the record player symbolizes her own life C it is playing, but there is no music, no purpose, so she turns it off. Maya Deren keeps jumping from one place to another C just like it would be in a dream. As we see the world through her eyes, she turns her head and finds herself in a whole different room. This is all done to disrupt any feeling of order and continuity. When she falls asleep, in her dreams, we see the cloaked figure for the first time. After seeing the whole movie I can only interpret it as the symbol of death, the Grim Reaper. This creature has a mirror for a face and it makes me wonder whether the main character is following it, because she is desperate to look at the mirror and see her true self. The cloaked figure is moving really slowly and the main character is running, but she cannot get even close to catching up with it. This represents her conflicted persona and the difficult state her mind is in. When she comes back to the house once again, the knife is now on the stairway, in her way, indicating that it is unavoidable that she uses it. After this we have a sequence of shots, which adds to the feeling of a dream C slow motion of her footsteps, tilted camera angles as she climbs up the stairs. Once again, the feeling of continuity is disrupted, as she enters the room through the window. The main character discovers the telephone and the knife on the bed, which creates a feeling of unavoidable danger. She goes back to the window and it seems like there is no gravity, a quite common dream that probably most of us have. The main character now looks down and sees herself sleeping in the armchair, with the record player by her side and turns it off again. The circle begins again, as she approaches the window and sees herself running. This creates a feeling of her being trapped in a vicious circle, with no chance to change it. She then opens her mouth and takes out the key, which to me symbolizes coming up with a solution to her suffering. The cloaked figure is now in the house and we get the feeling that death is coming for the main character. When the cloaked figure disappears, the main character finds the knife again, but this time she doesn t look scared at all C she looks like is now at peace with the fact she is about to die. The key appears in her mouth again and transforms into a knife, which clearly symbolizes that death in the answer. The three representations of the main character now gather around a table and play a bizarre surrealistic game, where they find out who will have to be the killer. The chosen one is now wearing strange glasses, which to me feels like a symbol of her, not seeing clearly. I found it quite fascinating, when the killer walks towards the sleeping woman and the surroundings change with each step C it starts out with a beach, then she steps on grass, then sidewalk and then finally C onto the carpet in the house. This, I think, represents the journey you have to make, when deciding to kill yourself. It is probably the hardest thing you could ever do and the steps represent exactly that. As the main character wakes up, the killer in the dream turns into her lover in reality, but we see the symbols from the dream around the room and the two start to mix together. The main character s lover is acting exactly like the cloaked figure and we realize the main character is blaming all her problems on him. As she breaks the mirror that appears to be her lover s face, we see the sea behind it, which is widely interpreted as a symbol of freedom. When her lover enters the house, we see the main character covered in mirror shards, dead. The mirror represents finally breaking free. All about my mother by Pedro Almodovar To Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands, Romy Schneider to all actresses who have played actresses, to all women who act, to all men who act and become women, to all the people who want to be mothers. To my mother. Dedication, All About My Mother, 1999 Pedro Almodovar is one of the most successful and well known Spanish directors of all time. He is famous for his movies, where he tries to explore the nature of being a woman. His movies, although quite complicated, almost always have a big international success and are being shown in cinemas all over the world. You could say this one is a chick-flick for the more intellectual woman. All about my mother is another film about women suffering, with many characters and different stories, intertwining and showing different sides of womanhood. It is also worth mentioning that almost all the cast is female in this piece. This particular film declares that to be a woman you do not have to be born one, so we get characters like Lola and Agrado, who are transvestites. Almodovar always liked complicated stories and although he tries to make it as real as possible, the lives of the characters sometimes seem so dark, it made me question whether there is actually too much drama involved. The film begins with mother and a son, Esteban and Manuela. I got the impression in the beginning that the story will revolve around Esteban, his wish to become a writer and the story he began to write about his mother. This illusion was soon shattered, when Esteban died after being hit by a car. The shot of him, lying on the ground for me was probably the most impressive shot in the film C the camera takes Esteban s POV and spins around, before falling to the ground. We see his mother approaching Esteban is slow motion, her coat red, the colour of blood and taking the camera, Esteban s head, into her palms. As she screams and lets go, the camera slowly moves back to the ground. This way of showing the tragedy that happened adds to the drama so much more than a normal two-shot ever would. Manuela, who works as a transplant coordinator, is the one who has to give the consent to donor her boy s heart this time. Searching for some kind of closure, she secretly follows the recipient after the operation. This crushes her completely and she decides to go to Barcelona, where she used to live with the boy s father, who is a mystery to the viewer so far. The focus from then on turns to the main character s relationships with other women she meets, her road to self-discovery and opening up once again. The different characters is what makes this movie interesting to watch. Although for the most part, it focuses on Manuela, we get a good glimpse at the lives of other women that surround her. This film, although so complicated and melodramatic, resembles real life as well C it makes us cry and laugh with the women who are in it. Manuela, who loses her son, discovers she can deal with her grief helping others C she becomes a personal assistant to actress Huma, who is going through an emotional crisis, rescues Agrado from an enraged client and helps pregnant nun Rosa through her pregnancy. Film references are very important in this piece as well C it begins with the mother and son watching All about Eve , which resembles the film s name and gives Esteban the idea how to call his work. Another significant film that is constantly brought up is A streetcar named desire . The main character, Manuela once played Stella in a drama group, when she was younger and this piece holds a special meaning to her, since she also met Esteban s father there, who played Kowalski. After so many years, due to the original actress not being able to perform, Manuela has to play Stella s part once again. This, for me, is a key point in the story, when the main character lets go and releases her pain. I found it interesting, because by acting, and pretending to be somebody else, she could finally be herself and cry out loud. The colour scheme in the movie is quite controversial and has been criticized numerous times for overshadowing the actual story. Just like in Pierrot Le Fou we see red, blue and yellow dominating, but the two movies are so different, it makes you wonder whether the colour scheme is appropriate in All about my mother . In my opinion, the colours are completely suitable and well thought out, because in a way they represent the colourful life and characters of the women in the film and by losing the colours the film would lose a bit of it s soul as well. Overall, I enjoyed watching All about my mother C Pedro Almodovar is one of the directors who really tries to understand women and what it s like to be one. I found the film really emotional and touching, Almodovar knows how to create a bond between a character and a viewer, so you end up really involved with the story and the destinies that these women have as well as getting to know individuals like Agrado and Lola who to some viewers might be a mystery and really hard to understand. The 400 Blows by Francois Truffaut The 400 Blows is a very important film, which started the French New Wave. It introduced another level of cinematic experience through cinematography, acting and much more naturalistic look and feel to the movie, which, for today s viewer, might be really hard to imagine. The camera in The 400 Blows moves around much more freely and more smoothly, and besides recording, starts to tell the story with it s movement as well. Different angles and camera positions are introduced. Antoine Doinel seems like an ordinary boy, who seems to get in trouble wherever he goes, his teacher constantly punishes him for the slightest mischief, his mother disregards him as simply being a waste of space and the beginning of his teenage years is proving to be a real hassle for young Antoine. He soon finds out his mother is having an affair, but we can see the boy is not bothered at all C he is much more concerned whether he ll get in trouble for skipping school. Later that day when his father comes back home and announces that the mother won t be joining them for dinner, it seems that Antoine is hoping that she will never come back, when he asks the father if she has left for good. This establishes the fact that the relationship between Antoine and his mother is less than perfect. For myself, it was hard to watch how the adults treat Antoine; it seems there is nobody at all, when it comes to adults, who understand him. He sleeps on his tiny bed, lonely, disposable, like the trash he has to take out every night. Although Antoine is disregarded as hopeless and simply ungifted he, as many children of his age, is simply starting to question the system and the fact he does not perform well in class certainly does not mean he is not capable. This film serves parents who find it hard to understand their children, because we get a glimpse of how hard it sometimes is to be a teenager C parents seem to forget it. It is much like a documentary in a sense that we observe Antoine, an ordinary boy and his transformation to a young man, as well as the work of camera being hand-held. For a short time in the movie, seems like the family has come back together and Antoine does not feel isolated anymore, but after failing yet another paper in class, he runs away once again and stays with his friend. I think one of the most important scenes in the film, since it represents French New Wave, is the scene where small children are watching Little Red Riding Hood . Their expressions, reactions to the play are so genuine and lack that over the top acting, that the viewers who sat in the cinema theatre, watching the movie in 1959 should have been fascinated. And they were, since the cinema was never the same again. The main actor s Jean-Pierre Leaud s performance in the scene where Antoine is being questioned by the psychologist once again brings me back to think of this film as a documentary C the acting is extremely believable and it is hard to tell yourself that it is a character, not a real person in front of you. The most famous scene of the film, of course, is the scene where Antoine runs away from the Juvenile Detention Centre. There are two extremely long tracking shots, that break the conventions of cinema and stay with the subject for much longer than usual, but this is exactly what fascinates the viewer. His run symbolizes his long and constant search for freedom, and his desperate wish to be acknowledged. His last look at the camera to me looked like he was thinking And what do I do now..? This last shot has been widely interpreted, but to me it feels like he has reached the sea, but he cannot escape from himself. When watching this film, I thought about how lucky I was to have a childhood, and that many kids grow up all too soon. My mother used to say that you can tell if a person was loved, when they were little. This all applies to Antoine C he grows up too soon, due to the time he lives in, his parents not caring enough, the educating system failing to acknowledge his efforts to study and him wanting to be noticed, even if it s for misbehaving. Even to this day, The 400 Blows is a remarkable film, which has and still is influencing many directors.

The Importance of Philosophy Essay -- Philosophy Philosophical Essays

The Importance of Philosophy The question is Philosophy. Why is it important? What makes it important? To answer theses questions you first have to know what philosophy is. Philosophy is defined as: the pursuit of wisdom; a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means. This is the written definition of philosophy, but I think philosophy can’t be defined to just words. It’s more then words. Philosophy to me is an attempt to understand the world. To understand philosophy one must not look for a solid definition. It is easier to understand it if one is actually doing it. Why don’t you try it out now, take the ever so popular phrase â€Å"to be or not to be.† One thing can’t, be and not be at the same time. If something is there, that can be touched, seen, held, or even look at, you can consider it to be, to exist. One can’t say that it does not exist because the object in reality is there. It can’t be there and not be there at the same time. Another way to try to understand philosophy is to find out where it came from and what the word means when it is broken down. The term philosophy comes from the Greek for â€Å"love of wisdom,† giving us two important starting points: love (or passion) and wisdom (knowledge, understanding) First we’ll start off with love or passion. One must understand that philosophy shouldn’t be pursed without love or passion. You must not think of philosophy as work. It must not be force upon you. You have to want to do philosophy. If your love or passion in philosophy isn’t there, then you truly aren’t seeking wisdom. One must have a passion for what they are philosophizing to actually gain the wisdom in which they are seeking. Next would be wisdom. Wisdom is forever sought out by us as we grow and we mature. One normally doesn’t consider the seeking of wisdom philosophy, but that is where they are wrong. This search for wisdom brings us back to the prior topic of passion or love. When we look at things, most of us look for answers to how they work. For instance, snow; when you were smaller you probably had no idea what snow was. You probably didn’t know what is was made up of and where it came from. As a growing child trying to understand the world, one would probably seek out to understand how it worked. Thus, you probably asked your parents. This asking or seeking of k... ...uestion is always there but unfortunately the answer isn’t. What’s meant by this is you can always ask a question, whether it is good question or a bad question really depends upon ones interpretation of the question. Since the answer isn’t always there in philosophy you must not give up on it. What you must understand asking questions to further seek wisdom is good for ones mind even if the question can’t be answered. Then again some answers might even lead to into further questions. Therefore, you might be stuck in a certain question or understanding for some time but it doesn’t matter as long as you keep seeking of the true and honest answer. Now after all these reasoning and explanations, hopefully you can see what philosophy is and how it is important to our daily lives. It helps us understand what is going on around us. It helps us understand how things work. It helps us understand ourselves. For this we should be grateful to all the people who sought out for answers, who questioned other peoples’ thoughts, and who never stop seeking wisdom. For without philosophy, without human curiosity, without questioning, without asking, there in no way we would be where we are today.

Americans and Agriculture :: Agricultural Education Farming Essays Papers

Americans and Agriculture Works Cited Missing Agriculture is not all work and no play. Many advances can be made in the understanding of agriculture by making available a variety of methods to provide children with a hands-on experience and also educating all individuals about the importance of the practice. The ignorance of urban communities can be overcome with the help of organizations and people within the community. School visits, hands-on experiences, volunteers and organizations are just a few examples of the steps that can be taken to educate Americans about agriculture and close the gap between rural and urban populations. Agriculture is the science and practice of producing crops and livestock. The primary aim of agriculture is to use the land to produce more abundantly to feed and clothe the world at the same time protecting it from deterioration or misuse. Humans had to improve agriculture as they became more dependent on food, creating a solitary evolutionary connection between plants and animals (Campbell and Reece, 2001). In this day and age, so many people have forgotten the authentic premises of survival. It is easy for some to believe that the grocery stores produce food and clothing is produced by shopping centers. These inaccurate presumptions are being made due to the lack of knowledge of how agriculture truly works. There are also significant differences in the levels of understanding between rural and urban communities. As doubts of economic possibilities of farming and ranching continue to decline, the true farmer still respects their land and practices. The general stereotype of farmers and ranchers is poor stewardship. Historically, hunters and farmers were more interested environmentalists than compared with the liberal, urban vegetarians of today. However both share the same conditions for living and breathing. This creates confusion between needing and wanting within a typical household (Kingsolver, 2003). An easy answer to the problem is to provide proper education. Educating the young is the best way to get a point across and ensure that the America of tomorrow is less ignorant than the America of today. Children are eager to learn new things and are the best tool to promote agriculture (Robinson, 2005). There are many methods that can be made available to people of all ages, especially children, to increase their knowledge about agriculture.

Music History: Renaissance Era

The Renaissance was the great age of vocal polyphony, music consisting of a number of equally important voice parts all woven together to create a complex tapestry of overlapping melodies and beautiful harmonies. In religious music, the primary compositional forms were the Mass and the motet, while in secular music they were the French chanson, or song (for three or four voices), and the Italian madrigal. Instrumental music was not, for the most part, as formalized during the Renaissance as it would later become. Instruments were used in varying combinations to accompany singers (in both religious and secular music), to provide music for private entertainment and dancing, and to provide festive or ceremonial music for towns and royal courts. Principal instruments of the period included the lute, organ, and harpsichord, viols, recorders shawms (double-reed precursors of the oboe), cruhorns (also double-reed instruments), trombones and trumpets (Gangwere). Among the most important composers of the Renaissance were Guillaume Dufay, of the so-called Burgundian school, centered at the court of the dukes of Burgundy in Dijon France and Johannes Ockeghem, Jacob Obrecht, Josquin des Prez, and later, Orlando di Lasoo of the Flemish school (Pen). The Mass The unvarying structure of the mass, the constancy of the text, and the solemnity of function were not conducive to musical experimentation in mass composition. Flemish masses still used the cantus firmus techniques of the earlier Burgundian masters. In the hands of exceptional composers such as Giovanni da Palestrina the mass was a highly devotional and serene expression of the liturgy, perfectly suited to the austerity demanded by the Counter Reformation. Palestrina’s flexible arched melodic lines, his studied use of consonance and dissonance, and his beautifully constructed harmonic sonorities became the model for generations of counterpoint teachers (Hoffman). The Motet The early motet (from the French word meaning â€Å"word†) frequently contained different texts in various languages for each voice parts. Complexities of word setting and tone painting were simply not an important aspect of the music for early motet composers. As the humanism began to exert its influence, composers grew more attentive to text setting. The single text was the motivating force for the motet. Each section of music was presented as a separate musical episode that attempted to highlight the clarity of the text as well as to convey the emotional impact of the words. This style of sensitive text representation came to be known as music reservata. Composers developed specific techniques for the musica reservata style. Second, the natural speech rhythm was matched by melodic rhythm so that the words were correctly accented. Third, syllabic treatment of text and expressive figures were used to portray the message of the text (Hoffman). The Chanson Chansons were three-voice secular works in which the music closely mirrored the meaning of the French poetic text. The text, usually an expression of love, was in rondeau form with a two-line refrain (A B a A a b A B). Although they may have been performed entirely by voices, the usual presentation probably featured a solo voice on the top (superius) line with the bottom two polyphonic lines played by instruments (Hoffman). Other musics such as chorale, anthem, psalm settings, frottola and madrigal are legacies of Renaissance period. It was only during the Renaissance that musicians begun to recognize the idiomatic potential of instruments and consequently began composing in particular genres intended for instrumental rather than choral performance (Pen). Works Cited Gangwere, Blanche. Music History During the Renaissance Period, 1520-1550: A Documented Chronology. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Hoffman, Miles. The Npr Classical Music Companion: An Essential Guide for Enlightened Listening. Houghton Mifflin Books, 2005. Pen, Ronald. Introduction to Music. McGraw-Hill Professional, 1992.   

Religion and Environmental Ethics

RELS5149 Religion and Envirnomental Ethics Student#1155012742 – Li Wai Tat, Victor Does Christianity have a â€Å"Burden of Guilt† in our Ecological Crisis? Introduction and Methods In 1967, Lynn White Jr. , published a paper in Science (Vol 155, 1967, pp 1203-1207) â€Å"The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis†, which was to become a seminal work on the relationship of Ecology and Christianity and had since then provoked enumerous debates on the topic.In the paper he wrote â€Å"Christianity bears a huge burden of guilt† and concludes that â€Å"Hence we shall continue to have a worsening ecologic crisis until we reject the Christian axiom that nature has no reason for existence save to serve man. † White depicted Western Christianity as seeing the world existing primarily for the benefit of man, and man, bearing God's image and sharing in great measure God's transcendence of nature, exploit nature for his proper ends according to God's will. This thesis of White shall be referred to as â€Å"Dominion Hypothesis† for ease of identification in this paper. But are the claims in his Dominion Hypothesis valid? Does Christianity bear a burden of guilt for the ecological crisis of the world? The purpose of this paper is to assess the strength of his thesis by firstly analysing what the biblical scriptures and theologians have to say with regard to the relationship of God, man and the environment.Next the symptoms and origins of our ecological crisis are examined, after which their ties with Western Christianity are assessed to determine whether the later has causal relationship with the former. Finally, after arriving at the conclusion, some recommendations are presented. 1 White's Thesis White's thesis can briefly be summarized as: â€Å"All forms of life modify their contexts, and the human race has in one sense simply done this more than others. However, the human impact on the environment, whilst frequently detrime ntal in the past, was given an added impetus by Christianity in its Westernized form.Western society, as a product of Westernized Christianity, inherits an exploitative attitude to the natural world which is the key to our present ecological crisis. † (Richardson, 1998) . White depicted Western Christianity as seeing the world existing primarily for the benefit of man, and it is according to God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends. Biblical verses that align to the Dominion Hypothesis Arguably the following passages from the Bible are aligned to the Dominion Hypothesis and are most frequently cited by ecology critics of the Bible. Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of trhe air, and over the the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thinng that creeps upon the earth' So god created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ‘ † (Gen. 1:26-29) â€Å"Yet thou has made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thous hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thous hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea. † (Ps. 8:5-8) 2 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. † (Gen. 9:1-3) â€Å"You have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth† (Rev. 5:10).According to exegeses by theology scholar (Hiebert, 1996), â€Å"the term ‘dominion,' from the Hebrew verb â€Å"radah†, implies that it grants humans the right and responsibility to rule, to govern the rest of creation. It connotes a hierarchy of power and authority in which the human race is positioned above the rest of the natural world, although the verb radah does not itself define how this dominion is to be exercised, whether benevolently or malevolently. The laws of Leviticus, when they stipulate that household servants are not to be *ruled* harshly (Lev. 25:43, 46, 53), imply t hat this kind of dominion may be kind and humane.Yet the use of radah in the context of international relations, where it is more commonly employed, carries a decidedly more antagonistic tinge, since it signifies rule over one*s enemies. It occurs frequently in descriptions of military conquest, where it is paired with such verbs as *destroy* (Num. 24:19) and *strike down* (Lev. 26:17; Isa. 14:6). When used of the Israelite king, radah always refers to dominion over his enemies, not to rule over his own Israelite subjects, for which the verb malak, *reign,* is the usual term. Similar conclusions may be drawn about the phrase *subdue the earth* in Gen. :28. The verb *subdue,* from the Hebrew kavash, depicts a hierarchical relationship in which humans are positioned above the earth and are granted power and control over it. The verb kavash is even more forceful than radah, describing the actual act of subjugation, of forcing another into a subordinate position. It is used for military conquest, where the same phrase used in Gen. 1:28, *subdue the earth/land,* can be employed to depict the destruction and occupation of conquered territory (Num. 32:22, 29). It is also used of the king*s forcing his people into slavery against God*s wishes (Jer. 4:11, 16), and of rape (Esther 7:8; Neh. 5:5). In many of these cases, the abuse {19} of power is patently obvious. † 3 Biblical verses that align to the Eco-Friendly perspective On the other hand, the following verses can be interpreted as being aligned to an EcoFriendly view:†Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Psalm 96:11-13) â€Å"Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise hi m, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. a Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. † (Psalm 148:1-13) *When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them ; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down.For is the tree of the field a man, that it should [m]be besieged by you? Only the trees which you known are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls. † (Deuteronomy 20:19-20) *When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit.In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God. † (Leviticus 19:2325) â€Å"You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff. † (Leviticus 19:19) â€Å"For six years you shall sow your land an d gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild beasts may eat. † (Exodus 23: 10-11) 5 â€Å"The nations were angry, and your wrath has come.The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small * and for destroying those who destroy the earth. * (Rev 11:18) â€Å"For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. † (Rev 19:2) â€Å"They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9) â€Å"The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destro y on all my holy mountain,† says the LORD. † (Isaiah 65:25) Theology scholars commenting on this view of nature of the Old Testament wrote : â€Å"†¦ It is therefore fair to conclude that nature is far from ‘de-animated' in Biblical thought. † (Wybrow, 1990), â€Å"The natural world may not be seen as sacred or divine in the Bible, but it is certainly not dead, lifeless, and outside the divine moral framework†¦ here are no scriptures suggesting that nature was viewed as dead matter to be manipulated by man.. † (Kinsley, 1995). Referring to the theme of the kingdom of God running through the New Testament, Zerbe (1992) argues that the New Testament has significant ecological implications, he explained: â€Å"Isaiah*s vision of restored humanity and nature climaxes with the statement that there will no longer be any hurt or destruction in creation (Isa. 11:9; 65:25). And John*s vision of judgment states that those who destroy the earth will t hemselves be destroyed (Rev. 11:18; 19:2).It is noteworthy that the prophetic critique of Rome in Rev. 17:1-19:4 closely connects greed and the earth*s destruction: the insatiable desire for consumption and wealth is what results in the destruction of people and the earth. † The corresponding passages are as quoted above. 6 Alternative view: Dominion Theology in Genesis 1 vs. Dependence Theology in Genesis 2 And lastly, but most importantly, consider the following two verses, both from Genesis 2:†Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7) â€Å"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. † (Genesis 2:15) What is very important to the discussion in this paper is that according to Hiebert (1996), as evident in the above verses, Genesis 2 presents an alternative to the dominion theology of Genesis 1, which he calls dependence theology. His thesis being that the first human is made of the same arable soil as are all of other forms of life; and the divine breath into which his nostrils blown is the same with which all the animals live and breathe (Gen. :7; 7:22). The role of the human in the earth described is not that of mastery but of servanthood. In this account of creation, the theology of the human place in creation is not a theology of dominion but a theology of dependence (Hiebert, 1996). This theology is evident in other parts of Scripture, examples including Psalm 104 and the Book of Job (McKibben,1994). According to Hiebert: â€Å"†¦ In this tradition (Genesis 2), the human being is positioned very differently within the world of nature.Here the archetypal human is made not in the image of God but out of topsoil, out of the arable land that was cultivated by Israelite farmers (Gen. 2:7). As a result of this kind of creation, humans hold no distinctive position among liv ing beings, since plants and animals also were produced from this same arable soil (2:9, 19). Moreover, the role assigned humans within creation in this story is not to rule (radah) and to subdue (kavash) but rather to {23} *serve* (avad; Gen. 2:15; 3:23). The Hebrew term avad is properly translated *till* in these verses (NRSV), since it clearly refers to the cultivation of arable land.But avad is in fact the ordinary Hebrew verb *serve,* used of slaves serving masters and of humans serving God (Gen. 12:16; Exod. 4:23). â€Å", the conflicts of Genesis I and Genesis 2 notwithstanding, there are lots of thesis arguing that there is no inconsistency between the two chapters and the ouvert differences are due to different ways in recapitulation only . (Young, 1960),(Archer, 1964),(Kitchen,1966) On another plane of our discussion, we shall now turn to a brief discussion of the historical origins of our ecological crisis. 7 The Historical Origins of our Ecological CrisisThere is genera l consensus that the planet earth is heading towards environmental catastrophe due to alarming development at different fronts: the green house effect, acid rain, damage to ozone layer, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, chemical pollution, freshwater shortage, etc. , amongst others. (Magdoff & Foster, 2011).. But how did all these pollutions started? according to Thorsheim (2006), in his book â€Å"The Invention of Pollution†, it all started with the use of fossil energy, which was conducive to the Industrial Revolution.The first largescale commercial use of fossil energy was coal in Britain in the 1800's, which he referred to as a â€Å"Faustian bargain† for Britain, since on the one hand it helped to bring tremendous wealth, advance and power to the country, whilst on the other coal also filled the air with immense smoke and acidic vapors, which was one of the origins of what we now call the â€Å"green house effect† and â€Å"acid rain†. Fossil oil as energy had also been popularized ever since Edwin L. Drake drilled the first oil well in 1853, but the impact on the environment is equally as detrimental as Coal, if not more so.The fossil energy application was conducive to the Industrial Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution had led to the advance in comfort, convenience and enjoyment, from dwelling comfort to transport convenience to material needs, leading to the abundance and later overabundance in supply of products. Consumerism in the past decades had eventually been invented in order to â€Å"help† us to recognize our needs, and due to the needs for growth of enterprises, some products have also began to be designed with â€Å"built-in obsolescence†.All these initiatives had contributed to the generation of ever more wastes than in the centuries before the industrial revolution, much more than can be â€Å"sinked† by the earth, which contributed to the chemical pollution of soil, water, which has also altered the bio-diversity of the Earth. 8 Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the consumption of energy has experienced exponential growth (see figure 1. 1). Concomitantly, different kind of detrimental impacts had been inflicted upon the ecology of the earth (see figure 1. 2).As an in-depth analysis of our ecological crisis is out of the scope of this paper, focus is now centred on the â€Å"origin† of the crisis, viz. the advent of fossil energy application, which shall be discussed below. Some key developments relating to fossil energy application:1665 Invention of the first modern industrial steam engine by English inventor Edward Somerset which can use wood or coal as fuel 1794 First produce of Coal Gas by William Murdoch 1853 First refinement of Kerosene by Abraham Gesner 1859 Drilling of first Oil Well by Edwin Drake 1859 Building of the first practical self-combustion engine by Etienne Lenoir Religious Background of the Inventors / Innovators Astonishingly, wh at the above key developments have in common, according to research by the author, is that all the inventors / innovators were Judeao-Christian in religious belief, as can be listed below according to extant data. Inventor/Innovator Place of Birth Religion Edward Somerset (1601-67) Monmouthshire, Britain Roman Catholic William Murdoch (1754 – 1839) Cumnock, Scotland Roman Catholic Abraham Gesner (1797-1864) Nova Scotia, Canada Protestant Christian Edwin Drake (1819-1880) New York, U. S. A. Jewish Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir (1822-1900)Mussy-la-Ville, Belgium Roman Catholic However, just as one cannot say that the inventions or innovations in fossil energy application has been due to Western Christianity, as otherwise one will fall into the â€Å"post-hoc ergo procter hoc† fallacy, it is likewise not valid to attribute the ecological crisis directly to Western Christianity. However, If we put the question conversely by asking that if the inventors/innovators were panthei stic, believing that the nature is sacred in itself and should be reverred, then it is highly unlikely that the inventions/innnovations had been conjured and accomplished by them.Science and Christianity It has been argued that science and christianity are coherent to each other, A British Scientist, Robert Clark, once said â€Å"†¦ we may interpret the fact scientific development has only occurred in a Christian culture. The ancients had brains as good as ours. In all civilizations, Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, India, Rome, Persia, China and so on, science developed to a certain point and then stopped. It is easy to argue speculatively that science might have been able to develop in the absence of Christianity, but in fact, it never did. And no wonder.For the non*Christian world felt there was something ethically wrong about science. In Greece, this conviction was enshrined in the legend of Prometheus, the fire*bearer and prototype scientist who stole fire from heaven thus incur ring the wrath of the Gods. † 10 Consider also these statements from renowned scientists; William Thomson: â€Å"Do not be afraid to be free thinkers. If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to the belief in God. † Isaac Newton: â€Å"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being†¦ , Stephen Hawking:†In fact, if one considers the possible constants and laws that could have emerged, the odds against a universe that produced life like ours are immense. † Conclusion This paper has attempted to examine the hypothesis of Lynn White's that Christianity bears significant responsibility for the earth's ecological crisis. The author has attempted to typologize and quote verses from the scriptures, exegeses and writings of theologians on the Biblical scriptures depicting the relationship of God, man and nature.Whilst according to the Dominion the ological perspective as discussed above, the hierarchal relationship of God->Man->Nature (see figure 1. 3) is apparent, in the Dependence theological perspective, the hierarchal relationship of God->Man ; God -> Nature (see figure 1. 4) is also evident. God God Man Man Nature Nature Figure 1. 3 The Dominion Perspective Figure 1. 4 The Dependence Perspective Other verses as listed under the section â€Å"Passages that echo Eco-Friendly† also act as a counter-argument for the Dominion hypothesis.It would seem therefore that White's hypothesis that â€Å"†¦ Western Christianity sees the world existing primarily for the benefit of man† and therefore â€Å"Christianity bears a huge burden of guilt† is not grounded solidly, because as mentioned above, there are many verses which encourage man to be benign to our environment, and conversely, there is no single passage asking man to abuse nature for his primarily benefit only. However, if White argued that â€Å"C hristians bears a burden of guilt†, then it is less reputable, as explained in the next paragraph. 11If one concurs that scientific thinking is coherent to Christian belief, as discussed above, and like White argues in his paper, Western Christianity has been contributory in promoting modern science and technological advance, and from the standpoint of the analysing of advent of fossil energy as the origin of our ecological crisis, which does have tremendous detrimental impacts to our environment, it seems evident that Christians do have a direct linkage to the inventions and innovations leading to the mass scale use of fossil energy, the detrimental origin to our ecological system. RecommendationsIt can be said that with subtlety in the Biblical scriptures, interpretations are often contingent upon the context and the wisdom of the readers, as inspired at different times. What can be said is that given the state of development before the advent of sciences, man had been under the perpetual threats of nature, from attacks by animals, storms, sickness to famines and other disasters. The Dominion theological perspective no doubt inspired man to develop creative thinking about mastering the nature for the betterment of his lifelihood and survival, lacking which man might still be living rather primitively.The advent of sciences and most notably the Industrial Revolution can be depicted as the epitome of this mentality. As our civilization, technology and wisdom progresses, we should now be in a position to recognize that a Dominion mentality to the nature is detrimental to our environment and it is time that we revisit the scriptures to investigate whether we have overlooked an alternative theology in the Bible for seeing our relationship with nature-the Dependence approach, treating the nature as equals of ours, in which we serve god to ensure its goodness, and ensuring its long term sustainability to prepare for the â€Å"Kingdom of God†. 2 Bibliog raphy Lynne White Jr (1967), ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis', reproduced in John Barr (ed), The Environmental Handbook (London: Ballantine/Friends of the Earth, 1971) pp 3-16. David Kinsley, Ecology and Religion: Ecological Spirituality in Cross-Cultural Perspective (Englewood Cliffs, N. J. : Prentice Hall, 1995) Richard Cameron Wybrow â€Å"The Bible, Baconism, and Mastery over Nature: The Old Testament and Its Moderrn Misreading† (Ph.D disserrtation, McMaster University, Hamillton Ont. Canada, 1990) p. 206 Theodore Hiebert, Professor of Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. , Direction (Winnipeg, MB), 1996 Gordon Zerbe, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Canadian Mennonite Bible College, Winnipeg, Manitoba. , Direction (Winnipeg, MB), 1992 Howard Snyder, Liberating the Church: The Ecology of Church and Kingdom (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1983) 45-51.Young, Edward J. (1960) An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co. ). Archer, Gleason (1964), A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody Press). Kitchen, Kenneth (1966), Ancient Orient and Old Testament (London: Tyndale Press). Thorsheim, Peter (2006), Inventing Pollution: Coal, Smoke and Culture in Britain since 1800 13