Art History Analysis Paper

This paper is a formal analysis of the Marble grave stele with a family group relief sculpture. It is a pentelic marble style relief standing at 171. 1cm tall carved by a master. It is from the Late Classical period of Greek, Attic which was completed around ca. 360 B. C. . I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because I’m mainly attracted to art and sculptures from the Greek era. The overall color used in this relief is ivory with a few cracks and pieces broken off. There is some discoloration which causes the color to come off as slightly light brown for most of the relief. The sculpture appears larger compared to the other sculptures in the art room. It represents a family which includes a man, his wife, and their child united on one high relief. There is a fourth character that is a part of the relief but she appears to be incomplete. The high relief contributes to the overall size of this sculpture by expanding the shape and proportions of all the characters. The right side is compact consisting of three of the four characters while the left is loose with just a head present. The very first thing that my eyes are directed to is of the man sitting on a backless chair on the center-right side of the relief. He along with his chair is positioned where his whole body is shifted and he facing the left side of the relief and looking straight ahead. His hands are the only ones that are detailed to the extent that they show the definition of the finger nails and the wrinkles and creases on the fingers and knuckle area. The left hand is placed on his lap while the right hand is slightly wrapped around and holding a stick that is to his right side and is eye-level in front of the woman standing behind him. The stick is about an inch wide and round and looks as though it could possibly be a wooden cane for support. His body does somewhat look as though he is in shape although I can’t see any muscle definition partially due to the fact that his robe is blocking the front of his stomach. There also seems to be no body rolls and no body fat present. His attire is just a robe draped around his waist, over his lap and covering his legs all the way down to his feet. You can see that the excess material of the robe around his waist was intended for his whole body because of the multiple layers draped over his lap. There are no details of his toes or feet because of the missing piece of the relief but you’re able to see just the back of his foot. His inch long hair and full facial beard look extremely wavy and curly. The fact that his facial hair is present and thick on his face makes me assume that he is possibly in his forties although many men back in that time didn’t live that long. He is sitting with ease and his face seems calm all the while staring blankly ahead. Looking at his face straight on, there seems to be no emotion in his eyes. My eyes are then shifted towards the woman on the right side of the relief. The woman seems to be his wife and is shown standing extremely close to him. Since the chair is backless, I think her standing so close behind him depicts her unity with him. It seems as though she is his support and is there to follow him. She is right up against his back with her right hand up by her chest and his head. The wife and child’s attire displays a robe draped over the entire body leaving only her arms exposed although the wife has sleeves draping all the way down behind her forearm. The robe drapes over the wife’s head like a shawl or veil covering the back half of her head including her hair and ears. Her facial expression gives off a sense of sadness even though she is staring blankly ahead in the same direction as the husband. Compared to the man, her eyes aren’t as widely open and it seems as if she is slightly squinting giving me the idea that she may be crying or is holding it in. Overall, you can tell that she has no other emotion displayed on her face besides sadness. After examining the wife, I work my way down to the awkward and odd looking child standing in front of the mother and is facing forward, opposite of the parents. I’m not too sure whether the child is a male or female but based on the fact that she is basically fully clothed, I would say it’s a female. I describe the girl as awkward and odd looking because she is extremely tiny compared to her parents. Her mother’s hand is the same size as her head, maybe even slightly bigger. She looks like she can be the same size as a toddler but her body looks as though it’s close to being fully developed, almost like a shrunken lady. The girl is holding something in her left hand which looks like a small piece of paper. She is holding her mothers left hand with her right hand and the mother’s hand looks as though she is gently and delicately holding hers. She is standing behind her father but is slightly closer to his left side while her right arm is leaning on the chair. She is wearing a similar robe as her mothers except she doesn’t have a veil and the sleeves end at her armpits exposing her shoulder and arms. The expression on her face shows no emotion and she is also staring blankly ahead. Because there is no emotion on her face and since she is only a child, I assume she is at that age where she’s not aware of what’s going on yet. She doesn’t seem to comprehend the presence of sadness with along with the adults. The last person I look at is a woman on the upper left-hand corner of the relief. Her whole body is basically missing except for her head which remains fully intact. Her hair looks exactly the same as the wife’s hair but she doesn’t have a veil covering it. Looking at both the woman on the upper left corner and the wife on the right, both of their earlobes seem to have a perfect tiny hole in them which leads me to assume that they may have been pierced. The only other body part of hers that appears on the relief is her left shoulder and her left forearm which looks like it is leaning against the man’s right arm. I’m not sure if her body is purposely missing because part of the relief had broken off over the years but it seems as though it signifies her as invisible or non-existent. Her eyes are clearly staring at the man sitting down with the sense of sadness and disappointment. She is looking straight at the man but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge her and is looking straight ahead along with his wife which also gives me a reason to think she’s invisible to them. The bottom parts of the marble sculpture which is the base floor that the man is sitting on, and the wife and child are standing on is severely broken and cracked. The only detail on the bottom floor that I can see are three of the wife’s toes wearing a sandal and the child’s feet which look like she is wearing slippers because there are no sign of toes. You can also see the back of the man’s shoes. I don’t think he is wearing sandals because you can clearly see there is no flesh showing. The artist seems to use a lot of thick lines mainly defined on the clothing where you’re able to see multiple folds of the fabric. They all seem to be standing close together as if they are discussing something and because of their sad expressions, they seem to be mourning a death or event that just happened. All their lips seem to curve down on the corners of their mouths with no sign of smiling or even a smirk. None of them are smiling and all four characters have either a melancholy blank stare or sad emotion. All of their eyes have creases but no sign of pupil color except for the slight shadows within the eye which helps to tell which direction their eyes are staring. While staring and piecing the whole relief together, I assume that the woman on the left is actually their daughter since this is a family group sculpture. Going back to the through of her being invisible to the other three leads to my guess that she might possibly be dead. This would explain the overall sadness that is present at the moment. The parents are mourning the death of their daughter while her head present and body missing signifies that she is still there with them, just not physically. Another little detail that I previously noticed was the daughter’s left forearm leaning against her father’s arm. This gives the effect that the daughter is trying to comfort her father while he is grieving. This work shows the natural emotion of humans and they are displayed as realistic. I think that the overall emotion and story behind this relief is done exquisitely by the master who carved it which is why it is said to be one of the most moving funerary reliefs from the Late Classical period.

Industry Analysis of Hotel Industry, India

Business structure and processes INDUSTRY ANALYSIS FOR HOTEL INDUSTRY, INDIA Shruti Garg 2012H149223P Department of Management 16th November’ 2012 Submitted to Dr. Jyoti TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1. 1 Background of Hotel Industry 1. 2 Structure of Hotel Industry 1. 3 Mid Market Segment 1. 4 Budget Segment 1. 5 Heritage Hotels 1. 6 Others 2. 5 Major Players in Market 3. Profiles of some Major Players 3. 1. Indian Hotels Company 3. 2. ITC/Sheraton Group 3. 3 The Leela Group 3. 4 The EIH Ltd. (The Oberoi Group) 3. The Ashok Group 4. Porter’s Five Forces Model 4. 1 Introduction 4. 2 Bargaining power of Suppliers 4. 3 Bargaining power of Customers 4. 4 Threats of New Entrants 4. 5 Threats of Substitutes 4. 6 Competition Rivalry between Existing Players 5. SWOT Analysis 5. 1 Strengths 5. 2 Weaknesses 5. 3 Opportunities 5. 4 Threats 6. References 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 2|Page INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY The Hotel Industry comprises a major part of the Tourism industry. Historically viewed as an industry providing a luxury service valuable to the economy only as a foreign exchange earner, the industry today contributes directly to employment (directly employing around 0. 15 million people), and indirectly facilitates tourism and commerce. Prior to the 1980s, the Indian hotel industry was a slow-growing industry, consisting primarily of relatively static, single-hotel companies. However, the Asiad, held in New Delhi in 1982, and the subsequent partial liberalization of the Indian economy generated tourism interest in India, with significant benefits accruing to the hotel and tourism sector, in terms of improved demand patterns. Growth in demand for hotels was particularly high during the early 1990s following the initiatives taken to liberalize the Indian economy in FY1991, as per the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The euphoria of the early 1990s prompted major chains, new entrants and international chains to chalk out ambitious capacity additions, especially in the metropolitan cities. However, most of these efforts were directed towards the business travelers and foreign clientele. In recent years, the hotels sector has grown at a faster rate than GDP. As a result, the share of hotels & restaurants in GDP at current prices has increased from 1. 2per cent in FY2000 to 1. 5per cent in FY2005. In constant (1999-2000) prices, the GDP from hotels and restaurants has increased from Rs. 222. 65 billion in FY2000 to Rs. 335. 49 billion in FY2005. As a result, the share of hotels and restaurants in total GDP at constant prices has increased from 1. 4per cent in FY2000 to 1. 40per cent in FY2005. 5 STRUCTURE OF THE INDUSTRY Hotels are an important component of the tourism product. They contribute in the overall tourism experience through the standards of facilities and services offered by them. With the aim of providing contemporary standards of facilities and services available in the hotels, the Ministry of Tourism has formulated a voluntary scheme for classification of o perational hotels which will be applicable to the following categories: ? Star Category Hotels: – 5 Star Deluxe, 5 Star, 4 Star, 3 Star, 2 Star & 1 Star ? Heritage Category Hotels: – Heritage Grand, Heritage Classic & Heritage Basic Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 3|Page MID-MARKET SEGMENT This segment comprises 3 and 4 star hotels, which cater to the average foreign and domestic leisure travelers. This segment also caters to the middle level business travelers since it offers most of the essential services of the luxury hotels without the high cost since the tax component of this segment is lower compared with the premium segment. BUDGET SEGMENT These comprise 1 and 2 star hotels referred to as ‘Budget Hotels’. These categories do not offer as many facilities as the other segments but provide inexpensive accommodation tithe highly price-conscious segment of the domestic and foreign leisure travelers. Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 4|Page HERITAGE HOTELS In the past four decades, certain architecturally distinctive properties such as palaces and Forts, built prior to 1950, have been converted into hotels. The Ministry of Tourism has classified these hotels as heritage hotels. OTHERS At any point in time, applications for classification are usually pending with the Ministry of Tourism because of which such properties remain unclassified. The number of hotel rooms pending classification has declined from historical 15-20per cent to 5per cent of the total rooms available in the recent past. 5 major players in market ? The Indian Hotels Company ? ITC/ Sheraton Corporation ? The Leela Group ? The EIH Ltd (The Oberoi Group) ? India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) / the Ashok Group Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 5|Page PROFILES of some major players in the Hotel Industry THE INDIAN HOTELS COMPANY The Indian hotels company and its subsidiaries are collectively known as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, recognized as Asia’s largest and finest hotel company. Incorporated by the founder of the Tata Group, Jemsetji N Tata, the company opened its first property, The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Bombay in 1903. The Taj, a symbol of Indian hospitality, completed its centenary year in 2003. Taj Hotels and Resorts and Palaces comprises of 59 hotels at 40 locations across India with an additional 17 international hotels in the Maldives, Mauritius, Malaysia, UK, USA, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa, the middle east and Australia. The company has had a long standing commitment to the continuous development of the Indian tourism and hospitality industry. From the 1970s through 1990s, the Taj played an important role in launching several of India’s key tourist destinations. Working in tandem with the Indian government, the Taj developed resorts and retreats while the government developed roads and railways to India's hidden treasures. ITC/ SHERATON CORPORATION ITC – Welcome group Hotels, Palaces and Resorts, is today one of India's finest hotel chains, with its distinctive logo of hands folded in the traditional â€Å"Namaste† is widely recognized as the ultimate in Indian hospitality. Each of the chain's hotels pays architectural tribute to ancient dynasties, which ruled India from time to time. The design concept and themes of these dynasties play an important part in their respective style and decor. With more and more hotels being added at strategic destinations, the group has joined hands with the Sheraton Corporation to strengthen its international marketing base. A successful marketing franchise for almost 25 years now, there are currently 10 ITC – Welcome group Sheraton hotels, and more in the pipeline. THE LEELA GROUP Founded in 1957 by Capt. C. P. Krishnan Nair, the Rs. 4. 5 billion Leela Group is engaged in the business of ready-made garments and luxury hotels and resorts. The Leela Kempinski, Mumbai and The Leela, Goa are two of the best hotels in India, and have also won Considerable international acclaim. For this to have been achieved in 12 short years is Nothing short of Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 6|Page remarkable. Recently in 2001 Capt. Nair fulfilled his longstanding dream of constructing a palace hotel in the garden city of Bangalore. The Leela Palace Kempinski, Bangalore is built in art deco style recreating the grandeur of The Mysore Maharajas Palace. It is set amidst 8 acres of landscaped garden and waterfalls. It is a palace with the heart of a modern hotel. Its 254Kovalam is Kerala’s largest resort, built on a rock face cradled between two wide sweeping Beaches with stunning view of the famous Kovalam coastline. THE EIH LTD (THE OBEROI GROUP) Asian elegance is the key to running hotels, if you ask EIH (better known as The Oberoi Group). The company owns and operates about 20 luxury hotels, about 10 mid-range hotels, and two inland cruises; The Oberoi Group operates primarily in India, but also in Australia, Egypt, Indonesia, Mauritius, and Saudi Arabia. Most of the company’s luxury properties bear the Oberoi banner. The company in 2004 joined forces with Hilton International to rebrand most of its mid-range hotels as Trident Hiltons (the former Oberoi Towers is now known as the Hilton Towers Mumbai). The Oberoi Group also operates luxury cruises of the Nile River and India’s Kerala region. INDIA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (ITDC) / THE ASHOK GROUP India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was established in 1966 as an autonomous public sector corporation, entrusted with the task of helping develop tourism infrastructure and promoting India as a tourist destination. The ITDC Ashok Group of hotel chains manages some of the best five star and luxury tour hotels in the Indian hospitality industry. The hotels run by the ITDC Ashok Group of hotel chains may be divided into different categories; these are elite hotels, comfort hotels and classic hotels. The ITDC Ashok Group of hotel chains manages 33hotels in 26 different tourist destinations all over India. The management of Ashoka Group believes in offering the best in the hospitality industry and the staff at each of the hotels run by the group is especially trained to be courteous and efficient. The Ashok Group of hotel chains boasts of running some of the best hotels in the Indian hotel industry. The hotels that are a part of the elite and classic category of the ITDC Ashok Group are the Ashok Hotel in New Delhi, the Kovalam Ashok Beach Resortin Kovalam, Kerala, the Agra Ashok in Agra, Hotel Jaipur Ashok in New Delhi and the Qutab Hotel in New Delhi. Most of the hotels managed by the ITDC Ashok Group have had the privilege of playing host to several international and national dignitaries. Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 7|Page PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL INTRODUCTION Porter’s model is based on the insight that a corporate strategy should meet the opportunities and threats in the organization external environment. Especially, competitive strategy should base on and understanding of industry structures and the way they change. Porter has identified five competitive forces that shape every industry and every market. These forces determine the intensity of competition and hence the profitability and attractiveness of an industry. The objective of corporate strategy should be to modify these competitive forces in a way that improves the position of the organization. Porter’s model supports analysis of the driving forces in an industry. Based on the information derived from the Five Forces Analysis, management can decide how to influence or to exploit particular characteristics of their industry. Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 8|Page 1. BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS The term ‘suppliers' comprises all sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide goods or services. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ The high class hotels are operating by few hotel chains like-TAJ, EIH, ITC & THE LEELA PALACE so they have a control over the industry. There are no substitutes for spas and five star hotels. The hotels customers are fragmented, so they have to reduce their bargaining power to attract the customers. The Taj, ITC& Oberoi are having various rates and tariffs, because they are having their own brand image. The hotel chains are operating different services like Spas, Boatels, Resorts, City Centers, Heritage HOTELS, etc. 2. BARGAINING POWER OF CUSTOMERS Similarly, the bargaining power of customers determines how much customers can impose pressure on margins and volumes. ? ? ? ? The hotel industry is one of the most invested in its fixed assets. So they are trying to recover their amount quickly. The suppliers are providing better information about them to attract the customers’. Here the buyers are highly informed. If the hotel price changes are moderate, the Customers have low margins and are pricesensitive. Some unseasoned timings the hotels are offering discounts and incentives toreduce the bargaining power of buyers. 3. THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS The competition in an industry will be the higher; the easier it is for other companies to enter this industry. In such a situation, new entrants could change major determinants of the market environment (e. g. market shares, prices, customer loyalty) at any time. There is always a latent pressure for reaction and adjustment for existing players in this industry. Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 9|Page †¢ †¢ ? ? ? The foreign hotel chains are tied up with Indian hotels to reduce the initial cost and using the latter’s brand name. Brand loyalty of customers like TAJ, ITC, and LEELA PALACE affects the new entrants. Access to raw materials and Distribution channels are controlled by Existing players like TAJ, ITC, and LEELA PALACE. The cost of land in India is high at 50% of total project cost as against 15% abroad. This acts as a major deterrent to the Indian hotel industry. In India the expenditure tax, luxury tax and sales tax inflate the hotel bill by over 30%. Effective tax in the South East Asian countries works out to only 4-5%. 4. THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES A threat from substitutes exists if there are alternative products with lower prices of better performance parameters for the same purpose. They could potentially attract a significant proportion of market volume and hence reduce the potential sales volume for existing players. This category also relates to complementary products. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Brand loyalty of customers (TAJ, ITC, LEELA PALACE, etc,) is dominating the substitutes. The hotel relationship with customer and costs also the reasons to switching to substitutes. The price variation of same class hotel services from various brands is one of the reasons to choose a substitute. The present demand and supply of hotel rooms is one of the reasons to choose a substitute. More fixed cost and switching costs affects the business. 5. COMPETITIVE RIVALRY BETWEEN EXISTING PLAYERS This force describes the intensity of competition between existing players (companies) in an industry. High competitive pressure results in pressure on prices, margins, and hence, on profitability for every single company in the industry. †¢ †¢ The top competitors in hotel industry are having the same services like five star, spas, boatels and motels, heritage hotels and palaces. The healthy competition among the all players is helping to increase the industry growth. Intense in metro cities, slowly picking up in secondary cities. Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 10 | P a g e SWOT ANA LYSIS STRENGTHS †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ A very wide variety of hotels is present in the country. There are international players in the market such as Taj and Oberoi Chains A manpower cost in the Indian hotel industry is one of the lowest in the world. India offers a readymade tourist destination with the resources Natural and cultural diversity Demand-supply gap Government support Increase in the market share WEAKNESSES †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ The cost of land in India is high at 50% of total project cost as against 15% abroad. The hotel industry in India is heavily staffed. High tax structure in the industry makes the industry worse off than its international. Only 97,000 hotel rooms are available in India today. Only limited value added services Poor support infrastructure Slow implementation Susceptible to political events. OPPORTUNITIES †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Demand between the national and the inbound tourists can be easily managed due to difference in the period of holidays. In the long-term the hotel industry in India has latent potential for growth. Unique experience in heritage hotels. Rising income. Open sky benefits. THREATS †¢ †¢ †¢ Guest houses replace th e hotels. Political turbulence in the area reduces tourist traffic and thus the business of the hotels Changing trends in the west demand similar changes in India 2012H149223P 11 | P a g e Shruti Garg †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ The economic conditions of a country have a direct impact on the earnings in hotel industry. Lack of training man power in the hotel industry. Fluctuations in international tourist arrivals. Increasing competition REFERENCES ? ? Ministry of tourism website: http://tourism. gov. in/TourismDivision/ Ministry of tourism – Hotel classification guidelines : http://www. hrawi. com/hotelrestaurant/Guidelines_for_classification_of_Hotels. pdf ? ? ? ? ? Hotel pictures: http://www. hotel-pictures. net/ Taj: http://www. tajhotels. com/ ITC Hotels: http://www. itchotels. in/ The Leela: http://www. theleela. com/ ITDC group: http://www. theashokgroup. com/ Shruti Garg 2012H149223P 12 | P a g e

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Aviation Security - Essay Example Besides screening the passengers and the carry-on baggage, the screening of checked baggage is also carried out. The motive behind the checked baggage screening is to detect the presence of bombs. No one can deny the possibility of terrorism onboard and it is imperative that proper security measures be taken. Such screening procedures are the primary sources of detecting any threat before hand and ensuring security of both the passengers as well as the aviation staff. Both the metal detector and the X-ray machine were found to be only as effective as the individuals operating them. It was discovered that the large volume of passengers going through the screening process produced the "assembly line" syndrome, causing security personnel to become much less vigilant. This coupled with terrorists' success in disguising weapons by dismantling them and distributing them among themselves, made it all too easy to circumvent this security measure. The biggest challenge is to prevent the civil aircraft from becoming a weapon of destruction. Until the September 11 attacks, the airport terminal was viewed as the first line of protection for commercial aviation against the most dangerous types of terrorist action. Based on available evidence, it is unknown whether the September 11 assailants used devious means to avoid detection of what they were carrying through pre-board screening or whether they had any "inside" help, but it is clear that under the then governmental rules and operation procedures they could have legally boarded the aircraft with the implements that they eventually used as weapons. In the wake of September 11, remedial attention focused on the carry-on screening system. There was an attempt to provide a tighter definitional mesh to screen-out potential "dual-use" utensils that could be used as weapons from being introduced into the passenger cabin. There was also a growing realization that the system was not working effectively to begin with. The more the public learned about the system the less they wanted to fly. The more the private companies lobbied to keep their markets, the more irresponsible they seemed. The more it became apparent that the governmental department with the mission to oversee this system had utterly failed, the more giving the actual operation of the screening to the same governmental department became a litmus test for security correctness. In words of Hiltzik, 2001, on September 11, "The system worked the way it was intended.... For three decades, it has been preoccupied with looking for guns and explosives rather than for dangerous people. That ... was its vulnerability. The terrorists did not breach the nation's airline security system, they slipped through its loopholes." (Hiltzik, 2001) Thus, a second type of screening has found renewed attention: scrutiny of passenger bona fides and greater focus on those with suspicious backgrounds. It is just common sense that people boarding an aircraft, and thereby gaining access to a vulnerable part of the national transportation infrastructure, should meet certain

Change Management and Communication Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Change Management and Communication Plan - Essay Example cks into manufacturing products that are customers’ tailored and hence satisfying customer needs which translates into increased market share and hence large revenue fetched. The firm should employ a system where current form of power based on positions that leads to inferiority is scrapped and replaced by collaborative organizational designs amongst employees and management and customers thus incorporating every stakeholder in decision making process (Corvette, 2006, p. 67). A proper chain of command should be designed where each department is tasked with distinct role with public relation assigned to listen customers’ complaints and subsequently integrating such complaints to manufacturing process to produce products that meet customers’ needs and hence inventory management as accumulation is curbed which is a cost-effective strategy. Letting decisions in the hands of employees is a good approach to organizational management but only when embedded on proper chain of command (Greenwald, 2008, p. 122). A well-established communication plan will help Riordan firm to harmoniously incorporate all stakeholders which translates to acceptance of policies hence easy implementation which leads to customers loyalty and expansion of the

Institutional Racism Impact on Education, Employment, and Health Essay

Institutional Racism Impact on Education, Employment, and Health - Essay Example As Ibrahim states "in spite of the attempts to equalize educational opportunity for all groups, research on immigrant children's successful intergration into the education system shows that there is a high drop-out rate among these students."(Ibrahim, insert page number here) For this reason the Second National Institute-Conference hold in Miami, Florida in 1974, took a penetrating look at Institutional Racism and the Impact on Health Care Delivery through in-depth focus on institutional racism. Some Black nurses interacted together in examining and exploring its impact on the health status of the Black consumer followed by planning and developing strategies for affirmative action approaches designed to make a meaningful impact toward change. As for in the sector of employment it has been seen time and again that there is a system working as an open secret that discriminate colored or immigrants with job opportunity and salary. This discrimination is based on not only color or political distinction but also is depended upon other factors like class, creed, cast, religion, sex and even ideology. Everything that has been stated above is a part of an ideology that the racist believe to be of ultimate truth.

Recognizing Organizational Culture in Managing Change Essay Example for Free

Recognizing Organizational Culture in Managing Change Essay In order to ask lots of questions about the influence of the social system, that is to say, the surrounding conditions of the organization on its ability to soak up like a towel and gain invention of new things, a having to do with figuring out. The quality of things without measuring them with numbers research was carried out to define the measuring tool for the most important things of this particular of surrounding conditions for the recognition and acceptance of e-learning in teachers or professors(Buć Divjak, 2016). In the development of devices that make music, the examples of the development of devices that make music were used that are designed only for research in information sciences, such as for example, the development of a measuring instrument for evaluating the performance of e-Portfolio. It is generally admitted to that educational change benefits from a supportive surrounding condition. Cultural influences are a key issue when thinking about the invention of new things and change processes. Organizational culture is a key factor that influences instructional inventions of new things that the success of any something big and important that changes people\s thinking or lives effort may well depend on the extent to which organizational culture issues can be talked to(Zhu Engels, 2014). Previous research has examined the influence of organizational culture on organizational inventions of new things. Studies point to new things is most likely to happen in organizations that have integrative structures draw attention to many different kinds of people or things, and team effort and teamwork. Yet the findings of the previous research are mixed with little believable information that proves something related to the role of specific organizational culture features in adoptin g instructional invention of new things in college. Students who come to a related to school and learning library meet with a variety of spaces that influence their learning and behavior. The library has two types of spaces which are shared and social. Shared spaces are places where students are involved in single, hardworking with schoolwork, and thoughtful study surrounded by other students. Students work at group and noisy work with other students in social spaces. The idea of library spaces for different types for different student needs and supports the idea which is that students need separate spaces for the types of learning and behavior connected with the ability to create interesting new things and invention of new things (Bieraugel Neill, 2017). Ideas of library space when designing learning spaces in a library is extremely important to think about what types of behavior the design will bring out. Library design, as seen through the lens of the science of nerves and the brain, is interesting and suggests/says that library s pace is just like productive research surrounding conditions in helping the ability to create interesting new things and invention of new things. Bennett notes that Google, Twitter, Facebook, and other companies also aim to create productive research surrounding conditions within settings to help grow invention of new things and critical thinking be it in the lobby or a quiet corner. Environmental education can help increase problem-solving skills, very important thinking and action-oriented in relation to central and practical problems that are combined in nature(Fauville, Lantz-Andersson, Sà ¤ljà ¶, 2014). Co-operative processes of question or investigation into an action on real related to surrounding conditions or the health of the Earth issues where students should be put in the position of active thinkers prepared to act in response to issues in partnership with fellow students. Such learning also involves understanding how to approach, plan and analyze complex issues and where to turn for clearly connected or related knowledge, and not only the reproduction of what is already known although in different difference fields of study. In such settings, student-active and problem-based instructional approaches have been argued as providing a good big picture in which to develop knowledge. So, the science of teaching and way of thinking behind environmental e ducation can be thought of as challenging traditional approaches to schooling, which focus on learning of true knowledge presented in the classroom by the teacher in order to solve problems with an already existing, single and correct solution. Traditional education is also highly broken-up in terms of fields of study and is based on abstract problems, with students put in the rather allowing something to happen without reacting or trying to stop it a position of simply reproducing information and standard procedures.

From classical ballet to contemporary ballet

From classical ballet to contemporary ballet From Classical Ballet to Contemporary Ballet Ballet originally emerged in the late 15th century in the Renaissance court of Italy. Then, it was a dance interpretation of fencing.   Ballet was further developed and popularized in the French Courts in the 17th century. From court ballet to modern ballet, the dance techniques and practice has evolved throughout the years. Contemporary Ballet now incorporates classical ballet with modern dance techniques such as floor work and turn-in of the legs. (wikipedia, par 9) Ballet shows now focus more on the plot as compared to the 17th century, where the focus was the intertwine of music and poetry. It had also often included singing. 17th Century Ballet had minimal plot because Ballets were designed principally for the entertainment of the aristocracy, hence rich costumes, scenery, and elaborate stage effects were emphasized. In the 19th century, there was an increase in interest among the public, and Ballets such as Swan Lake (1876), Sleeping Beauty (1890), and The Nutcracker (18 92) were produced. There was an influence of jazz, jazz rhythms and modern dance at that time, originating in the USA, hence greater body expressions. Today, Ballet is an internationally practiced and appreciated dance, with many dance school dedicated to the teaching of Ballet, including prominent schools such as the royal ballet school and many other small private dance centres. These schools train Ballet dancers from young and even adults who have never learned Ballet as a child are able to practice due to the large amount of adult Ballet classes for beginners. For those who are not striving to be a professional Ballet dance, practicing Ballet is a form of sport which teaches excellent posture and trains you to be graceful and disciplined. From the increase in Ballet schools, dancers and shows for the public, it can be concluded that one of the most significant change in the practice of Ballet, would be the accessibility of Ballet. In the 17th century, ballet was performed in the royal courts. It was a dance that was rather exclusive for the royals and the high society. Many commoners would not have the luxury to attend Ballet performances. However, as Ballet developed, it became more popular and much appreciated and watched by various people. Today, Ballets are relatively inexpensive to watch, including well know Ballets such as Swan Lake and the Nutcracker being some of the most famous ballets that are widely watched even to those who have little knowledge about dance or do not come from well off family backgrounds. Ballet is viewed as a classical performance that is available for anyone. What has not changed about Ballet is that Ballet is still considered a high culture performance art, despite the fact that it is one of the most practiced and watched dances by many from various social status and education level. Youve got to attend Ballet performances in order to be â€Å"cultured†. Also, Ballet is still very female dominant in the eyes of the public. This is to say that parents would tend to send their daughters to Ballet classes rather than sons. However, this is not to say there are few males Ballet dancers. Ballet now being so much more accessible, in level with other dance forms such as hip hip and jazz, it is no longer a dance for the rich and privilege.

A Review On VBNC Bacteria

A Review On VBNC Bacteria Viable but Non-Culturable (VBNC) state is a unique survival strategy of many bacteria in environment in response to adverse environmental conditions. VBNC bacteria cant be cultured on routine microbiological media but they remain viable and retain their virulent capacity too. VBNC bacteria can be resuscitated when provided with appropriate conditions. A good number of bacteria including many human pathogens have been reported to enter VBNC state. Though, there was disputes on the existence of VBNC in past, extensive molecular studies have resolved most of them and VBNC has been accepted as distinct survival state by all. VBNC bacteria are considered as threats to public health and food safety due to their non-detectability and virulence as food and water have been reported to be contaminated with pathogens at VBNC state though conventional methods declared them as safe and clean. A number of outbreaks have also been reported where VBNC bacteria has been implicated as causative agent. Further molecular and combinatorial research in conjunction with predictive modeling are needed to elucidate the mechanisms and to identify the critical points to tackle the threat posed by VBNC bacteria with regard to public health and food safety. Key words: VBNC, Pathogen, public health, Food safety, Detection Introduction The cells that form colony in specific media are the culturable cells. Viable means metabolically or physiologically active. So the cells those are metabolically or physiologically active but cant be cultured on specific media are the viable but non-culturable cells (VBNC) (Bogosian Bourneuf, 2001). Most microorganisms growing in nature have yet to be cultured in the laboratory. In fact less than 1% of the microorganisms in natural water and soil samples are cultured in viable count procedures (Barcian Arana, 2009). In 1982, Prof. Rita Colwell and co-workers introduced the term Viable But Non-Culturable Bacterial Cells (VBNC) to distinguish particular cells that could not form colonies on solid media but obtained metabolic activity and the ability to elongate after the administration of nutrients (Xu et al., 1982). According to Oliver (1995), VBNC can be defined as a metabolically active bacterial cell that crossed a threshold in this way, for known or unknown reasons and become unable to multiply in or on a medium normally supporting its growth. Most of the bacteria that enter VBNC state are gram negative species belonging to the gamma subclass of the Proteobacteria branch, except for Rhizobium, Agrobacterium and Helicobacter-Campylobacter species (Oliver, 2000). History Debra Bashford and colleagues announced that they had recovered Vibrio cholerae from streams and drainage ditches, including sites with negligible chance of sewage contamination. Around the same lime, Rita Colwell was also finding Vibrio cholerae in Maryland. She and her coworkers showed that both this bacterium and E. coli, incubated in artificial sea water remained viable but lost the capacity to form colonies on culture media (Colwell Grimes, 2000). Soon Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella sonnie and Legionella pneumophila joined the list of organisms known to be capable of entering a state in which they failed to show up on nutrient agar yet took up substrates and signaled in other ways that they were certainly not dead. The use of laboratory media to recover and enumerate bacteria and lo link them with or absolve them from pathological and other activities became obsolete by the new discoveries and a term VBNC (viable but non-culturable) came (McDougald et al., 1998). VBNC Microorganisms that do not grow in culture methods, but which are still metabolically active and capable of causing infections in animals and plants are said to be in VBNC state. Traditional laboratory culture conditions methods cannot meet the requirements of VBNC organisms to resume growth (Yamamoto, 2000). Semi-starved bacteria usually resume growth immediately when appropriate nutrients conditions are provided. Viable but non-culturable cells will not resume growth even when nutrients are provided (NystrÃÆ'-m, 2001). VBNC cells exhibit active metabolism in the form of respiration or fermentation, incorporate radioactive substrates, and have active protein synthesis but cannot be cultured or grown on conventional laboratory media. They have been detected by observing discrepancies between plate count enumeration of bacterial population and direct staining and microscopic counts (Sachidanandham Gin, 2009). These cells may be of particular problems in the environment if they are pathogens, for example, viable but non-culturable cells of Vibrio cholerae, Enteropathogenic E. coli, Legionella pneumophila and various other bacteria have been shown to regain culturability after they have entered the intestinal tracts of animals (Colwell et al., 1996). The VBNC state is defined as a state of dormancy triggered by environmental harsh conditions, such as nutrient starvation (Cook Bolster, 2007), temperature (Besnard et al., 2002), osmotic stress (Asakura et al., 2008), oxygen availability (Kana et al., 2008), several food preservatives (Quirà ³s et al., 2009), heavy metals (Ghezzi Steck, 1999), exposure to white light (Gourmelon et al., 1994) and decontaminating processes, as pasteurization of milk (Gunasekera et al., 2002) and chlorination of wastewater (Oliver, 2005). VBNC state is believed to be a unique survival strategy of bacteria in response to environmental stresses (Oliver, 2010). It is also considered as an important reservoir of many human pathogens in the environment (Lleo et al., 2007). VBNC state has been a matter of dispute for ling since its inception, due to the difficulty of differentiation of VBNC cells dormant cells through resuscitation phenotypic studies, recent molecular studies, data of which supported the existence of VBNC state, the dispute has mostly been put to rest (Barer and Harwood, 1999). VBNC Pathogens Following list includes but not limited to pathogenic bacteria that can enter VBNC state (Oliver, 2010)- Aeromonas hydrophila, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Burkholderia cepacia, Campylobacter jejuni, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli (including EHEC), Helicobacter pylori, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei, Streptococcus faecalis, Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus (types 1 and 2) Characteristics of Bacteria in VBNC state 1. Maintain apparent cell integrity; 2. possession of some form of measurable cellular activity (Lai et al., 2009); 3. possess apparent capacity to regain culturability (Anuchin et al., 2009); 4. respond to external stimulus by specific gene expression (kell et al., 1998); 5. low metabolic activity (oliver, 2005); 6. Exhibit dwarfing (Costa et al., 1999); 7. reduced nutrient transport; 8. High ATP level and high membrane potential (Signoretto et al., 2000); 9. extensive modifications in cytoplasmic membrane fatty acid compositions (Day Oliver, 2004); 10. Changes in cell wall peptidoglycan such as increasing cross linking, increasing muropeptides bearing covalently bound lipoprotein shortening of average length of glycan strands (signoretto et al., 2002); 11. Higher autolytic capability than exponentially growing cells; 12. Plasmids are retained; 13. changed antibiotic sensitivity as metabolic activity is lower, most bacteria at VBNC state demonstrate high antibiotic resistance (Ol iver, 2010); 14. Changes in outer-membrane protein profile (Muela et al., 2008); 15. Continuous gene expression (Maalej et al., 2004) etc. Conditions stimulating VBNC state In the environment, bacterial cells can enter VBNC state may be due to- 1. Lack of nutrients; 2. Lack of temperatures; 3. High pressure; 4. Sharp changes in pH or salinity (Cunningham et al., 2009); 5.damage to or lack of an essential cellular component; 6. DNA damage; 7. activation of lysogenic phages or suicide genes such as sok/hak or autolysins (Aizenman et al., 1996); 8. Nutrient starvation; 9. incubation outside the normal temperature range of growth; 10. elevated or lower osmotic concentrations; 11. oxygen concentrations (Mascher et al., 2000); 12. food preservatives; 13. Heavy metals (Del Campo et al., 2009); 14. exposure to white light; 15. pasteurization of milk (Gunasekara et al., 2002); 16. chlorination of wastewater (Oliver, 2005) etc. Public health significance of VBNC Though virulence of bacteria in VBNC state is still not very clear, many believed that pathogens in VBNC state are unable to induce infection/disease but still retain their virulent properties has potential to cause disease infection following resuscitation and resume of active metabolic state, which occurs when they pass through host animal (Baffone et al., 2003). The VBNC state appears to be the common to many bacteria especially those which have aquatic habitats, and may represent a mechanism to survive adverse environmental factors as temperature, salinity etc. or have a means of inducing cross protection against other adverse factors (Du et al., 2007). Among these bacteria entering this state are many significant human pathogens and indicator bacteria of these pathogens; such cells may represent a public health hazard and may be a factor in human health and/or disease (Rivers Steck, 2001). Even today, it is still not possible to cultivate most bacterial species directly from the environmental samples or after exposure of previously culturable cells to environmental conditions unfavorable for growth and multiplication in vitro. The passage of VBNC through an appropriate animal host will induce return of culturability. Even these VBNC bacteria retain their pathogenicity and may trigger life in vivo and thus cause severe disease (Sardessai, 2005). Under normal condition it is not possible to culture or detect VBNC. Many diagnostic laboratory set up does not have sufficient molecular facilities to detect VBNC. In case of food and water quality control test, such VBNC may not be detected. Even some indicator of some pathogenic bacteria undergoes VBNC state and may remain undetected (Signoretto et al., 2004). Upon consuming such food or after drinking such water, one may be infected by those VBNC that can trigger life as well as pathogenicity (Adams et al., 2003). Thus, environmental and clinical samples no longer can be considered free from pathogens if culturing yields negative results. For the general public, the presence of VBNC in water and food may be related to low-grade infections or so called aseptic infection. For example, Vibrio cholerae O1 in the surface water remain as non-culturable state. These water sources are used for domestic purpose regularly and posed a risk of infection (Edwards, 2000). When conditions are not favorable for growth then it transforms to the non-culturable state in association with crustacean copepods. Persistence of Vibrio cholerae in water in the VBNC state is an important public health factor, since detection will not be successful if only conventional cultural methods are used (Barer et al., 1993). Similarly, Shigella can undergo VBNC state in water but become a threat when enter in human body. Thus it is important to recognize that non-culturable bacteria are capable of producing diseases. The first evidence of pathogenicity of non-culturable cells was the demonstration of fluid accumulation in rabbit ileal loop assay (RICA) by VBNC Vibrio cholerae O1, followed by human volunteer experiments (Amel et al., 2008). VBNC E. coli non-culturable cells were re-isolated after passage through rabbit ileal loops 4 days post inoculation and chick embryos died when injected with non-culturable cells of Legionella pneumophila, led to the conclusion that VBNC pathogens remain potentially pathogenic. So, VBNC has a huge significance in public health care (Cappelier et al., 2007). Previous studies indicated that a good number of pathogenic bacteria can survive food water treatment processes persist as well as retain virulence in processed food, pasteurized milk, potable water environment (Colwell et al., 2000). Many evidences suggested that recurrent urinary tract infections in many individuals are caused by uropathogenic E. coli cells which remain in VBNC state (Anderson et al., 2004) thus resistant to antibiotic treatment cause reinfection when resuscitate back to active metabolic state (Steck, 2001; Mulvey et al., 2001). Studies also showed that uropathogenic E. coli retain enteropathogenicity at VBNC state through continued production of enterotoxin (Pommepuy et al., 1996). Nilsson et al. (2002) showed that VBNC Helicobacter pylori cells can express virulence factors such as cagA, vacA and vreA. All these above evidence proved that many deathly pathogenic strains not only enter but also persist survive in VBNC state in environment most of them remain infectious as well. VBNC state of foodborne bacteria- a challenge in food safety Many evidences suggested presence of VBNC bacteria in food (Ordax et al., 2009). For example, in stored wine, acetic acid and lactic acid bacteria entered VBNC state as consequence of lack of oxygen and presence of sulphites, respectfully (Millet and Lonvaud-Funel, 2000). Food and its surrounding environment is a complex system, in which physic-chemical characterisitcs (pH, aw, chemical composition) and environmental factors (storage temperature and time, decontamination treatments, packaging under modified atmosphere) act simultaneously on contaminating bacteria (Sun et al., 2008). For example, it has been demonstrated that refrigerated pasteurized grapefruit juice induced VBNC state in E. coli O157:H7 and S. typhimurium within 24 hours of incubation (Nicolo et al., 2011). Again, Gunasekera et al. (2002) reported that in pasteurized milk which have undergone thermal treatment, contaminating bacteria such as E. coli and Pseudomonas putida enter into VBNC state but retained transcription and translation machineries. Several foodborne outbreaks has been reported in Japan, where pathogen such as Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica (Asakura et al., 2002) and E. coli O157 (Makino et al., 2000) in food in VBNC state were responsible for the outbreak. Therefore, the role of food and treatment for food preservation in induction of VBNC state has to be elucidated. Predicitve models offered by biomathematics and bioinformatics would be very helpful tools, in order to evaluate the possibility that, under certain conditions, pathogen bacteria contaminating a tipology of food may enter the VBNC state (Fakruddin et al., 2012). Methods of detection of VBNC bacteria 1. Bright Field Microscopy with Nalidixic acid For detection of Bright-field or light microscopic is usually used. Cell division inhibitor such as nalidixic acid (20-40 mg/L) is used to stop cell division. After such treatment the viable cells, which actively growing, will be appeared as lengthen and the non-viable/ metabolically inactive cell will remain as it is. The cells are then observed under microscope. Viable cells will be seen as elongated whereas VBNC/ dormant cells will be seen as oval and large. 2. Fluorescent Microscopy Various fluorescent staining procedures are used in combination with other procedure to determine VBNC organisms. Frequently used stains are Acridine orange, 4,6- Diamino-2-phenyl indole (DAPI), Fluorescein isothiocyanante (FITC), Indophenyl-nitrophenyl-phenyl tetrazolium chloride (INT), 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) etc (Villarino et al., 2000). Table: Fluorescent dyes used for detection of VBNC bacteria Dye Mechanism Reaction Acridine orange Acridine orange stain cells depending on the ratio of DNA to protein in the cells Actively reproducing cells appear green but slow-grower or non-reproducing cells at time of staining appear orange Di-amino-phenyl-indole (DAPI) Living cells look green under fluorescent microscope Indophenyl-nitrophenyl-phenyl tetrazolium chloride (INT) INT deposit red dye in cells that have active dehydrogenase and thus determine which of the observed cells are metabolically active INT react with dehydrogenase enzyme to produce formazone and red color, thus living cells appear red. Nalidixic acid (NA) Lengthen metabolically active cells, VBNC cells remain as it is Cells that are dividing appear to be longer in size than VBNC Fluorescein isothiocyanante (FITC) Enzyme activity in living cell FITC stain living cells violet or blue In recent years, a new differential staining assay, the BacLight ® Live/Dead assay, has been developed. The assay allows to simultaneously count total and viable (metabolically active) cells, by using two nucleic acid stains, that is green-fluorescent SYTO ® 9 stain and red-fluorescent propidium iodide stain. SYTO ® 9 propidium iodide has significant difference in their cell membrane penetration capability. SYTO ® 9 stains both live and dead bacteria whereas propidium iodide penetrates only bacteria having damaged membranes. When used together, propidium iodide reduces SYTO ® 9 fluorescence in staining dead bacteria with damaged membranes. As a result, viable bacteria with intact membranes fluoresce green while dead bacteria with damaged membranes fluoresce red (Rowan, 2011). 3. Gene probe / oligonucleotide probe / hybridization: Molecular analysis can also be used to study non-culturable microorganisms in nature. Oligonucleotide probes of l8-20 nucleotides are proving most useful because they hybridize rapidly to specific DNA sequences of target organisms. These gene probes can reveal closely related organisms or organisms with similar functional capabilities. Especially useful for the analyses of rRNA that demonstrate the presence of diverse microbial populations whose phylogenetic relationships can be ascertained by comparison with rRNA sequences from previously described microorganisms (Josephson et al., 1993). Blotting: There are different types of blotting such as colony blot, slot blot, dot blot and southern blot. The principle of blotting is the use of radio- or non-radioactive or fluorescence labeled probe (DNA/RNA/Antibody) to detect VBNC cells directly from the environmental samples. Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH): In situ hybridization is an alternative format for hybridization probes in which fluorescence labeled DNA or RNA probes are hybridized with target nucleic acids in whole, permeabilized cells. The application of this method to the detection of single microbial cells by using rRNA-targeted probes in combination with epifluorescent microscopy has been developed. This is done through selective targeting of regions of rRNA, which consist of conserved and variable nucleotide regions. By choosing the appropriate rRNA probe sequence, FISH can be used to detect all bacterial cells (a universal probe) or a single population of cells (a strain specific probe) of VBNC. It has lower sensitivity and cannot distinguish live and dead cells. 4. Molecular techniques: Hybridization probes and DNA/RNA amplification: Hybridization probes are nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) which have been (a) chemically or radioactively labeled and are used to detect complementary target DNA/RNA. Hybridization assay DNA/ RNA probes form a stable double stranded structure with target nucleic acid via H-bonding between complementary bases. Amplification of targets: DNA Based methods: Specific amplification of DNA targets in bulk DNA extracts from environmental and clinical samples permits detection of specific organisms or groups of related organisms without the need to cultivate them. DNA recovery procedures do not discriminate between culturable and non-culturable forms of the target organisms- all cells with intact amplification targets will be detected. Confocal laser microscopy in combination with fluorescence-based hybridization assays, also provide a more sensitive method for detecting and identifying VBNC organisms. RNA based methods: Due to the failure of distinguishing between dead or live cells by DNA-based methods, the mRNA level may be a valuable estimate of gene expression and/or cell viability under different conditions (Lleo et al., 2000). RT-PCR: RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase PCR) can distinguish between Live and dead cell. This is possible because this is an mRNA based method and mRNA is short lived (half-life less than 1 minute), mRNA is only present in metabolically active cells, not found in nature after the cell death. By this method we can study community relationship and can also detect non-culturable but active or live cells. DNase enzyme is used during the isolation of RNA from environmental samples. Reverse transcriptase and random primers are added to the reaction mixture and the RNA in the sample (both RNA and rRNA) is transcribed into DNA. PCR is then use to amplify the specific sequence of interest (Pai et al., 2000). Is the concept of VBNC is a misnomer? By extending the concept of bacterial self-suicide scientists tried to explain what happens when cells are exposed to chemical and physical injury (Forsman et al., 2000). Thus VBNC organisms came alongside with those, which do not grow in ordinary media but which do grow when offered selective or enrichment media. They said, Such cells are not un-culturable they wrote We are simply failing to provide appropriate conditions to support culture (Sinton, 2006). The reasons, which made the term, VBNC a misnomer are as follow: 1. VBNC bacteria semi-starved bacteria very often mimic each other. Semi-starved bacteria resume growth if provided with appropriate nutrients conditions. But viable but non-culturable bacteria do not resume growth even though nutrients are provided. VBNC cells become too starved to grow on nutrient rich medium directly. This phenomenon resembles a widely accepted condition termed substrate accelerated death (Heim et al., 2002). These starved VBNC cells require an adjustment period to allow phenotypic adaptation back to normal growth state (Epstein, 2009). Sudden shift to nutrient enriched media imbalances metabolic networks of the cells resulting formation of DNA damage agents such as super-oxide free radicals causing cell death (Barer Harwood, 1997). 2. There is yet no complete and perfect media to isolate arid culture all the organisms from environment. 3. Cells are usually-injured or stressed or starved condition in natural environment. So complete system has been devised to enrich or resuscitated the VBNC cells. Culture condition that can be applied in laboratory is not sufficient to recover all microorganisms i.e. yet it is not possible to provide or stimulate exact environmental conditions in the laboratory. Conclusion From the above discussions, it is evident that a number of non-spore forming human pathogenic bacteria enter VBNC state with maintained cellular structure biology persistent gene expression but remain non-culturable by traditional cultural techniques. Thet can survive revert to culturable conditions when provided with appropriate conditions. It is also evident that VBNC bacteria pose significant threat to both public health and food safety. Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanism to combat the threat of VBNC in future.

Of Mice and Men Comparison Essay -- essays research papers

In the story, there are two oddly paired men, who travel side by side and support each other with the goal of living the ideal life. In a world of loneliness and trouble, these characters, George and Lennie, find comfort within the presence of each other. Another friendship within the story is between Candy and his dog. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, the author suggests that the friendships between the two sets of individuals have parallel connections. By observing the characters’ position in society, the meaning of their relationship with one another, and the killing of their companion, we can conclude that there are similarities between the two partnerships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both sets of friends have their designated positions in society. George and Candy act as the supporters in the relationship. Lennie and the dog, however, are dependent upon their supporters to exist in society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ËœYou know how the hands are, they just come in and get their bunk and work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a month, and then they quit and go out alone. Never seem to give a damn   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  about nobody. It jus’ seems kinda funny a cuckoo like him and a smart little   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  guy like you travelin’ together.’ (39) Lennie is marginalized as the â€Å"cuckoo† character that is rather unintelligent and useless. George is clearly established as the man with the intelligence and the supporter of Lennie. Slim see...

Akira Kurosawa and Robert Zemeckis Essay -- essays papers

Akira Kurosawa and Robert Zemeckis â€Å"As the term suggests, an auteur is an author, someone whose aesthetic sensibilities and impact are most important in the creation of a text. With literary texts, discerning authorship is usually no problem. But with collaborative art forms, such as film, deciding on authorship is much more complicated. Generally speaking, film theorists have concluded that it is the director of a film who is the auteur, the most important creative figure. But auteur theory is concerned with more that one film; it is concerned with the work of a director – with his or her whole corpus of films, and with certain dominant themes and stylistic aspects of these films. The text in auteur criticism is not one film, but the body of work of the director.† Although both Akira Kurosawa and Robert Zemeckis have made many successful films there is a distinct difference in the filmmakers works. The authorship of the film is what creates the distinction between Kurosawa and Zemeckis films. Examining authorship is a challenge; critics and writers have been attempting to do it for years. The most comprehensive definition that I have found is the one quoted above from Berger’s Cultural Criticism. In non-technical language, authorship is looked upon as an unknown distinct element that one of the film’s cast or crew brings to it. Always changing, this unknown element may be derived from, an actor, director, editor or even a cinematographer. In the past there have been two distinctions made by critics regarding authorship. There is the claim that there is an elitist group of filmmakers who have a distinct definable quality to all of their films regardless of whether they are considered good or bad quality films. In essence, the caliber of the film itself seems to be irrelevant to the theory. This group is categorized under the much sought after term of auteur. This said, a bad film made by an auteur is alleged to better than the best film made by a metteur en scene. This brings us to the idea of what can be considered when examining a metteur en scene. The definition seems to take on exactly the opposite quality than that of an auteur. A metteur en scene may make decent or even good films, but there seems to be a link missing when comparing all their works as a whole. When regarding the works of an Auteur, we must examine their films as a... ...e is how he creates his film; much of this is the level of control that a director exercises upon his body of work. Throughout Kurosawa's career, he worked hard to repeatedly present the themes, which were important to him. This is not always the case in Zemeckis' films, as we do not see Zemeckis using the same themes consistently throughout his works. Using subjectivity, Kurosawa was able to bring the audience into the minds and hearts of the characters involved. Thus, Akira Kurosawa's work is clearly superior to directors who presented their stories more objectively. Bibliography: Works Cited: Berger, Arthur Asa. Cultural Criticism: A Primer of Key Concepts. London: SAGE Publications, 1995 Mackinnon, Gillies. â€Å"Haunting visions.† Sight & Sound ns 4 (1994): 61 Peary, Gerald. â€Å"Akira Kurosawa; Japan's existential cowboy looks West and thinks East† American Film v. 14 (1989): 80-82 Ritchie, Donald. The Films Of Akira Kurosawa: Third Edition. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998 Saynor, James. â€Å"Accidental Auteur,† Sight & Sound v.3 (1993): 4-8 Seltzer, Alex. â€Å"Akira Kurosawa: seeing through the eyes of the audience.† Film Comment v. 29 (1993): 72-77

The Pass Fail System of Standardized Tests Essay examples -- Standardiz

The Pass Fail System of Standardized Tests Standardized tests have historically been used as measures of how students compare with each other or how much of a particular curriculum they have learned. Increasingly, standardized tests are being used to make major decisions about students, such as grade promotion or high school graduation, and schools. More and more often, they also are intended to shape the curriculum and instruction. Students across America have had to repeat classes because of the way standardized tests are used to pass or fail students. Students have had to rely on just one test to pass them for the whole semester (FairTest). Although the tests require students to retain information until the end of the semester, I believe it is wrong to allow just a single test to decide whether an entire semester’s work will be rewarded will the credit that may have been well earned. Even general standardized tests such as the SAT, which almost every high school student has taken, are not fair to students who may come from a poor educational background (Standardized Minds). Students are at a disadvantage if they have test taking anxiety, a condition that many students suffer from. If a student is having a bad day or going through a rough time on a test day, this may also determine their entire semester’s work. Standardized tests are often based on one topic, giving the student little room to express their strong points. Tests are called "high-stakes" when they used to make major decisions about a student, such as high school graduation or grade promotion. Tests are called "standardized" when all students answer the same questions under similar conditions and their responses are scored in the same way. Research has shown that high-stakes testing causes damage to individual students and education. It is not a reasonable method for improving schools. Test-taking anxiety is common among high school and college students. The anxiety can be quite stressful and sometimes weakening, both personally and academically. It is a condition that thousands of students suffer from and it is something that they cannot help or overcome by the time of a test. Students who suffer from this often get very panicked by exams, and most of the time they draw a blank during a test, even though they know the material... ...n a test score. High-stakes testing punishes students, and often teachers, for things they cannot control. It drives students and teachers away from learning, and at times from school (FairTest). Assessments of educational strengths and weaknesses can be useful at the individual, classroom, school or district levels. However, information the needs to be sufficiently timely, accurate, meaningful, detailed and comprehensive for the kind of diagnosis being made. Even outstanding students with high grade point averages are highly capable of failing a final exam due to anxieties and other conditions that almost every student experiences. Although standardized tests will still be given to students everywhere, the pass fail system must stop. There are alternatives that may be taken to give every student a fair chance while still keeping the effectiveness of the tests. One possibility could be to make the final exam a large part of the student’s grade but not a determinant of whether the student passes or fails. A student who understands and learned the material over the entire semester should not have to repeat a course just because of one bad test result.

All of our Choices are Predetermined Essay

The Universe appears to be governed entirely by laws, studies of physics seem to show that atoms follow an extremely predictable pattern of cause and effect. This presents a difficult problem for philosophy; if all physical matter is governed by the laws of cause and effect, and we ourselves are comprised of physical matter, how could it be so that any choices we make could be seen to be free? The suggestion that our choices are set out by cause and effect is known as Determinism. Philosophers such as Ted Honderich have argued for determinism and for the consequences that it cancels out free will. It seems insensible to argue that we are not in the least bit determined, and almost all people know from personal experience that people act in a relatively stable and predictable way. For example, if I were to ask my father if he wanted tea or coffee, I would know that he would want coffee based on his love of coffee, and hatred for tea. This preference could not be argued in any way to be a choice made by him, we do not choose what we like, but simply do. Whether our preferences are based on nature or nurture is an ongoing debate, but regardless of the final conclusion, as long as our opinions are based on either of the two options, we would be seen to be determined. Nature is not in our control, neither on the other hand, is nurture. If our personalities are based on environmental or genetic factors and nothing else then our actions are surely determined. This position is extremely convincing and was famously used by Clarence Darrow to prevent two murderers from receiving the death penalty, he argued that they where a product of their upbringing and as such could not be held morally responsible for their actions. This meant, while they could be jailed to prevent threat to society, they could not be punished with the death penalty. The viewpoint of Determinism, while convincing, is by no means universally accepted. The argument seems to go against our intuitions that we are free -although it is notable at this point that our intuitions themselves are philosophically worthless, we cannot argue for an element of truth on the grounds that we feel it is true- and is seemingly incompatible with the view of a God who punishes and rewards his creations with heaven and hell. If our actions are predetermined, then it seems that punishment in hell would be arbitrary. God would simply be creating people in a flawed way, and then punishing them for his poor skills of creation. Needless to say, this viewpoint is not accepted by many Christians and so there have been many arguments for a lack of determinism in philosophy. The belief of Libertarianism, is that we are completely free; in the words of Jean-Paul Sartre â€Å"I am not free not to be free†. Though Sartre’s beliefs on free will were more assertions than arguments of proofs, he summarises the Libertarian view point perfectly. All our actions are completely freely chosen, our only confinement is that we cannot be confined. Libertarianism has the difficult task of explaining how it is possible to defend non-determined choices in an environment where all things seem to be determined by cause and effect. As already stated, if our personality is held to be nothing but a result of nature of nurture, then determinism must be accepted as a matter of logical consistency. From this, many Libertarians would stipulate the existence of a â€Å"super-natural† element to our personality. For example, if one were to believe in a soul, then it is possible to argue the physical laws of cause and effect have no bearing on our actions. This does seem to contradict fairly obvious observable evidence. Psychology has frequently found causes for human behaviour, and it is difficult to explain the consistency and successes of this particular scientific discipline if we do not accept that our choices are determined in some way. One of the more successful attempts of Libertarianism to discredit Determinism is the pointing to laws of physics that do not seem to obey causality. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle shows distinct examples of elements of nature acting randomly, and not due to cause and effect. There are two main criticisms that can be made of this argument; One, that this principle only functions on an minute level, while actual objects such as people still obey determined laws of physics (although science has proven the principle can be amplified to affect people), and; Two, that even where actions random, there would still not be free will, while we would not live in a predetermined environment, we would still live in a (randomly) determined environment. If one was to roll a dice in order to decide the actions a prisoner should take, they would not be considered free by any means. The fundamental flaw of Libertarianism, is that when we examine how it would work, it seems to collapse. As all choices are made according to our personality, a serial killer, is only so because he has a serial killer’s personality. This statement would suggest determinism and could only be argued against in two ways: Firstly, we could state that the serial killer has no personality, this however, seems nearly impossible to uphold. Without personality, we would have no preferences and without preferences we could not make any choice at all. Asking someone who has no preference of good over evil, or pleasure over pain, to make a moral decision would be rather like asking someone whether they prefer white to white. Without personality, we would not be able to make any choice at all, as no options would appeal to us over others. It could be argued, that decisions can still be made according to rationalism, but as rationalism and logic are consistent discipline this would make our actions even more predictable and un-chosen than determinism suggests. So this argument cannot be used to defend Libertarianism. Secondly, we could suggest that the Serial-Killer was in some way in control of his personality. That he chose his preference of evil over good. This again fails. As we have already stated, choices cannot be made without personality, so to choose a personality we would require a personality for us to choose, this initial personality would determine the personality we chose. We could attempt to argue that this initial personality was chosen, but very soon we would have to give way to infinite regression. With this in mind, Libertarianism and the suggestion that our choices are anything but pre-determined or random, is not only completely incompatible with the current model of physics and psychology, but more importantly is incompatible with choice itself (as choice requires preference, preference designates personality which in turn suggests determinism). Libertarianism is a self defeating system in that it requires an absence of will to prove free will, which would be rendered useless without will. There is also a logical argument against Libertarianism. J.J.C Smart points out that there are two possible states of things, i.e. determinism or indeterminism. Either determinism is true, or indeterminism is true, these exhaust all possible philosophical options. Determinism would prevent a Libertarian view as our choices are predetermined, indeterminism would seem to prevent Libertarian view also, as our choices are random and thus not controlled or free. From this argument, we can see that a Libertarian argument for free will is impossible. It seems undeniable therefore, that all our choices are pre-determined -or in the least part random, whether our choices are in fact pre-determined or random is largely down to physicists to discover, currently it seems to be that we are in fact pre-determined, but this cannot be assured without knowledge of all physics. Even if our choices are not predetermined, what they are not -as has been argued in the course of this essay- is freely chosen, at least according to the viewpoint of free will presented by libertarianism. But what would the effects of this be? Hard determinism would argue that we cannot claim to possess free will in a deterministic environment. The problem with this position seems to be that we have defined free will incorrectly. The view of free-will as indifference, has in the course of this essay been demonstrated as problematic, and if we adopt this view of free-will then hard determinism would seem an agreeable viewpoint, the problem is, that this seems an utterly meaningless way of discussing free will. Free will does not appear to refer to the ability of will to change itself, when we refer to a free lion, we do not mean it is free to change to a tiger or a bird, we simply mean it is free to act according to its nature. It would therefore seem to be more useful to discuss free will in the sense of â€Å"a will being able to act itself out†, we are free if we could have chosen otherwise HAD our will been different. This Compatibilist approach adopted by David Hume seems to allow us to discuss free will in a meaningful way, within what seems to be a predetermined environment.

If I Won a Million Dollars and Could’nt Speend It on Myself

I would help my family members. Some of the money I would donate to charity. The rest of the money would go to helping children. First I would give to my mom she raised me as a single mother and had a hard time. I would then get banking accounts for my children so they would have money when they became adults. And hopefully they would make good decisions in life, that would give my kids a better opportunity than I had I would just hope they use it well and that’s the first thing I would do. Next I would donate to charity give money to the Ronald McDonald house. I would give money to the battered women’s shelter to help then get back there life because as a kid I lived with my mom as she was being battered. It would be nice to help someone in need and there’s a lot of women in need of help to escape from being battered and abused . Finally I would build an after school facilities for children so they are not on the streets after school it would have sport’s activities, meals, transportation, and support services. It would help to get more kids off the streets , And that’s what I would do, I would help my family, donate money to charity, battered women’s shelter, and build a after school facilities for children. I may not never win a million dollars but that’s what I would do if I ever won but I’m going to keep playing maybe one day I might win.

ex Education Should be Implemented to Grade-schoolers Position Essay

Ladies and gentleman good morning, today we will be debating about sex education. Sex education taught in the school system has long been debated as right or wrong. There are some who believe it is wholly wrong for the school to get involved in such a sensitive topic. They may believe this because they feel parents should do the talking or it may be down to religious reasons. First let’s define sex education so what is sex education. Sex education is instruction on issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual activity, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, and birth control. Common avenues for sex education are parents or caregivers, formal school programs, and public health campaigns. The word sex, it is one of the few words that catch our attention. Whenever we see the word â€Å"sex† in magazines, newspapers and other print materials, we tend to stop at some point and become interested to read the article where it is written. It’s not because we simply feel the urge to read about sex but perhaps the â€Å"questioning self† wants to clarify and discover the truth about this matter. In liberal democracies, sex is viewed as a normal activity for both adults and teenagers. In the Philippines, it’s very different. Whenever we say the word â€Å"sex†, we are labeled as â€Å"rude†. No wonder why if we heard of â€Å"sex† we directly associate it to â€Å"vulgarity†. We cannot blame ourselves because we are living in a society with a stronghold of moral standards and conservatism. As a representative of the opposition we strongly oppose the implementation of sex education to grade-schoolers. Those grade school pupil who have pure mind and still immature we cannot afford to change the way of thinking of these innocent grade school pupil. It is still early for them to learn about sex education. Teaching sex education to grade-schooler at early age can greatly affect their way of thinking. A person who is 7-11 years old is still immature, they have a imaginative mind and curious to different things specially one that they still haven’t tried, so introducing them about sex education is very risky. There’s no guarantee that the person teaching it has a healthy attitude about sex, or that the teacher really knows anymore about sex that the students do. Sex education brings the information to the front, possibly giving kids ideas of things that they had never thought of before. Instead of just letting things goes by and take their natural course, kids begin thinking about it. They begin to wonder what it’s like and may make poor choices that they never would have if they hadn’t heard about it in the first place. There is also a possibility that they do what couples because of curiosity and immaturity. For teens and young adult are in the transitional stage or the experimental years wherein they are curious about many things and they are very impulsive to try something new, they always seek their selves from other, teaching them how to use contraceptives is a big no, once they learn about birth control and safe sex. The chances for having unplanned teen pregnancies are possible for they are not yet matured to handle such stuff. There’s a tendency that they might have multiple partners. Students may still also suffer from embarrassment or get excitable by the topic matter. Student curiosity will be set high and their urge to try it will be greater. This will cause them to engage in early sex, sex Education program is not the answer to any sex related problems of young teens and minors that have been undergoing at the moment. the schools responsibility is to teach reading, math, science, social studies, etc. Instead of teaching them sex education program, school should concentrate more in moral values, that sex is responsibility, that once done, you must ready to face the consequences and any challenges in life. That sex is sacred it’s not just for fun and pleasure but, it should only be done by couples for procreation. There is a right time for everything, so just like the sex education there is right time to learn about it. Sex education can be compared to a knife – it is useful to those who understand how to use it, but dangerous for those who do not. As parents, would you leave it to someone else to explain something potentially damaging to your children? If they will pursue with it, isn’t it awkward hearing kids say â€Å"Hey mama, can you review me with this condom, pills etc.

American Christians Essay

On August 6 and August 9, 1945, the world saw the first and only usage of atomic weaponry in the history of the world. President Truman said that his decision to use the bomb was for the chief purpose of ending WWII, the deadliest war in human history, as quickly as possible. Multiple warnings were given to Japan about this new weapon in the hope that they would surrender. Japan did not heed these warnings before or even after the dropping of the first bomb on the city of Hiroshima. An invasion of Japan, which was planned for the spring of 1946, would cost an estimated 500,000 American lives and in the event of such an invasion, it was learned that plans dated August 1944, for the murder of more than 100,000 Allied POWs would be carried out. (Goodwin, 2003 pg. 338) However, the major scientists of the day who worked on the project as well as the chief Allied commanders in the field, believed that the use of the bomb was unnecessary as Japan was planning to surrender in the immediate future without the influence of the bomb and that further usage of atomic bombs, was not only unnecessary but immoral and constituted a war crime as it was a crime against humanity. The atomic bomb started with the Manhattan Project. This was the name given to the highly classified, top secret project in order to beat the Germans to have the first atomic bomb in the history of the world. The project was initially started by refugee European scientists, most notably, Albert Einstein, who in a letter to President Roosevelt in the spring of 1939, warned that the Germans were aggressively seeking out the use of such a bomb and that the atomic age, whether the world liked it or not, was upon us and it would behoove the United States if they were the first ones with this technology and not the Axis powers. This letter sparked what would become the largest and most costly development research project of its time. During World War II, the number of American deaths would exceed 400,000. This was nothing in comparison to the more than the seventeen million deaths that were suffered by the Soviet Union; America’s contentious ally. This resulted in the aggressive pursuit of the war in which any means necessary would be used in order to end the war as quickly as possible and decrease the number of American deaths. It was also necessary that the Manhattan Project be kept top secret. The project was so top secret that Vice President Harry Truman did not know of its plans until he secured the White House at the death of President Roosevelt in April of 1945. Only then did President Truman learn and then approve the further testing and continuation of the plan. The atomic bomb was World War II version of chemical warfare, except that it was on a much larger scale. Therefore, a greater degree of responsibility must be attached to its possible use in war. As a result, President Truman commissioned a group of prominent citizens and respected scientists to advise the President on the possible use of the atomic bomb. U. S. Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, concluded the report by saying: â€Å"Our great task is to bring this war to a prompt and successful conclusion. †(Lamplier 2006) However, there were other thoughts on the subject. Robert Oppenheimer said that the bomb could kill 20,000 people and that the target should be a military and not a civilian target. Furthermore, Dr. Arthur Compton, a scientist, argued that the bomb should be dropped in a remote area of Japan where there was known to be a sparse population so that minimal life would be lost but that Japan could see first hand, the destruction of the bomb and be prompted to surrender. This suggestion was soon dismissed as it would be disadvantageous if Japan was prompted of the attack before it happened and the plane would be shot down or if the bomb was dropped and did not detonate, this would be a major problem as future attempts to warn the Japanese would fall on unbelieving ears. Also, there was a real possibility that the bomb would not work as this was a new invention with only one test explosion under its belt. â€Å"In July of 1945, President Truman reexamined the use of the bomb and in the end, agreed that the best thing to do, in order to bring a prompt end to the war, would be to utilize the bomb’s destructive force and appeal for intimidation in order to bring the war to an end. † (McCullough, 2005 pg. 188) The stage was set for the world’s only use of this new and terrible weapon. On July 26, 1945 President Truman and other Allied leaders outlined their conditions for surrender in what would be called the Potsdam Declaration. It said: â€Å"The full application of our military power, backed by our resolve, will mean the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forced and just as inevitably, the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland†¦ We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forced, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction. † (Rhodes, 1985 pg. 129) This message would be rebroadcast over Japanese radio as well as printed on thousands of leaflets that were dropped over Japan. This did not yield the response that the Allied Forces had hoped for and it was ignored. Emperor Hirohito was yet to receive word that the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan, or were ever going to and therefore, did not feel the necessity to accept the possibility of surrender. The bombings would have to continue as planned. Upon waiting for ideal weather temperatures, a B-29 named the Enola Gay after one of the pilot’s mother, set off for their target of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Six hours after the flight began, the B-29 and its captain, Paul Tibbits, came upon their target and the bomb, nicknamed ‘Little Boy† for the shape of the bomb was dropped on the unsuspecting city. The bomb contained over 130 pounds of the highly explosive uranium-235 and even though only 1% of that would be efficiently used in the drop, the bomb performed as expected. (Meyers, 2001 pg. 77) The bomb detonated 600 meters above the ground and had a blast equal to 13 kilotons in which 90,000 people were instantly killed. It is also likely that hundreds of Allied Prisoners of War and 2,000 Japanese Americans present before the war in which they were attending school overseas and were unable to leave once the war broke out, died in the blast as well. Also, the number of deaths needs to be grouped into two main categories: those that died at the initial blast and those that lingered in agony for days or even weeks before the succumbed to the high levels of radiation that they had been exposed to as a result of the blast. 90% of the buildings in Hiroshima were leveled to the ground and fires which stretched for 11 square miles were also seen as a result of the bombing. (Nichols, 1985. 229) A new and most lethal weapon had been unleashed for the first time upon a city. The destruction was complete but was still not enough to compel Japan to surrender. Plans for a second atomic bomb had been already planned for, in the event that it would be needed. Plans were now made for the usage of this second bomb and its dropping over Nagasaki. Despite the total destruction of the bomb, a second one was needed as the first did not compel Japan to surrender. President Truman declared: â€Å"If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the likes of which has never been seen on this earth. † (McCullough, 2005 pg. 219) On August 8th, 1945, thousands of additional leaflets were dropped and warnings were given to Japan. As a result of Japan’s refusal to surrender, a second bomb was dropped over the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. This bombing included more than 14 lbs of plutonium 239 and which exploded more than 430 meters above the ground. This cased winds of more than 600 mph and had the power of 21 kilotons of TNT. The estimated heat that the bomb caused was more than 7000 F and an estimated 80,000 people were killed with another 60,000 injured; many of whom would die from their injuries in the coming weeks and months. (Lamplier, 2006) There still was no sign of Japan’s surrender and the United States planned for more bombings. The debate over America’s use of the atomic bomb has increased as the years continued. There is a great deal of evidence, both for and against the use of the atomic bomb. It was later learned by the public, that a mass invasion of Japan was scheduled in March of 1946 in a final attempt to end the war. There is no way of being able to accurately calculate the number of casualties but one estimate from Secretary of State James Byrnes, believed that 500,000 American lives would be lost as well as hundred of thousands Japanese lives as well if an invasion were to occur. (Lamplier, 2006) An initial wave of American forces, it was estimated, would yield close to 100,000 deaths and with future waves of invasion forces, three to four times that number would be seen it was generally believed. Also, there has been a political stalemate within Japan between the military and the civilian forces over the possibility of surrender. The civilian forces had been seeking a way in which to obtain a favorable and honorable surrender but this was seen as out of the question among the military generals. Also, after the war, it was learned that plans by Japanese forces to murder more than 100,000 Allied POWs, if an invasion were to occur, helped the cause of justifying the use of the atomic bomb in order to avoid an invasion and end the war as quickly as possible, thus saving hundreds of thousands of American lives as well as Japanese lives in the process. However, there has been in the decades after the war, an increasing number of detractors who have said that the usage of the atomic bomb was unnecessary and that more peaceful measures could have been used in order to bring the war to a close. One of the scientists, Leo Szilard, wrote to President Roosevelt in 1939, about the morality of the bomb. It seemed as a paradox that many of the scientists, who worked on the Manhattan project, did not advocate the usage of the bomb. In the letter, it was believed that had Germany used the bomb of the United States, the US would almost certainly decry this action as being representative of war crimes. Therefore, the same would have to be believed had America dropped such a bomb on their enemies. The letter reads as such: â€Å"Suppose Germany had dropped one bomb, say, on Rochester and the other on Buffalo, and then having run out of bombs she would have lost the war. Can anyone doubt that we would then have defined the dropping of the atomic bombs on cities as war crimes, and that we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them? † (Goodwin, 2003 pg. 225) However such beliefs have now come under intense scrutiny as to date, the droppings of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki still stand as the world’s only use of atomic weaponry upon the world. There were further scientific detractors from the use of the bomb. In March 1945, scientist Dr. James Franck questioned the use of the bomb in relation to public opinion towards the United States on a world wide basis. â€Å"If the United States were to be the first to release this new means of indiscriminate destruction upon mankind, she would sacrifice public support throughout the world, precipitate the race for armaments, and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control of such weapons. † (Meyers 2001 pg. 227) Further backlash against the use of the bomb was seen by the Federal Council of Churches in March 1946 in which a joint statement read: â€Å"As American Christians, we are deeply penitent for the irresponsible use already made of the atomic bomb. † However, at that time, there were no implications against President Truman concerning possible political motivations until after he had left office in 1953. Peter Kuznick, director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, believed that the President was politically motivated in his use of the bombs. â€Å"He knew he was beginning the process of annihilation of the species. It was not just a war crime; it was a crime against humanity† The usage of the atomic bombs, resulted in many believing that the world, as the result of American usage of the bombs, had pushed the world to the point of no return in the usage of atomic weaponry. â€Å" (Goodwin, 2005 pg. 255) It was then implied that the United States was motivated by the desire to scare the Soviet Union with their new invention. Ever since the meting at Yalta in which President Roosevelt, Joseph Stain and Winston Churchill met in order to carve out a post war Europe and what the future of the world would represent, there had been a tremendous amount of suspicion towards the Soviet Union and their communist ideas. At the Yalta Conference, President Roosevelt erroneously believed that he and the United States could keep the Soviet Union in check. This was an assumption which proved to be incorrect to an alarming degree, the closer the Allies got to realizing victory in World War II. By the summer of 1945, it was obvious to all, that the end of WWII would only signal the beginning of a new war between the Soviet Union and the United States. At that time, nobody knew how that war would end as the Soviet Union, despite their heavy losses in WWII, was an even match with the United States. The only thing which the United States had was the atomic bomb and it could not have been seen than in only four short years after the end of the war, The Soviet Union would have an atomic bomb of their own. This further increased the number of detractors of the use of the atomic bomb and its suspected use towards intimidating the Soviet Union with its use on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Also, two of the most famous and powerful American generals during the war, Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur, both disagreed with the use of the bomb. Eisenhower, in his memoir The White House Years, commented on the use of the bomb. â€Å"During the recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him (Secretary of War Stinson) my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that our dropping of the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking the world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. † (Eisenhower, 2003 pg 77) Eisenhower was not alone. Other generals also believed that the dropping of the bomb was unnecessary. Douglas MacArthur, who publicly hated Truman said that he thought that such an event was unnecessary and later said: â€Å"Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bomb had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated. † (Tarver, 2004) Also, by President Truman not dropping the bomb when he had the chance to, upon the American public learning of this, would have sealed Truman’s political future as well as the political future of the Democratic Party for years to come, regardless of an Allied victory soon after August 1945. The American public had endured three and a half years of a deadly war, not seen in measure since the Civil War and the American public had been largely in favor of the bombings of Dresden and Tokyo which yielded comparable numbers of deaths as it was believed that such bombings would end the war quicker. When President Truman said that his motivation for use of the bomb was to end the war as quickly as possible, he echoed the prevailing opinion of the American public. In the decades since the end of the war, there has been new information which has both led to a further belief in the correctness and the immorality of the usage of the bomb. The suggestion to drop the bomb in a desolate area of Japan would have been a proper compromise between the two prevailing schools of thought. The bomb would have been dropped and a successful display of this new invention and its destructive power would be achieved with minimal loss of life. This did not occur and only President Truman, as it was he who had the final power to drop the bomb, knew what his real motivations were in what still is, the world’s only usage of the atomic bomb upon its citizens. WORKS CITED Goodwin, D. (2003). No Ordinary Time. New York: Simon & Schuster Eisenhower, D. (1998). The White House Years. New York: Scribners Lamplier: J. (2006) FDR. Boston: PBS Productions. Manchester, W. (1987) The Last Lion: Alone . New York: Simon & Schuster. McCullough. D. (2005). Truman. New York: Scribners. Meyers, J. (2001). Fat Man & Little Boy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Murrow, E. (1991). Revisiting Los Alamos See It Now. New York: CBS Productions Nichols. H. (1985) The Manhattan Project Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1985 Rhodes, R. (1985) Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. New York: Simon and Schuster Tarver, M. (2004) Douglas MacArthur Boston: American Experience PBS Productions