Gun control Revised paragraph Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gun control Revised paragraph - Essay Example eans that the government will only be able to control guns that are legally obtained and are licensed and this will put the law-abiding citizens in harm’s way, as the government cannot control guns that are obtained in an illegal manner, as these guns cannot be traced by to the owner. This does not at all mean that gun control legislation should not be passed and citizens of a nation should be allowed to carry weapons. If gun control laws are being made, these laws should even address the problem of unlicensed guns and guns that are carried by criminal minds. For this purpose, a total crack down on guns in the entire nation will be required. Law enforcement agencies will have to try taking control of any weapon out their own the streets. This method of controlling guns will be quite expensive as it will require participation of huge number of law enforcement agency’s officers. Secondly, even the law abiding citizens will stand against gun control if they are not ensured that guns are not only being taken away from them, they are even taken away from the

Portraying paintings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Portraying paintings - Essay Example Then there is the musical instrument to the far right—a bit more frivolous an object, and a sword near the center—certainly not as common as a book. There is also a sort of musical instrument with the skull, which is the obvious focal point of the painting. The wooden flute is set near its mouth, almost to look as though the skull is playing it. In fact, perhaps the skull is smiling as it plays a whimsical tune. Also interesting, however, is the light source, a small window, presumably near the ceiling. The light illuminates only the skull, and leaves the other images in relative darkness, as if to say that what is important in the picture is the reminder of death, rather than the other â€Å"Vanities of Human Life† that are portrayed. Death, the artist seems to suggest is another of these vanities, however, as the skull plays upon its flute almost whimsically. Perhaps he is trying to tell us that death is the most beautiful vanity of all, as it removes us from t he other banalities of existence. In John Keats’ poem, â€Å"When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be†, we see the two most common themes of Keats’ entire body of poetry—those of unrequited love, and fear of death—here together in one poem. He uses the sonnet form, with three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end. (This can also be seen as an octet and sestet). The natural divisions in the form of the poem organize his fears about love and death.

The basque conflict

The basque conflict THE BASQUE CONFLICT Project Framework The Basque conflict, rendered more acute by the establishment of a terrorist organisation in the second half of the 20th century, illustrates the contemporary hindrances of an invigorated Europe, concerned with theories of integration and social consensus. This project intends to comprise a descriptive and theoretical approach, rather than a quantitative analysis based on the materialisation of the conflict by the violent incursions of the nationalist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). On the one hand, the first part compares and contrasts the sui generis Spanish state-building process to the thriving ‘imagined community of Sabino Arana, raised through the nationalism of the 19th century, and articulated in relevant facts and figures. On the other hand, the second part brings the conflict to a modern state of affairs, i.e. a scenario of diverse attempts to lessen violence and extremism. It considers micro and macro perspectives and reactions of exogenous actors to this aggiornamento, and despite the diverse interpretations of ethnicity, the paper considers the present context of globalisation, in which identities are no longer guaranteed through states and borders. Introduction The weaknesses in the process of Spanish state-building to which Basque nationalism is inextricably linked constitute an elementary foundation to understand the principles of ETA (1959), as a terrorist organisation, and the nature of the nationalist identities involved in the conflict. In accordance with Linz: ‘Spain [†¦] is a case of early state-building, where the political, social and cultural integration of its territorial components was not fully accomplished (1973: 33), and as a result, its development differs from other European case studies in significant ways, mainly due to its dramatic collapse as a colonial power (Mees 2003). Throughout time, Spain was downplayed from being the most dominant European colonial power to a bankrupt, weakened state with ‘internal problems of legitimacy, identity, penetration and participation (Mees 2003: 6). Within this unstable context, the unification of the disparate territories in Spain resulted in a nation lacking the instruments of integration and cohesion. Therefore, Spanish nationalism in the 19th century remained weak and never became a movement (Seixas 1993). The Post-Colonial State-Building This process involved no common external enemy or national symbols that would promote the idea of an ‘imagined community (Anderson 1999): it was not the aggressive nature of Spanish nationalism that fuelled the ‘durability of regional and local particularisms, but its weakness (Mees 2003: 7). The Spanish were never fully submitted to the idea of nation, and remained loyal to their local regions, such as the Basque Provinces, comprising a particular and differential culture, i.e. an ethnic community that would later become mobilised as a political nation (Smith 1986). In historical terms, the annexation of Navarre in the 16th century represents the establishment of modern Spain and the supremacy of Castile over uninfringeable cultures. Moreover, the Crown recognised the importance of conceiving special rights to certain regions that became exempt from appointing soldiers to the central forces, and were granted a system of laws and practices called fueros that represented a major right of the Basque population, as they conferred (since its codification in the 17th century) conditions for decision-making in most political and economic affairs, with no intervention from the central government (Osma 1996: 34). However, the evolution of the Carlist ideology (in the 19th century), desecrated the unwavering relations with Castile (Flynn 2000: 100), and following its victory in the third war (1872-1876), the Liberal Government declared the abolition of privileges to the Basque Country, instigating a strong resistance. Hence, the conflict in the Basque Country can be interpreted as a reaction to the abolition of rights and concessions granted throughout history, and according to the nationalists: the outraged reaction to the withdrawing of the fueros represented a ‘national awakening among the Basque people (Mees 2003). Early Basque nationalist feeling in the 19th century created an hostile political and social attitude towards the central government, with a developing anti-Spanish and separatist culture (Mees 2003: 8). Furthermore, urban industrialisation and the influx of Spanish-speaking labourers were seen to pose a threat to Basque culture, which is extremely conservative and based around strictly Catholic values, encouraging a nationalist feeling (Woodworth 2001:3). As Basque industrialisation occurred primarily in Biscay, with ‘production of steel, modern shipyards and mining (Conversi 1997: 48), these activities increased the demand for unskilled labour and society disintegration. As an illustration of this phenomenon, the population in Bilbao increased from 35,505 inhabitants in 1877 to 83,306 in 1900 (Atienza 1979: 73) out of the 80% of immigrants, 50% were not Basques (Atienza 1979: 74). The Establishment of an ‘Imagined Community The nationalist ideology expanded by Sabino Arana, founder of the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV) in 1895 (Mees 2003: 5), followed his perception of industrialisation and the consequent immigration to the region as a threat to Basque culture. Arana published his book For the Independence of Biscay (1892) and assisted the formation of the first Batzoki later the Bizkai Buru Batzar i.e. an ideological group that worked as a precursor of the PNV (Elorza 1978: 113). However, after the intervention of Spanish Authorities, Arana was arrested and the party rose as an organised structure, adhering to its manifesto (PNV Manifesto 1906: Volume II). Returned to Biscay, after a course of Law in Barcelona where he was impressed by the Catalan Language and the development of Catalonia after the Renaixenà §a- Arana (a central player of nationalism in the 19th century) was motivated to study Euskerab and contribute to the Basque culture (Conversi 1997: 74). He took the view that only absolute independence from the Spanish state would secure permanent happiness and freedom for the Basque people as culture, history and race needed to be reaffirmed in order to solve the rooted problems. As a consequence, anything Spanish (or non-Basque) would have to be expelled (Mees 2003: 803), as following the nationalist feeling, the only way to succeed would be through the creation of a ‘nationalist history with deep mythological implications, as well as nationalist symbols and purification of the Basque language (Payne 1971: 23). Therefore, in a primary attempt to materialise the nationalist ideology, Arana created symbols that included: the name, Euskadi; the anthem, Gora Ta Gora; and the flag Ikurrià ±a, adopted by the PNV in 1933. Unlike Spanish unification, Arana succeeded in creating an ‘imagined community, with history, traditions and culture unique to the Basque region (Anderson 1999). Violent Incursions and Peace Attempts Since the early 1990s, the opposition within Basque society to the continuation of the conflict has been steadily increasing: groups of citizens became effectively mobilised in an effort to spread their pacifist views throughout the Basque community and build a new anti-violence consensus (Funes 1998: 493). Beyond Basque society, they aim at influencing political leaders, Spanish and Basque governments and at diminishing the power of ETA. As they believe that the people of the Basque Provinces has a responsibility for the existence and the continuity of violence, they intend to become a vehicle for peace. These pacifist groups have increased the conditions both socially and politically for resolution, though ETA retains the support of a ‘qualitatively significant sector of Basque society (Funes 1998). On a micro perspective of external intervention, Gesto por la Paz is composed of 160 subgroups throughout the Basque country and Navarre and organises street demonstrations that regularly attract 15-20,000 followers; and Elkarri, with up to 107 subgroups, was founded by members of the nationalist left, close to ETA and aims to influence those who would join the terrorist organisation or carry out violent attacks. The latter tries to expand dialogue on both sides through conferences, speeches and publications, as both groups look at the Basque people for support in denouncing violence and reducing separatist radical movements (Funes 1998). While groups such as these have done much over the years to create conditions for peace, as long as there is a minority who sees violence as the only solution, grass-root level protests have only a limited impact. There is evidence that Basque society is less and less inclined towards supporting the violence of ETA, giving room for optimism, but peace will only come when the leadership of the group comes to see diplomacy as the way forward. There are three important moments in the history of ETA as a terrorist group, which halted its activities and brought together the two sides of the conflict. The first moment follows the most intense attack against civilians in 1987, when the political parties decided to enter into talks with one another, motivating ETA and the government to discuss the problems of the Basque Country, such as: the Pact of Madrid (1987), the Pact of Ajuria Enea (1988), the Pact of Ardanza (1988), and the Pact of Navarra (1988). In addition, the Plan Ardanza (1998), created by the President of the Spanish Government, Josà © Antonio Ardanza Garro, in an attempt to solve the situation in the Basque Country, led to a proposal by the PNV and ETA to pursue a general agreement, in which the parties were committed to bring together the six territories of the Basque Country whereas ETA would declare ceasefire. Secondly, and considering the incapacity of the Partido Popular (PP) and the Partido Socialista Obrero Espaà ±ol (PSOE) in resolving the Basque conflict, parties and ideological organisations signed a pact in Estella, Navarre (1998), according to which they would study the adoption of the same political resolutions applied to the Northern Ireland case. The elections in the Autonomous Basque Community declared victory of the PNV, and there were many agreements between this party and the PP Government until the secret meeting of 1999 between the two parties, which represented strong contact between ETA and the central government. However, for PP, this was a way to understand whether the terrorist group would be favourable to a definite ceasefire. Therefore, the meeting proved unfruitful and the terrorist attacks restarted. ETA declared the end of ceasefire in 1999 and following this, the PNV accused the terrorist organisation of constituting a bad influence on Basque nationalism. On the other hand, ETA published the negotiations with the PNV and confessed the false ceasefire of 1998. The Euskal Herritarrok was favoured by the PNV but decided to abandon the Basque Parliament, leaving the latter in a political minority. Finally, the third important halt in violence was the announcement of a permanent ceasefire from the 24th March 2006 onwards, in order to carry on the negotiations with the central government of Josà © Luis Zapatero (PSOE), who informed the media on the 29th June 2006 that the conditions for an institutional dialogue had been met. Reactions of Exogenous Actors In terms of international cooperation by external actors, the reaction of France to this conflict has been elementary, as although in the past, the Basque leadership has chosen to operate from that country due to fewer police pressure- since the 1990s, it has made an effort to apprehend the ETA leadership (Telegraph 2nd March 2002). Nearly all high-ranking members of the organisation have been seized in France, including the suspected leader, Jurden Martitegi, arrested in April of this year. However, the significance of the Catholic faith in Basque nationalist expression led to another fundamental reaction, as it preceded the intervention of Pope John XXIII, in the Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (1963). In accordance with this document, minority groups became widespread throughout the world but due to some solid reasons in the international state of affairs, ‘[] minority peoples are often obliged to live within the territories of a nation of a different ethnic origin (Pope John XXIII 1963  §94). Consequently: This situation gives rise to serious problems [and] indeed, the best interests of justice are served by those public authorities who do all they can to improve the human conditions of the members of these minority groups, especially in what concerns their language, culture, ancient traditions, and their economic activity and enterprise (Pope John XXIII 1963  §96). This participation complemented by the address of Pope John Paul II to the United Nations (1995), where it is stated that the phenomenon of ethnicity ‘must not be underestimated or regarded as a simple left-over of the past but conversely ‘[] demands serious interpretation, and a closer examination on the levels of anthropology, ethics and law (John Paul II 1995  §7) appeals to the sense of respect of established nations and constitutes an illustration of international interventions that protect the interests of ethnic minorities. Although many authors share these same perspectives, papal interventions were particularly relevant in the religious status quo of that region. Moreover, as far as EU resolutions are concerned, and regarding the terrorist attack of 11th March 2004, the European Council carried out a ‘Declaration on Combating Terrorism (2004) referring to the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations (Security Council 1373 of 2001), which states that granting support to the victims is paramount in the fight against terrorism. In this framework, the EU revised its strategic principles, which included: strengthening a response against terrorism and its consequences; restraining the access of terrorists to economic resources; and maximising the capacity within the EU bodies to investigate and prosecute terrorists. Furthermore, all Member States would be obliged to act in solidarity in the case of a terrorist attack, mobilising all their resources. This measure complements the List of Terrorist Organisations that includes ideological groups of ETA created by the European Council in 2003. Similarly, the United States of America, following a recommendation to improve international collaboration by the President of the Spanish Government, Josà © Marà ­a Aznar, included this organisation in their list of terrorist threats. Conclusion As an example of an ethnic conflict, the preservation of nationalism and racial identity in the Basque Country has been guaranteed through violence in the name of its tradition, history and national symbols by those who perceive ancient heritage as an entitlement to self-determination, and regard their ethnicity as racially different from the rest of Spain. Violent incursions were justified on these grounds. In accordance with previous considerations, Sabino Arana realised that in order to save Basque cultural identity (including moral and religious values), nationalism would require an exclusivist identity. Therefore, one of the core principles of Basque nationalism became ‘unity of race, maintained through eliminating Spanish influence and migration (Payne 1971:36-37). In the Catalan and Galician Nationalist movements, membership can be gained through learning the language and assimilating culture. However, those wishing to join the PNV had to prove that their first four surnames (later only one) were ‘etymologically Basque. Therefore, in practice, Basque national identity cannot be acquired through learning of the language or practicing of Basque traditions. There is no possibility of non-natives joining and as such, it is a very exclusivist movement (Mees 2003: 12). The Basque nationalists encouraged a sense of a unique Basque racial purity, different from the one of the maketos (Conversi 1997: 60), there is condemnation of marriage between Basques and non-Basques due to the proliferation of Spanish values rather than Basque values (Flynn 2000: 154) and the belief that ‘compared to the Basques, the Spanish did not even constitute a race of their own, being a mix of many peoples (Flynn 2000: 154). There is not only a strong racial element, but also a strong religious one, with Basque nationalists believing that there should be absolute subordination of the political sphere to the religious one and of the state to the church (Payne 1971: 38). This racial stance has implications for immigrants wishing to come and work in the Basque region. Radicalisation has happened at times of mass immigration by non-Basques into the area, creating an anti-migrant culture within the community and a hatred for anything non-Basque. Race and religion are the core values of Basque Nationalism, not culture, giving it an extremely exclusive identity.

Comparing the New England and Chesapeake Regions Essay -- American His

Comparing the New England and Chesapeake Regions The New England colonies were formed by Protestants who were escaping England. They ‘planned’ their society. When they came over they brought entire families, not just random people. The Chesapeake region colonies were formed by whoever signed up. The reasons that resulted in the differences between the New England and the Chesapeake colonies were political, social, and economic. The political reasons for the differences were that in New England there was a basic plan. In document D I found that after a group of people grows to forty families it is then considered a town. This document also tells that everyone got some land. Document E adds some more pieces to the puzzle by telling that the people’s wages were set. This group of colonies also had a huge amount of religious freedom, and even some political power. This is far different from the Chesapeake colonies where, in document g it is stated that they are just a little offshoot of England. There were many social reasons that the two regions were different. In...

Organic food Essay

We have all heard the phrase â€Å"What you don’t know won’t hurt you† and it has undoubtedly applied to many situations in our lives that we are still unaware of. We like to toss around this phrase without worrying too much about what it implies because that is the whole point of the phrase, not to worry. When it comes to what we are putting into our bodies, though, what we do not know can indeed hurt us immensely. In the United States, we have grown accustomed to not thinking much about what we are consuming. The main factors we look for in food are taste and price. We live in a consumer society where money rules our nation, it rules our lives, and it rules us. Money has become the main focus for every decision we make, but when it comes to something as important as our health, should we look at a few other factors? With societies concerns focusing on wealth and profit, there is no surprise that the food industry finds the cheapest ways to produce the most food. Consequently, this produces many negative effects on aspects of our lives such as our health and the environment. When choosing what foods to consume, we should begin to pay more attention to factors other than the price tag. The food industry obviously plays a big role in this epidemic of processed food, but they are not the only ones to blame. Yes they are the ones taking advantage of our ignorance by mass-producing cheap food that they know we will not think twice about, but the ignorance is our fault. Author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan, describes the current foundation of the food industry, â€Å"Our food system depends on consumers’ not knowing much about it beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner. Cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing† (Pollan 245). Pollan is correct in his assumption that most Americans do not know much about their food besides how much it cost. Most of them are not even aware that they do not know what is in their food. They subconsciously assume that chicken is chicken and cheese is cheese, but unfortunately that is hardly ever the case. Many people choose to live along these guidelines of â€Å"ignorance is bliss† by not paying attention to the horror stories of the food industry; they turn their heads from documentaries on animal treatment and plug their ears at the mention of the real ingredients of their precious snacks. As long as the food they are eating tastes good and did not cost a lot of money, they are content with not knowing how unhealthy it might be. Pollan further explains another reason people buy the cheapest available food: It makes good economic sense that people with limited money to spend on food would spend it on the cheapest calories they can find, especially when the cheapest calories—fats and sugars—are precisely the ones offering the biggest neurobiological rewards. (Pollan 108) People with lower incomes are confined to buying cheap food, typically the most processed and unhealthy food, because with their limited funds they cannot afford to care about the quality of what they are eating. They buy what is cheapest because that is all they can get. As long as they have food in their stomachs, they do not complain or worry too much about the side affects. Eating food that may not be very healthy definitely outweighs the alternative of eating nothing and starving. Americans are ignorant of the food that they purchase either because they choose not to educate themselves or because they really have no choice. Either way, they are missing out on other possibilities of obtaining food that have many advantages. Not knowing what our food is made of also prevents us from knowing what alternative food options are available to us. Because we see no problems with our current food choices, we see no reason to discover new ones. The processed food at the supermarket is all we know because it is the most convenient and affordable from of nourishment we can obtain. Pollan’s book includes the testimony of someone who buys food from a local, organic farmer, â€Å"†¦for me it’s all about the taste, which is just so different—this is a chickinier chicken. Art’s chickens just taste cleaner, like the chicken I remember when I was a kid† (Pollan 252). The food available from local farmers is not only better for our health and the environment but it also tastes better. We have grown accustomed to the artificially flavored food we buy from grocery stores and do not realize that the food we eat could taste better and more natural. The locally grown food tastes healthier and more natural because that is precisely what it is. The artificially engineered taste of chicken in a common chicken nugget is not what a chicken should taste like. Besides enhanced taste, buying from local farmers offers many other benefits as well. An organic farmer interviewed in The Omnivore’s Dilemma explains some more benefits of buying locally, With our food all of the costs are figured into the price. Society is not bearing the cost of water pollution, of antibiotic resistance, of food-borne illnesses, of crop subsidies, of subsidized oil and water—of all the hidden costs to the environment and the taxpayer that make cheap food seem cheap. (Pollan 243) One of the main reasons why people do not want to look into these alternative methods of eating is because they are more expensive. People overlook these opportunities because the organic food appears overpriced, but when you evaluate all these factors it might not be as overpriced as you might think. Yes the food is more expensive but it stands true that you get what you pay for. When paying more, you are receiving a whole lot more that benefits your health, community, and environment. The extra money that would be spent on food, you might save on your medical bills and taxes. Locally produced food is healthier for you and it carries a much less chance of containing disease and illness. Another bonus of buying from local farms: there is less pollution created than in the factories and slaughterhouses of the globalized food industry. If people became aware of alternative food options and the benefits associated with them, they would be more inclined to pay better attention to what they are buying. This would not only improve ones personal health, but also the environment. Although money remains a very important role in deciding what we purchase, it would benefit us to consider a few other aspects of the food that we buy. Paying attention to details such as what goes into the food, where it is produced, and how it is produced would lead us to make healthier decisions. More often than not, a satisfying answer to these questions will not be found in the food at our local supermarkets, but rather a local farmer. Buying from these farmers would mean supporting a healthy environment and body. Their production methods are healthier and much more environmentally friendly than any factories in a big-name food industry. While it may seem that this is a simple choice, many Americans will continue to ignore these truths. When it comes down to it, money rules everything and it will take a lot more than the promise of better health for people to overlook a price tag. They say ignorance is bliss, but when that ignorance leads to decisions that contaminate our bodies and our environment, the bliss will be short lived.

Literature of the Great Depression: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, the Graphes of Wrath and Tobacco Road

Literature of the Great Depression: A Survey The Great Depression, beginning in 1929 and continuing throughout the next decade, was a time of extreme economic decline, devastating people of nearly every social class, race, age, and geographic region. Millions of unemployed Americans everywhere suffered the burdens of poverty, homelessness, and crime.While vast numbers of citizens lined up in long bread lines, waiting for hours for the small amount of free food offered by government relief agencies; many others, outraged by their living conditions, took to the streets to protest, sometimes violently, demanding that the government take immediate action to alleviate their suffering. It is these images of such widespread trouble, distress, and social and political upheaval, that sparked the attention of literary writers everywhere. As literary writers assessed these new situations brought on by the Great Depression, one group in particular, the South, piqued the interests of many writers .Economic as well as environmental factors, such as drought and the Dust Bowl, adversely affected the South's economic dependence on agriculture; forcing many farmers into poverty, and driving thousands from their homes elsewhere in search of better opportunities. It is these immense economic adversities as well as vast human suffering experienced by the South that drew interest from many literary writers, making the South the subject of many famous and important works of literature, and thereby securing for the Southern regions an important historic niche in the history of the Great Depression in America.By examining the literary depictions of Southern life during the Great Depression, of works such as The Grapes of Wrath, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and Tobacco Road, we gain essential insights into the cultures, lifestyles, and sentiments of those Americans hardest hit by the Great Depression; farmers and sharecroppers in the American south. Among those works of literature depic ting the Great Depression is Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, written by James Agee with photography by Walker Evans.Written at the height of the Great Depression in 1936 as an assignment for Fortune magazine, and later published in 1941 as a novel, this lengthy four hundred page text is a work of non-fiction that sets out to document the often harsh conditions of white Southern sharecroppers in rural Alabama by spending time with and even lodging with three actual sharecropping families known in the novel as: the Gudgers, the Ricketts, and the Woods for a period of several weeks. In Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, passages of extraordinary description and poetic beauty describe the various settings in which the novel takes place.Agee describes in great detail the homes of the farmers, the work they do, how the people looked, what they ate, how they spoke, their possessions and the surrounding land in order to paint an accurate picture of the living conditions as well as the plight of th e sharecroppers. As Humphries points out, although Agee urges his reader not to view the novel as â€Å"high art† Agee's ability to convey beauty even in those things not typically viewed as beautiful makes the artistic value of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men quite clear.Equally as powerful as the elaborate visual images Agee so skillfully conjures within the reader and the poetic beauty of these images, is the appeal to sensation Agee conveys in his description. Agee in seeking to fully and accurately convey the experiences of Southern sharecroppers, utilizes sensation to attempt to make the reader feel what it is like to be a sharecropper, the physical pain caused by bending of the back, the sensations of cramping in the hand, and the feel of sweat dripping down the body all combine to allow the reader to feel what it is like to be a sharecropper (Quinn).It is through these depictions of sensations that Agee hoped to make the sharecroppers â€Å"so real to you who read of it , that it will stand and stay in you as the deepest and most iron anguish and guilt of your existence that you are what you are, and that she is what she is, and that you cannot for one moment exchange places with her† (Praise 321).In addition to the artful skill with which Agee so vividly depicts his novel, another notable aspect of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is the unconventionality and experimentation through which Agee, with the help of his partner Evans, crafts the novel. The reader is confronted with this unconventionality upon opening the book, in which the presentation of the scores of photographs taken by Evans appear before any other words in the text, even before the table of contents and copyright information.Additionally, none of the pictures provide any sort of captions, a fact that could be best attributed to Evans' preference for presenting his images without the accompaniment of words (Jackson). In keeping with the lack of traditionalism of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Agee casts himself as a character in the novel in which, at parts, he interacts with and reacts to the other characters in the novel. The significance of this is that it provides the reader with insight into the author's thoughts and feelings about the events in the novel.However, this fact along with Agee's Southern ancestry has caused Let Us Now Praise Famous Men to be criticized as being too preoccupied with Agee's personal introspection than with creating a more meaningful depiction of the lives of his subjects (Humphries). Furthermore, in his literary criticism of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Coogle contrasts Agee's and Evans' work with that of Jacob Riis' work, How the Other Half Lives in order to demonstrate both Agee's and Evans' intentional preservation of human dignity as well as the rejection of more traditional worldviews, namely Victorianism (Coogle).Coogle's summation of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is that, â€Å"with its concern for respecting human di gnity and its view of the world as complex and confusing, serves as a striking contrast to earlier notions. Agee and Evans reject any vision of the world as clearly understandable and ordered,† While Riis' Victorian sentiments simplify the human experience and presents his impoverished subjects as inferior, Agee and Evans actively avoid such degradation of their subjects and acknowledge the complexity of life.This new approach to journalism and depicting of social issues coupled with the intentional preservation of human dignity further demonstrates the unconventionality of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and reflects the surge of new and innovative ideas that the Great Depression spurred. No better example of the Great Depression's call for innovative and experimental ideas is one that has been frequently cited by scholars, and that is the parallel between the innovative economic policies of Roosevelt's New Deal with that of the unconventional approach to the making of Let Us No w Praise Famous Men.Austgen makes the assertion that, â€Å"As Roosevelt recognized that traditional plans for economic recovery could not end the Depression, so Agee and Evans knew that traditional methods of photography and journalism would not work to convey accurately the hard and simple lives of the tenant farmers. † Furthermore, as Evans and Agee seek to preserve the dignity of its subject, so too does Roosevelt's economics (Austgen).In conclusion, while Agee's poetic, and often excruciatingly descriptive journalistic reportage coupled with Evans' contribution of a slew of candid photographs work together to create an accurate depiction of the impoverished Southern farmer's experience during the Great Depression on the surface, it is the the radical experimentation of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, as well as Agee's and Evans' attention to human dignity, that illuminates the new and innovative ideas that times of social upheaval and economic hardship such as the Great De pression call for.Like Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, another work of literature depicting farm life during the Great Depression is John Steinbeck's American classic The Grapes of Wrath. Published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of the fictional Joad family, who after losing their Oklahoma farm due to economic hardship and the Dust Bowl, embark on a trek westward to California, hoping to find work and economic stability, but only find continued hardship and despair.After losing two family members to death, characters Granma and Granpa Joad, and two more family members, Noah the oldest Joad son and Connie the pregnant Rose of Sharon's husband, decide to leave the family; the rest of the family, however discouraged, continue on their journey to California. After their arrival in California, the Joads endure exploitation by the powerful upper-class employers, horrible living conditions, as well as police brutality.In response to the migrant laborers lack of power and rights , as well as their absurdly low wages, the laborers, including the preacher Jim Casey, unionize in order to fight back against the exploitation of their corrupt employers. Through his depiction of the unionization of exploited workers, Steinbeck advocates for worker's unions and the need for collective action among the masses. Furthermore, by emphasizing the exploitation of the lower classes, as well as the human suffering caused by the powerful and corrupt upper-class employers, Steinbeck's firm stance against the power of big-business is lucid (Hendrick).Steinbeck's further asserts his political ideas by depicting the Joads as having an extended concept of family. Throughout the novel, various instances arise in which the concept of family extends beyond the traditional conjugal unit, â€Å"to include members related by plight as well as by blood† (Hinton). This is first evidenced in the opening chapters of the novel, as the Joads prepare to embark on their journey westward , they allow the preacher Jim Casey to join them on their journey to California, accepting them as one of their own.Ma Joad's attempt to help starving children in the migrant camp, even as her own children do not have enough to eat further depicts the Joads extended concept of family as well as the altruism displayed by the Joad family. It is this extension of the traditional familial structure that conveys Steinbeck's Socialist viewpoints and his emphasis on the altruism and goodness of the Joads that seem to convey the message that during times of immense suffering and social upheaval people must come together to help one another.Perhaps however, the most notable depiction of the altruism and goodwill of the Joad family occurs at the end of the novel by none other than Rose of Sharon, the Joad family's eldest daughter, a character up until this point plays a relatively secondary role in the novel. After the Joad family suffers yet another tragedy, when Rose of Sharon gives birth t o a stillborn baby, the family, devastated by their loss come across a dying elderly stranger.In an act of extreme kindness, Rose of Sharon offers her breast milk to the man in order to save his life. Moreover, Steinbeck emphasis the humanity and compassion of the Joads in order to provide a stark contrast to the cold and unfeeling upper-class employers that exploit the migrant workers in order to both invoke sympathy in the reader for the plight of the workers as well as to further argue against big-business (Hinton). Finally, The Grapes of Wrath, as a renowned work of literature, fosters a prevalent image of the Southern farmer.For those with even the vaguest knowledge of this important historical era, the Great Depression conjures up images of impoverished farmers, driven from their homes, stoic-faced and desperate, in search of better opportunities and a future for themselves and their families. Although The Grapes of Wrath provides a fictional account of one sharecropping famil y, and while it can be argued that Steinbeck creates a rather dramatized depiction of the sharecroppers, the story Steinbeck tells was one that was true for many.The Great Depression did indeed drive thousands of sharecroppers from their lands, many of which may have been subjected to some of the same horrors the Joads endured. In conclusion, The Grapes of Wrath is valuable for its image of Southern farmers that has become the poster image for the Great Depression, and still remains as such even today. In stark contrast to both Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, is Elskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road.While both Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and The Grapes of Wrath work actively to maintain the dignity of its subjects, Tobacco Road instead provides a much more negative image of the novel's characters. Caldwell's fictional Lester family like the focus of both Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and The Grapes of Wrath are a family of Southern farmers enduring the intense suffering wrought by hunger and extreme poverty in the midst of the Great Depression.Whereas Agee presents a dignified image of his subjects, and Steinbeck emphasis the altruism and goodness of the Joad family despite their conditions, Caldwell seems to reduce his characters to less than human. Driven by base instincts the Lester family seem to epitomize vulgarity, violence, obscenity and general indecency. It is in this way that Caldwell depicts the darker side of poverty. In conclusion, by examining the authors intent of renowned works of literature depicting life during the Great Depression we gain essential insights into the social realities of Southern sharecroppers during the Great Depression.Works Cited Agee, James, and Walker Evans. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. 1941. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1988. Austgen, Susan A. â€Å"Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Agee and Evans' Great Experiment. † Agee and Evans' Great Experiment. Web. 04 May 2012. . Coogle, Matt. â€Å"The Historical Significance of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. † The Historical Significance of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Web. 05 May 2012. . Hendrick, Veronica C. â€Å"John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath (1939). † Pop Culture Universe: Icons, Idols, Ideas. ABC-CLIO, 2012.Web. 8 May 2012. Hinton, Rebecca. â€Å"Steinbeck's ‘The Grapes of Wrath. ‘ (John Steinbeck's book). † The Explicator 56. 2 (1998): 101+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 May 2012. Humphries, David T. â€Å"Returning South: Reading Culture in James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men. † The Southern Literary Journal 41. 2 (2009): 69+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 April 2012. Jackson, Bruce. â€Å"The Deceptive Anarchy of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. † The Antioch Review 1999: 38-49.ProQuest Research Library. Web. 5 May 2012 . Quinn, Jeanne Follansbee. â€Å"The Work Of Art: Irony And Identification In Let Us No w Praise Famous Men. † Novel: A Forum On Fiction 34. 3 (2001): 338. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 May 2012. Rothstein Arthur. Fleeing A Dust Storm. Cimarron City, Oklahoma. 1936. Web. 10 May 2012. Silver, Andrew. â€Å"Laughing over lost causes: Erskine Caldwell's quarrel with Southern humor. † The Mississippi Quarterly 50. 1 (1996): 51+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 May 2012.

survival essays

survival essays 1. DEFINITIONS 2 Survival Survival is emerging from natural or manmade disaster in a better position than the average person. Preparedness Preparedness is making preparations before disaster or disasters strike to improve your chances of survival. Shelters are made to stay out of the wind, rain, and sun. Shelters are also used to live in and get plenty of rest. There are many types of shelters. The shelters are classified in to two categories, natural and man made. Natural shelters are shelters that you can find naturally made or not man made. There are many natural shelters. Here are some examples of natural shelters, caves, rocky overhangs, thickets, and many more. You can also find some other types of natural shelters. Man made shelters are shelter that you make. You may be lucky and find an abandoned building or some type of shelter. There are many types of man made shelters like lean-tos, igloos, brick shelters and many more. Here are some examples below that you can make. You can also create and make your very own shelter for your specific needs. Lean -To shelters are shelters that you lean branches or some item onto another. You just need branches or trees, leaves and ferns. Ferns will help waterproof the roof and any other areas that you want waterproofed. Mud brick shelters are sturdier but may take longer to build. You cut the turf in to the size of bricks you want. Then you can build the walls for the shelter. Next you need to build a roof (ferns would work well). Igloos can be made if there is snow. You need a snow pile. First put a backpack or some object in snow at top. Then, dig out an entrance that is big enough for you to get in and out. Next, dig until you find backpack or object, then pull it out carefully. Finally, excavate or shape the inside. Here are some ideas of shelter that you may be able to build. ...

Copper Cycle Lab Report Essay Example

Copper Cycle Lab Report Essay Example Copper Cycle Lab Report Paper Copper Cycle Lab Report Paper In conclusion my percent recovery of copper was 100% due to the adequate amounts of solutions and achievement of proper chemical reactions. Equipment and Materials: Copper Metal (penny) Nitric Acid (HON..)(aqua) Sodium Hydroxide (Noah)(aqua) sulfuric ACid Ammonium Hydroxide (NH)(aqua) Hydrochloric Acid (HCI)(aqua) Zinc powder 2 100 ml Beakers 250 ml Waste Beaker 400 ml Beaker Filter paper Plastic Dropper 250 ml Erlenmeyer Flask Forceps Plastic Funnel Red Litmus paper Spatula Steel Wool Glass stirring rod Small test tube Tongs Wash bottle Watch Glass Procedure: l. Weigh a pre-1982 penny (should be around 3 grams) II. Measure ml of concentrated nitric acid, HON..(aqua), into a 100 ml beaker under a fume hood. Place penny into the beaker of nitric acid and observe the reaction. After 5 seconds remove penny with forceps and place into second beaker. Ill. Add approximately ml of denizen water into second beaker to remove any remaining copper ion traces and place rinse into first beaker with nitric acid. Record your observations of the copper (II) nitrate, Cue(NON)2. Dry and weigh the penny to see how much of the copper mass was removed. IV. Pour the solution from the first beaker into a clean 250 ml beaker while inside the fume hood.

How to Create a Delphi Form from a String

How to Create a Delphi Form from a String There may be instances when you do not know the exact class type of a form object. You may only have the string variable carrying the name of the forms class, such as â€Å"TMyForm†. Note that the Application.CreateForm() procedure expects a variable of type TFormClass for its first parameter. If you can provide a TFormClass type variable (from a string), you will be able to create a form from its name. The FindClass() Delphi function locates a class type from a string. The search goes through all registered classes. To register a class, a procedure RegisterClass() can be issued. When the FindClass function returns a TPersistentClass value, cast it to TFormClass, and a new TForm object will be created. Sample Exercise Create a new Delphi project and name the main form: MainForm (TMainForm).Add three new forms to the project, name them:FirstForm (TFirstForm)SecondForm (TSecondForm)ThirdForm (TThirdForm)Remove the three new forms from the Auto-create Forms list in the Project-Options dialog.Drop a ListBox on the MainForm and add three strings: TFirstForm, TSecondForm, and TThirdForm.   procedure TMainForm.FormCreate( Sender: TObject);begin RegisterClass(TFirstForm); RegisterClass(TSecondForm); RegisterClass(TThirdForm);end; In the MainForms OnCreate event register the classes: procedure TMainForm.CreateFormButtonClick( Sender: TObject);var s : string;begin s : ListBox1.Items[ListBox1.ItemIndex]; CreateFormFromName(s);end; Once the button is clicked, find the selected forms type name, and call a custom CreateFormFromName procedure: procedure CreateFormFromName( const FormName : string);var fc : TFormClass; f : TForm;begin fc : TFormClass(FindClass(FormName)); f : fc.Create(Application); f.Show;end; (* CreateFormFromName *) If the first item is selected in the list box, the s variable will hold the TFirstForm string value. The CreateFormFromName will create an instance of the TFirstForm form.

Project Life Cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Project Life Cycle - Essay Example The Project Manager requires various general management skills[4] during the different phases of the project. Initiation and Scope Definition, comprises determination and negotiation of requirements, feasibility analysis, and process for the review and revision of requirements. Planning follows and includes process planning, determining deliverables, effort, schedule and cost estimation, resource allocation, risk management, quality management, and plan management. The project manager's role is to verify the requirements, bring in the experts and revalidate requirements and technical feasibility. He needs to baseline the requirements, cost, schedule, and quality of delivery to the smallest detail, thus setting up a solid framework to start work on the project. This phase is critical because unless requirements are set and baselines are defined, the project cannot take off. The project manager needs negotiating skills, estimation and scheduling skills as well as, team building capabilities that help set the base for delivering a project of required quality at a realistic budget. In the Development phase, implementation of plans, supplier contract management, implementation of measurement process, monitor process, control process, and reporting and the various tasks in an IT project. It should be noted that although project objectives have been defined, there may surface problems when the actual developments are taking place. This will require the project manager and stakeholder to negotiate change requests that will continue the development of the project smoothly. About sixty percent of the project life cycle is done during the development phase and internal testing phase where the development team tests the application internally. This phase needs to be on schedule in order that the project deadline is met. The project manager needs good controlling skills to keep the work going and good negotiation skills to handle change requests as well as risk management skills in order that risk are mitigated. Also he needs to be able to keep the energy flowing and the team unified and happy to enable milestones to be met. The Implementation phase The project now moves into the Implementation phase where the IT tasks are Review and Evaluation, which includes the topics of determining satisfaction of requirements and reviewing and evaluating performance. The developed IT application is now deployed or implemented in the client's environment and tested using their parameters. The application is User accepted and then deployed either as a pilot mode or as a full launch. The project manager needs good negotiating skills in case some major fixes or "bugs" as per IT jargon arises during the transition since he needs to go back to client when budgets are almost over. Often the teams are all tired and are anxious to get the project over with and move on. Keeping up the morale to see the project to completion becomes imperative, and if the project manager is a good team player that really helps. The Closeout phase In the closeout phase, the tasks include determining closure and closure activities. The application is running smoothly and the production-support team has taken over. The development team is released. The project manager now documents the project for future reference as well as writes up a lessons-learnt document. In summary, a good project manager is

IMC & Customer Satisfaction...and that i also should be the running Essay

IMC & Customer Satisfaction...and that i also should be the running head for the apa - Essay Example nce, the company would try to offer its products and services to its customers in a cost effective way, hence the advertising strategy should be such which does not lead to incurring high cost for the company and at the same time communicates to its potential target customers in an effective manner. The best way to advertise the products and services offered by Inter-Global Medicare would be the use of digital media. Digital advertising tools such as through its websites, social networking websites, search engines, e-mails, etc. could be effectively used by the company to advertise its products. This can help achieve the overall marketing goals of the organization by reducing the costs incurred on advertising and thereby adding to the profits of the company. Through by effectively utilizing digital media the company would be able to communicate with greater number of people while incurring less cost, and could thus help in boosting the sales and profitability of the company. The job of advertising the products and services of Inter-Global Medicare is not complete until and unless a measuring tool is designed which can evaluate the effectiveness of the advertising strategies employed by the organization (Wells, 1997, p. 4). Now since it is suggested that the company would use digital advertising strategies, it would be ideal for the organization to design an internet based tool that would have a response corner on all the websites where the company products and services are advertised. Whenever a consumer visits the websites and clicks on the advertisement, he would be required to give feedbacks and fill in his contact details. Analysis tools are available which can be used by the company to measure the number of customers who have actually visited its advertisements and what are their viewpoints or queries regarding the products and services offered by the company. In this way it can prove to be an effective tool for measuring the effectiveness of the a dvertising

Slavery And Slave Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Slavery And Slave Trade - Essay Example The movie is themed at exploring how brutal the slave regime was, it is evident when Shola witnesses a pregnant woman being beaten to death. The incident changed the way Shola’s perceived slave to be (Gerima, Sankofa). This reflects and explains factors that led to the resistance and uprising that aimed at fighting slave trade. Various factors including introduction of machinery and the industrial revolution where the external factors that facilitated the abolishment of the slave trade. The internal factors included the enlightenment of the African and the increased population of the African Americans who gave the resistance strength and numerical advantages. The two factors prompted the slaves to deploy various means of airing their grievances. The first tactic deployed by the slaves was the formation of vigilante groups. They were aimed at uniting Africans and used cruel means to fight their masters. The groups where well organized and the information and command came from a single source. The source acted as the leadership structure of the vigilantes. The leaders used their influential nature to convince many African slaves to join the movement. This is evident when Shola’s lover who was a filed slave convinced Shola to join the rebellion (Gerima, Sankofa). The movie explains how the rebellions organized themselves. In this case, the field slave acted as the leader of the rebellion. He did communication; it is evident when he directs Shola to poison her white owners.  

India class structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

India class structure - Essay Example The ruling class or the dominant class is the most important and the most benefitted class. The dominant class determines the utilization of the economic surplus and majorly comprises of business bourgeoisie, rich landlords, politicians etc. Lying between these two extremes is the middle class who benefit partially from the growing economy and who also are major contributors to the labor force of the country. Another major important point of difference between the three is their contribution to the working force. The lower classes that provide most of the man power are engaged in physical work whereas the middle classes are engaged in most of the work that involves the government and private sectors and are huge contributors to the economy. The higher classes hold positions of importance but this class particularly contributes much less manpower but are particularly responsible for controlling and management of the other classes below it. The primary factor responsible for the three different class systems in India is determined by the economic surplus and the growing economy of the country and the contributions of each class too depends on the development and fully fledged of the annual

Managerial Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managerial Accounting - Essay Example Sales projections would be done in according to the consumers and population and whether it is liked by them or not. It will also look at competition and if mushroom brands have entered the market or not. A marketing manager will create surveys and shoot sales by promotion and sampling. This way, sales projections are likely to increase but may not necessarily increase actual sales due to some discrepancies in research. Underestimating sales projections may result in a mismatch for the profit goal. (Williams et al., 2005). A lot of the components of budgeting including sales projection accumulate to make up the master budget. When the master budget is understated, it might not meet the profit margin for the year. Therefore, other plans can halt as a result. If accurate figures are given and profits are likely to occur, expansion projects or other promotions could be thought of and money can be utilized. Any other resource such as labour needed to help in creating sales should be pre planned and a correct sales forecast would reduce any chances of shortages and mishaps. If sales are understated, operating, manufacturing, and other following costs will also be understated accordingly. Moreover, the goal should be to reduce all inefficiencies and add value throughout the value chain model.

Market Review Exercise Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Market Review Exercise - Dissertation Example Service proliferation comes from the increasing number of services offered by the financial in their search for new avenues of revenue generation. The search for new avenues of revenue generation by the financial sector has also resulted in growing competition among the various financial organizations in the financial sector. A key reason for the proliferation of financial services is the trend in favour of government de-regulation or the loosening of the control strings of the government on the financial sector. One of the reasons for the deregulation of the financial sector is for the ordinary citizen to earn more interest on savings and this has resulted in the trend for interest sensitive mix of funds. Developments in the field of information technology are used as tools for sharpening the competitive edge among the players in the financial, and also allow the many new services offered to ride piggyback on technology changes including automation. Effective use of the automation p ut in place requires generation of high volumes of sales, which means increased customer base and as a result the trend in consolidation and global expansion. ... Differences between Building Societies and Banks Building societies are mutual institutions in which a major portion of the having a savings account in the building society or a mortgage from the building society are members and in essence operate in the financial markets as financial services providers for meeting housing finance needs. Banks on the other financial enterprises in many cases hold public investment as stocks on which revenue has to be derived for paying out to the stock holders and so offer a plethora of financial services in the market towards revenue generation. Building societies are not so strongly governed by profit motives and so their services for housing purposes tend to be offered at lower costs; however they have a drawback in that there is a limit of 50% of their funds that they can seek from the wholesale market. However, in the new millennium these differences are getting blurred, because of the cross provision of financial services that has seen building societies indulging in selling insurance, unit trust and other such long term investment products and banks also offering competition in these services (Spencer, 2000). Current Building Society Trends By incorporating as public limited companies, building societies are able to overcome the limitations that they have in access to capital from the financial markets. This has seen the trend among building societies to become public limited companies. Such a move also helps them to overcome the restrictions of the UK Building Societies Act and face the challenge of reduced demand for housing finance. To offset the reduced demand for housing financial services, the trend after incorporation as public limited companies is to move into new areas of financial services

Managerial Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managerial Accounting - Essay Example Sales projections would be done in according to the consumers and population and whether it is liked by them or not. It will also look at competition and if mushroom brands have entered the market or not. A marketing manager will create surveys and shoot sales by promotion and sampling. This way, sales projections are likely to increase but may not necessarily increase actual sales due to some discrepancies in research. Underestimating sales projections may result in a mismatch for the profit goal. (Williams et al., 2005). A lot of the components of budgeting including sales projection accumulate to make up the master budget. When the master budget is understated, it might not meet the profit margin for the year. Therefore, other plans can halt as a result. If accurate figures are given and profits are likely to occur, expansion projects or other promotions could be thought of and money can be utilized. Any other resource such as labour needed to help in creating sales should be pre planned and a correct sales forecast would reduce any chances of shortages and mishaps. If sales are understated, operating, manufacturing, and other following costs will also be understated accordingly. Moreover, the goal should be to reduce all inefficiencies and add value throughout the value chain model.

Prewar Marxism in Japan Essay Example for Free

Prewar Marxism in Japan Essay Marxism was coined after its proponent, Karl Marx who believed that the abuses of capitalism would eventually lead to uprisings of the masses particularly of the working class. According to him, the aggrieved plight of the working class will become the key in unleashing the inevitable clashes between the classes. In his argument, Capitalism will be replaced by Communism, in which in his view, this set-up of free economy opens a gate to many inequalities in the society, making the weak and poor more vulnerable to the flaws of the system. As Uno Kozo observed in his work, The Essence of Capital, â€Å"The commodification of the labor force remains the crux of Capitalism† (SJT, pp.243). To Marx belief, Communism is the common ownership of the means of production. There would be public ownership of farms, factories, raw materials, and the like. To him, all means of production will be owned by the workers and all workers would eventually become workers.             In Japan, Marxism was first introduced in the late 1890’s but it was in the 1920’s that it started to catch attention and support from the people especially from the intellectuals (SJT, pp 239; Beckmann, pp. 139). The early Marxists belonged to two different groups, the reformers and the revolutionary. The reformers followed Tolstoian humanitarianism, advocated universal suffrage, and pursued reforms through parliamentary action. While the revolutionaries believed in the Materialist ideas from the German and French Marxist. They adhered to the idea of class struggle and direct revolutionary action by class-conscious workers. The revolutionaries were also attracted to the tactics of the anarcho-syndicalism (Beckmann pp. 140).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The various differences of principles of the Early Marxists in Japan had initially   signaled that a strong unified group would be quite a challenge to create a remarkable impact. In fact, at its onset Marxism was already noted with three general flaws such as its systematic character that degenerates into dogmatism; putative universality that recalls its foreign origin; and its critical modus operandi that provokes infighting and organizational fragmentation (SJT, pp241 ). But all these are generalized observations sums up probable enlightenment on why it seemed to appear that prewar Marxism was never a political success. However, it is pertinent to note that these observations envelopes one or more historical accounts and empirical evidences of the progresses and demise of prewar Marxism in Japan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The idea of Marxism had its strong appeal in the university circle composed mainly of the professors and students. In fact, one of its early and notable supporters was Kawakami Hajime of the Kyoto Imperial University. He wrote may treatises on Marxism and provided valuable assistance to other advocates in the persons of Sakai Toshihiko, Arahata Kanson among others (Beckmann pp. 145). At that time, the battleground was published material like newspaper wherein people can be informed and get influenced at the same time. At some point, it created impact and stirred the discontentment of the people resulting to the clamor for reforms in Japanese society. This clamor was highlighted more by the onset of the Japan Modernization process in which new demands for the fundamental changes in the society is created (Beckamm pp146). To quote Beckamm, â€Å"Marxism was attractive to them because it provided the fullest explanation of the idea of progress that they had yet encountered. They were easily seduced by the Marxist proposition that through the dialectic progress was inevitable.   Dialectical materialism gave them (supporters) a scientific methodology for analyzing Japanese society, as well as general principles of strategy for effecting change†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But no matter how ardent the campaign was and how dynamic the intellectual debates were, history underscores that prewar Marxism fell short in achieving its much desired political change. The variables affecting this result are attributed to both external and internal difficulties encountered by the group. It is believed that too much emphasis on theoretical conceptualization has left the advocates confused on what is real and what is not. And what is real during that time, is the dominance of the conservative elite who managed to uphold Japanese value system. All important institutions of Japanese society inculcated obedience, loyalty, and status over freedom, individual rights, and equality. All these summed up to hostilities of the society to individuals who think otherwise. Thus, it resulted to numerable defection from Communism and Socialism parties. It may also be relevant to note that conservative value system of Japanese society and the so called patterns of behavior during the modernization period contributed to the prevention of basic antagonism from being open clashes. Many intellectuals may be vocal in their convictions but a greater number of them seemed anxious to join the mass â€Å"hurly burly maybe because of the behavioral patterns pervading in the society and of the enveloping obligation not to disgrace the family through deviation from the generally accepted behavior. Another pitfall of the prewar Marxism is the very nature that the ideology was alien and much worse, dependent on the support of a foreign state which is labeled as enemy and competitor of their own country. It could not simply break the much preferred paradigm of Japanese Nationalism and Confucianism. Furthermore, the movement cannot fight equally with the raw power of the state especially of its police and military predisposition. This is for the obvious reason that communists had no civil liberties to protect them. As a matter of fact, party organizations were dismantled through various man-arrest in 1923, 1928, 1929, and much frequently in the 1930s. These arrests made it difficult for the advocates to maintain a substantial number that could function effectively for its cause (Beckamm, pp 148-150)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Much had been said by the writings and works of the early believers but less had been done. In the labor movement itself, the support and participation was only a small percent of the whole sector. Many who joined the cause were in the small and medium enterprises and almost none from the large industries. A few participation reflected that many have gone disillusioned or remained uninspired by the movement due to many failures of negotiations and strikes. The same also goes for the peasants, the Japanese agricultural communities and families were unreceptive and to some measure were hostile to Communism and Socialism. This maybe because the peasant movement lacks single central leadership that could have had become an effective channel of influence (Beckamm, pp150).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Commintern Policy also posted a challenge to the thriving ideology of Marxism. It added certain degree of divisiveness among the people in the movement. Also, it provided a very good issue that kept the proponents busy in arguing as to which would be the good and effective direction to heed towards the desired impact on Japanese society. Is it the bourgeois-democratic or the proletarian revolution? Again, it brood disunity, conflict, and frustration among themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The defection of Etsuzo, Sano, and Nabeyama also influenced fellow believers to defect and to condemn all together the principles and actions of the group they once pledge allegiance and commitment (Beckmann, pp160; 166).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In totality, prewar Marxism in Japan made numerous progresses and successes in bringing out brilliance among Japanese intellectuals. However, it was never translated into a political action that would have given life to the very essence of the teachings of Karl Marx. Though numerous reasons tried to explain this result, but maybe the only reason true enough to describe its failure is the one said by George Beckmann, â€Å"†¦the very nature of Japanese society made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a Communist movement to exist, let alone operate with any degree of effectiveness†¦to Marxist-Leninist terms, the objective conditions were not at all favorable. (Beckmann pp. 152)†

Amniotic Fluid Volume In Pregnancy

Amniotic Fluid Volume In Pregnancy Objectives . To assess the relationship between the amniotic fluid volume (AFV) in low risk pregnancy and the perinatal outcome, using either AFI or SDP, and to evaluate the effects of different fetal positions and Attitudes on those measurements Methods . A prospective study was performed, in which a sample of 3000 low-risk pregnant women were studied using routine ultrasound, including fetal biometry and measurement of AFI, and SDP. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression, and constructing a curve for both the AFI, and SDP measurements, according to gestational age, the fetal positions and attitudes, in addition to the assessment of the final perinatal outcome. Results . The 50th percentile remained practically constant at approximately 150 mm between the 20th and 33rd week, after which there was a decline in volume, which became evident after the 38th week. At the 40th week, the 10th percentile was around 62 mm and the 2.5th percentile around 33 mm. Among the group with intact membranes, no significant differences in perinatal outcome could be seen in relationship to the AFI and SDP, although a 50% increase in emergency operations for fetal distress was seen in women with oligohydramnios. Fetal position had significantly affected the AFI, which was remarkably lower in breech pregnancies, but without similar effect on SDP. There was no significant difference for either SDP (P = 0.8) or AFI (P = 0.3) between fetuses lying on the right or the left side of the maternal abdomen. Conclusions . The percentiles incidence of amniotic fluid measurements in low-risk pregnant women showed significant decrease with gestational age, especially after the 33rd week pregnancy. Fetal position and laterality had affected significantly the AFI, but not the SDP. Key words: Amniotic fluid index, low-risk pregnancy, obstetric ultrasonography Abbreviations: AFI: amniotic fluid index, AFV: amniotic fluid volume, GA: gestational age, p: percentile Introduction The importance of variations in volume of amniotic fluid to fetal well-being has been particularly well-established, and are closely correlated to an increase in perinatal mortality and morbidity rates (1, 2), although some doubts have recently been raised (3). Fetal well-being is an important question that can, however, remain unanswered in many situations, but progress in diagnostic techniques has resulted in better perinatal outcomes, and has also contributed to understanding the complex physiological and pathological interaction between fetus and mother (4, 5). AFI and SDP are the sonographic parameters most commonly used to estimate amniotic fluid volume. Both use a two-dimensional measurement to estimate a three- dimensional parameter and are therefore subject to error. Amniotic fluid index (AFI), a semiquantitative ultrasound measure used to denote the volume of amniotic fluid, was first described in 1987 by Phelan et al. (6, 7). Since AFI involves measurements in four quadrants and SDP only measures the deepest pocket, it is possible that fetal position would affect these two indices differently. The relative accuracy of SDP and AFI is still controversial. Using invasive methods, some studies have shown these methods to be comparable, while others have shown that one index might be better than the other. However, none of these studies took into account the potential effect of fetal position on the amniotic fluid volume indices (8). Many studies have shown an increased risk of intrapartal fetal distress in parturient women with oligohydramnios, as identified by ultrasound examination. The exact pathophysiologic mechanism of olighydramnios has not been defined, but one likely explanation is an increased risk of umbilical cord compression during uterine contractions (7,9). However, doubts remain concerning normal values of AFI for each gestational age. The reference curves established some years ago are still in use in current obstetrical practice, but there is a need for new data, using a reliable reference low-risk pregnant women sample, to establish the limits of AFI that would indicate perinatal risk (9). Some existing curves (10 13), were based on relatively small sample sizes, and normal AFI for each gestational age was not yet definitely established. The purpose of this study was to estimate the curve for the amniotic fluid volume in low risk pregnancy, using a set of obstetric sonograms of women between the 20th and 42nd week, using two established parameters, the AFI and SDP, and to assess the effects of those measurements on the final perinatal outcome, in addition to studying the effects of different fetal positions and attitudes on those measured parameters. Material and methods A prospective study was carried out to estimate and evaluate the reference curve of AFI values in low-risk pregnant women, and to follow its effects on the final perinatal outcome. The study was performed at the Feto-maternal Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at El-Minya University, Egypt. Inclusion criteria were: gestational age clearly established by last menstrual period, and confirmed by early ultrasound examination performed in first trimester of pregnancy; and gestational age between 20 and 42 weeks. Women excluded were those with pregnancy-induced hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic hypertension, gestational diabetes, fetal macrosomia, ruptured membranes, placental senescence, twin pregnancy, fetal growth restriction, fetal abnormalities, fetal death, fetal isoimmunisation, or other conditions, such as metabolic disorders, kidney and heart disorders, and hypo- and hyperthyroidism. Amniotic fluid volume was measured using a 3.5 MHz linear transducer linked to a ALOKA SS 280. A scanner using the 4-quadrant technique for the assessment of AFV, described by Phelan et al.(6, 7, 9), with a modification proposed by Jeng et al.(11). A total of 3000 women between the 20th and 42nd week of pregnancy were evaluated in this study, between August 2008 and December 2010. In order to avoid any possible bias due to repetition of examinations in women with some undetected problem, an independent sample was chosen. Therefore, only the first ultrasonographic examination of each woman was included in the study, and different sample populations were used for each gestational age, in a cross-sectional design. A formal consent had been taken form the women included in the study, after full explanation and counseling, and approval of the regional ethical committee. The uterus was imaginarily divided into right and left halves along the linea nigra on the surface of the maternal abdomen. Using the mid-point between the fundus uteri and the pubic symphysis, the uterus was also divided into upper and lower halves. With the transducer head perpendicular to the ground, the largest amniotic fluid pocket in each quadrant was identified. The vertical diameter of this largest pocket of each one of the four quadrants was then measured. The AFI was defined as the sum of the measurements of each quadrant in millimeters. All examinations were performed by only one professional in order to avoid inter-observer variability. The intra-observer variability of the measures performed with this technique was estimated to be high (correlation coefficient 0.92) (14-18). Both AFI and SDP were measured at the same time during the examination. SDP was obtained by measuring the depth of the single deepest vertical amniotic fluid pocket that was clear of umbilical cord or fetal parts (19,20). AFI was calculated as the sum of the depths of the deepest pockets from each of the four quadrants of the uterus. The position of the fetal trunk was characterized by three parameters. Initially, the ultrasound probe was placed transversely on the maternal abdominal wall, with the midpoint of the probe over the sagittal midline of the maternal abdomen, at the level of the fetal abdominal circumference (Figure 1). A vertical line (Line Y) was drawn downwards from the center of the ultrasound probe. A horizontal line (Line X) was drawn across the maximum diameter of the fetal abdominal circumference. Line X was thus divided by Line Y into a shorter part (S) and a longer part (L). The first parameter to be determined was the position of the fetal trunk. This was assigned as either fetal trunk left or fetal trunk right depending on whether L was on the left or the right side, respectively, of the maternal abdomen (21-24). Next, we determined by how much the fetal trunk lay to one side of the uterus, by calculating the laterality score, defined as S/(S + L). This score ranged from 0 to 0.5; a score of exactly 0.5 meant that the fetal trunk was on the sagittal midline of the maternal abdomen, and a score of 0 meant that the fetal trunk was to the side and did not cross over Line Y. The use of the laterality score has not been reported previously. Finally, we determined the orientation of the ventral part of the fetal abdomen: a line (Line Z) was drawn from the fetal hepatic vein to the fetal spine, and the angle (A) between Lines Z and Y was determined. Fetuses were classified into one of three groups: ventral anterior (A = 300.1 360- or0-60-), ventral lateral (A = 60.1 120- or 240.1 300-) and ventral posterior (A= 120.1 240-). Figure I. The study population was categorized into different groups according to the fetal position, and AFI and SDP in the different groups were compared. Pearsons correlation coefficient between laterality score and AFI was considered the primary outcome measure. For an r of 0.25, a minimum of 62 cases was needed at a Type I error of 0.05. Based on the curve of Jeng et al. (25), and adopting a mean AFI measurement of 140 mm at 40 weeks, and a standard deviation of 48 mm, a sample size of at least 120 measurements for each week of pregnancy was estimated, assuming an ÃŽ ± error of 0.05 and a maximum difference of 10 mm between population and sample measurements. The AFI was correlated to perinatal outcome based on the Apgar score, umbilical cord blood pH, birthweight, frequency of cesarean section for fetal distress, operative delivery for fetal distress, including both cesarean section, vaginal forceps, and ventous extractions, and referral to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Fishers exact test was used for statistical evaluation. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The computer program nQuary Advisor Release 3 (Statistical Solutions Ltd, Cork, Ireland) was used to calculate the sample size needed in order to obtain significance levels at p < 0.05 and 0.01 with 90% confidence intervals (CI). Data were analysed using multiple linear regression, and by constructing a curve of the 2.5th, 10th, 50th, 90th and 97.5th percentiles of the amniotic fluid measurements according to gestational age. All statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows version 10.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Students t- test, Pearsons correlation coefficient, linear regression and ANOVA were used as appropriate. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The 3000 pregnant women included in the study had a mean age of 25.9 years (range 13 46), with low parity (45% were primigravida). The sample was basically from a low risk population because of the exclusion criteria used. The values of the 2.5th, 10th, 50th, 90th and 97.5th percentiles of the AFI, and SDP according to gestational age are shown in Figure II, III and IV show the data after being submitted to a smoothing process using quadratic polynomial adjustments. Analysis of the 50th percentile measurements of the AFI, and SDP curve at different gestational ages revealed that these values remained practically constant, at around 150 mm, between the 20th and 33rd week of pregnancy. At this point, values began to decrease, and this decline became particularly evident after the 38th week, reaching 130 mm at the 39th week, 120 mm at the 41st week and 116 mm at the 42nd week of gestation. Table I, and II The mean gestational age at the time of examination was 33.3 Â ± 2.8 weeks. The mean SDP and AFI were 5.5 (range, 2.8 9.3) cm and 14.5 (range, 6.7 29.3) cm, respectively. There were no significant differences in mean AFI measurements when these data were controlled for age, race, literacy, parity or previous caesarean scar (data already published elsewhere) (18). Measurements of the 10th percentile remained 100 mm until the 33rd week, when an accentuated decrease started, declining even more sharply after the 38th week of gestation, reaching values 80 mm and 40 mm at the 42nd week. According to the published normal ranges, six cases had polyhydramnios (AFI = 29.3 cm at 29 weeks gestation, SDP = 9.1 cm at 37 weeks and SDP = 9.3 cm at 33 weeks gestation) and two cases had oligohydramnios (AFI = 6.7 cm at 36 weeks gestation). Twelve hundreds and five (42%) cases were fetal trunk right and 1663 (58%) were fetal trunk left. There were no significant differences between these groups with respect to gestational age (33.1 Â ± 2.4 vs. 33.4 Â ± 2.7 weeks, P = 0.7), mean SDP (5.4 Â ± 1.3 vs. 5.5 Â ± 1.4 cm, P = 0.3) and mean AFI (15.1 Â ± 5.1 vs. 14.1 Â ± 4.0 cm, P = 0.8).Table III In fact, our results showed that fetal position had a significant effect on AFI but not on SDP; the more the fetus was positioned to one side of the uterus, the lower was the AFI. Both methods show good correlation between the measurements and the actual volume of amniotic fluid. The effect of laterality score on amniotic fluid volume indices was assessed by Pearsons correlation coefficient and linear regression. It had no significant effect on SDP (r = 0.13, ÃŽ ² = 1.1, standard error = 0.9, P = 0.23). However, it did significantly influence AFI (r = 0.31, ÃŽ ² = Transverse section of maternal trunk level of fetal abdomen8.7, standard error = 3.0, P = 0.005). The regression line is shown in Figure III. In other words, when the laterality score increased, the AFI increased proportionately. When the laterality score was 0.5 (fetal trunk positioned at the midline of the maternal abdomen), the AFI was, on average, 4.35 cm higher than it was when the laterality score was 0 (fetal trunk lay on the side and did not cross the midline of the maternal sagittal plane). Figure III, IV. There were two case of high AFI (29.3 cm) in the study population. In order to exclude the possibility that the results were influenced by this single case, we repeated the analysis quadrants of the ipsilateral side, the vertical depth of these two quadrants being be much shallower compared with those on the contralateral side. Although amniotic fluid should be displaced to the contralateral side, this may not be reflected completely in a two-dimensional measurement of the depth of the other two pockets. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that AFI measurement is lower when the fetus lies on one side of the uterus instead of centrally. The difference was statistically significant and is clinically important. When the fetus lay on one side of the uterus, the AFI was, on average, 4.35 cm lower compared with the AFI for a fetus lying centrally. On the contrary, SDP is apparently rather inert to fetal position. Since SDP only measures the deepest pocket, it is understandable that the effect of fetal position on its measurement is less. Based on the results of this study, SDP may be a better index for estimation of amniotic fluid volume than is AFI, because the association between SDP and laterality score remained non-significant (P = 0.4, ÃŽ ² = 0.8, standard error = 0.9). Further analysis was also performed with linear regression to control for the effect of gestational age. These results showed that the laterality score had a significant effect on AFI (ÃŽ ² = 9.6, standard error = 3.0, P = 0.002) that was independent of gestational age (ÃŽ ² = −0.4, standard error = 0.2, P = 0.019). AFI was significantly higher in cephalic fetal position, more than with breech ones. This result had been clearly apparent after 32 weeks gestation, and with less AFI with the ventral fetal trunk attitude with the breech position, than other. SDP had not show the same picture in different fetal positions, either breech or cephalic, so SDP as an AFV parameter had not been affected with the different fetal positions. Of the 3000 fetuses, 345 were ventral anterior, 1720 were ventral lateral and 803 were ventral posterior. The respective gestational ages of these groups were 33.5 Â ± 2.7, 32.8 Â ± 2.7 and 34.2 Â ± 2.8 weeks, the SDPs were 5.5 Â ± 1.4, 5.5 Â ± 1.3 and 5.5 Â ± 1.4 cm, and the AFIs were 14.5 Â ± 5.3, 14.4 Â ± 4.4 and 14.8 Â ± 4.4 cm. None of these was significantly different between the three groups (P = 1.0, P = 0.14 and P = 0.9, respectively). The 3000 pregnant women were divided into two subgroups according to the status of the fetal membranes. The membranes were found to be ruptured at the time of the examination in 1400 (44%) women; 750 (25%) had oligohydramnios. The membranes were intact in 1600 (55); 350 (15%) had hydramnios. Table I shows the maternal variables of the two groups. The median interval between the ultrasound examination and delivery was 4 h (range 0-24 h) in the group with ruptured membranes and 6 h (range 0-70 h) in those with intact membranes. In the group with ruptured membranes there was a significant difference in the frequency of operative delivery due to feta distress between the parturients with oligohydramnios and those with a normal volume of amniotic fluid [10.6% and 3.0%, respectively, p < 0.02, OR 3.86 (range 1.34-1.11)]. No significant differences were found regarding the other variables of perinatal outcome (Table II). In the group with intact membranes, there was a 50% increased risk of operative intervention due to fetal distress (OR 1.5), though not significant (CI 0.48-4.63) (Table III). Discussion There is a variation in AFI measurements according to gestational age. Values in the current study remain relatively constant until the 33rd week of pregnancy when a progressive decrease starts, becoming particularly evident after the 38th week of gestation. The normal lower and upper limit values of the AFI commonly used up to now, which vary between 50 and 200 mm, are similar to those found in the present study up to the 40th week of pregnancy. When adopting reference values between 80 and 180 mm for every week of pregnancy (19,20), incorrect diagnosis are likely to occur. Our findings, suggested a strong influence of fetal position on sonographic indices of amniotic fluid volume. Furthermore, we recruited women with apparently normal pregnancies and hence most likely with normal amniotic fluid volumes. Further studies should look at the relationship between fetal position and amniotic fluid volume indices in cases of oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios. Pregnant women, who are classified as having oligohydramnios by these criteria, may possibly be considered normal if a reference curve of AFI specific to gestational age were used, especially in term and post-term pregnancies. The adopted limit values indicating an alteration in the AFV are variable. For the fetal biophysical profile, the measurement of just one pocket is adopted, varying from 1 to 3 cm, and considered the lower normal limit by some authors (21,22); however, in this case, total volume would be considered decreased if the AFI were used. In fact, a RCT comparing both techniques showed an overestimation of abnormal results with AFI in post term pregnancies, increasing the number of obstetric interventions (23). These variations in classifying oligohydramnios reflect doubts regarding which percentiles best express the correlation between the decrease in AFV and poor fetal outcome. When the 50th percentile AFI was compared with that reported in a previous study (14), measurements were always higher in our study at all gestational ages by approximately 50 mm up to 28 weeks, and by 30 40 mm between 32 and 40 weeks of pregnancy. On the other hand, the current 50th percentile showed fewer variations, around 10 mm at all gestational ges, compared to the results of the indian study population (15). The importance of a curve that includes the 10th and 90th percentiles is reflected in its greater capacity to identify abnormal cases. Therefore, if the 10th percentile is used as the lower normal limit, there would be less likelihood of missing a case of real oligohydramnios. A curve that included the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles would diagnose fewer cases of abnormal AFI, and this could result in more cases of oligohydramnios or polyhydramnios being included within the normal range. By adopting the 10th percentile of AFI as the diagnosis for oligohydramnios in our population, the values are higher than those found for the Chinese study up to 36 weeks, but similar around 40 weeks of pregnancy (14). When we compare the results of this study to previous published curves (10-17), similarities can be seen for the 50th percentile of AFT at all gestational ages. However, when comparing the 2.5th percentile, it is evident that the measurements in Moore and Cayles curve are lower up to the 35th week of pregnancy, after which they are higher than the values found in our study curve. The 97.5th percentile of the Moore and Cayle curve is slightly higher at all gestational ages except for the 41st and 42nd weeks. The lower limit of 2 standard-deviations and the mean values of the Jeng et al. (11) curve are slightly lower in relation to the present curve at corresponding gestational ages, except from the 37th to the 42nd week, when values remain higher than those in the present curve. The definition of normal AFI cannot, in itself, guarantee good perinatal outcome. For instance, a 42-week pregnancy with an AFI of 45 mm would be considered normal, but how physiological this value is and what real risk it represents are questions that still need to be fully answered. If the correlation between AFV and perinatal outcome can be established, this curve may have a broader clinical application in prenatal diagnosis and care. Moreover, the curve of the 2.5th, 10th, 50th, 90th and 97.5th percentiles of the AFI measurements shows a significant decrease according to gestational age, especially after the 32nd week. This measurement could, therefore, considered a normal reference curve for the evaluation of AFI. The results of the present study suggest that oligohydramnios after rupture of the membranes in low-risk pregnancies is associated with a nearly four-fold increased risk of operative delivery due to fetal distress. An ultrasound examination of AFI could thus identify those who may need intensified fetal surveillance during labor. The present study was performed on a selected group of women with low-risk pregnancy. As AFI is one of the parameters checked in high-risk pregnancies at our hospital, these parturients were excluded in order to make the study blind. By adding high-risk pregnancies, a much smaller sample size would be needed. The frequency of oligohydramnios in cases with intact membranes was unexpectedly high: 15% instead of 5% in the controls. Although our pregnancies were low-risk, a few showed signs of pregnancy complications on admission to the labor ward (Table I), which might explain the higher frequency of oligohydramnios in this group. Although there was a significant correlation between operative delivery due to fetal distress and oligohydramnios in cases of ruptured membrane (Table II), sensitivity was low (11%), and false-positive and negative rates were 46% and 23%, respectively. Thus the knowledge of oligohydramnios in these low-risk pregnancies did not cause any immediate action, only more intense surveillance during labor. In the present study there was a 50% increased risk of operative fetal delivery due to fetal distress in parturients with oligohydramnios and intact membranes. Teoh et al. studied 120 pregnancies as an admission study in early labor with intact membranes. The frequency of oligohydramnios (AFI < 5 cm) in their study was 22%, and operative delivery due to fetal distress frequency among these was 27%. Based on these data, a sample size of 100 would be sufficient. We chose, however, three times that size, as the low-risk status of their population was uncertain (9, 11). The pathophysiology of oligohydramnios before membrane rupture is unclear. One theory is that a reduced perfusion of the placenta causes hypovolemia in the fetus, and/or an automatic redistribution of fetal blood volume to vital organs with a resultant reduced blood supply to the kidneys. This in turn could lead to reduced production of urine, and thus reduce the volume of amniotic fluid. Bar- Hava et al. studied signs of redistribution, renal blood flow, and signs of oligohydramnios, but could find no correlation. There was no change in the renal artery pulsatility index (12, 14, 19). Oligohydramnios in labor after the rupture of membranes in a low-risk pregnancy is probably not caused by a reduced perfusion of the placenta, but is more probably caused by the loss of large amounts of amniotic fluid at the time of the rupture. One explanation for the significantly increased risk of operative delivery due to fetal distress in the group with ruptured membranes might be that there is an increased risk of the umbilical cord becoming trapped in an ad- verse position, at the time of the rupture, if a large amount of amniotic fluid is lost. Amnioinfusion may be a way to treat such cases in order to restore the volume of amniotic fluid and reduce the risk of compression of the umbilical cord, thus averting the need for operative delivery (11, 21, 23). As a conclusion of the current study, assessment of the AFV during pregnancy using the SDP appears to be more accurate than the AFI, especially the SDP evaluation has not been affected significantly with either different fetal positions or attitudes, but still we are in need for further controlled studies to compare the accuracy of the two modes of AFV assessment. Another conclusion drawn from our study is that an ultrasound examination, including measurement of AFI as an admission test for women presenting at the labor ward with ruptured membranes after an uneventful pregnancy, could help identify those with an increased risk of intrapartum fetal distress, namely those with oligohydramnios. Moreover Measuring AFI in low-risk pregnancies on admission to the labor ward might detect cases needing special surveillance. We are currently preparing a new ongoing study, as an extension to the current study, comparing the previous two parameters of AFV assessment in high risk pregnancies, and the preliminary results could confirm the previously mentioned results, but it is too early to get to a final conclusion.

Investigating the Effect of Temperature on the Height a Squash Ball Bounce :: Papers

Investigating the Effect of Temperature on the Height a Squash Ball Bounce Aim: To investigate the effect of temperature on the height a squash ball bounces. Prediction: I think that the higher the temperature of the squash ball, the higher the squash ball will bounce. I think that as the temperature doubles so will the height of the bounce. I think that they will be directly proportional. Scientific Knowledge: If you drop a ball onto a hard floor. It will rebound, but even the bounciest ball will not bounce back to its starting position. The ball behaves like a spherical spring. When the ball hits the floor it exerts a force on the floor and the floor exerts a force on the ball. This force compresses the ball. The force that the ground exerts on the ball does work on the ball, since it is in the same direction as the displacement. The gravitational potential energy the ball has before it is dropped is converted into kinetic energy while the ball is falling and then into elastic potential energy as the force from the ground does work on the ball. But because the material the ball is made of is not perfectly elastic, friction converts some of the energy into thermal energy. The elastic potential energy stored in the ball when it has lost all its kinetic energy is converted back into kinetic and gravitational potential energy. However the thermal energy is not converted back. The ball on the floor acts like a compressed spring. It pushes on the floor with a force proportional to its displacement from its equilibrium shape. The floor pushes back with a force of equal size in the upward direction. This force is greater in size than the weight of the ball. The resultant force is in the upward direction and the ball accelerates upward. When the ball's shape is the shape it has when it is sitting still on the floor, (just slightly squashed), there is no resultant force. When the ball's shape relaxes further, the resultant force is acting downwards. But it already has velocity in the upward direction, so the ball keeps on going upward until its speed has reached zero.