Mercury Effect on Seed Germination

MERCURY EFFECT ON GERMINATION AND GROWTH OF Capsicum annuum SEEDS NURSHAHIDA BINTI OSMAN BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (Hons. ) TECHNOLOGY AND PLANTATION MANAGEMENT FACULTY OF PLANTATION AND AGROTECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA JULY 2012 MERCURY EFFECT ON GERMINATION AND GROWTH OF Capsicum annuum SEEDS NURSHAHIDA BINTI OSMAN Final Year Project Report Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science (Hons. ) Technology and Plantation Management In the Faculty of Plantation and AgrotechnologyUniversiti Teknologi MARA JULY 2012 DECLARATION This Final Year Project is a partial fulfilment of the requirements for a degree of Bachelor of Science (Hons. ) Technology and Plantation Management, Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA. It is entirely my own work and has not been submitted to any other University or higher education institution, or for any other academic award in this University. Where use has been made of the work of other people it has been fully acknowledged and fully referenced.I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the Universiti Teknologi MARA (â€Å"UiTM†), which henceforth shall be the owner of copyright in this Work and that, any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without a written consent of UiTM. Candidate’s signature: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Date: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ NURSHAHIDA BINTI OSMAN Name: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.I hereby declare that I have checked this project and in my opinion, this project is adequate in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Science (Hons. ) Technology and Planta tion Management, Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA. Signature: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ DR. TSAN FUI YING Name of Supervisor: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. SENIOR LECTURER Position: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Date: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Alhamdulliah and praise be to Allah for the guidance and blessing, I was able to complete this final year project.First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tsan Fui Ying, for her guidance, advice, encouragement, good criticisms and also for he r patience in guiding me throughout fi nal year project. My special thanks from the bottom of my heart go to my parent s and my siblings for their understanding and support during my study in UiTM. Lastly, I would also like to express my special thanks to all my friends who were directly or indirectly involved in giving their ideas, advice, criticism, and moral support throughout the project. Thank you very much. NURSHAHIDA BINTI OSMAN ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ii iii iv v vi vii viii ix DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ABSTRACT ABSTRAK CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Background Of Capsicum annuum 1. 2 Value Of Capsicum annuum 1. 3 Background of the heavy metal 1. 4 Seed germination and growth 1. 5 1. 6 1. 7 1. 8 Problem Statement Objective Of Study Significance Of Study Scope Of Study 1 2 4 4 5 6 6 6 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1 Source of heavy metal 2. 2 Inhibition of seed germination Environmental effect 2. 3 7 9 12 3 MATERIAL AND METHOD 3. 1 Location of study . 2 Test Material 3. 3 Experimental Procedure 3. 4 Data collection 3. 5 Experimental design 3. 6 Statistical analysis 3. 7 Work schedule 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 17 5 CONCLUSION 20 21 24 34 CITED REFERENCES APPENDICES CURRICULUM VITAE iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Caption Page 4. 1 Germination of C. annuum seeds after treatment with HgCl2 17 4. 2 Seed germination at the 10th day with HgCl2 treatment at 25mg/l 18 v LIST OF TABLES Table Caption 1. 1 Raw chili peppers (C. annum), nutrient value per 100 g 3. 1 Work schedule for the study on germination and growth of C. nnuum after application of HgCl2 at various concentrations Germination and growth of C. annuum after treatment withHgCl2 4. 1 Page vi 3 16 18 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS UiTM Universiti Teknologi MARA Hg Mercury HgCl2 Mercury chloride mg/l milligram per liter cm Centimeter vii ABSTRACT Mercury Effect on Germination and Growth of Capsicum annuum Seeds A study was carried out to determine the germination and gro wth of Capsicum annuum after application of mercury chloride (HgCl2) at various concentrations. This study was conducted at Laboratory A603, Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam.A total of 600 C. annuum seeds were used in this study. A total of 5 different concentration s of HgCl2 (0 (control), 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/l) were applied in this study. The treatments were carried out by means of applying the chemical to the seeds on paper towel in Petri dishes. The application volume was 2 ml per Petri dish at alternate days unless the paper towel was still moist with the previous application of solution. The data in terms of seed germination and growth, included length of radical and plumule, were recorded.This study was based on Complete Randominized Design (CRD) with 5 replicates for each treatment. All the data were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and treatment means were compared using Tukey’s Simultaneous Test. The germinati on and growth of C. annuum was significantly affected by the concentration of the heavy metal under study, especially with concentration ? 50 mg/l. Radical growth was found more sensitive to the presence and concentration of HgCl 2 as compared to plumule with this fruit vegetable species. viii ABSTRAK Kesan Merkuri terhadap Percambahan dan PertumbuhanBiji Benih Capsicum annuum Satu kajian telah dijalankan untuk menentukan percambahan dan pertumbuhan biji benih Capsicum annuum selepas aplikasi merkuri klorida (HgCl2) pada kepekatan yang berbeza. Kajian ini telah dijalankan di Makmal A603, Fakulti Perladangan dan Agroteknologi, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. Sebayak 600 biji benih telah digunakan dalam kajian ini. Sebanyak 5 kepekatan HgCl2 (0 (kawalan), 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/l) telah digunakan dalam kajian ini. Rawatan ke atas biji benih adalah dengan menggunakan bahan kimia pada biji benih yang diletakkan di atas tuala kertas dalam piring Petri.Isipadu aplikasi ialah 2 ml bag i setiap piring Petri dan rawatan diulang pada selang 2 hari kecuali tuala kertas masih lembap dengan larutan sebelumnya. Data mengenai percambahan biji benih dan pertumbuhan, termasuk panjang akar dan pucuk, dicatatkan. Kajian ini dijalankan berdasarkan Rekabentuk Rambang Lengkap (CRD) dengan 5 kali pengulangan bagi setiap rawatan. Semua data dianalisis dengan menggunakan Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) dan purata rawatan dibandingkan dengan menggunakan Tukey’s Simultaneous Test. Percambahan dan pertumbuhan C. annuum dipengaruhi dengan ketaranya oleh kepekatan logam berat yang dikaji, terutamanya pada kepekatan ? 0 mg/l. Pertumbuhan akar didapati lebih sensitif kepada kehadiran dan kepekatan HgCl2 berbanding dengan pucuk untuk spesis sayuran buah ini. ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Background of Capsicum Capsicum annuum is a member of the family Solanaceae and a class of Dicotyledons. It is commonly known as Chili. Capsicum contains high amount of nutritive value such as vitami n C (ascorbic acid), A, B-complex and E along with minerals like molybdenum, manganese, folate, potassium and thiamine. Capsicum contains seven times more vitamin C than orange (Simone et al. , 1997).Capsicum terminology is quite confusing, the terminology is synonymously used for â€Å"chilli pepper† plants called such as pepper, chili, chile, chilli, aji, paprika and Capsicum. There are thought to be 25-30 Capsicum species with five different names, such as C. annuum L. , C. frustescens Mill. , C. baccatum L. , C. chinense and C. pubescens Ruiz and Pavon, which have been domesticated and currently cultivated (Csillery, 2006). Capsicum is the most widespread and widely cultivated species in subtropics and temperate countries (Belletti et al. , 1998). The scientific classification of C. nnuum is as below: 1 Kingdom : Plantae – Plants Class : Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons Subclass : Asteridae Order : Solanales Family : Solanaceae – Potato family Genus : Cap sicum L. – Pepper Species : Capsicum annuum L. – cayenne pepper Although the species name annuum means â€Å"annual† (from Latin annus â€Å"year†), the plant is not an annual and in the absence of winter frosts, it can survive several seasons and grow into large perennial shrub. The si ngle flowers are of off-white (sometimes purplish) color while the stem is densely branched and the plant can grow up to 60 centimeter tall.The fruit is berry which may be green, yellow and red when ripe. While the species can tolerate most climates, C. annuum is especially productive in warm and dry climates (Anonymous, 2012b). 1. 2 Value of capsicum Capsicums have their own benefits and values to human beings. As we know, capsicums are used in cooking and also as medicines. Capsicum is an indispensable spice used as basic ingredient in a great variety of cuisine all over the world. It is also used as flavoring, colorant and adds tang and taste to the otherwise insipid fo od. Moreover, Capsicum species are employed whole 2 r ground and alone or in combination with other flavorings agents, primarily in the pickles, stewed or barbeques (Ravishankar et al. , 2003). Table 1. 1: Raw chili peppers (C. annum), nutrient value per 100 g Principle Nutrient Value Percentage of RDA Energy 40 Kcal 2% Carbohydrates 8. 81 g 7% Protein 1. 87 g 3% Total Fat 0. 44 g 2% Cholesterol 0 mg 0% Dietary Fiber 1. 5 g 3% Vitamins Folates 23 mcg 6% Niacin 1. 244 mg 8% Pantothenic acid 0. 201 mg 4% Pyridoxine 0. 506 mg 39% Riboflavin 0. 086 mg 6. 5% Thiamin 0. 72 mg 6% Vitamin A 952 IU 32% Vitamin C 143. 7 mg 240% Vitamin E 0. 69 mg 4. % Vitamin K 14 mcg 11. 5% Electrolytes Sodium 9 mg 0. 5% Potassium 322 mg 7% Minerals Calcium 14 mg 1. 5 % Copper 0. 129 mg 14% Iron 1. 03 mg 13% Magnesium 23 mg 6% Manganese 0. 187 mg 8% Phosphorus 43 mg 6% Selenium 0. 5 mcg 1% Zinc 0. 26 mg 2% Phyto-nutrients Carotene-? 534 mcg -Carotene-? 36 mcg -Cryptoxanthin-? 40 mcg -Lutein-zeaxanthin 709 mc g -Source: USDA National Nutrient data base (Anonymous, 2012a) 3 1. 3 Background of heavy metal According to Thomine et al. (2000), metals such as iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu) are necessary as co-factors for many enzymatic reactions.Some metals, such as zinc (Zn), play important structural roles in proteins. Furthermore, metal cations have recently been shown to be involved in signaling in animals and plants. According to Ghavri and Singh (2010) in terms of stabilizing contaminated sites, a lower metal concentration in stem is preferred in order to prevent metal from entering into ecosystem. However, plants also need to control against excessive accumulation of essential cations and toxic heavy metals, such as cadmium (Cd2+), lead, mercury, and arsenic.When taken up in excessive quantities, these elements are transferred in the food chain where they may have adverse effects on the health of humans and animals. Heavy metals can enter the food chain via plant uptake (Cha yed, 2009). According to Mami (2011) from Guilan University, Rasht, Islamic Republic of Iran, heavy metals have recently received the attention of researchers all over the world, mainly due to also their harmful effect on plant. 1. 4 Seed germination and growth According to the seed physiologists, germination is defined as the emergence of the radical through the seed coat.Basic requirements for germination include water, gases, temperature and moisture availability. 4 According to Vera et al. (2010), exposure to heat and to low pH promotes germination and reduces time to germinate, which indicates that germination is related to passage of fire and to soil pH. Germination is also correlated with wet and cold conditions and dormancy can be classified as being the physiological type. In addition, it well known that temperature, light conditions, nitrates or hormonal treatment may also affect germination. In an experiment conducted by Koger et al. 2004), Caperonia palustris seeds from naturally dehisced with predominant dark gray color were exposed to pre chilling in attempts to break any dormancy mechanism imposed on seed kept at room temperature. Results showed that pre chilling did not release dormancy. Seed germinated with fluctuating 12-h light/dark and constant dark conditions. Seed germination test using buffer solutions of pH 4 to 10 recorded germination of 31 to 62% over a pH range from 4 to 10. Heavy metals may also affect seed germination, mainly believed to be attributed to toxicity effects. They can be hazardous because they cannot be estroyed or despoiled but they are bioaccumulated. 1. 5 Problem statement Capsicum annuum is a kind of fruit vegetable most commonly consumed and its production is of concerned. Like other crops, Capsicum needs to control against excessive accumulation of essential cations and toxic heavy metals for seed development and production. The heavy metals may cause a negative effect to the seed germination and growth. 5 1. 6 O bjective of study The experiment was conducted by considering the objectives of study as below: 1. To determine the mercury effect on germination of C. nnuum seeds. 2. To identify the mercury effect on subsequent initial seedling growth of C. annuum after seed germination. 1. 7 Significance of study This study is important to observe and determine the mercury effect on germination and growth of C. annuum seeds. The result from this study is hoped to provide information on germination and growth of C. annuum seeds as affected by mercury concentration in soil, e. g. ex-mining soils. 1. 8 Scope of Study The experiment conducted to identify the concentration of mercury that may affect germination and growth of C. nnuum seeds involved the seed extraction from fruits, seed treatment with mercury chloride (HgCl2), seed germination recording, measurement of length of radical and plumule, data analysis and report writing. 6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1 Source of heavy metal There are man y sources of heavy metals in soil including natural sources e. g. soil parent material, volcanic eruptions, marine aerosols, and forest fires; agricultural sources e. g. fertilizers, sewage sludge, pesticides and irrigation water; energy and fuel production sources e. g. emissions from power stations; mining and smelting e. . tailing, smelting, refining and transportation (Reichman, 2002). It is generally accepted that heavy metal contamination can not only result in adverse effects on various parameters relating to plant quality and yield, but also cause changes in the size, composition and activity of the soil microbial community (Giller et al. , 1998). Heavy metals might accumulate in the food chains, with risks for the health of animals and humans, which are less sensitive to metal toxicity than plants, but they are capable of concentrating heavy metal in certain tissues and organs (Peralta et al. 2001). The influence of metals on development and reproduction of plants can be fi rstly quantified by determining the germination traits of seeds and growth performance of seedling. In the presence of high concentrations of some heavy metals, most plant species performe the reduction of seed germination and seedling growth (Patra and Sharma, 2000). 7 The high metal contents suggest the potential for heavy metal accumulation and phytotoxicity for crops grown in soils receiving the metal enriched sewage sludge.Hence, it will limit its application on land, because of the stringent regulations for land application of heavy metals i n the form of sewage (Wong et al. , 2001). The high heavy metal contents might pose a toxic effect to plants and cause heavy metal accumulation in plant tissues (Wong et al. , 2001). Many of those who performed short-term laboratory studies also discuss ed their results in relation to existing regulations for heavy metals in soils, or the possible effect of the agricultural use of metal-contaminated products such as sewage sludge, animal m anures and fungicides (Giller et al. 1998). The distribution of heavy metals in the organs of plants is not homogenous; it depends on the species and the element (Kozanecka et al. , 2002). The application of cow dung in wasteland soil not only provided nutrients for plant growth, but also stabilized the metal in the soil and reduced metal toxicity to the plant (Ghavri and Singh, 2010). According to Longman (2006), mercury is a heavy silver white poisonous metal that is liquid at ordinary temperature and it is a chemical element symbol is Hg. It is a pervasive pollutant that accumulates in organisms and is highly toxic.Elemental mercury is efficiently transported as a gas around the 8 globe, and even remote areas show evidence of mercury pollution originating from industrial sources such as power plants (Morel et al. , 1998). Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that is of significant concern as an environmental pollutant since mercury is not very phototoxic in normally occurring concentra tions. In polluted regions, mercury is a non -degradable toxic heavy metal pollutant when it is accumulated by plants. The information is scare about its uptake mechanism and growth inhibition. There are a wide range of sources that emit mercury to the atmosphere.Approximately half of the atmospheric budget of vapor-phase mercury is attributed to anthropogenic sources and half to natural source (Nriagu, 1989) The accumulation of mercury in terrestrial plants increases with increasing soil mercury concentration. Soil type has considerable influence on this process, i. e. high organic matter content will decrease uptake. Generally, the highest concentrations of mercury are found at the roots, but translocation to other organs occurs. In contrast to higher plants, mosses are known to take up mercury via atmospheric deposition (Boening, 2000).The characterization of mercury uptake showed that mercury binding is dependent on initial pH, agitation speed, amount of dosage and also the inte raction between pH and contact time (Ling, 2010). 2. 2 Inhibition of seed germination According to Longman (2006), seed is a small, hard object produced by plants, from which a new plant of the same kind grows. Poor quality seeds suffer from following problems of low germination percentage, poor 9 emergence, poor survival, and poor adaptability to site, susceptible to disease and pests, poor growth, and low productivity (Anonymous, 2011a).The characteristics of good seeds are well ripened, healthy and true to type, pure and free from inert materials and weed seeds, viable and have good germination capacity, uniform in its texture, structure and appearance, and free from damage and should not be broken and inflected by pests and diseases (Anonymous, 2011a). Seed germination is defined as the emergence and development from seed embryo of those essential structures, which are indicative of the ability of seed to produce a normal plant under favorable conditions (Anonymous, 2011a).Seeds need to be handled carefully to avoid damage to the embryo. Rough handling at threshing time can result in a lower percentage of germination. Actual tests are made at intervals to insure a good percentage of germination. Many seeds will germinate in a week or two or three weeks, but some seeds may take weeks or even years until barriers to germination are removed (Butterfield, 1967). Although seeds are rather similar in structure and in the same taxonomic family, their germination patterns are quite different (McDonald, 2011).Seeds exist in a state of dormancy, absorbing oxygen, giving off carbon dioxide, and slowly using up their stored food reserves during germination (Rindels, 1996). Every viable seed has the potential to become a plant. For this to happen, the seed must germinate, and for germination to occur, a seed 10 essentially needs water (during absorption and subsequent stages of growth), oxygen (for respiration) and temperature adequate for metabolism and growth. Some s eeds also require light and therefore must be on the soil surface in order to germinate, and not buried beneath the soil surface (McDonald, 2011).A general statement was made that percent of germination or p ercent of viable seeds of Rumex scutatus drop over time as a result of exposure to environmental conditions (Yilmaz and Aksoy, 2007). Some seeds have certain chemicals inside them to which prevent their germination, while some seeds may not have well developed embryo and require storage for a few weeks before germination can take place (Anonymous, 2011a). Some seeds present deep physiological dormancy with a very low germination percentage and they need a long time to start germination (Vera et al. , 2010).Heavy metals of Zn and ZnO particles were observed to have significant inhibition on seed germination and root growth (El-Temsah and Joner, 2010). The decrease in the value of germination percentage and germination index of the seed caused by the increased amount of metallic c ompound indicates that at a lower concentration, the contaminant posed little or no harm on the seed viability but in higher level, germination is retarded (Jaja and Odoemena, 2004). In the presence of heavy metals at certain concentrations, the radical of Arabidopsis thaliana protruded from testa, but the embryo growth was arrested beyond the point (Li et al. 2005). Although the seed coat provides some protection from metal stress prior to germination, it will eventually 11 crack or become more permeable upon germination. The current literature suggests that seed germination is affected by metals in two ways. Firstly, by their general toxicity, and secondly are by their inhibition of water uptake (Kranner and Colville, 2011). The seed injury caused by organic mercurials to cereals was characterized by abnormal germination. The primary effect of mercury could possibly be on the embryo itself, and effects on the endosperm were of secondary importance (Patra and Sharma, 2000). . 3 Env ironmental effect Salinity reduced germination percentage and also delayed the germination rate as the salt level was increased. The germination rate, germination index and coefficient of velocity of germination of forage sorghums decreased under salinity treatments. The germination percentage was a maximum in distilled water, but decreased with increasing salinity (Siti Aishah et al. , 2010). The pH of soil plays a great role in the speciation and bio-availability of heavy metals thus; the maximum allowable con centrations in soil vary with soil (Luo et al. , 2011).The percentage germination was low at acidic as well as alkaline conditions in both the sets of scarified and unscarified Solanum nigrum seeds. It was observed that neutral pH plays in an important role in increasing germination (Suthar et al. , 2009). 12 Erica australis had increased seed germination in response to factors related to passage of fire and low pH (Vera et al. , 2010). Caperonia palustris seed germination w as less than 32% at pH 4 and 10. High seed germination over a broad pH range indicated that pH may not be a limiting factor for germination in most soils (Koger et al. , 2004).The addition of lime caused a significant increase in soil pH providing an alkaline buffering capacity against heavy metal availability for the acid loamy soil while without liming the acidic soil may cause a lowering of the alkalinity of sludge resulting in a higher availability of heavy metals (Wong et al. , 2001). 13 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3. 1 Location of the study This study was conducted at Laboratory A603, Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor. 3. 2 Test material Capsicum annuum fully ripe fruits were purchased from local market and a total of 600 seeds were extracted from the fruits.The seeds were cleaned with running tap water, pat dried with paper towel and air dried for two days prior to experimentation. 3. 3 Experiment procedure 3. 3. 1 Sterilizatio n of seed Seeds were rinsed with 10% Chlorox followed by 3 times rinsing with distilled water. 3. 3. 2 Treatment Seeds were germinated in enclosed Petri dishes on paper towel containing HgCl2 solutions at 0, 25, 50, 75, 100 mg/l respectively. The paper towel was moistened with 2 ml of the respective HgCl 2 solution before the seeds were placed on the paper towel for germination test. The paper towel was applied with 2 ml of the 14 espective mercury solution at alternate days unless the paper towel was still found moist with the previous application of solution. 3. 4 Data collection The germination/emergence of the seedling (radical and plumule) was recorded for a period of 10 days. Then, the length of the radical (primary root) and plumule (primary shoot) was measured at two days after germination. The other abnormal morphology, growth and development of seedlings were also recorded. 3. 5 Experimental design The experiment was based on completely randomized design (CRD) as it is the most commonly used design for laboratory research.This experiment was arranged in a CRD as a single factor experiment with 5 replicates. There were 20 seeds in each replicate. 3. 6 Statistical analysis Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out and treatment means were compared using Tukey’s Simultaneous Test. Germination percentage was transformed to arc-sine value before ANOVA. 3. 7 Work schedule This study was conducted starting from January 2011 until July 2011 (Table 3. 1). It involved extraction and cleaning of seeds, air drying of seeds, sterilization procedure, and treatment with HgCl2, data collection and data 15 analysis.At the end of this study, project report was presented orally and the written final report was submitted. Table 3. 1: Work schedule for the study on germination and growth of C. annuum after application of HgCl2 at various concentrations Weeks activities 2 Collection of material / / 8 10 / 12 14 / / / Data collection 6 / Treatment 4 Data analysis Oral presentation / Submission of report / 16 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS Figure 4. 1 indicates the germination of C. annuum seeds treated with varying concentrations of HgCl2. Capsicum annuum seed germination was significantly affected by treatment with HgCl2 up to 100 mg/l (Figures 4. and 4. 2; Table 4. 1; Appendices A and B). Seeds treated ? 50 mg/l HgCl 2 showed significantly lower germination percentage and germination index as compared to the control seeds treated with distilled water and those treated with lower HgCl 2 at 25 mg/l. This trend was visible from 4 days after germination onwards until end of the study period of 10 days. Figure 4. 1: Germination of C. annuum seeds after treatment with HgCl2 17 Figure 4. 2: Seed germination at the 10th day with HgCl2 treatment at 25mg/l Table 4. 1: Germination and growth of C. annuum after treatment withHgCl2 HgCl2 mg/l) Germination % Germination index Length of radical (cm) Length of plumule (cm) 0 100 ±0 a 5. 41 ±0. 84 a 1. 75 ±0. 11 a 0. 77 ±0. 07 a 25 95 ±6. 12 a 5. 38 ±0. 59 a 1. 23 ±0. 07 b 0. 70 ±0. 06 ab 50 56 ±9. 62 b 3. 08 ±0. 73 b 0. 95 ±0. 08 c 0. 58 ±0. 11 b 75 49 ±6. 52 b 3. 16 ±0. 66 b 0. 61 ±0. 02 d 0. 36 ±0. 01 c 100 28 ±9. 08 c 1. 90 ±0. 54 b 0. 47 ±0. 02 e 0. 33 ±0. 11 c Means with the same letter within the same column are not significantly different at 5% level of significance All HgCl2 treatments ranging from 25 – 100 mg/l as studied resulted in significant inhibition of radical growth (Table 4. ; Appendi ces B and C). Growth inhibition of 18 radical increased significantly and simultaneously with increasing HgCl 2 concentration indicating that radical was very sensitive to this heavy metal. Based on Table 4. 1, plumule growth of C. annuum seeds was also affected significantly by the HgCl2 treatment (Appendices B and D). Plumule growth was less sensitive to this heavy metal; only those treated at higher rates of 75 and 100 mg/l showed significantly th e greatest inhibition effects. Heavy metal of mercury was found to affect the germination and growth of C. nnuum seeds. Based on the results, mercury at 50 mg/l was found to retard seed germination in terms of germination percentage and germination index. This concentration of mercury also affected development of radical and plumule in terms of length of the organs. Toxicity caused by the under study heavy metal at concentration of 50 mg/l was presumed to result in obvious reduced seed germination and inhibition of growth of seedlings of C. annuum. 19 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION Seed germination and growth of C. annuum seedlings were affected with HgCl2 at 50 mg/l.Reduced seed germination and inhibition of seedling growth were recorded with this treatment and higher concentration of HgCl2. The seeds of this fruit vegetable can be concluded to be sensitive to mercury contamination. 20 CITED REFERENCES Anonymous. (2012a). Chili peppers nutrition facts. Retrieved 20 May 2012, from http://www. nutrition-and-you. com/chili-peppers. html Anonymous. (2012b). PLANTS Profile Capsicum annuum L. var. annuum cayenne pepper Retrieved 20 May 2012, from http://plants. usda. gov/java/profile? symbol=CAAN4 Anonymous. (2011a). Seed technology.Retrieved 21 September 2011, from http://ifs. nic. in/rt/main/courses/seed_tech. pdf Belletti, P. , Marzachi, C. & Lanteri, S. (1998). Flow cytometric measurement of nuclear DNA content in Capsicum (Solanaceae). Plant Systematic and Evolution 209: 85-91. Boening, D. W. (2000). Ecological effects, transport, and fate of mercury: a general review. Chemosphere 40:1335-1351. Butterfield, H. M. , (1967). Seed germination. California Horticultural Society Journal 28(2):1-9. Retrived 20 May 2012 from http://www. calhortsociety. org/ Bulletins/journal-articles/seed-germination. html Chayed, N. F. (2009).Determination of Heavy Metal Uptake by Acacia magnium Grown in Ex-mining Area in Kg Gajah, Perak. Universiti Teknologi MARA. Csillery G. (2006) Pepper ta xonomy and the botanical description of the species, Acta Argon Hung. 5: 151-166. El-Temsah, Y. S. , & Joner, E. J. (2010). Impact of Fe and Ag nanoparticles on seed germination and differences in bioavailability during exposure in aqueous suspension and soil. Environmental Toxicology DOI 10. 1002/tox. Ghavri, S. V. , & Singh, R. P. (2010). Phytotranslocation of Fe by biodiesel plant Jatropha curcas L. grown on iron rich wasteland soil. Braz. J. Physiol. 22(4): 235243.Giller, K. E. , Witter, E. , & McGrath, S. P. (1998). Toxicity of heavy metals to microorganisms and microbial processes in agricultural soils: A review. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 30(10/11): 1389-1414. Jaja, T, E. , & Odoemena, C. S. I. (2004). Effect of Pb, Cu and Fe compounds on the germination and early seedling growth of tomato varieties. J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Mgt. 8(2): 51-53. 21 Koger, C. H. , Reddy, K. N. , & Poston, D. H. (2004). Factors affecting seed germination, seedling emergence, and survival of texas weed (Caperonia palustris). Weed Science 52: 989-995. Kozanecka, T. , Chojnicki, J. , & Kwasowski, W. (2002).Content of heavy metals in plant from pollution-free regions. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies 11(4): 395-399. Kranner, I. , & Colville, L. (2011). Metals and seeds: Biochemical and molecular implications and their significance for seed germination. Environmental and Experinmental Botany. 72(1): 93-105 Li, W. , Khan, M. A. , Yamaguchi, S. & Kamiya, Y. (2005). Effect of heavy metal on seed germination and early seedling growth of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Growth Regulation 46: 45-50. Ling, T. , Fangke, Y. , & Jun, R. (2010). Effect of mercury to seed germination, coleoptile growth and root elongation of four vegetable.Research Journal of Phytochemistry 4(4): 225-233. Longman (2006). Dictionary of Comtemporary English. Pearson Education Limited: 1950. Luo, C. , Liu, C. , Wang, Y. , Liu, X. , Li, F. , Zhang, G. , & Li, X. (2011). Heavy metal contamination in soils and v egetables near an e-waste processing site, south China. Journal of Hazardous Materials 186(1): 481-490. Mami, Y. , Ahmadi, G. , Shahmoradi, M. , & Gorbani, H. R. (2011). Influence of different concentration of heavy metals on the seed germination and growth of tomato. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 5(6): 420-426. McDonald, M. B. 2011). Physiology of Seed Germination. Retrieved 23 November 2011, from http://seedbiology. osu. edu/HCS631_files/4A%20Seed%20germination. pdf Morel, F. M. , Kraepiel, A. M. , & Amyot, M. , (1998). The chemical cycle and accumulation of mercury. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 54-566. Nriagu, J. O. (1989). A global assessment of natural sources of atmospheric trace metals. Nature 338: 47-49. Patra, M. , & Sharma, A. (2000). Mercury toxicity in plant. The Botanical Review 66(3): 379-422. Peralta, J. R. , Gardea-Torresdey, J. L. , Tiemann, K. J. , Gomez, E. , Arteaga, S. , Rascon, E. & Parsons, J.G. (2000). Study of the ef fect of heavy metal on seed germination and plant growth on alfalfa plant (Medicago sativa) grown in solid media. Proceeding of the 2000 Conference on Harzardous Waste Research: 135-140. 22 Ravishankar, G. A. , Suresh, B. , Giridhar, P. , Rao, S. R. and Johnson, T. S. (2003). Biotechnological studies on Capsicum for metabolite production and plant improvement. In: Amit Krishna, D. E. , (ed. ). Capsicum: The genus Capsicum. Harwood Academic Publishers, UK,: 96-128. Reichman, S. M. (2002). The Responses of Plants to Metal Toxicity: A review focusing on Copper, Manganese and Zinc.Australian Minerals & Energy Environment Foundation, Victoria, Australia: 1-54. Rindels, S. (1996). Successful seed germination. Horticulture and Home Pest News IC-475(2), Iowa State University. Retrived from http://www. ipm. iastate. edu/ipm/ hortnews/1996/2-9-1996/seed. html Simone, A. H. , Simone, E. H. , Eitenmiller, R. R. , Mills, N. R. , & Green, N. R. , (1997). Ascorbic acid and provitamin a contents in usually colored bell peppers (Capsicum annuum L. ). Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 10(4): 299-311. Siti Aishah, H. , Saberi, A. R. , Halim, R. A. , & Zaharah, A. R. (2010). Salinity effects on germination of forage sorghums.Journal of Agronomy 9(4): 169-174. Suthar, A. C. , Naik, V. R. , & Mulani, R. M. (2009). Seed and seed germination in Solanum nigrum Linn. American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci. 5(2): 179-183. Thomine, S. , Wang, R. , Ward, J. M. , Crawford, N. M. , & Schroeder, J. I. (2000). Cadmium and iron transport by members of a plant metal transporter family in Arabidopsis with homology to Nramp genes. PNAS 99(9): 4991-4996. Vera, D. T. , Martin, R. P. , & Oliva, S. R. (2010). Effect of chemical and physical treatment on seed germination of Erica australis. Ann. Bot. Fennici 47: 353-360. Wong, J. W. C. , Lai, K. M. D. , Su.S. & Fang, M. (2001). Availability of heavy metals for Brassica chinensis grown in an acidic loamy soil amended with domestic and indust rial sewage sludge. Water, Air and Soil Pollution 128:339-353. Yilmaz, D. D. , & Aksoy, A. (2007). Physiological effects of different environmental conditions on the seed germination of Rumex scutatus L. (Polygonaceae). Erciyes Universitesi Fen Bilimleri Dergisi 23(1-2): 24-29. 23 APPENDIX A Germination of C. annuum seeds HgCl2 (mg/l) 0 25 50 75 100 Replicate 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 2 2 3 7 5 8 6 7 4 5 7 5 2 3 3 2 6 3 4 5 2 3 3 2 2 1 24 4 7 8 5 9 6 6 6 5 5 4 2 6 4 3 1 2 3 5 3 2 4 4 1 4 Period (days) 6 5 6 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 3 3 5 2 3 1 1 5 1 1 2 8 4 2 3 1 1 3 2 2 2 5 3 2 10 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 APPENDIX B ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square germination Between Groups Within Groups G. I Length of radical Length of plumule Total Between Groups Within Groups Total Between Groups Within Groups Total Between Groups Within Groups Total 12408. 834 4 3102. 208 707. 247 20 F Sig. 35. 362 13116. 081 48. 100 9. 246 57. 346 5. 203 .091 5. 294 .758 .130 .888 25 24 4 20 24 4 20 24 4 20 24 12. 025 .462 87. 726 . 000 26. 011 . 000 1. 301 286. 374 . 000 .005 .190 .007 29. 159 . 00 Multiple Comparisons Tukey HSD Dependent Variable (I) treatment (J) treatment germination 0 25 50 75 100 25 0 50 75 100 50 0 25 75 100 75 0 25 50 100 100 0 25 50 75 95% Confidence Interval Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 9. 72566 3. 76098 . 111 Lower Bound Upper Bound -1. 5286 20. 9799 3. 76098 . 000 30. 2341 52. 7426 3. 76098 . 000 34. 3137 56. 8222 3. 76098 . 000 47. 0576 69. 5661 -9. 72566 3. 76098 . 111 -20. 9799 1. 5286 41. 48839 * 45. 56795 * 58. 31190 * 31. 76273 * 3. 76098 . 000 20. 5085 43. 0170 35. 84229 * 3. 76098 . 000 24. 5880 47. 0965 48. 58623 * 3. 76098 . 000 37. 3320 59. 8405 -41. 48839 * . 76098 . 000 -52. 7426 -30. 2341 -31. 76273 * 3. 76098 . 000 -43. 0170 -20. 5085 4. 07956 3. 76098 . 812 -7. 1747 15. 3338 16. 82351 * 3. 76098 . 002 5. 5693 28. 0778 -45. 56795 * 3. 76098 . 000 -56. 8222 -34. 3137 -35. 84229 * 3. 76098 . 000 -47. 0965 -24. 5 880 -4. 07956 3. 76098 . 812 -15. 3338 7. 1747 12. 74395 * 3. 76098 . 022 1. 4897 23. 9982 -58. 31190 * 3. 76098 . 000 -69. 5661 -47. 0576 -48. 58623 * 3. 76098 . 000 -59. 8405 -37. 3320 -16. 82351 * 3. 76098 . 002 -28. 0778 -5. 5693 -12. 74395 * 3. 76098 . 022 -23. 9982 -1. 4897 26 Multiple Comparisons Tukey HSD 95% Confidence Interval Mean Difference (I-J)Dependent Variable (I) treatment (J) treatment G. I 0 25 .03500 .43003 1. 000 -1. 2518 1. 3218 50 2. 33000 * .43003 . 000 1. 0432 3. 6168 2. 25333 * .43003 . 000 .9665 3. 5401 3. 51167 * .43003 . 000 2. 2249 4. 7985 0 -. 03500 .43003 1. 000 -1. 3218 1. 2518 50 2. 29500* .43003 . 000 1. 0082 3. 5818 75 2. 21833 * .43003 . 000 .9315 3. 5051 3. 47667 * .43003 . 000 2. 1899 4. 7635 -2. 33000 * .43003 . 000 -3. 6168 -1. 0432 -2. 29500 * .43003 . 000 -3. 5818 -1. 0082 75 -. 07667 .43003 1. 000 -1. 3635 1. 2101 100 1. 18167 .43003 . 082 -. 1051 2. 4685 0 -2. 25333 * .43003 . 000 -3. 5401 -. 9665 25 -2. 21833* .43003 . 000

 Benefits of encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour Essay

When it comes to behaviour it can be easy to focus on what we need to stop children from doing. The problem with this approach is that it does not help children know what they should be doing. This means that nowadays there is much more emphasis on encouraging positive behaviour . A good starting point is to think about the positive behaviour or goals that you should be encouraging in children. This may be outlined in your settings policy or you may need to observe what other staff seem to encourage. If you are working in a setting that several ages of children notice the way in which there are different expectations according to the age of the children Why encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour works 1. It helps children to learn what they need to do 2. It creates calmer environment and stronger relationships 3. Children respond well 4. Children learn from adults Skills and techniques for positive behaviour 1. Rewards 2. Attention 3. Praise 4. Star charts 5. Being given responsibility 6. Treats 7. Stickers 8. Timing 9. Explanation 10. Public acknowledged Settings for children and young people Children centres children aged 0-5yrs Day care facilcity children ages 0-5yrs A home setting children aged 0-8yrs Extended care children and young people 4-16yrs Youth activity club young 11-16yrs A reception class ks1 in a primary school A crà ¨che for children up to the age up to 5yrs Attention seeking What a child does Many children show attention seeking behaviour at times . it can be a sign of insecurity or in some cases mean that children have become used to having a lot of adult attention How to deal with it It is often best to ignore attention seeking behaviour unless it is dangerous as by challenging it you may be teaching children that they can get attention this way Biting What a child does Many toddlers bite especially if they are in group care. Biting is often linked to frustration and can become a habit How to deal with it Act immediately Give the victim attention first Once a child has bitten, it is likely that another bite will follow Behaviour problems that should be referred Biting, aggression, change of behaviour ,self-harming, bullying It is unusual for most settings to try a few strategies’ first before referring to other professionals sometimes unwanted behaviour is a result of a medical condition or learning difficulty while others might be linked to emotional difficulty that the child has table 2 shows some of the pros who may support the child and their family. GP family doctor This is often the first part of call as the family doctor will able to refer to others. Health visitor A health visitor may visit the family at home and give some advice. Educational physcologist The educational physcologist will look at the children’s learning and behaviour. Child psychiatrist A child psychiatrist will help children who may have metal health issues. Family counsellor A family counsellor may help work with whole family and child. Play therapist Children who have had some trauma may see a play therapist so that they can work on what has happened.

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

Edit - Essay Example In order to reduce the cost factor, the company has to organize some of the training programs internally, in stead of outsourcing all the training courses. Of course the organization will need additional massive increase of the funding as a result of the need to provide incentives, promotions, bonuses and special allowances. The improvement of service speed demands has training of worker as the initial step of implementation. The services rendered by all waiters expose the fact that employees do not value customer service. This is because new processes and systems create unbearable pressure the workers. Training enables the workers to release the pressure in an ethical manner by working professionally. The implementation of the proposed solution ought to begins immediately. The determining factor is to ensure that there is enough work force and finances. It begins with employee training which is expected to take a maximum of two weeks. The training is to be conducted using a number of subject modules such as: The next step is to allow the workers to apply the knowledge and experience in their practical work. Their services after training ought to demonstrate change of work culture and ethics, characterized by increased speed of work and reduction in customer complains. The third step is to monitor the financial implications of the results and award performances. There is need to ensure that there is enough workforce to serve the number of customers without straining. As the number of customers increase, the organization can increase the number of workers gradually to meet the demand. The strategic management ought to implement the program immediately to realize the strategic objectives. This is because time is one of the limited resources and ought to be utilized wisely. The chosen solution will satisfy the organization by educating the workers about the core objective, one of which is to offer quality customer service. In

Introduction to Accounting and finance -- Economics, Finance and Assignment - 7

Introduction to Accounting and finance -- Economics, Finance and Management - Assignment Example The result is that immediately on payment for bulk purchases from UK supplier, the company will be requiring more than the available OD facility of  £25000. It appears from projected cash flows that after meeting payment for bulk purchases the company will be in position to manage its liquidity within the available line of credit. It must be remembered that â€Å"by using cash flow forecast, an entrepreneur can predict and plain the cash flow of a business.†(Justin G. Longenecker, page 390)ii . While planning cash flows, one of the major issues over which managers should concentrate in resolving the liquidity problems are seeking an extended credit period from suppliers as the company is making bulk purchases. Second issue is to approach the bank to raise line of credit from the existing limit of  £ 25000.Third issue that requires management’s concentration is to take advantage of the positive liquid position emerging from October 2010. The management must understand that cash flow forecast is â€Å"for internal purposes and is not subject to the rules we will lay for preparing profit and loss account and balance sheet.†(David Crowther, page 24)iii. â€Å"Profits are the funds that are left at the end of the period when all sales are booked and expenses are tallied.† (Craig Cochran, page 22)iv. Cash represent liquidity available with the company and profits are the result of good performance of any business. â€Å"Any one who has compared income statements and bank statements knows that profit never makes its way to the bank account exactly the same amount that appeared on the income statement.†(Gene Siciliano, page 76)v. Profit calculation involve measurement of non- cash transactions in order to arrive at a reasonably good assessment of a business activities over an accounting period, particular when accrual basis of accountancy is in operation. Credit sales and credit purchases are considered for the purposes

CPT and ICD-9 Coding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CPT and ICD-9 Coding - Essay Example The International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) manual, is used by patients. For instance, when a patient wants to find the codes, one is required to input the keywords and the codes are presented on the screen. 3. Describe how to use the HCPCS manual? The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) are numbers that are assigned to medical practitioners who provide diagnostic services. Therefore, the HCPCS manual is used in the identification of the medical practitioners and their payment after diagnosis. One inputs the number of any particular medical practitioner and the details are displayed. 4. Define upcoding and explain why it should be avoided? Upcoding is a provider’s use of the CPT codes so as to invoice a health cover customer for providing a higher-service than the actual. This should be avoided since it is illegal, and it is a fraud. Furthermore, it is more costly to the taxpayers and

The challanges of adopting a multi-channel retail approach Essay

The challanges of adopting a multi-channel retail approach - Essay Example It is evident that the digital era fuelled novel business opportunities and the continuous evolution of online business channels have made multi-channel retailing a reality, with the customer now placed at the forefront of retail strategy (Jain, 2008). In turn, this has reshaped business distribution and marketing models. To this end, it is submitted as a central proposition in this paper that consumers increasingly dictate retail strategy and therefore CRM is vital as part of an integrated retail strategy to ensure that an organization keeps pace with the multi-channel retail model. Moreover, the central consideration should be given to the movement away from the conventional economics based approach to consider the benefit of integrating effective CRM into retail strategy. For example, Weinberg at al’s 2007 report into changing consumer behaviour highlights that approximately 65-70% of consumers fall within the category of â€Å"multichannel shoppers† and they increas ingly have the highest purchasing power. (Weinberg et al, 2007). As a result, Weinberg et al posit that it is â€Å"critical that organisations effectively employ a multichannel marketing approach, as consumers in B2C contexts now expect it† (Weinberg et al, 2007, p.385). The impact of multi-channel retailing has continued to grow and Retail Solutions Online highlight that industry research indicates that approximately 40% of sales will be attributable to the multi-channel model by 2012 (2009). Additionally, the Retail Solutions’ Online research indicates that the proliferation of the multi-channel retail model will continue to grow and as a result, retail business have to embrace the model as part of integrated retail strategy to compete in the marketplace (2009). Moreover, Vollmer and Precourt argue that the underlying basis for marketing is rooted in economic principles of exchanging goods for value (2008). It is precisely this concept of â€Å"value† that ha s been at the heart of marketing strategy in persuading consumers to exchange value for goods in conventional business strategy. However, as the business models continue to evolve in line with changing consumer habits and retail channels, Vargo and Lusch point to the fact that economical basis for traditional marketing strategy has been forced to adapt to remain relevant (2004). Additionally, Vargo and Lusch further refer to the arguments of Achrol and Kotler that the: â€Å"very nature of network organisation†¦..and the potential impact on the organisation of consumption all suggest that a paradigm shift for marketing may not be far over the horizon†

Hammurabi Code Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hammurabi Code - Essay Example Societies in which women were subjugated will typically show numerous laws protecting the rights and advantages of men, but will prevent women from gaining any power of their own. In these types of societies, women are forced to depend upon the men in their lives to provide them with the basic necessities for life because they are unable to own anything, inherit anything or make any of their own decisions. Although it is easy to assume that women have always suffered a subjugated role in all societies from the beginning of civilization, surviving records from several ancient societies reveal that women are only just now surpassing the freedoms afforded them centuries ago. One of the earliest systems of laws recorded is the codified legal system of King Hammurabi (1795-1750 B.C.), the ruler of the earliest known major city. Marriage laws within this code are very specific regarding the rights of the woman being almost equal to the rights of the man. For example, the bride’s family had to agree to the marriage by accepting the bride-price from the groom’s family. That the girl was a valued member of society is indicated in that this bride-price, along with a dowry provided by her family, went with her into her new marriage and remained her property for life. â€Å"If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children, or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she can rear her children.† Underscoring the value of the bride to her family is the idea that the bride is always a member of her father’s house, r egardless of to whom or how long she has been married and her honor is strongly protected regardless of her position in the family. â€Å"If a man be guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be driven from

The Evolution of Capitalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Evolution of Capitalism - Essay Example Industrial revolution is believed to be the source of capitalism. Economists such as Adam Smith in his book â€Å"The wealth of nations† explained how division of labor produced new wealth beneficial to the society but this could only be achieved if the economy was left to operate on its own without government intervention through the invisible hand mechanism. However, economists such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels while acknowledging the advantages of capitalism were very critical of this system as it was based on class antagonisms and advocated for overthrow of capitalism and replacement with communism. He was supported by Andrew Carnegie in that capitalism created new classes of the rich and the poor but differed on how to handle the problem. For him, the main problem was the administration of wealth and instead of overthrowing capitalism; it should be left to continue but the rich to help the poor so as to bring â€Å"peace on earth, among men of good-will.† The economists thus agree on the importance of capitalism but differ on the impact on society and how to deal with its negative consequences. This paper will discuss the evolution of capitalism and its impact on society through the works of Adam Smith, Marx and Engels and Andrew Carnegie. Adam Smith is considered as the father of free market capitalism. Capitalism which was a consequence of industrial revolution in Britain brought a lot of changes to the society. The emergence of the factory system changed work patterns such that instead of individuals producing food for own use; they were now produced commodities for exchange in the market (Sanders et al. 203). Due to lack of other means of obtaining subsistence food and keeping their race going, they opted to offer their labor to factory owners in exchange of wages. As such, labor became a commodity exchangeable in the market like other

Can We Talk Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Can We Talk - Research Paper Example Failure to have self disclosure, the two parties will develop some internal anger and without proper channel to vent it out, for instance proper communication skills, it may worsen the problem. I remember back in the day, I and my wife never used to open up to each other and it really cost our relationship dearly. This failure to open up in many cases is necessitated by poor communication between spouses. Self-disclosure is very important and in fact directly related to contentment and satisfaction in relationships (Can We Talk? Role Of Communication In Marriage, 2011). Gender differences have to be put in consideration despite the fact that research has actually found very big difference between genders in as afar as communication is concerned .Similarities also exist. Personally I can relate to so many similarities for instance, both men and women like being talked to nicely without being shouted at. Despite the fact that social research is normally based on generalization and some people do not fit in some of those generalizations. Personally I do not fit in most of the generalizations may be because of my split

Ethics in Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ethics in Nursing - Essay Example Introduction ETHICS IN NURSING A nurse should provide care that respect human right and is sensitive to the values, customs and beliefs of all people (S. Barnun, 2008). They should at all times provide information regarding ethical issues. Nurses should also provide their patients with all the necessary information to enable them have informed consent and have freedom to accept or decline to treatment. The information given to them should be recorded and stored in a confidential manner. Nurses should be sensitive to the importance of social activities in correct concern. Ethics in nursing affects all areas of health profession which include direct care of patients, allocation of resources and finances and staff utilization. Nurses need to first cross examine their values systems in order to determine best approach and procedures to use when dealing with a patient with different values. Nurses have the challenge of dealing with patients whose values differ with theirs. Nurses should p rotect patients’ rights and interest and they should therefore make decisions which are ethical in all manner. Understanding of these ethical principles enables a nurse to make appropriate decisions in line of duty, given that in their daily work they deal with issues of moral and ethical nature (Beucham, 2008). Nonmaleficence is always considered a basic task of all nurses. This involves willingness to cause no harm such as physiological, social and even spiritual to the patient. Through this principle a nurse is able to evaluate whether the treatment given will lead to more harm or whether it will help the patient. This enables them to decide on the best treatment approach. The treatment offered should not cause excessive pain, should not be expensive and should be convenient. During treatment the nurse is obliged to giving the patient enough information on consequences, side effects and overall cost of the treatment. The nurse should consider all the potential and benefits of treatment or research and they should work and act carefully, considering the likely risks. This principle carries more weight compared to beneficence as it’s expected that a nurse should be sure of not doing any harm before he can be justified to promote clients legitimate interests. The nurse way of defining harm may differ with that of patient or community and hence should reflect on many definitions and meaning of harm. Veracity Fromer (2010) argues that this is a moral principle that underlies the thought to confide in and fiduciary relationship. This involves being truthful in informing the patients in concern to their health needs and this therefore enables them to make a choice and increase their decision making. Veracity is regarded as a key principle to the existence of trust which is fundamental in advancing the relationship between the nurse and the patient. This furthermore makes the data –gathering procedure easier and reduces the likelihood of nurses giving holistic care which do not meet the nursing goals. To determine the amount of information to give to a patient, clinical judgment is required to avoid giving the patient more than necessary information. There is a great challenge in situations where veracity has some implication in attending to patients from backgrounds where he or she is not allowed to know how

International Language Essay Example for Free

International Language Essay Across 294 countries in the world, there are about 6,500 languages are commonly using in the daily life. The domination of English has been proved as an international language all across with the coming of globalization in future, English is the language of diplomacy and international communications for the use of business, tourism, education, science, computer technology, media, Internet and etc. Without language, all the things couldn’t happen and stay in place like today. People nowadays who stand in the marketplace ordinarily using English as an international language for the purpose of fulfilling communicative needs, a common language to facilitate trade and communication seems unavoidable. Some people think that globalization will become a big threat to the national, cultural and even religious identities as using only a single language and ultimatum to the development of a country. Posses single language may lead to cultural corrosion, a loss of local linguistic knowledge, and mainly will cause to losing of own language which is the carrier of all their cultural values identity is the first thought of conservative minded while they firstly expose to the word of globalization. However, in my opinion, it is possible to use an official international language and still retain theirs own languages with their own cultures values identity. I presented to support that having a single language as an international official language not only provides the opportunities for social mobility and modernity but also removes the probability of losing the national language the carrier of identity by helping people to be identified to the whole world as they are given voices. It is getting involved in international interactions and communications is required. Therefore, to be an active participant in globalized relations, it is necessary to adopt the international language. Using an international language provides opportunities for people to make contributions to the formation and development of that language to lead to scientific and cultural independence. Language is only the instrument of communication for people around the world. Many countries had been adapted to the cultural with an official language or languages. In any country where there are innumerable languages spoken, there is a need for official languages to ensure the flow of communication between different sections of the population and the different states. Above all, international language is important as a common language for people, without language, there will be absence of interaction between people, while there will be a link occurred to no communication to no trading and etc. It’s also important in every aspect for the world. Nowadays, English is considered the universal language for business, international communications, entertainment, tourism, trade and technology. The majority of all resources on the internet are all in English, affecting people to learn English to take full advantage of it. More important, learning English is significant for human to being able for information exchange and connecting to others. In the prevalent globalization there is no doubt that an international language is unavoidability. While trading a business, language is playing an important role of people, if human found difficult in the activation of a common in language spoken, they cannot trade in business. In this sense, not only is an international language inevitable, but also a necessary for trading, commerce and economic expansion by the turn of the century. The criticism to opposing the using of an international official language contends that it would lead to cultural corrosion and a loss of cultural values identity. However, the use of an international official language does not mean that their local languages will disappear. If English already functions as a kind of unofficial international language but this doesn’t mean that people only converse in using English or they ignore their own languages. English is used in specific contexts such as trade, business, etc. and native languages are used for everyday instruction.

How Close The Schlieffen Plan Came To Success

How Close The Schlieffen Plan Came To Success The  Schlieffen Plan was a strategic plan produced by the  German General Staff in the early 20th century. The plan was designed to deal with the threat of encirclement, as Germany had France  to the west and  Russia  to the east. The plan was put into action during the opening of The  First World War  in which Germany had to fight on both a  Western Front  and an  Eastern Front. The plan was designed to take advantage of the difference in time that it would take each of the three countries to mobilise for war. The thinking behind the plan was for Germany to avoid a  two front war  by focusing their armies in the west, quickly defeating the French forces as they had done in the franco-prussian war and then to move its armies using its internal rail network to the east, to deal with the Russian forces before they had time to mobilize fully. The Schlieffen Plan was created by Count  Alfred von Schlieffen  and modified by  Helmuth von Moltke the Younger   after Schlieffens retirement (1). The plan was actually used by Moltke, and, in its modified form, was executed to near victory in the first months of the First World War. However several factors, including the modifications to the original plan; a French counterattack on the outskirts of  Paris  (the  Battle of the Marne); and surprisingly speedy Russian offensives, prevented the plan from reaching its conclusion, thus ending the German offensive, and resulting in prolonged  trench warfare. After the  Franco-Prussian War  of 1870, the province of  Alsace-Lorraine, which had been French and contained a mixed population of French and Germans, had become part of the  German Empire. France was clearly eager to regain its lost territory. However because of  Bismarcks alliances, (2) France was unable to threaten Germany, once  Kaiser Wilhelm II  took the throne in 1888 he began to let the alliances slip and German leaders began to fear encirclement. The first element of the plan involved Germany quickly deploying its forces as well as ignoring the neutrality of  Luxembourg, Belgium  and the Netherlands. The strategic element of the plan was the powerful German right wing moving southwest through Belgium and Northern France, letting the last man on the right, brush the Channel with his sleeve,  in the words of Schlieffen (2), while maintaining only a defensive posture on the central and left wings, in  Lorraine, the  Vosges, and the  Moselle. As previously mentioned, Russian mobilization was thought to take around six weeks, this time was largely due to Russias poor rail network. Therefore after France was defeated within the scheduled forty two days, German high command  would transfer the bulk of the German army to the  Eastern Front. The plan initially deployed 91% of the German troops to France and only 9% to Russia. The goal was to overwhelm France in six weeks, (the time it took for Russia to mobilize its army), and turn back to the Eastern Front before Russia was fully prepared for war. Kaiser Wilhelm II is quoted as having said Paris for lunch, dinner at St. Petersburg.(7) However the German offensive was not successful and we can identify seven major reasons that the Schlieffen Plan failed these are: The effectiveness of the  British Expeditionary Force: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was small compared to the vast armies being mobilised by France and German the total number of Tommys was only 75,000 at the beginning of the war. The French amassed millions of troops, and their aim was to use this number to push the German invasion back quickly and retake  Alsace. To this end, the French commander-in-chief  Joseph Joffre  deployed the small but highly professional BEF on the left flank, where it was thought that there would be no combat. However because of the spped at which the German forces advanced through Belgium, the British were nearly routed several times (3), but they managed to hold-up the Germans long enough for French and British reinforcements to arrive. While the BEF was forced to draw back throughout the month of August, it provided enough resistance against the  German First Army  under  Alexander von Kluck  to help encourage the German general to break off the Plan. Instead, von Kluck turned south- east towards  Compià ¨gne, showing his flank to the Garrison of Paris under  Gallieni, making possible the Miracle of the Marne. (5) The speed of Russian mobilization: The Russians moved faster than anyone expected, taking ground in  Eastern Germany  far quicker than the Germans had thought possible. While the initial Russian invasion was little more than harassment, had the Germans not moved forces to check them they would have come dangerously close to  Berlin. To prevent this Germans moved more troops from the western front to the east. This However was unnecessary and counterproductive as while the forces moved away from the Western Front were still being transported the  German forces in the east won the victory at Tannenberg in early September 1914, while at the same time battles on the Western front were going badly for Germany.(6) The French railway system: Because the Germans had been held up by the British and Belgians, the French had more time to organise and transport troops from the border to Alsace-Lorraine. The Germans had not accounted for how quickly the French would be able to do this, This resulted in the Germans encountering a very differently organised French deployment than the one they were expecting The French moved most of their troops by train, although there are reports of the French using taxis and marching large numbers of troops to get them into position in time. All of this meant that by the time the Germans got into France, the French were there waiting for them. Logistical shortcomings: van Creveld says that (7) Schlieffen does not appear to have devoted much attention to logistics when he evolved his great Plan. He well understood the difficulties likely to be encountered, but made no systematic effort to solve them. Had he done so, he might well have reached the conclusion that the operation was impracticable. Moltke did much to improve the logistic side of the plan. Under his direction, the problem was seriously studied for the first time and officers trained in the techniques of warfare Moltke did indeed make a number of alternations to the plan. From a simply logistical perspective, some of these changes were for the better, but most were detrimental to the cohesiveness of the plan was a complete stratagy. Creveld concludes that, overall, the logistical shortcomings of the plan did not contribute to the German defeat on the Marne.However had the  battle  gone in Germanys favour there is every reason to believe that the advance would have petered out. The prime factors would have b een the inability of the railheads to keep up with the advance, the lack of fodder, and sheer exhaustion. In this sense, but no other, it is true to say that the Schlieffen Plan was logistically impracticable. In van Crevelds view(7) the layout of the plan was did not have the necessary standard of thoroughness and detailed planning that was thought to be the hallmark of the German General Staff, but by  an ostrich-like refusal on Schlieffens part to face even those problems which, after forty years of peace, could be foreseen.  Although Moltke did improve the logistical elements of the plan to take into account modern communications technology., it was not the execution of carefully laid plans which allowed the German advance to enjoy the successes that it did, but  furious improvisation (7) That the German Army performed as well as it did when the orders they were receiving were so contradictory and unclear is testament as to what a formidable military force they really were. Moltkes changes to the plan: Chief of the General Staff Helmuth von Moltke altered several elements of the Schlieffen Plan, firstly he reinforced the east with 180,000 men from the right-wing armies to defend against Russia this watered down the invasion force in favour of a more secure eastern border. Moltke was also opposed to the idea of invading the neutral Netherlands in order to provide his armies with a route through to France. The result of this was that his forces were held up in Belgium and this resulted in the breakdown of the whole schedule that the plan was meant to follow. Moltke also moved more troops from his right wing to his left as he was worried that Allied troops could threaten Germany. In the original plan Schlieffen wanted to provide the opportunity for invading armies to threaten Germany before they were enveloped, as this would provide a political victory as well as a military one. This shift of man power became a problem, because the German left flank was now pushing the French back rat her than luring them away from Paris. This meant that the French forces were much closer to the action than was intended and they were condensed rather than spread out. Moltke also sent 80,000 troops to the east to defend against the Russian invasion. In the end Moltke had shifted 250,000 men away from the right wing invasion force watering the assault down to such a point that he had no choice but to abandon the Schlieffen Plan. The French were beaten back by the strongly reinforced left German armies of close to  Sarrebourg; the French forces pulled back and took up defensive positions in the hills near the city of Nancy(5). Instead of avoiding them and enveloping the French armies and Paris as the plan dictated. German high command chose to assault their heavily defended positions around Nancy. This offensive was a total failure. Belgian resistance: Even though the forces defending Belgium were only ten percent of the size of the invading German army, they still managed to hold the German forces up for almost a month, the Belgians quickly lost their forts and military strongholds but they continued to fight in an almost guerrilla style, constantly threatening German supply lines in the North. Also the fact the Germany had invaded Belgium turned European public opinion against them. German underestimation of the British-Belgian alliance: Britain and Belgium were in an alliance because of the  London Treaty that was signed in 1839.(3) Germany did not believe that Britain would keep to the treaty and defend Belgium. The British did keep to their word and surprised Germany by entering the war. This meant that Germany would have to contend with the royal navy and the highly effective BEF in the war. What actually happened was the opposite of what the plan intended (1) because Russia fell before France. The Russian army was defeated with very little cost to the Germans and Russia was forced out of the war before the western front was resolved. Meanwhile the Western front had huge amounts of manpower poured into it feeding the war of attrition that was taking place. The stalemate began to break in the summer of 1918 when Italy finally managed to defeat  Austria-Hungary, and forced them to withdraw from the war. This meant that Germanys southern flank was exposed. The defeat and withdrawal of  Bulgaria  also made Germany venerable to an Allied advance up the  Danube. In 1917 the United States entered the war and brought with it a substantial amount of troops, this meant that Germanys final push in 1918 was defeated and the allies were able to push the Germans out of France and into Belgium and then back towards the German border. Once it became clear that western front was lost, Germany requested terms and the First World War came to a close. There is no denying that the plan came close to success but with so many factors weighted against it and the poor decisions made German high command in regards to the plans execution. the Schlieffen Plan was never going to win the war for Germany. Moltkes fear of Russia proved unfounded and his changes in deployment unnecessary. If these changes had not been made then the plan may have enjoyed more successes as it was the Germans did not have the man power to build on their initial gains and therefore had to retreat. The plan itself however has merit and I think that its fair to say if the execution of the plan had not been watered down so much by Moltke and Schlieffens original plan was stuck to then France may well have fallen and the thin line that separated defeat from victory would have been crossed by the Germans.

The Rise And Challenge Of Neoliberalism To Neorealism Politics Essay

The Rise And Challenge Of Neoliberalism To Neorealism Politics Essay The neo or the new kind of liberalism and realism was developed in the 1970s as a significant change in theories of International Relations. The neoliberalism is an advancement of liberalism thinking, as it believes to a cooperation and interdependence between States and non-state actors, while the neorealisms theory is focused on the idea of conflict. For the liberals or neoliberals, they have a more optimistic view of peaceful relations, but compared to liberals the neoliberals are highly focused on creating institutions to manage the international system. The neorealists compared to realists argue that the causes of conflict are different. While realists believe that the self-interest of states create conflict, the neorealists explain that the conflict comes from the anarchy, as the lack of authority involves states to seek power and develop a system of self-help. The development of neoliberal theory was formulated by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye (1977) based on interdependence model. The founder of neorealism school is Kenneth Waltz (1979), he stands out from realists about the question of the balance of power. For realists the equilibrium results from the willingness of politicians, but Waltz believes that the balance of power is an attribute to the international system which is composed of selfish units, regulate themselves. Thus for him, the less major powers there are, the more stable the international system is. Therefore the number of poles is reduced to increase system rigidity and more people choose carefully. Having in mind this above statement, the main purpose of this essay is to examine in some detail how neoliberalism is a response to neorealism and how it can challenge the realisms simplistic approach and neorealist theory of the international system. To begin with an analysis of the rise of neoliberalism, it is important to explain the main concept of this theory as this is also the rise of institutions, of pluralism, of rationality. Then, by different ideas from authors the discussion and argument on the debate will be analysed in order to identify the key points of neoliberalism to counter neorealism. The renewal of liberalism occurred after World War II to regulate international system for a peaceful world order. The ideas of neoliberalism are based on cooperation through international institutions and international organizations, which play an important role in the international distribution of wealth and power to maintain stability. Indeed, the major authors like Stephen Krasner (1982) and the founder of neoliberal thought, Robert O. Keohane (1984) has published a book After hegemony and both develop an hegemonic stability theory, they argue that the hegemon provides public goods through institutions (e.g. International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization), determine the content of rules and procedures of cooperation in order to act in the interest of all. Thus the hegemon provides a necessary and sufficient function for the creation and maintenance of international regimes. The neoliberals saw institutions concentrated on international regimes defined by Krasner (1983) as institutions possessing norms, decision rules, and procedures which facilitate a convergence of expectations. Neoliberalism also refers to a rise of pluralism, which is viewed as the source of liberal justification (Robert B. Talisse, 2005, pp. 60) that relies on the assumption of rationality. This leads to an interaction between states, as the rationality involves them to focus on strategy in which actions will lead to reactions by others, then the result will depend on the interaction of other state strategies (Tim Dunne, et al., 2007). Thus the pluralism involves multiple forces in the international system. As David Armstrong, et al., (2007, pp. 85) state neoliberals no longer looked inside states, at how they are politically organized, but rather followed neorealists in treating states as rational actors. The rise of neoliberalism leads to an emergence of international institutions, often called neoliberal institutionalism is focused on collective actors, as they provide rules and norms that support the interaction of states that will work all together. Neoliberals are much more pragmatic than liberals. The notion of international institutions (e.g. International Monetary Fund, World Bank) differs from liberals, especially after the publication of Robert O. Keohanes book After Hegemony (1984). The institutions have a huge influence on states and have provided a way to challenge neorealism. International institutionalism can explain non-security policy areas, the focus goes beyond trade and development issues, like cooperation in trade, monetary policy or environmental protection (David Armstrong, et al., 2007). Thus, institutions, by pushing states to work together, facilitate international cooperation in reducing inherent uncertainties in anarchy. Also one of the major difference with realism is how they see the concept of anarchy (Grieco 1988). Both theories agree on state action and anarchy in world politics. Even if neoliberals recognise their proximity to neorealists, how they manage their similarities is different. Like neorealists, states are important but run with other entities (institutions, organizations). The anarchy, for neorealists, is the absence of authority above states, leading to conflicts on international system. This also means that a state is the guardian of its own security and independence (Spanier, 1978 pp. 11), thus the guarantee of security and safety for states does not exist. The self-interest for neorealists is based on the measurement of gains and have preference on relative gains where states refer to power balances (Grieco, 1988). They believe in hegemonic cooperation, where the hegemonic state holds the position of power to arbitrate any coalition in international system with a preponderance of economic and military power (Hobson, J. M.,2000, pp 39). For neorealists, cooperation can be used to obtain some goals, but it is limited and risky as it introduces the possibility of attack from another state, even if the other state is an ally. According to Waltz for each state the prior research of security is achieved by relying only on itself. However would this lack of trust and cooperation towards other states tend to a dependence of the hegemonic state ? Neoliberals in response have demonstrated that anarchy cannot only deal with a constant threat of use of force by major powers. Miller, B. (1995, pp. 52) in his book called When Opponents Cooperation: Great Power Conflict and Collaboration in World Politics, has raised and competed theoretical perspectives to advance plausible explanations. He stated that the small number of great powers and the use of force are insufficient factors to induce cooperation in conflict resolutions. The cooperation under anarchy (Oye, K. 1986) is possible. Unlike neorealists, they argue that the concept of self-help is not the most profitable for a state because of the risk of war. The cooperation may respond to the self-interest of a state. Neoliberals argument is actually the strongest one because they introduced idea of complex interdependence (Robert O. Keohane and J. Nye, 1977) to explain how multiple actors, agencies and forces can be managed in the world system. Keohane and Nye do successfully cha llenge structural realists as they provide a better understanding of changing security. They explain, for example, that in post Cold War era the security changed through multiple communications in multipolar system. Moreover they argue that using force by military actions are costly and tend to negative effects on economic goals. This also leads to a risk of nuclear rise. Therefore, complex interdependence assumed that the military power is not necessarily effective in economic and political interests of states. If issues occurred between great powers and smaller states, the great powers should dominate. However, the US experience in Vietnam (1961) shows the failure of neorealist theory on bipolar system. Keohane (1997, pp 187) has remarkably explained that : Failure of great powers to control smaller ones could be explained on the basis of independent evidence that in the relevant issue- areas, the states that are weaker on an overall basis have more power resources than their stronger partners, and that the use of power derived from one area of activity to affect outcomes in other areas (through linkages) is difficult. Thus the complex interdependence has arguably challenged the neorealist theory in security concerns. The concept of Prisoners Dilemma, used by neorealists, is based on idea that they have a policy of self-help by default because they could not know the behaviour of other states. How to predict the behaviour of other states ? How to reduce the uncertainty in the situation of international anarchy ? The neoliberals responded by international institutions and international regimes creation. According to Keohane (1986) international regimes facilitate cooperation by reducing uncertainty. He argued that regimes were created to solve the Prisoners Dilemma concept where states share a common interest in cooperation. The regimes are operated between self-interest states aware of all the benefits they can get from the coordination of their policies. In contrast to neorealists, they are concerned with absolute gains getting the best possible deal. Grieco stated that State seeks to maximize their individual absolute gains and are indifferent to the gains achieved by others (Baldwin, 1993, pp 117). By using absolute gains neoliberals seek a long-term cooperation through institutions which are considered for neoliberal institutionalists as the mediator and the means to prevent to cheating in the world system (Baylis and Smith, 2001). Keohane and Nye (1977) have clearly defined the importance of institutions as powerful norms. Indeed, NGOs and networks are strongly effective in penetrating states and use domestic norms and rules to force political leaders to focus on global issues. The most significant argument is found in neoliberalism theory because international institutions encourage the opportunity of negotiations and focus on collaboration and distributional issues. Thus the collective aim is to achieve a positive outcome (Martin, Lisa L., and Beth A. Simmons, 1998). One of the relevant example to illustrate the importance of institutions is the World Trade Organization (the WTO agreement) created in 1995, its goal is to provide free trade agreements and settle disputes between nations. If governments are confident to other ones they would not establish barriers to trade and would not try to do so. Thus they will be more willing to cooperate. The WTO system widely contributes to strengthen that trust and the negotiations lead to agreements by consensus. Small countries can benefit from greater bargaining power. It is important to remain that without a multilateral regime such as the WTO system, the more powerful countries could further unilaterally impose their force on their smaller trading partners. Thus smaller countries would have to deal individually with each of the major economic powers and would have more difficulties in resisting to pressures. But with the WTO system, smaller countries may be more effective if they have opportunities to create alliances and share their resources (e.g. Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 1967). Besides, major economic countries will also find their interest as they can negotiate with almost all of their trading partners at a time. As emphasized earlier, neorealists greater focus on power and security as a core goal through military force and tangible assets, but for neoliberals the dominant goal is the welfare through institutions and organizations. Walts focus is based on anarchical structure of the international system, states compete each other in order to survive. Neorealists also share common ideas as defensive realism because anarchy causes a security dilemma leading states to worry about one anothers future intentions. Thus leaders mistakenly believe in aggression to make their state secure. For example: in the Cold War era, the Soviet Union with their nuclear weapons threaten the safety of America. One of the other popular neorealists, John Mearsheimer (2003), leader in offensive realism, believes in status quo power and blamed security competition between great powers. However the neoliberals concept on international institutions is the best means to avoid conflicts and hostility as they have an independent causal impact because they oversee global tasks that states do not (T. Dunne, et al., 2009). As they represent a third party or neutral parties they have a complete autonomy to deal with states and promote values and goals on a global scale. One of the dominant strand for liberalists and neoliberalists is the democratic peace theory, based on Kants notions of Perpetual Peace. While neorealists completely dismiss this idea of democracy where states have no conflict among each other, neoliberals use this peaceful argument to counter neorealists on their use of force. The democratic peace theory is the argument that democracies do not tend to, or rarely go to war with each other. People are directly affected by decisions of war, the public opinion is therefore important as it affects the political behaviour. Democratic norms emphasize on the importance of dialogue and negotiation, the same for trade relations. Besides, the main reasons that democracies do not go to wars or militarized conflicts against each other are the fact that state leaders have cultural and institutional restrictions (Doyle, 1986). Neoliberals stand as a challenge to neorealists in providing argument for peaceful and cooperative international relations through democratic peace. Michael Doyle (1983) finds three pillars based on : first, peaceful conflict resolution between democratic states, second the common values among democratic states and third economic cooperation among democracies (R. Jackson, G. Sorensen, 2007, pp. 44). It is argued that this theory is also used as a tool to create homogenous world and challenge states sovereignty in the era of globalisation. Whereas neorealists think that globalisation does not exist because states only have state-interests. For them the globalisation would be economically bad, with negative outcomes such as dangerous inequality, rebellion, conflicts. In response to this negative idea, neoliberals think that globalisation can lead to community of states and new interests. Moreover, the democratic peace theorys benefit is to identify and condemn countries for human rights violations. While neorealists dismiss cultural differences between states, neoliberals emphasize the importance of culture and morality. For both, democracy must be normalized meaning that they have normative quality in which how the world ought to be or the way the world should be ordered. Democracy remains a moving target (M. Brown, et al., 1996, pp. 268) and is used by neoliberals to challenge neorealists as a response to war and a collective solution for peace. The American hegemony is also a debate between neoliberals and neorealists. This is, on the one hand, viewed as a hard power by neorealists as the USA have ability to impose their will on other political states: in terms of military force, technological growth, they have permanent seat in the UN Security Council, nuclear weapon power and economic power. On the other hand, the concept of soft power (Nye, J.) has a different view of hegemony, as emphasized earlier, it used other means, like culture, ideology, institutions. If the power of the US, analyzed in terms of resources and influences, is obviously not what it was in the 1950s, but this decline should not be exaggerated. The pax Americana is more a myth than a reality, the US has never enjoyed a complete hegemony. Nye believes that they should consider sharing their leadership to face the transnational interdependence. Robert Cox (Canadian neoliberal) thinks that hegemony and leadership terms are confused to describe the domination of one power in the international system. He stated that hegemony is a leadership by consent and is not a power struggle, but rather functions in a subtle way, by a kind of universal consent. Nye finds that the power definition has a lack of uniformity. That is why he undertook two approaches of the power definition : The first one, is to identify the factors of power : they can be measured from natural resources, territory, population or as political factors from institutions, organisations. A clear understanding of the factors are important to then define the power. The second approach is the goals of the power. For neorealists and realists the goals are the defense of national interests. However, Nye added that action fields of power are numerous and different. The challenge for the US is how to keep their hegemony as long as possible. In hard power the goal is to keep superiority, the US should more take active part in foreign conflicts (they tend to do since 9/11). As they cannot intervene everywhere (due to internal expenses) they must make a selection, necessarily based on national interests. In this instance their hegemony would appear as a strong supremacy. In soft power, the US must continue to promote exchanges and keep their advanced technology. As a response to neorealist theory, neoliberals argue that the use of force and a bilateral system are not effective. Arguments are based on peaceful world order by the creation of international institutions, organisations and regimes. Indeed, these ideas have successfully challenged neorealist thoughts, as organisations like the WTO allowed to reduce conflicts and settle disputes. They especially lead to agreed members to cooperate through negotiations, the community of states is the main successful factor in order to avoid conflicts and wars. Finally, the notions of hegemony or power are used in both theories but have different meaning. Some similarities are also found in both, like universality, uniformity or anarchy and critics argue that instead of a debate this is more a neo-neo synthesis  [1]  .

Biotechnology- food :: essays research papers fc

Bibliography 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://scope.educ.washington.edu/gmfood Copyright 2000-2004 by the SCOPE Research Group (UC Berkeley, UW, AAAS), all rights reserved. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.safe-food.org 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.englishnature.org.uk/news/story.asp?ID=230  © 1998 - 2004 English Nature, Northminster House, Peterborough PE1 1UA England 4. http://www.fda.gov 5. http://pewagbiotech.org/resources/factsheets/display.php3?FactsheetID=2 Copyright  © 2004 The Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology Agricultural biotechnology is a collection of scientific techniques, including genetic engineering, that are used to create, improve, or modify plants, animals, and microorganisms. Using conventional techniques, such as selective breeding, scientists have been working to improve plants and animals for human benefit for hundreds of years. Modern techniques now enable scientists to move genes (and therefore desirable traits) in ways they could not before - and with greater ease and precision (scope.educ.washington.edu). Biotech food, which is genetically modified or genetically engineered, is grown from seeds that carry specific genes to produce desired characteristics. In the early 1990s, the first biotech food on the market was a tomato that ripened on the vine and could be transported without bruising. The products of agricultural biotechnology today include plants that are protected from insects or are tolerant to herbicides. Biotech foods have now made their way onto our tables. More than a third of the corn and more than half of the soybeans in the 1999 U.S. harvest were grown from seeds produced using biotechnology. As biotechnology crops and foods have proliferated, so have questions and concerns. European consumers, perhaps because of unrelated food scares about diseased beef and contaminated soda, are arguing to label biotech food or keep it out of stores. Consumers in the United States are starting to pay more attention to these issues. Concerns range from food safety to environmental impact. Also framing the debate are ethical questions, including whether it is right to change the genetic makeup of a plant. Some objections that activists raise also apply to conventional crops grown with modern high-intensity agriculture. Increasing acreage given over to GA crops is one of the most frightening aspects. The pollen from these plants can travel miles from their host via wind and insects and fertilize other non-GA crops or related weed species growing nearby. This has already happened with canola and sugar beet. Furthermore, the genes inserted by the alteration process are more biologically vigorous and may be up to 30 times more likely to escape than the plant's own genes. We have already seen this process take place with disastrous results with other 'exotic' and invasive species such as kudzu in the south, and zebra mussels in our waterways( http://www.

Pips Personality Change in Great Expectations :: Great Expectations Essays

Pip's Personality Change in Great Expectations Most people would assume that through age and maturation, a boy with a wonderful heart and personality would further develop into a kind hearted, considerate gentleman. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens provides his readers with an example of a boy who regresses in certain aspects of his personality rather than progressing as one would expect. Pip, a person who had loved and revered his uncle Joe as a child, while maturing, finds that his perspective on life has shifted. This boy, beginning life with a caring, generous heart, regresses becoming a superficial, ungrateful man who is ashamed of what he had once been. Pip and Biddy had become the best of friends and felt very strongly towards each other. However, once Pip had been introduced to Estella, he was overcome by her beauty, and would never again be able to look at Biddy, without feeling critical towards her. Slowly, after coming into contact with Estella, Pip was becoming superficial, as he was only interested in a girl's appearance. Thinking of Biddy, Pip thought to himself, "She was not beautiful--She was common and could not be like Estella..." (p 600) Estella's beauty had made Pip blind as to what was really important in a person. No matter how coldly Pip was treated by Estella, he went on loving her only because of her astounding beauty. As Pip progressed in life, he became increasingly ungrateful to the people that had raised and cared for him as a child. His disrespect was most strongly shown towards Joe. Having not seen Joe for a number of years, Pip shows that he would rather have continued his now prosperous life without having anything to do with Joe, when he thinks, "Let me confess with what feeling I looked forward to Joe's coming... Not with pleasure though I was bound to him by so many ties; no, with considerable disturbance and some mortification." (p 630) Despite Joe's kindness and caring, Pip remained unappreciative and ungrateful, for now Pip was wealthy and did not care to have contact with a poor man. Pip's most unfavorable quality was the fact that he was ashamed of his past and his family. By now, the only thing Pip was interested in was

President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal Essay examples -- Franklin

On October 24, 1929, a day historically known as â€Å"Black Thursday†, the United States stock market crashed due to investors in the market starting to â€Å"sell off their shares, which resulted in a decline in stock prices.† (Dau-Schmidt, pg 60) This economic downturn in the market gave birth to financial ambivalence in the country, increasing unemployment, as well as other consequences on the landscape of international economics. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took over as president in the year of 1933, â€Å"The country was in its depth of the Great Depression.† (Neal, 2010) Roosevelt’s New Deal consisted of implementing relief programs such as the Work Progress Administration and the Civil Works Administration, which aimed at revitalizing the U.S. labor market. However, these programs were short-lived due to insufficient funding. Although these programs were effective, their short life span only sought temporary remedy. The on again off again pattern of these programs existence caused a cyclical trend in the increase and decrease of unemployment. â€Å"John M. Keynes born on June 5, 1883 was one of the most influential economists of the Twentieth Century.† (Pettinger, pg 1) Keynes argued that the doctrine of the New Deal was a slow remedial procedure to restoring the economy. Although, Roosevelt’s efforts helped reduce unemployment in spurts, it was ultimately an ineffective plan because according to Keynes, to restore the economy during the Great Depression, there had to of been deep government spending and increased high taxes. When President Roosevelt took office, he had to fulfill his ideas he had proposed to the citizens while campaigning for presidency. One of his ideas and that he fulfilled, was the Works Progress Administrati... ...n Kantor. "The Dynamics Of Relief Spending And The Private Urban Labor Market During The New Deal." Journal Of Economic History 70.1 (2010): 195-220. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2013. Powell, Jim. "The Unemployment President." Cato Institute. The Washington Times N.p., 4 Aug. 2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography of John M Keynes", Oxford, www.biographyonline.net 3 Feb. 2013 Rauchway, Eric. "Learning From the New Deal's Mistakes." The American Prospect. The American Prospect, 19 Dec. 2008. Web. 02 Apr. 2013 Winkler, Allan M. "The New Deal: Accomplishments and Failures." Speech. Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Oxford,Ohio. 31 Mar. 2009. Web. 2 Apr. 2013. Winkler, Allan M., and Robert M. Collins. Keynesian Economics. The Web Chronology Project, n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2013.