Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 19

Essay Example Though HIV proved vulnerable to a variety of medicinal treatments in its initial stages, its ability to mutate at a phenomenal rate has allowed it to evade all of the drugs that have been created to combat it. HIV’s propensity to rapidly evolve has thus far prevented scientists from discovering an effectual vaccine. HIV evolves (mutates) into many various types of strains in the afflicted system, therefore, the body’s immune system is not able to locate or eradicate the entirety of the virus. This is the problem for the researchers, doctors and the patients. They are attempting to fight a microbial enemy that is constantly changing and adapting so as to remain resistant to any and all anti-viral medications. â€Å"The [HIV] virus, replicating billions of times a day, can acquire new mutations at lightning speed. Eventually, some of the genetic changes enable the virus to resist even the most powerful drugs. These drug-resistant viruses come to dominate the [cellular] population and threaten the patient’s life† (â€Å"Structured Treatment†, 2001). HIV has been estimated to have the ability to mutate more than 100 times per day in untreated individuals. As a result drug resistant virus cell mutations are well ahead of the particular drug therapy being offered (Shafer, 2004). HIV is difficult to treat because it evolves so rapidly, it outpaces the treatments. â€Å"When a patient begins taking an HIV drug, the drug keeps many of the viruses from reproducing, but some survive because they happen to have a certain level of resistance† (Zimmer, 2001). Because of HIV’s ability to evolve at such a massive pace, it quickly counters selective treatments. The HIV cells that survive the initial drug infusion multiply and their decedents carry the drug resistant strain. This is the reason that patient drug therapy includes what is commonly

Considering Censorship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Considering Censorship - Essay Example In the subsequent parts of this essay, I would argue for considering censorship should be adopted on certain materials that endanger the moral and social values of humanity. For that purpose, first, definition of censorship is provided, it is followed by three examples- one from personal experience, one from general observation and third one is from Ian Inglis article. Censorship is defined as an act of suppressing or deleting expression that is understood objectionable on certain grounds such as moral, religious, military or religious grounds (Sweeney, 2004, pp.189).And, there are two type of censorship: state- imposed and self-imposed, for example, banning of books, governmental reviews, approval for a particular information is required before making that piece of information public. Society follows certain moral standards. These moral standards determine the entire social fabric and communication standards within the members of the society. If history is taken as an example, natio ns and societies have successfully lived on the basis of moral and social standards and their adherence in the required manner. It is the role of moral values that have ensured the existence of society till this point of time. At that time, under that society, children and younger generation was expected not to access certain material, and did not commit such actions where the rules of moral standards were violated. As a result, the entire society constantly survived throughout different times of history. However, after the inception of technology, it has become very easy for every one to access the forbidden material. For example, on the Internet, not only information but also porn images and videos are easily accessible. I strongly believe that such access must be censored and younger generation must not be allowed to access that. Why do I believe so? If we see, in many nations and in many countries, the rate of crime, rape, sexual assault, harassment, and even murder have hugely increased in the recent history. Each year, rape, sexual assault and other crimes are constantly increasing, and in stead of decreasing, each year data touches new levels. The fundamental cause behind this situation is provided by frustration in the younger generation over the issue of sex and crime. Additionally, the constant display of violence in movies and dramas has added fuel to the fire. Once I was studying a report of a Non-Governmental Organization over the causes of rape. In which, a rape case was reported and a teenager raped a girl. The report further explains that the NGO interviewed the victim and that rapist teenager. The teenager informed that he was returning from the gathering of his friends’ house where we had watched an adult movie, while on the way home; I could not control my self and raped that girl. Additionally, the world faces new kind of terrorism and violence after the events of 9/11. The information access has been a key in this regard. Currently, in many countries there are an on-going military operations against the terrorists and extremists. In order to carry out their military operations, military in these areas first plan and then attack. So, such plan remains confidential until the military operation is carried out. If that information is leaked, then the success chances of that military operation would be rare. The American tradition sanctifying abstract principles of free

Nuclear Energy The Problems And Solutions Environmental Sciences Essay

Nuclear Energy The Problems And Solutions Environmental Sciences Essay Nuclear energy is a divisive issue that many people have mixed feelings about. Nuclear power has many dangerous effects to the environment and the people living near a power plant. Many countries use nuclear power as an alternate source of electrical energy from fossil fuels. Nuclear energy has to be handled with extreme care or it could lead to disastrous damages. These problems included radiation, disposing of nuclear waste, and high costs of building and maintaining power plants. But while it is extremely dangerous to use nuclear energy, it does provide an alternate source of energy that does not pollute the air. Let us look at what nuclear energy is and where it came from. Most early atomic research was focused on developing effective weapons for use in World War II. After World War II, the government allowed nuclear energy to be developed for citizen use. We generated our first electricity from nuclear energy in 1951. According to the European Nuclear Society, as of end 2011 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 69,760 billion kWh and the cumulative operating experience amounted to 15,080 years by end of 2012. Because of accidents and public reluctance for them a new nuclear power plant has not been ordered in the U.S. since 1973. So, what is nuclear energy? According to the EPA, nuclear energy originates from the splitting of uranium atoms in a process called fission. Fission releases energy that can be used to make steam, which is used in a turbine to generate electricity. Nuclear energy is generally used in a combine mixture with Uranium and Plutonium. EPA further states, in the plantà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s nuclear reactor, neutrons from uranium atoms collide with each other, releasing heat and neutrons in a chain reaction. This heat is used to generate steam, which powers a turbine to generate electricity. Unfortunately, nuclear energy also generates some nasty by-products like tritium, cesium, krypton, neptunium and iodine. Let us talk about what is it that makes nuclear energy so bad for the environment and to people living near power plants. Let us start with the dangerous information and knowledge of this process. Knowledge of how to create power plants is shared among many nations. The problems with sharing this knowledge, is that countries will have access to the knowledge of how to make nuclear weapons, which could be bad for some nations. The International Energy Agency or IEA is responsible for energy in many countries, but some have criticizes them for not being able to keep the knowledge from hostile countries. There have been many accidents with nuclear power plants. On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded. 30 people were killed instantly, including 28 from radiation exposure, and a further 209 on site were treated for acute radiation poisoning. The World Health Organization found that the fallout from the explosion was incredibly far-reaching. 985,000 deaths can be attributed to the Chernobyl accident between 1986 and 2004. The accident cost the former Soviet Union more than three times the economic benefits accrued from the operation of every other Soviet nuclear power plant operated between 1954 and 1990. Another accident happened recently in Japan. On March 11, 2011, an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The emerging crisis at the plant was complex, and, to make matters worse, it was exacerbated by communication gaps between the government and the nuclear industry. The plant suffered major damage from the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 and, as of February 2013, is not expected to reopen. The earthquake and tsunami disabled the reactor cooling systems, leading to releases of radioactivity and triggering a 30 km evacuation zone surrounding the plant. On April 20, 2011, the Japanese authorities declared the 20 km evacuation zone a no-go area which may only be entered under government supervision. Radiation releases caused large evacuations, concern about food and water supplies, and treatment of nuclear workers. A few of the plants workers were severely injured or killed by the disaster conditions (drownin g, falling equipment damage etc.) resulting from the earthquake. There were no immediate deaths due to direct radiation exposures, but at least six workers have exceeded lifetime legal limits for radiation and more than 300 have received significant radiation doses. Predicted future cancer deaths due to accumulated radiation exposures in the population living near Fukushima have ranged from none to 100. There are also many environmental problems with using nuclear energy as well. All the steps in the complex process of creating nuclear energy entail environmental hazards. The mining of uranium, as well as its refining and enrichment, and the production of plutonium produce radioactive isotopes that contaminate the surrounding area, including the groundwater, air, land, plants, and equipment. As a result, humans and the entire ecosystem are adversely and profoundly affected. Some of these radioactive isotopes are extraordinarily long-lived, remaining toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. Presently, we are only beginning to observe and experience the consequences of producing nuclear energy. Nuclear waste is produced in many different ways. There are wastes produced in the reactor core, wastes created as a result of radioactive contamination, and wastes produced as a byproduct of uranium mining, refining, and enrichment. The vast majority of radiation in nuclear waste is given off from spent fuel rods. A typical reactor will generate 20 to 30 tons of high-level nuclear waste annually. There is no known way to safely dispose of this waste, which remains dangerously radioactive until it naturally decays. The rate of decay of a radioactive isotope is called its half-life, the time in which half the initial amount of atoms present takes to decay. The half-life of Plutonium-239, one particularly lethal component of nuclear waste, is 24,000 years. The hazardous life of a radioactive element (the length of time that must elapse before the material is considered safe) is at least 10 half-lives. Therefore, Plutonium-239 will remain hazardous for at least 240,000 years. There was a proposal to dump nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a site that is considered sacred by the Western Shoshone. The plan was for Yucca Mountain to hold all of the high level nuclear waste ever produced from every nuclear power plant in the US. However, that would completely fill up the site and not account for future waste. Transporting the wastes by truck and rail would be extremely dangerous. Repository sites in Australia, Argentina, China, southern Africa, and Russia have also been considered. Though some countries reprocess nuclear waste (in essence, preparing it to send through the cycle again to create more energy), this process is banned in the U.S. due to increased proliferation risks, as the reprocessed materials can also be used for making bombs. Reprocessing is also not a solution because it just creates additional nuclear waste. There are a few different methods of waste immobilization. In the vitrification process, waste is combined with glass-forming mat erials and melted. Once the materials solidify, the waste is trapped inside and cant easily be released. There are many alternative energy sources that are sustainable and do not pose the accident risks inherent in nuclear energy production. Many of them are renewable and some have little risks to the environment. These other energy sources includes: bioenergy, geothermal, wind, solar, and tidal energy.Bioenergy comes from any fuel that is derived from biomass recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts. Unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels, bioenergy is a renewable energy source. Geothermal energy is power generated from natural steam, hot water, hot rocks, or lava in the Earths crust. In general, geothermal power is produced by pumping water into cracks in the Earths crust and then conveying the heated water or steam back to the surface so that its heat can be extracted through a heat exchanger, or its pressure can be used to drive turbines. Wind energy form of energy conversion in which turbines convert the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical or electrical energy that can be used for power. Since wind power does not require the use of fossil fuels, it is considered a renewable energy source. Solar energy is energy derived from the Suns radiation. Passive solar energy can be exploited through architectural design, as by positioning windows to allow sunlight to enter and help heat a space. Active solar energy involves the conversion of sunlight to electrical energy, especially in solar cells. Hydrogen power is a term for the energy production and distribution of hydrogen as a viable fuel source to power buildings, homes and the transportation industry. Tidal energy is produced by the surge of ocean waters during the rise and fall of tides. Tidal energy is a renewable source of energy. Many more sustainable resources could be found and current resources improved if better technology were available and if the government and utilities actively promoted their development. There are many different alternative sources that are safer for the environment and human health then nuclear energy. The nuclear energy industry has been quick to declare this technology as the solution to global warming. Many claim it has a net positive environmental gain compared to fossil fuels, though this ignores the problems and dangers associated with nuclear waste. The United States currently has no acceptable, long-term strategy for managing nuclear waste and, thus, the risks to the environment are huge. For now, because of the devastating incident of Chernobyl and many other factors, nuclear power growth has slowed, but still is a problem that needs to address and hopefully fixed. In addition, nuclear energy always carries with it the threat of nuclear proliferation and terrorist attack on the plants. If a government is to maintain a non-proliferation policy, a non-nuclear energy policy must also be in place. Combined with the risk of a meltdown, it is clear that although nuclear energy may appear to be a solution to climate change, it only brings with it more problems. There is always the chance that there will be a meltdown at one of the United Statesà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ 103 commercial nuclear reactors or, even more likely, in a country with less stringent nuclear energy laws. Nuclear energy is not the solution it brings with it huge risks and has the potential to wreak havoc on health and on the environment. Sources: Peterson, P. F. (2001). The Pros and Cons of Nuclear Fuel Recycling. Science, 294(5549), 2093. Zehner, O. (2012). Nuclear Powers Unsettled Future. Futurist, 46(2), 17-21. Rugy V. No to Nukes. Reason [serial online]. July 2012;44(3):18-19. Available from: Academic Search Elite, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 13, 2013. Lewis, J. (2008). the nuclear option. Mother Jones, 33(3), 56-92. Flory, P. W. (2006). Just the Facts. Foreign Affairs, 85(5), 149-150. EPA (2012) Nuclear Energy Ita, M. (2006). Nuclear vs solar energy, which?. New African, (449), 37-38. Lewis, H. W. (1986). The Accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and Its Consequences. Environment, 28(9), 25. LePoire, D. J. (2011). Exploring New Energy Alternative. Futurist, 45(5), 34-38. Funabashi, Y., Kitazawa, K. (2012). Fukushima in review: A complex disaster, a disastrous response. Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists, 68(2), 9-21. doi:10.1177/0096340212440359 European Nuclear Society (2012). Nuclear power plants, world-wide

Literary Criticism of Matthew Lewis’ Novel, The Monk Essay -- Monk

Literary Criticism of Matthew Lewis’ Novel, The Monk Elliot B. Gose's essay "The Monk," from Imagination Indulged: The Irrational in the Nineteenth-Century Novel, is a psychological survey of Matthew Lewis' novel The Monk. Gose uses Freud's and Jung's psychological theories in his analysis of The Monk's author and characters. To understand Gose's ideas, we must first contextualize his conception of Freud's and Jung's theories. According to Gose: According to Freud we must look behind conscious daydreaming, as well as behind unconscious sleep dreaming, for keys to the unsatisfied primitive desires of the self. According to Jung, when investigating such fantasy, we sometimes find ourselves in the presence of a vision that transcends the bounds of the immediate self and its limitations (216). Gose believes that The Monk is the artistic work that led to the writing of Wuthering Heights and Bleak House , though Lewis' novel comprises flawed components that separate it from the other novels' artistic greatness. Additionally, he finds the qualifications Chase set for a romance novel in The Monk ; Lewis' novel is set in the past, the characters are two-dimensional, the characters serve mainly for plot function, and the plot events are unrealistic. Gose expresses concern in analyzing Lewis, due to the lack of information about his childhood, so Gose analyses Lewis only from sources he deems valid, such as a collection of Lewis' letters. He sights the separation of Lewis' parents as a traceable indication of an event leading to Lewis' split psyche. Lewis lived with his father only. from the age of six, and followed his father's educational wishes. Then, as a young man, Lewis entered the Civil Service influenced by his mother'... ...] manages to seduce him" (217). What does he mean by Matilda "manages?" Is Ambrosio not a active participant of the seduction? Gose is taking guilt off Ambrosio's shoulders that rightfully belongs there. Gose does not even allude to the word "homosexual" in the passages about Ambrosio's attraction to Rosario and the devil. The transgendered theory was outdated in 1972 when Gose wrote this essay, but he still describes Ambrosio's homosexual tendencies as "confused sexual identity" (217). Whose sexual identity is Ambrosio confused about, his own or his lovers'? Works Cited Barterian, Gerald R., and Denise Evans, eds. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Vol. 62. Gale Research: Detroit, 1998. (original source: Gose, Elliot B. Jr. "The Monk" Imagination Indulged: The Irrational in the Nineteenth-Century Novel. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1972, pp. 27- 40.)

Redcrosse Knight

Nurgul Zhanabayeva Alva Robinson Survey of English Literature 9 November, 2012 A Comparison between Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight At all times both history and people wanted heroes, who would be ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a nation. As the history changed for the better or for the worst, there were written a lot of literature works about the heroes of a time, who had devoted their courageous deeds to people. Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight are the examples of such perfect heroes in two different periods, The Middle Age and The Early Modern Period.The story of Beowulf shows the spread of Christianity in the early Danish paganistic society that valued heroic deeds and bravery above all else. Beowulf’s heroism is shown in three separate conflicts, those with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the sea monster. The Faerie Queen is written during the period Christianity had been spread among people; protagonist Redcrosse knight represents a virtue of Holiness, and he is the only Christian fighting against evil. Beowulf and Redcrosse are example heroes, embodying traits typical of heroes: courage, and good deeds. The Faerie Queen,† written during the Early Modern Period, narrates a big change in Christian religious thoughts and practices. Redcrosse Knight offers his help to Gloriana, Queen of Fairyland. Una, representing truth, tells that the dragon of hell has captured her parents and that she needs help in getting them free. Redcrosse decides to get her parents released . This demonstrates a hero, he will undergo many severe trials and fight fierce monsters and this in itself is a character of a heroic knight. Not only does his armour protect his body and those who were with him, but also being a Christian.He has the protection of Christ. For the Christian in order to be holy, he must have a true faith. Much of Beowulf is devoted to expressing and demonstrating the hero, in whom strength, courage, loyalty to a nation, hospitality, gene rosity, political skill and good reputation among all people is valued. These are of great importance to such warrior societies as a way of understanding their relationships to the world and the danger waiting outside their borders. Redcrosse Knight, on the other hand, is a chivalrous hero. He must defeat villains who represent the untrue RomanChurch. The qualities of loyalty, humility, sacrifice for the good of others, and sympathy for those who are less fortunate are described in the text as well as the negative consequences from greed and pride. He meets several evildoers, the dragon from hell, the evil sorcerer Archimago, Sansfoy and Sansloy, who has no faith, the liar and representative of the Roman Church, Duessa/Fidessa, and many others. These evildoers fight Redcrosse Knight through deceit, lust, and untruth. Therefore he must be armed with faith in Christ to win the evils of the spiritual realm.As we can see, equally Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight have a vast amount of braver y. They both defeat enemies that attack or capture innocent people. They both constantly pray to Christ for help to win evil they meet and to have sympathy for those who suffer. These qualities, idealized by thanes and knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honour, and gallantry toward women are visible in both Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight. One difference is that women in the Old English Period are not as important as those in Middle age period. We see this in both poems. In Beowulf we only hear about Wealhtheow, Hrothgar’s queen, and Grendel’s mother.However in â€Å"The Faerie Queene,† we see many women characters, Gloriana, Una, Duessa/Fidessa, Lucifera (Hell), Caelia (Heavenly), Fidelia (Faith), Sperenza (Hope), and Charissa (Charity). In some way or another, Redcrosse and Beowulf have connections to these women, either good or bad. Additionally both heroes have a meeting with a character from hell. Beowulf dives into the lake, which is a personification of hell, where Grendel’s mother is waiting to attack. He cannot cut her with his sword, so he tosses it away and finds a larger sword killing Grendel’s mother by cutting her head off.He sees Grendel’s dead body nearby and cuts off his head as a trophy and returns to Denmark . This expresses an important virtue, loyalty. Redcrosse Knight fights Lucifera (Queen of Hell) and other evildoers. He has been weakened by his visit to the House of Pride. Although he had the instinctive good sense to flee from that castle, his conscience is still at work. This failure brings him near to death in the dungeon of Orgoglio, a giant that represents godless pride. Arthur, that represents magnificence, comes along and helps Redcrosse rise up from his lowest state.Redcrosse also defeats the dragon. Here he is compared to Christ descended to hell to win Satan. Redcrosse enters the mouth of the dragon and finally kills it by the help of The Tree of Life and The Well of Life, which are the grace of God given to mankind and which helps Christian in danger. No matter how well equipped or prepared the Christian is, he can’t win the evil without the help of God. A message is given here, a true Christian with all his humility counts on God. Another similarity of both these warriors is rewards for being heroes, however in very different ways.After Beowulf kills Grendel, he is considered the greatest hero in Danish history. Hrothgar says that Beowulf will never lack for riches, the horses and men of the Geats were all richly adorned, and a party was held to celebrate Beowulf’s victory. Redcrosse Knight, on the other hand, will receive his reward in heaven. If he continues to live sinless and fight against evildoers he will receive eternal life. The battle will not end until the end of the world, when Christ will tell which religion is false and which is true. Meanwhile, a Christian believes that honour is gained by good deeds and glory lies in afterlife.In both poems, Beowulf and Redcrosse Knight developed from heroic warriors, who have such qualities as courage, generosity, sacrifice for the good of others, into wise leaders. Beowulf rises from a fearless warrior to a reliable king and Redcrosse Knight finally becomes St. George, the patron saint of England. Both showed the necessary characteristics to become very successful nobles. Though these two outlooks are somewhat oppositional, each character acts as society dictates. Beowulf acted as a hero-warrior and Redcrosse as a chivalric-warrior. However, their Christian values are somewhat similar.The images of warrior presented in both poems are significant roles that are important to Christian life — Faith and Holiness. References Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: Representation of Reality in Western Literature, Translated by Willard Trask, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971. Hadfield Andrew, The Faerie Queen, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Heaney, Seamus, Beowu lf: A New Verse Translation, New York ed. , 2001. Niles, John. D, Beowulf: The Poem and It’s Tradition, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.

Exterminate All the Brutes Summary

Lindqvist has written more than thirty books of essays, aphorisms, autobiography, documentary prose, travel and reportage.. [4][3] He occasionally publishes articles in the Swedish press, writing for the cultural supplement of the largest Swedish daily, Dagens Nyheter, since 1950. [5] He is the recipient of several of Sweden's most prestigious literary and journalistic awards. His work is mostly non-fiction, including (and often transcending) several genres: essays, documentary prose, travel writing and reportages. 4] He is known for his works on developing nations in Africa and the Saharan countries, China, India, Latin America and Australia. In the 1960s, partly inspired by the works of Hermann Hesse, Linqvist spent two years in China. He became fascinated by the legend of the Tang dynasty painter, Wu Tao Tzu, who, when standing looking at a mural of a temple he had just completed, â€Å"suddenly clapped his hands and the temple gate opened. He went into his work and the gates clo sed behind him. [6] His later works, from the late 1980s, tend to focus on the subjects of European imperialism, colonialism, racism, genocide and war, analysing the place of these phenomena in Western thought, social history and ideology. These topics are not uncontroversial. In 1992, Lindqvist was embroiled in heated public debate, when his book Exterminate all the Brutes was attacked for its treatment of the Second World War and the Holocaust. 4] Opponents accused Lindqvist of reducing the extermination of the Jewish people to a question of economical and social forces, thereby disregarding the impact of Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism and what they viewed as the unique historical specificity of the Holocaust. [4] Some of the harshest attacks were launched by Per Ahlmark, who declared Lindqvist to be a â€Å"Holocaust revisionist†. This prompted a furious response by Lindqvist, who considered it a defamatory smear — at no point had he ever called into question the N azi responsibility for, or the number of dead in, the Holocaust.Regarding the original dispute, Lindqvist retorted that his main argument was correct: the Nazi quest for Lebensraum had at its core been an application of the expansionist and racist principles of imperialism and colonialism, but for the first time applied against fellow Europeans rather than against the distant and dehumanized peoples of the Third World. [4] However, he agreed that the long tradition of anti-Semitism in European and Christian thought had given the anti-Jewish campaign of the Nazis a further ideological dimension, and amended later editions of the book to better reflect this. [4]