Greenery And Sustainability Urban Planning Environmental Sciences Essay

Greenery And Sustainability Urban Planning Environmental Sciences Essay Urban development through construction of roads, building, bridges and even landscaping can have significant impacts on the environment. Many environmentalists regard the preservation and introduction of greenery as fulfilling an indispensable urban infrastructure requirement. Chan and Lee (2008) suggest that urban renewal is commonly adopted to cope with changing urban environment, to rectify the problem of urban decay and to meet various socio-economic objectives. Although the provision of green spaces tend to be routinely advocated and implemented by the planning profession in developed countries, similar kinds of commitments are seen as weakly expressed in many third-world countries. In this essay, I attempt to argue that without a comprehensive sustainability effort and landscape plan, and even with one in some instances, rapidly expanding urban cities particularly in developing countries tend to grow relentlessly outward and upward to cause widespread environmental degradation, through the discussion of sustainable urban planning in one of the cities in developing country, which is Hong Kong. Hong Kong is located just within the tropics on the south coast of China, extending into the South China Sea, Hong Kong consists a land area of 1097 km2 and a sea area of 1700 km2, where there are 250 islands, the larger ones being Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island (Newcombe, Kalma, Aston, 1978; Warren-Rhodes Koenig, 2001). The terrain is mountainous and rugged with very little flat land for settlement, making Hong Kongs population has settled on the limited existing and reclaimed land available for development (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). The city state of Hong Kong has one of the highest urban population densities on Earth (Newcombe, Kalma, Aston, 1978). In the past 150 years, Hong Kong has evolved into a thriving metropolis of 7 million people (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). Despite significant differences in overall life conditions, the Hong Kong population enjoys a quality of life comparable, by many indicators of physical, mental and material well-being, with populat ions in the developed world (Newcombe, Kalma, Aston, 1978). Since the 1960s, Hong Kong has been transformed from a bustling entrepot to a light industry center in the 1970s and to a service-based economy in the 1990s accompanied by economic wealth of more than 10% rise in per capita GDP annually (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). Hong Kong has paid a high environmental price for its success, where its records of pollution levels have caused a decline in environmental quality which is impairing the citys ability to lure international investment (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). According to Warren-Rhodes and Koenig (2001), urban metabolism measures quantitatively a citys load on the natural environment. By knowing the metabolism background of Hong Kong, it will be easier to estimate the environmental level based on the development as well as population density of the city. In cities, metabolic flows arise from material use, food consumption and urban development; materials are stores as infrastructure; and materials and wastes are moved through manmade circulatory systems, with pollutants released to air, land, and water systems (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). Since Hong Kong relies upon and appropriates heavily from natural ecosystems to produce foods and uses water as well as other resources to process wastes, it significantly augments and alters material flow and energy cycling through the environment. Concerns on the impacts on natural resources and the environment especially in the late 1990s have prompted the government to commission a study of how sustainable development could be achieved in Hong Kong (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). According to Warren-Rhodes and Koenig (2001), enormous changes have occurred in Hong Kong over the past 26 years, where 1 million people have been added to the population each new decade, which bringing greater resource needs and waste generation habits, thus increasing the urban metabolic rates. It is argued that high metabolic rates can be beneficial to a citys survival, where compact cities with high population densities can achieve extremely efficient land, energy, and material use, thus reducing urban sprawl and conserving land for recreational and agricultural purposes (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). However, based on studies, the benefits of Hong Kongs high urban metabolism are presently outweighed by the environmental costs, and it is predicted that as population expands to 8.9 million by 2016, energy, materials, water use and pollution discharges will rise accordingly (Warren-Rhodes and Koenig, 2001). Through this kind of urban metabolic check-up, it allows policymakers to ascertain enduring and root causes of environmental deterioration in a city. Newcombe, Kalma, and Aston (1978), warn on the mounting ecological distress and offered prescient advice on how to mitigate these problems through an adaptive urban management strategy that modifies operations of present urban systems and designs their expansion . . . at greatly reduced resource inputs. As in many other cities, Hong Kong has substantial improvement in its performance of local urban renewal projects (Chan and Lee, 2008). Since 1990s, the importance of sustainable development had been acknowledged and the Hong Kong government had committed to consider the concept holistically when making decisions about future development in the territory (Chan and Lee, 2008). The sustainability concept attracts the attention of the Hong Kong government as international experience proves that sustainable development creates good communities serving different needs of current population without sacrificing the resources available for the future generations (Chan and Lee, 2008). In order to have a more adaptive urban management strategy that modifies operations of present urban systems and design, it is important to first, identify the factors that can contribute to the urban management strategy itself. Some of the factors and areas that should be emphasized in urban design are waterfro nt development, cityscape, pedestrian environment and pollution mitigation (Chan and Lee, 2008). Participants of Council for Sustainable Development discussion forum indicated that urban design should be consisted of layouts of street and open space, design of building as well as transportation network, in creating sustainable urban living space in the Hong Kong territory (Chan and Lee, 2008). Since one of the areas that should be emphasized in urban management and design is by focussing on the layouts of street and open space, planning on strategies on green space provision in urban Hong Kong is seen as a crucial in this matter. According to Jim (2002), woodlands are not preserved in the urbanised areas, where private developers tend to have little statutory obligation or willingness to provide public open spaces, often results in poor protection or obliteration of natural vegetation in new developments and redevelopment schemes. A city generously endowed with high-quality greenery is a necessary ingredient of environmental quality and quality of life. Therefore, preservation and introduction of greenery in urban infrastructure is seen as a moral necessary under urban management and design not only for the environment, but also for the population wellbeing as a whole. With a compact and densely built-up urban fabric, tree growth in Hong Kong is severely constrained in the pervasively crowded and bleak environment (Jim, 1989). Jim (2002) states that, nearly all residents of Hong Kong are living in high-rise apartment blocks, which deprived of private open spaces as well as detached from the land and vegetation. The shortage of public green space has reinforced the lack of interest in greening of Hong Kong urban population, further aggravated by the poor quality of existing amenity greenery by both public and private on the desire for more greenery space (Jim, 2002). This is constrained by the cramped town plan, where the roads have narrow pavements with no tree strips at the roadsides or margin roadside for plantable spaces (Jim, 2002). The same goes to the buildings, where they were built directly next to the road, leaving no lot-frontage plantable spaces (Jim, 2002). The only open space and remnant of plantable spaces are the citys first public g arden, the Botanical Garden, which is located in the heart of the central district, and the Victoria Park, that was built with a charity donation in 1957 (Jim, 2002). Forest cover has been reduced over the centuries by shifting cultivators, sedentary farmers, and, in recent decades, countryside recreationalists (Jim, 1989). According to Jim (1989), without a clear policy to preserve existent trees in places affected by urban intrusions, very few specimens would be saved. Due to the lack of green space provision in Hong Kong, the work agents, namely the landscape architects, urban horticulturists, arboriculturists and urban foresters would be necessary to join planners to collectively contribute in the greenery and sustainable urban planning. According to Jim (2002), some six government bureaux (out of 16 policy-formulation bureaux) and 15 departments (out of 38 departments) are involved in greening issues. There had been some efforts done by the government in bringing more and better greenery in urban development in Hong Kong. One example is, the government decided in building public housing for low-income families that are mainly situated at peri pheral locations with land-conserving developments, where space between the individual buildings is done with open spaces for planting (Jim, 1989). To develop an action plan to bring more and better greenery in the city, earnest support and cooperation are needed from relevant quarters. One of the ways to achieve the greenery and sustainable urban city planning is through comprehensive development area (CDA) zoning, which aims narrowly at facilitating the amalgamation of small contiguous lots for redevelopment. Jim (2002) suggests that this can be done by developing guidelines for the matching of species with site conditions and to optimise the landscaping potential of planting sites, aiming at significantly increasing the number of species with attractive flowers, seasonal changes, outstanding tree form, large final dimensions, meritorious performance and other notable amenity traits. Another greenery and sustainable urban planning can be done in urban Hong Kong is by developing specifications to protect effectively trees destined for preservation in sites, especially those that are affected by buildings, roads and other constr uction activities, which are commensurate with the cramped built environment. In order to encourage the planting of trees within Hong Kong urban society, there need to be some association not only with the government, but also private-sectors and other. This can be done through development projects, such as the introduction of incentives, the dissemination of relevant messages or guidelines in the form of professional practice notes, and the organisation of seminars, workshops and other means of involvement and communication. In conclusion, despite all of these suggestions and action plans in bringing more and better greenery and sustainable urban development in developing cities like Hong Kong, these can only be done through collective cooperation by the government, both private and private developers, as well as high supports from the society. Due to the high urban population, the urban dwellers in Hong Kong city are the core factors in the widespread of environmental concerns by individual and collective responsibility in taking care of the environment as well as making Hong Kong a greener and sustainable for the future generations. By taking this greenery and sustainable environment concerns more seriously, there will be hope for a better quality of life in the future regardless the population density.

Open Source Software: Advantages and Methods

Open Source Software: Advantages and Methods Background Open source software is treated as the software which is freely accessed by anyone. The source code of the software is publically accessible by anyone so that anyone can use it in his own way for study purposes or in order to make some changes. Open source software has option to use general public license or any other license depending upon the permissions or allowances. Now a day’s open source software are very popular because of the availability of the interne in every region of the world. The development of new open source software is starts with a single developer or a group of developers for their necessity or their interest. Open source development movement was started by Richard Stallman in 1980 in order to grow the development of the free software for social purposes to provide freedoms for the use of the software for various purposes. There are number of free software available online on the host sourcefrge.net site. Open source software is different from proprietary software in which the users can not access the code. Now days users prefer open source software instead of proprietary software because they can use the code in their own way and even they can make the modification and change the functionality according to their requirement. To use open source software, the user do not need to pay the license fee as in case of the proprietary software users need to pay the license fee. Various pros of open source software: Easy license management Lower expenses Expanded competition Good quality and stability Increased use in business Open interaction with public users and developers Improved security Faster development Open source software Open source software is software that could be easily applied, transformed, and shared (in revised or unmodified form) by anyone. Open source software is made by many individuals, and distributed under licenses that adhere to the Open Source Definition [1]. The Open Source initiative (OSI) is a global non-profit that helps and stimulates the open source movement. Among other activities, it keeps the Open Source Description, and a list of licenses that comply with this definition. Open source identifies computer software for which: The source code can be acquired to the end-user. The source code could be revised by the end-user. You can find number of restrictions on redistribution or use. The licensing conditions are meant to aid extended re-use and large option of the software, in both industrial and non-commercial contexts. There are several different functions which several, but not totally all, open source software products have in common: The expense of immediate purchase to the end-user is usually minimal. This is because the best to easily redistribute the software makes offering licenses for copies of open source software an impossible company idea. The development system of open source tasks gives several new features with Agile development, because produces are frequent, functions are included rapidly following comments from customers, developers tend to be distributed geographically. Many, but in no way all, open source tasks are made and maintained by informal areas of developers [2]. Open source tasks frequently offer as apprentice opportunities for junior developers to fast understand their business by doing real-world development. Open source software development starts with an idea from an individual or from group of individuals. The quality is considered from the initialization of the project development as it will be easy to test the software if the quality is assured from the initialization but if the quality is not assured from the start then it may leads to software failure. Software developer may use the existing code or they can develop their own code according to the requirements. Then after the development of the code it goes under the review process under the trusted developer who can understand the code and the working of the software. Then in order to assure the quality testing is performed in order to remove the faults in software. After the testing of the software if the software is found to perform according to the required functionality and found error free then it is released under the license. After the release of the software, the parallel debugging if required i.e. if any user or developer who is using that software found any faults or error in the software then he may report to the original developer in order to remove that error from the software. So in this parallel debugging is done. So in this way software undergoes different stages for the development of the software. These stages are depicted as follows: Figure 1.2.1 Different levels of development of OSS Benefits of Open Source Software Open source software has a numerous advantages for the individuals, developers and companies. A few of these benefits could be realized only if agencies lead back once again to the community. Open source software: Normally has no transparent payment. Having less transparent payment may appear to gain agencies economically. Agencies must look into the full total price of ownership like some other software companies; including all help services thatll be expected to handle the software over their lifespan. Encourages an aggressive industry for help services. Because the source code can be acquired, its feasible for any software organization to supply help for an open source product. If the clients are the good developers they can edit the code of the software. Boost up a collective methodology. Open source software boost up an open transfer of the views of the developers as well as users, who can share their view in order to make the advancements in the software. That tends to promote a collaborative approach that could foster innovation. Imposes fewer restrictions on the customers of the software. Most open source software licenses impose fewer restrictions on the customers of the software and emphasize regard for the solitude of the users. Nevertheless, agencies should ensure they understand the obligation for reciprocity thats a part of several open source licenses. Provides the opportunity for customers to directly handle maintenance and support of the software. This might be an advantage to agencies that get the correct ability base. Allows the opportunity to use the software before committing to it. This can allow agencies to check the practicality of the product before completely focusing on it. May possibly minimize supplier lock-in. whoever is using the software , the source code of the software is visible to everyone, many licenses will allow any individual or group to help expand develop the software without the obligation to aid other customers, even if the initial neighbourhood discontinues development. Professional organizations may give help for an open supply deal, if you will find enough customers willing to cover that service. Allows customers to see and alter the source code. The ability of customers to scrutinize and modify the source code can cause increased balance and security. It also allows agencies to custom the software to their own needs [3]. Allows customers to make the most of the improved performance of new produces more frequently. Now a day’s open source software agencies uses the maxim of ‘release early, release usually , and thus customers can quickly gain extra performance for the software. Raises interoperability. Open standards are used by open source software, which helps in reducing the expenses of integration and improve interoperability. Frequently is modular. Open source software packages are often modular, meaning changes to one the main source code do not affect the functionality of rest of the code. Software metrics Software metrics play a crucial role in the administration of the software projects. Metrics used to track development process, quantify restructuring impact and to calculate code quality. Software metrics are very important to software engineering for measuring software complexity and quality, functionality, Characteristic of the software product. Software metrics can be used for Finding defects in the code, predicting defective code, predicting project success, and predicting project risk. Metrics help to recognize, to monitor and connect project problems at all stages. Metrics can precisely describe the position of software project application and product. Metrics can be utilized as a method to measure problems and to prevent being forced into a reactive fix. Metrics provide powerful medium for choosing the most effective alternatives. Efferent Coupling Efferent coupling is just a count of how many classes which are combined to a particular type i.e. where the methods of 1 type contact the methods or access the parameters of the other class. If a class let it be â€Å"home† referrals other class â€Å"furniture† and class â€Å"furniture† referrals class â€Å"home† then class â€Å"home† is just counted once [14]. Efferent coupling should really be as low as feasible for three causes Higher coupling increases interclass dependencies, making the code less modular and less ideal for reuse. Even if there is need to use that code again then there may be some extra code bound with the required code which will not be necessary for the required functionality. More combining ensures that the code becomes more difficult to securely keep up since an alteration to code in one single region runs an increased risk of affecting other code which may be combined to that code. The more hyperlinks between classes the more complicated the code and the more difficult it is to check [4]. More independent the code, then it is easier to reuse. LOC Lines of Code Line of code metric is used to measure the size of the program code. It is the measure of all the lines of code available in the source code file except the comment lines. Loc metric is helpful in measuring the complexity of the code and it is also helpful to predict the productivity of the code. Following are the effects of LOC: A low value of lines of code metric result in greater understandability of the code. A low value of line of code metric of the source code may require less testing efforts to test the source code. A low value of line of code metric may result in high maintainability. CC McCabes Cyclomatic complexity Thomas McCabe developed Cyclomatic complexity metric which is used to measure the complexity of the source code. It helps in determining the minimum possible paths which can build all possible paths by the use of control flow graph. The value of cyclomatic complexity can be depicted by the use of the following formula: CC= Number of edged in the graph number of nodes + number of connected components Following are the effects based upon McCabe’s cyclomatic complexity metric: The low value of cyclomatic complexity indicates the better method. The low value of cyclomatic complexity helps in greater understand ability of the methods and reduces the testing efforts required to test the efficiency of the method. McCabe’s cyclomatic complexity helps to measure the complexity of the methods instead of the complexity of the class. But the combination of the complexity of all the methods may give results of the complexity of the class. The low value of cyclomatic complexity indicates good quality. NOC Number of Children Number of Children (NOC) is explained by CK how many immediate subclasses of a class exists [4]. CKs see was that The higher number of children poses greater reusability, since inheritance predicts behavior like reusability. The higher how many children, the greater the likelihood of incorrect abstraction of the inherent class. If a class features a big amount of children, there is possibility of an event of misuse of sub classing [11]. The amount of children offers a concept of the potential influence a class has on design. If a class features a big amount of children, there may be need of more testing of the techniques in that class. RFC Response For Class This is the measure of Response group of a class. It is defined as the number of methods in set of all the methods that are invoked in reply to a message sent to an object of a class [6]. CKs see was that In case a large quantity of practices could be invoked in reaction to a message, the screening and testing of the class becomes complex as there is need of huge degree of knowledge on the part of the tester. The bigger the number of practices which can be invoked from a class, the complexity of the class increases. A worst situation for possible response may support in ideal allocation of screening (testing) time. WMC Weighted Methods for Class Weighted methods for Class (WMC) was actually proposed by CK whilst the sum of all complexities of the methods in the class. Each method in a class is assigned a complexity of one rendering WMC equal to the number of strategies in the class. Many traditional implementations follow this rule. CKs see of WMC was How many strategies and the complexity of strategies included is a predictor of simply how much time and energy is required to build and maintain the class. The bigger the number of strategies in a class the greater the possible impact on children, because children can inherit all the methods that are specifically defined in the class. Classes having many strategies are likely to be more application specific, decreasing the likelihood of reuse. ABD Average Block Depth This is the average of the maximum block depth of each of the methods defined in the target elements. This metric is helpful in determining the complexity of the code. More the levels of nested block it will be difficult to understand the code. A method may have different conditional statements which create the flow of the code and nested blocks are generated. So it is concluded that The lower value of the average block depth indicates the good quality of the code. Higher value of average block depth indicates high complexity. Higher value of average block depth may introduce more error and may lead to difficult understanding of the code. Quality of open source software Quality is defined as the term which implies to customer or the user satisfaction. So the quality of the software means the software works according the user’s requirements. The functionality of the software is up to expectations. There are various factors which are considered in order to measure the quality of the software. Quality depends upon the factors like functionality of the software, reliability of the software, efficiency, accuracy and stability of the software. All these factors have important role in order to measure the quality of the software. If software satisfies or fulfils all these factors then it is considered as good quality software. Software free of bugs is also recommended as of good quality. Regular maintenance of the software is required in order to maintain the quality of the software. The code of open source software is accessible to everyone. So large number of users can enrol and make their contribution in order to make some modification if there exist some bugs. As the open source software are cheap so users prefer these software more than proprietary software. due to open source nature the bugs can be fixed whenever found. And even if the users are good developers then they can edit the code or use the code in order to give some more innovative software. in short these are the different ways to maintain the quality of software . due to high maintenance , good quality is achieved and in the end customers are highly satisfied. Figure 1.5.1 various quality factors Research Motivation The main motivation behind having a fuzzy logic based system to evaluate a open source software is to make the evaluation accurate and easy. In recent years , research has done in order to evaluate the quality of open source software but previous work has done on the basis of metrics and then the value of those metrics were used to evaluate software. This may gives the inaccurate results and it becomes difficult to evaluate the quality. So in this work fuzzy approach is used which accurately evaluate the software which improves the previous work by increasing the speed of evaluation and by giving improve precise results. Organization of thesis This dissertation represents the evaluation of the open source software by use of the varios metrics acting as the parameters on the basis of which quality of the software s evaluated. This chapter describes about the various metrics which are considered for evaluation and the effect of those metric on evaluation. After study about the metrics and quality of software, the motivation of the present work in the first chapter is represented, the dissertation is segregated into chapters to methodically express the work and the conclusion drawn. The work is organized into the following chapters and the content included in each chapter is briefly outlined as follows:

Charles Darwin Essay -- Essay on Charles Darwin 2014

Charles Darwin began his scientific breakthroughs and upcoming theories when he began an expedition trip to the Galapagos Islands of South America. While studying there, he discovered that each island had its own type of plant and animal species. Although these plants and animals were similar in appearance, they had other characteristics that made them differ from one another and seem to not appear as similar. Darwin questioned why these plants and animals were on these islands and why they are different in ways. Darwin’s observations from the islands made him want to come up with some explanation to why this occurred. He began to do research of each the species that had lived on these islands and observe all of the characteristics that had. He noticed that the islands h...

Callie Khouris Thelma and Louise - Moving Beyond the Male Experience E

Even in today's growing world of feminism, young girls, as well as grown women, are being taught by the media to organize their lives around men. Their needs, expectations, work schedules, ideas, and interests become second to the men in their lives. All too often the media associates power and status to men, only to strengthen the barriers between the male and female genders. Take for example Hollywood, where "women get only about a third of all movie and TV roles, and last year earned less than male actors in all age categories..."(Eby, 1). And even though gender should not be used as the determining factor of what one can and cannot do, Hollywood, as well as everywhere else, has proven that the old habits of gender discrimination die hard, if at all. Luckily, there exist screenwriters and filmmakers who aren't afraid to step outside the limitations of gender, stirring up some controversy. Callie Khouri, creator of "Thelma and Louise" is the exception to this rule. Awarded "Best Original Screenplay", the film challenges our preconceived notions of gender limitations by "giving a feminine twist to a pair of all too familiar Hollywood genres, the road picture and the buddy picture"(NY Times, 1991). The "road and buddy movie" usually calls for men in the lead roles, whereas "Thelma and Louise" called for Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. A film such as this one allowed for two women to get into dangerous trouble, enjoy themselves, and "unmask the other sex"; actions normally reserved for men (NY Times, 1991). According to Ms. Khouri, the script of "Thelma and Louise" was infact, "a conscious effort to counter what [she] sees as Hollywood's tendency to limit women's roles to easily identifiable types such as bimbos, whores, and nagging wives"(NY Times, 1991). She therefore uses the characters in the movie not so much to prove a point, but instead to make a point. At the same time that Ms. Khouri is making her point, the movie becomes somewhat of a catharsis for women. "Thelma and Louise" is supposed to be "about what every woman knows"(Eby,4). Though rape is a major issue that is used in the movie, it is not supposed to be the only issue women relate to. The general comparison between the women on screen and the women in the audience should be the feeling of at one time or another having been threatened, having been treated as inferior, or having foun... ...y she begins to snap under the pressure. In one particular scene, the role reversal becomes most obvious to the audience. Louise finds out that Thelma has left JD alone in her hotel room with the money which Jimmy had brought them. By the time the girls make it back to the room, JD and the money are long gone. Louise comes to the realization that the control she once possessed has now escaped her. Thelma, who watches as her friend crumbles before her eyes, realizes that she needs to break free from her child-like persona and take control of the situation. Thelma takes on a new sense of responsibility and maturity. She gives Louise a chance to finally let her guard down. "This is a movie about the adventures of women, and that's rare. And that really sad that its rare and we can't think of another movie like this"(LA Times, 1991). Thelma and Louise was a movie written and produced to give women an opportunity to finally tell their story in a society where the media is all too often dominated by males. This was an opportunity to move females from the roles of girlfriend and side interest into the leading role. It is no longer about a man's experiences and a man's adventures. Callie Khouri's Thelma and Louise - Moving Beyond the Male Experience E Even in today's growing world of feminism, young girls, as well as grown women, are being taught by the media to organize their lives around men. Their needs, expectations, work schedules, ideas, and interests become second to the men in their lives. All too often the media associates power and status to men, only to strengthen the barriers between the male and female genders. Take for example Hollywood, where "women get only about a third of all movie and TV roles, and last year earned less than male actors in all age categories..."(Eby, 1). And even though gender should not be used as the determining factor of what one can and cannot do, Hollywood, as well as everywhere else, has proven that the old habits of gender discrimination die hard, if at all. Luckily, there exist screenwriters and filmmakers who aren't afraid to step outside the limitations of gender, stirring up some controversy. Callie Khouri, creator of "Thelma and Louise" is the exception to this rule. Awarded "Best Original Screenplay", the film challenges our preconceived notions of gender limitations by "giving a feminine twist to a pair of all too familiar Hollywood genres, the road picture and the buddy picture"(NY Times, 1991). The "road and buddy movie" usually calls for men in the lead roles, whereas "Thelma and Louise" called for Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. A film such as this one allowed for two women to get into dangerous trouble, enjoy themselves, and "unmask the other sex"; actions normally reserved for men (NY Times, 1991). According to Ms. Khouri, the script of "Thelma and Louise" was infact, "a conscious effort to counter what [she] sees as Hollywood's tendency to limit women's roles to easily identifiable types such as bimbos, whores, and nagging wives"(NY Times, 1991). She therefore uses the characters in the movie not so much to prove a point, but instead to make a point. At the same time that Ms. Khouri is making her point, the movie becomes somewhat of a catharsis for women. "Thelma and Louise" is supposed to be "about what every woman knows"(Eby,4). Though rape is a major issue that is used in the movie, it is not supposed to be the only issue women relate to. The general comparison between the women on screen and the women in the audience should be the feeling of at one time or another having been threatened, having been treated as inferior, or having foun... ...y she begins to snap under the pressure. In one particular scene, the role reversal becomes most obvious to the audience. Louise finds out that Thelma has left JD alone in her hotel room with the money which Jimmy had brought them. By the time the girls make it back to the room, JD and the money are long gone. Louise comes to the realization that the control she once possessed has now escaped her. Thelma, who watches as her friend crumbles before her eyes, realizes that she needs to break free from her child-like persona and take control of the situation. Thelma takes on a new sense of responsibility and maturity. She gives Louise a chance to finally let her guard down. "This is a movie about the adventures of women, and that's rare. And that really sad that its rare and we can't think of another movie like this"(LA Times, 1991). Thelma and Louise was a movie written and produced to give women an opportunity to finally tell their story in a society where the media is all too often dominated by males. This was an opportunity to move females from the roles of girlfriend and side interest into the leading role. It is no longer about a man's experiences and a man's adventures.

The Transformation of Hong Kong Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

The Transformation of Hong Kong A drastic change came over Hong Kong during my supposed three month long business trip. This was not my first time in Hong Kong since I work for Walt Disney Imagineering and my team of engineers had been spending years planning the creation of the fourth Disney resort in Hong Kong. I had arrived in Hong Kong in mid-February 2003. My coworkers and I were staying at the Island Shangri-La which is located in the heart of Hong Kong, overlooking Victoria Harbor. My first week and a half in Hong Kong could be classified as normal. Restaurants were packed when I would go to dinner with coworkers. Starbucks was bustling in the morning as I got coffee on my way to work, and Pacific Place, an amazing entertainment and shopping complex on the Island, was full of people from open to close. The only thing that might have seemed unusual to the outsider was the occasional individual wearing a surgical mask, which having spent a lot of time in Hong Kong and Japan, I came to realize was common in Asia. If an individual was sick they protected themselves and others by wearing the mask. All in all, this appeared as if it was going to be a typical stay in Hong Kong until the first week of March when things changed. I distinctly remember the news reports which appeared about this mysterious disease that had appeared in the Guangdong Province of China beginning in November 2002. I remember my daughter worrying about me traveling to Asia with this unknown "killer." Yet, I reassured her that there was nothing to worry about since Hong Kong was quite a distance away from Guangdong Province. It turns out, that I should have taken my daughter a bit more seriously because, in hindsight, I know that on F... ...on again if there was a major world health concern. It is hoped that if SARS occurs again, as it has in isolated cases, that the societies of the world will not be thrown into as drastic of an upheaval as I experienced in Hong Kong in the late winter and spring of 2003. Now that the threat of the disease is past, Hong Kong is much more like it should be. When my wife traveled with me on my most recent business trip she did not have to face the health checkpoints at the airport nor the deserted streets and paranoia of two years ago. Life in Hong Kong appears "normal" now only with the memory of the modern epidemic which took some of its citizens' lives. The world now contains 774 fewer people due to the progress of the recent epidemic, SARS. * www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/faq.htm Sources of Information: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/ www.sarsreference.com/

Animals Should Not Be Used for Medical Research

UUB 3023 | CRITICAL THINKING| WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY NAME| 😠 SIFAJEE | TITLE| 😠 ANIMALS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR CLINICAL RESEARCH IN MALAYSIA| Abstract There is no doubt that throughout the centuries, animals have played a central role in medical research in Malaysia. Many of the treatments available for serious illnesses we have today have come from animal experimentation. There has been recorded that the use of animals in research has been going on as far back as the Greek writings.According to the history, Aristotle who lived in 384-322 BC was the first to use living animals in experiments; whereas Galen, a physician in second-century Rome, was known as the â€Å"father of vivisection† from his experiments on living pigs. However, these experiments were not conducted in the name of clinical research; they were done to gain knowledge about the animals themselves. In that period of time, man was not set next to animals in comparison of physiology or any other way because man was seen as a creature above the animal. From century to century, new ideas were developed when Darwin came with his theory of evolution.His theory made a path that linked human with animals; and encouraged researches to be done on different animals to learn how human physiology worked. Even though many believed animal experimentation is important for clinical study, some claimed that it is against the humanity. Many debates have been carried out to argue whether the animal testing is crucial or cruel. The writer believes though many have heard of this matter, yet people need to know about the adverse effects it plays in the toxicology field. TABLE OF CONTENTS | | Page| | Abstract| 2| | Table of Contents| 3| Introduction| 4| | Argument 1| 5| | Argument 2| 7| | Counter Argument & Refutation| 9| | Conclusion & Recommendations| 13| | References| 15| Introduction Toxicology is the scientific study of interactions between chemicals or other biohazards to liv ing organisms and their systems; and how to prevent poisoning of such substances in application to human beings. Toxicologists often practice animal experimentations called â€Å"vivisection† in order to identify the effects of certain dose of drugs in animals; whether it is beneficial or become poisonous.Vivisection also include procedures such as infecting animals with diseases, poisoning for toxicity testing, brain damaging, maiming, and blinding to administer the impacts those acts have on these animals, and then, the theories created later can be practiced to enhance the human well-being. Nowadays, many animals in Malaysia are being used in toxicology field for clinical experiments, which cause more animal extinction in our country. Many people have been aware of this matter and this polemic has led to many arguments on whether it is really necessary to use animals in clinical study.Even though some people had argued that it is necessary to conduct clinical research on a nimals, it is believed that the act is no more applicable. The writer claims that animal testing or â€Å"vivisection† is inappropriate for clinical research in Malaysia because the results can be misleading and cause sufferings to animals. Argument 1 Firstly, an animal has a total different DNA and nervous system from a human and therefore you can’t rely on the results. It is claimed that bypass surgery is conducted to save the life of human beings, but the same bypass surgery can be fatal to animals.Similarly, paracetamol is a well-known medicine to cure headache on human, but it will kill a cat, goat or horse. Many of the animal experiments are not only horrible to the animals, but also unreliable. There are tremendous physiological variations between animal and human. According to a source (http://www. veganpeace. com/animal_cruelty/animal_testing. htm), it is stated that: â€Å"Drugs like ‘thalidomide’, ‘zomax’ and DES were all tested on animals and judged safe but had devastating consequences for the humans who used them.More than half of the prescription drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 1976 and 1985 were withdrawn from the market or relabeled because of the serious side effects they had on humans. They had all been tested on animals. † It has long been stated that animal testing can certainly be downright contradictory in the results it provides, as well as merely misleading (Dappleshade, 2012). According to the Medical Research Modernization Committee, human data has historically been interpreted in light of laboratory data derived from nonhuman beings. This had turned out to downtrodden medical consequences.For an example, retrospective studies on human patients, in the early 60’s, had already shown a strong correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Unfortunately, almost all experimental efforts on producing lung cancer in animals had failed (Medical Research Modernization Committee). Likewise, the relationship between alcohol consumption and cirrhosis (a liver disease caused by frequent alcohol consumption) is undeniable in human. However, experimental tests conducted to produce cirrhosis by excessive alcohol ingestion have failed in all animals except baboons.On the other hand, the case of polio research in animal models has directed to a misunderstanding of the mechanism of infection and it caused failed preventing measures and delayed the development of the vaccine. During the experimentation on monkeys, it has shown that the virus was transmitted via respiratory organs. When the vaccine tested with monkey’s cell, it has shown positive results. Eventually, the vaccine did not help in producing expected changes in human, and medical researchers found out later that the viruses of polio disease were actually transmitted through the digestive route in human.In short, it is clear that we should not rely on experimental studies in animals due to lots of misleading results and misunderstandings it catered. In Dr. Andrew Knight's â€Å"The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments†, it is stated that in a study of twenty randomly chosen cases, only two proved useful in further developing medicines and consistent with clinical trial data. Medical historians argued that key discoveries in fatal diseases in human were achieved mostly through observation of patients and human autopsy because there are lots of misleading results obtained through animal esting. It causes health warnings to be delayed for years, while thousands of people died of various diseases (Medical Research Modernization Committee). Argument 2 Secondly, animal testing or â€Å"vivisection† is inappropriate for clinical research because it causes horrific sufferings to animals. Masses have been debating on the issue that vivisection process is unethical because the helpless animals are harmed and it caused prolonging sufferings to t hem. Animals being sacrificed in the name of medical testing are not presented in objective ways by animal rights organizations in Malaysia.Hence, the general development of animal welfare-opinions has become more engaging. The fact why animal experimentation is against by the community is because the processes is not ended just by giving an animal a pill and see what it does, this is so much ahead than that. This include the action of applying animals with drugs, infecting it with diseases, poisoning for toxicity testing, brain damaging, maiming, blinding and other painful and invasive procedures (Anti-Vivisection Society, 2012). Furthermore, many people think that only mice and rats are being used in animal testing for clinical research.Most people don’t aware that actually rabbits, hamsters, cats, dogs, pigs, horses, goats, chickens, frogs, birds, monkeys and many more are being killed redundantly each year in laboratories. We can’t imagine what will happen to the a nimal’s population if this activity continues further. In addition, the protocols in animal experimentation turned out to be extremely heart-wrenching, where it includes procedures such as long-term social isolation, full-body restraint, electric shocks, withholding of food and water, or repeatedly breeding and separating infants from mothers.Animals suffer excessively when the medical practitioners break their legs, burn them, cut them open while they’re still alive, poison them and remove half their brains, spray fluids in their eyes and so on (Lithium Queen, 2010). The Anti-Vivisection Society further claimed that essentially, it is using animals in ways that cause distress or death in attempts to test the safety of drugs and biological products or finding treatments, prevention, and cures for human diseases. The other point to be noted is that animals are being sacrificed unnecessarily in order to maintain the human wellness.This is totally a failure of logic. Anim als in laboratories live in an intimidating environment within barren cages and experience unnatural lives of daily deprivation. The highly unnatural laboratory environment constantly stresses them. Most of the animals never get the chance to inhale fresh air nor relish sunshine. They are unable to convey their will, make choices, or exert their natural behaviors and needs. The changes that come into their lives are obviously from the intrusive experiments, which range from comfortless ‘zone’ to excruciation.Yet, they are helpless to defend themselves. Animals are not facing natural deaths in laboratories. The viruses that induced into their cells for testing may infect them vigorously and cause them to encounter death gradually. According to a research, it is stated that the viruses transmitted to animals affects the entire organism by altering pulse, blood pressure, hormone levels and immunological activities to their death. In short, it is totally unethical to conduc t animal testing for clinical researches as the adverse effects it has on the animal itself.Peter Singer wrote Animal Liberation in 1975, which has been a major formative influence on the modern animal rights movement. He wrote that â€Å"there are obviously important differences between human and other animals, and these differences must give rise to some differences in the rights that each have. † This is meant in a way that justifies the needs and rights every animal have. Thus, there is no reason to necessarily give an animal what you would have given a man (Dappleshade, 2012). Counter Argument ; Refutation However, there are those who argue that animals should be used for clinical research in Malaysia.The main reason why animals should be used is that animals are more likely resemble to human and they are more accountable to be in replace of human being for clinical studies. Animals are surrogates for humans. The basic reason for animal trials is to determine two issues before any new compound introduced to a human; safety and efficacy, whether a compound is safe for human ingestion and also whether a product works for its intended purpose (Laura Blue, June 17, 2008). In the perspective of doctors and scientists, animal testing is very important for medication and the humanity as a whole.Advocates of animal testing say that the outcomes of testing on animals are the most credible. Millions of medical discoveries decades ago were achieved through animal experimentations. According to the published journal Animal Testing in Medical Research, n. d, one of the most important discoveries was the discovery of insulin in humans. Insulin is secreted from the pancreas. In 1889, a pancreas from a dog was removed to prove its role in digestion. When the pancreas was removed, the researchers discovered flies swarming around the urine of the dog. They found sugar in the urine which proved the connection between pancreas and diabetes.For the following two decade s a lot of researches were done on dogs to figure out how to keep the dog alive without its own insulin production. Similarly, a lot of medical researches involving animals have been conducted to study the correlation it applies on human, and hence, enhance the wellness of human being. Some of the successful discoveries that has helped human from last centuries are as follows: †¢ Kidney transplants †¢ Replacement heart valves †¢ Polio vaccine †¢ Hip replacement surgery †¢ Heart bypass operations †¢ Drugs to treat mental illness †¢ Drugs to treat stomach ulcers, asthma and leukemia Drugs to control transplant rejection †¢ Life-support systems for premature babies It is affirmed that animal testing is important because in the absence of human data, research with experimental animals is reliable for detecting important toxic properties of chemical substances and for estimating risks to human and environmental health. A medical student from the Ox ford University, Kristina Cook, had argued that if this fundamental research is stopped, we won’t find a cure for cancer, a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, a vaccine for AIDS, a therapy for Alzheimer’s and a cure for paralysis.She insisted that any further advances in medicine and human health are absolutely dependent on animal research. Moreover, if to compare who is better to be used to conduct an experiment, of course people will choose animals instead of themselves, even though they realize that animals are also important creatures in our life (Daniyar, 2012). From the drugs testing on animals, now we have antibiotics and vaccines that have saved many people lives. According to Dr. Jane Goodall, n. , he said that, people got used to take all conveniences from life and forget that all those depend on medical researches on animals. In addition, the remedy that now saves thousands of women fighting with breast cancer was developed through medical testing on mice. According to Batul Nafisa Baxamusa, 2010, in DNA level, chimpanzees' body matches up with humans' in 90%. This big number facilitates successful surgeries and transplantations because of similar inner organs of chimpanzees with human's organs.According to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), liver from baboon was successfully transplanted to a 35 year- old man in June 1992. This case was the first known transplantation from animal to human. It is the best example of how animal testing has resulted in saving human lives. In spite of opinion that using animals for people's curing is wrong, we can’t deny that fact that annually millions of animals are killed for food; they are used for agriculture, hunted for pleasure of people and even euthanized (Natalie Kustcher, n. ). In that case, using animals to treat and save people's lives by using their organs in surgeries, wouldn’t be the worst deal. Nevertheless, this argument can be refuted because it has bee n proven that with the availability of modern alternatives now, animals testing can be considered as useless. With the development of technology in science, various new alternatives have been found to replace the experiment on animals. Studies can be undertaken upon human cell cultures and engineered tissues, than testing on animals.According to a published journal, Animals in Research: The Importance of Animals in the Science of Toxicology (2006), one alternate way is by applying ‘vitro’ tests (meaning) laboratory tests using cell or organ cultures rather than whole organisms. In other cases, organisms such as worms or bacteria are used instead of mammals. In replacement of animals, computer models can also be developed to predict outcomes of the test carried out. The viable options were meant to produce more accurate results on the clinical research and to prevent more animals from being harmed.The cloning of human organs and examining within the cell cultures are now scientifically proven to produce more reliable data to human autopsy and therefore, the need for animal testing will be no longer become an issue. Referring to a reliable source (http://www. newscientist. com/article/mg15120450. 300-pioneers-cut-out-animal-experiments. html), a company by the name of Pharmagene Laboratories in the United Kingdom utilises only tissue cultures and computer modelling on its drug development and testing.The existence of this company shows that the need for animal experimentation is now no longer the case. Medical practitioners by all means can now consider replacing vivisection on animals with cloning of organs and safely test on it. By this way, no one gets hurt, and eventually it doesn’t cost as much as animal testing. Many people may believe that modern alternatives are much more expensive than animal testing because that is what the pharmaceutical industry keeps telling them.It indeed costs quite an amount of money to switch from old techniq ues to new ones, but eventually it will be worth it. It is a one-time investment, whereas with animal testing; you have to keep paying for it. The cost to rear, feed and maintain animal subjects is extremely high, whereas the alternative methods are cheaper and thus less burdensome on the economy. So despite what the industry claims, animal testing is more expensive than the use of modern alternatives (LithiumQueen, 2010). Conclusion & RecommendationsTo sum things up, the writer would like to uphold once again that animals should not be used for clinical research in Malaysia. Through time, the welfare of the animals has come into focus, and several legislations have been made to prevent cruelty and unnecessary acts. Even though many medical breakthroughs have been a result of animal researches, we should only be grateful to the animal tests of the past for the benefits they have provided us, without seeing a need for animal tests in the future (Dappleshade, 2012).Despite of the argu ments that animal experimentation must be conducted because animal pathology is similar to that of humans, we should aware more on the consequences that the misleading results animal testing has played, and that using animals in laboratories cause horrific sufferings to them. There are more negative effects imposed by animal experimentation than the benefits it has provided us with. A professor of philosophy, Professor Charles R. Magel made his statement that: â€Å"Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: ‘Because the animals are like us. Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: ‘Because the animals are not like us. ‘ Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. † In Europe, a research foundation called 3Rs is being implemented in order to find solution to the abundance number of animals sacrificed in the name of animal testing. The term 3Rs stands for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. This implies the concept to replace animal testing, to reduce the number of animals used in testing, or to refine methods to minimise the distress for research animals.This kind of research foundation should be implemented in Malaysia as well, to promote good science with no animal experimentation in future. In conclusion, with the new technology lead to viable alternatives and more humane methods like use of cell cultures and imaging, it is hoped that the number of animals used in medical research can be tremendously reduced. References * Christine Egerszegi- Obrist, 3R Research Foundation (n. d). Good Science with Less Animal Experimentation. Available at http://www. forschung3r. ch/ * Dappleshade, Debate. org (2012).Animal Testing should be Banned. Retrieved from http://www. debate. org/debates/Animal-testing-should-be-banned/1/ * Kristina Cook (April 4,2006). Why Animal Research is Important AND Needed: A Copy of the Speech I Gave on the February 25th D emonstration. Retrieved from http://www. protest. org. uk/2006/04/why-animal-research-is-important-and. html * Laura Blue (June 17, 2008). How Much Does Animal Testing Tell Us?. Retrieved from http://www. time. com/time/health/article/0,8599,1815241,00. html * Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News Service (2011).Animal Testing: Crucial or Cruel?. Retrieved from http://www. abc15. com/dpp/news/national/animal-testing%3A-crucial-or-cruel * LithiumQueen, Mibba Creative Writing (2010). The Cruelty of Animal Testing. Retrieved from http://www. mibba. com/Articles/Science/3703/The-Cruelty-of-Animal-Testing/ * Marte Thomassen, Ellen Trolid, Tonje Arondsen, Marit Gystol (n. d). Animal Testing in Medical Research- Past, present and future. Retrieved from http://www. nt. ntnu. no/users/clabec/pdf/MedicalResearchAnimalExperiments. pdf Medical Research Modernization Committee (2006). A Critical Look at Animal Experimentation. Retrieved from http://www. mrmcmed. org/Critical_Look. pdf * Neavs. org (n. d). Alternatives in Testing. Retrieved from http://www. neavs. org/alternatives/in-testing * The Society of Toxicology (2006). Animals in Research: The Importance of Animals in the Science of Toxicology. Retrieved from http://www. toxicology. org/ai/air/AIR_Final. pdf * Wanda Embar (2008). Animal Testing. Retrieved from http://www. veganpeace. com/animal_cruelty/animal_testing. htm

Miss Havisham Essay

Miss Havisham is first introduced to the reader when Mr Pumblechook (Pips Uncle) announces that Miss Havisham Requests Pips presence to play at her house. Miss Havisham fits into the main plot because she trains Estella to â€Å" break their hearts.† When Pip sees Estella for the fist time, he instantly falls in love with her. Miss Havisham sees this and she encourages Pip to do so. Miss Havisham was also, in Pips eyes, the cause of his ‘Great expectations’ Miss Havisham may also have been placed in the novel by Dickens, To explore how the effects of bad experiences on people. In this case it would be Miss Havisham being jilted on her wedding day In the first description of Satis house you get the image of a dilapidated house that has been abandoned even though there is someone there still living there. When pip goes to miss Havishams house she asks him to touch her heart. This according to her is ‘Broken.’ When Miss Havisham says ‘I sometimes have sick fancies’ this shows that Miss Havisham is mentally disturbed in the head. Satis house is an old decaying house, which was turned this way by Miss Havishams neglect. When Pip returns to miss Havishams she takes him into her wedding breakfast room. There is a rotting cake in the middle of the table. This sums up Miss Havishams life perfectly. Forgotten and Mouldy. Another thing that is made out to be strange is that all the clocks have been stopped at twenty to nine. This makes it sound like her life has been frozen in time, as she also wore one shoe, half her veil was arranged and she still wore a decaying wedding dress. This makes the readers believe that she has frozen time at that exact point. Miss Havisham plays an important part in the Novel as she leads pip into believing that she was his benefactor because he believed that she was rearing him for Estella when in fact it was the convict (Magwitch). Miss Havishams character at the beginning of the novel is made out to be cruel and heartless, however later on in the novel she turns over a new leaf and begs for Pip’s forgiveness just before she is burnt to death. Charles Dickens explores the theme of sin and forgiveness in the novel. Throughout the novel some of the people who have sinned tried to redeem themselves the other people who have sinned haven’t. In addition, Dickens explores the theme of what is a gentle man. Compyson Who jilted Miss Havisham and manipulated Magwitch into doing his dirty work was considered a gentle man whereas Joe Gargery took in pip even though he was not related to him in any way took Pip in and gave him an apprenticeship at the forge was not considered a gentle man because he had to work for a living. Dickens explores many themes in the Novel. The main one being the effects on people after a bad experience. In this case this is through Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham dearly loved Compeyson and she cast away most of her family who forewarned her that he was trouble, But she ignored them all and when she got jilted by him on her wedding day she realised that her family were right. After this Miss Havisham adopted Estella so she could raise her up to be invulnerable to the effects of society were in actual fact she was more vulnerable when she grew up. Miss Havisham also raised her up to ‘break the hearts’ of men. This in a way is revenge for what Compeyson put Miss Havisham Through. Another theme in the novel is sin and forgiveness. In Victorian society many people went to church so many people believed in Heaven and Hell. Throughout the novel many people sin. Magwitch, Compeyson, Miss Havisham Orlick and many more. Some of these people try to redeem themselves like Magwitch who became a secret benefactor to Pip. ‘I sleep rough so you can sleep smooth’ also Miss Havisham realises that that she has destroyed two people’s lives. She tries to redeem herself by grovelling to Pip. ‘Oh what have I done’ she also explains what she did to Estella ‘I stole her heart and put ice in its place.’ This shows that Miss Havisham realised how she has raised her to be cruel, emotionless, and how she destroyed Estella’s life. Other people, who sinned, like Compeyson, were killed in a most horrific way. Drowning in a river while having a fight with Magwitch killed Compeyson. Over all Miss Havisham started in the novel to be a cruel, perverted character however towards the end of the novel she redeems herself by begging for Pips forgiveness.