Louise Brown the First Test-Tube Baby

Louise Brown the First Test-Tube Baby On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the worlds first successful test-tube baby was born in Great Britain. Although the technology that made her conception possible was heralded as a triumph in medicine and science, it also caused many to consider the possibilities of future ill-use. Previous Attempts Every year, millions of couples try to conceive a child; unfortunately, many find that they cannot. The process to find out how and why they have infertility issues can be long and arduous. Before the birth of Louise Brown, those women who were found to have fallopian tube blockages (approximately twenty percent of infertile women) had no hope of becoming pregnant. Usually, conception occurs when an egg cell (ovum) in a woman is released from an ovary, travels through a fallopian tube, and is fertilized by the mans sperm. The fertilized egg continues to travel while it undergoes numerous cell divisions. It then rests in the uterus to grow. Women with fallopian tube blockages cannot conceive because their eggs cannot travel through their fallopian tubes to get fertilized. Dr. Patrick Steptoe, a gynecologist at Oldham General Hospital, and Dr. Robert Edwards, a physiologist at Cambridge University, had been actively working on finding an alternative solution for conception since 1966. While Drs. Steptoe and Edwards had successfully found a way to fertilize an egg outside a womans body, they were still troubled by problems after replacing the fertilized egg back into the womans uterus. By 1977, all of the pregnancies resulting from their procedure (about 80) had lasted only a few, short weeks. Lesley Brown became different when she successfully passed the first few weeks of pregnancy. Lesley and John Brown Lesley and John Brown were a young couple from Bristol who had been unable to conceive for nine years. Lesley Brown had blocked fallopian tubes. Having gone from doctor to doctor for help to no avail, she was referred to Dr. Patrick Steptoe in 1976. On November 10, 1977, Lesley Brown underwent the very experimental in vitro (in glass) fertilization procedure. Using a long, slender, self-lit probe called a laparoscope, Dr. Steptoe took an egg from one of Lesley Browns ovaries and handed it to Dr. Edwards. Dr. Edwards then mixed Lesleys egg with Johns sperm. After the egg was fertilized, Dr. Edwards placed it into a special solution that had been created to nurture the egg as it began to divide. Previously, Drs. Steptoe and Edwards had waited until the fertilized egg had divided into 64 cells (about four or five days later). This time, however, they decided to place the fertilized egg back into Lesleys uterus after just two and a half days. Close monitoring of Lesley showed that the fertilized egg had successfully embedded into her uterus wall. Then, unlike all the other experimental in vitro fertilization pregnancies, Lesley passed week after week and then month after month with no apparent problems. The world began to talk about this amazing procedure. Ethical Problems Lesley Browns pregnancy gave hope to hundreds of thousands of couples not able to conceive. Yet, as many cheered this new medical breakthrough, others were worried about future implications. The most important question was whether this baby was going to be healthy. Had being outside the womb, even for just a couple of days, harmed the egg? If the baby had medical problems, did the parents and doctors have a right to play with nature and thus bring it into the world? Doctors also worried that if the baby wasnt normal, would the process be blamed whether or not it was the cause? When does life begin? If human life begins at conception, are doctors killing potential humans when they discard fertilized eggs? (Doctors may remove several eggs from the woman and may discard some that have been fertilized.) Is this process a foreshadowing of what is to come? Will there be surrogate mothers? Was Aldous Huxley predicting the future when he described breeding farms in his book Brave New World? Success! Throughout Lesleys pregnancy, she was closely monitored, including the use of ultrasounds and amniocentesis. Nine days before her due date, Lesley developed toxemia (high blood pressure). Dr. Steptoe decided to deliver the baby early via Cesarean section. At 11:47 p.m. on July 25, 1978, a five-pound 12-ounce baby girl was born. The baby girl, named Louise Joy Brown, had blue eyes and blond hair and seemed healthy. Still, the medical community and the world were preparing to watch Louise Brown to see if there were any abnormalities that couldnt be seen at birth. The process had been a success! Though some wondered if the success had been more luck than science, continued success with the process proved that Dr. Steptoe and Dr. Edwards had accomplished the first of many test-tube babies. Today, the process of in vitro fertilization is considered commonplace and utilized by infertile couples around the world.

The Ultimate College Student Grocery List to Be Healthy and Fit

The Ultimate College Student Grocery List to Be Healthy and Fit You may have heard of the Freshman 15? Though not exactly a myth, it is a bit of an exaggeration since studies show that the average weight a freshman actually gains is between 2.5-3.5 lbs. On the other hand, fifteen percent of college students reported weight loss. For students their appearance is usually more important than their health. However, the way people look is directly related to the way people feel. This leads us to the questions: How to be healthy and fit when studying in college? What should be on college student grocery list? Basic Food for College Students Checking out a nutritional food chart below can give you a starting point of what you need to eat each day and how much of it you should ideally include in your diet. Barring allergies, a food chart can help guide you to finding the right combination of: grains fruits and vegetables proteins and fats oils and sugars Please note: Competitive athletes who engage in strenuous daily workouts and competitions should consult a nutritionist to make sure they’re obtaining the right level of nutrients to maintain their performance and health. So, now, when you know the fundamentals, find out what exactly should be on a college shopping list. Breakfast Foods First meals first 🙂 Many students refuse from having breakfast because they simply not having enough time in the morning. Below, youll find the items you should include to your grocery list for breakfasts that easy to make. Eggs are a great breakfast food for college students. Full of protein and vitamin B12, essential for proper brain function, eggs are a college student’s best friend. Granola is a great way to start the day, but not if it’s loaded with sugars and oils. Museli, a lighter version of granola without the fats and oils is a good option with yogurt, milk or your choice of nut milk. The fiber in the grains and dried fruits help promote healthy bowel function. Pancakes - Try a whole grain version or one that uses yogurt instead of milk for a healthier variety. Whole grains release energy more slowly over time so wheat or another whole grain flour will give you longer-term sustenance than white flour pancakes. Bagels and lox   - There’s a reason why the most competitive city in the world (New York) has bagels and lox for breakfast. A whole grain bagel with low-fat cream cheese and smoked salmon is a powerhouse of a breakfast. The whole grain bagel with give you slow-release energy throughout the morning while the low-fat cream cheese will provide some calcium and protein. Salmon is rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids that help improve memory and cognitive function. Heres an infographic that will help you to memorize the key points better: Key Items for a College Student Grocery List Next time when you go to the grocery shop, dont forget to add the items youll see below. Fruits and vegetables  - All fruits and vegetables in general can contribute positively to your diet, but some even more than others. Blueberries have been touted as â€Å"brain food† for more than a decade now because of their high levels of vitamin C, vitamin K and gallic acid which promote healthy brain function. Avocado is high in vitamin K and folate which help improve cognitive function. They’re also high in vitamin B and vitamin C, high in protein and low in sugar. Beets enhance blood follow to the brain, which helps improve mental performance. Broccoli contains high levels of vitamin K and choline, which help improve memory. Leafy greens such as spinach, kale, Swiss chard and romaine lettuce are rich in vitamin A and vitamin K which benefit brain function. Lean proteins - Red meat can have its place on a college student grocery list, but most of your protein should be coming from leaner meats such as fresh fish or chicken. Red meat can be consumed on occasion, but not every day as it’s difficult to digest and the fat in red meat can put a strain on the heart and arteries. Lean proteins that digest more easily free up the body’s energy to focus on other things, like studying! Fresh juices - While fresh fruits and vegetables are great, fresh juices should also have a place on your college grocery list. Because juices don’t include the fibrous material that a piece of fruit or vegetable have, the body is able to absorb their nutrients more directly. When you need a mental boost, skip the coffee and have a ginger carrot juice or blueberry banana juice to increase mental function and energy levels without having to deal with the caffeine highs and subsequent crashes. Water - Water should be at the top of a grocery list for college students, actually. It’s essential for proper brain function and dehydration actually has some dire effects on the body, including bloating and weight gain as well as on the brain. Did you know that dehydration can significantly lower your memory and cognitive skills? The golden rule when it comes to water is 88 (eight glasses of eight ounces of water) per day. This should be taken in throughout the day, not all in one go, in order for the body to be able to absorb the water and process it. So make sure you add water to your list when heading out to the store. Healthy dorm snacks - Make sure you keep healthy snacks on hand. Otherwise you’ll be tempted to load up on unhealthy snacks when you’re in a pinch. Whole gain cereal bars, unsalted trail mix and dark chocolate all make for great snacks when you need something to munch on between meals. Tea  - Many teas have excellent properties that promote health, including brain function. Green tea, famous for its antioxidant properties, also contains caffeine which can help keep you alert during morning classes. Chamomile tea can help calm you and make sure you get a good night’s sleep which is important for overall health and a necessity for proper brain function so make sure you put it on your college student grocery list. In addition to avoiding the freshman 15, this college student grocery list can help you maintain proper brain function and energy levels to help you excel this semester.

Did the FSA do enough to prevent the 2008 financial crisis Dissertation

Did the FSA do enough to prevent the 2008 financial crisis - Dissertation Example The primary factors that led to this economic downturn were the failure of the FSA to appropriately monitor various financial transactions; the failure of the Tripartite arrangement for financial stability amongst Treasury, the infirmity of liquidity management within the Bank of England, a lack of commensurate provisions for deposit insurance, and a banking sector with exiguous regulations for insolvency. This article will examine the nature of this economic crisis with special focus on exploring the contention that the FSA was major factor in causing this market crash owing to its policy of non-intervention where it did not do enough to prevent the 2008 financial crisis. 1 Introduction The financial crisis in 2007-09, which is the worst economic downturn since the times of the Great Depression, initiated in the US sub-prime mortgage market, from where it spread across the globe at an unprecedented rate, affecting almost all the markets in the world (Mohan, 2010, 3). In early 2007, the US investment banks and the mortgage backers operating within the sub-prime mortgage markets started feeling the tremors when they faced problems from the defaulting debtors who were failing to repay their loan owing largely to the spiralling interest rates. Soon these financial institutions comprehended the extent of their debt and the overshooting of their limits (Cable, 2009). This ripple soon spread to Europe, and in 2007 in UK, the Northern Rock faced with market liquidity crash, and failing to find any private takers was finally nationalised by UK government (Ibid). In US, the Federal Reserve started lowering the loan interest rates in order to avoid large-scale financial defaulters in the market. Despite this, by 2008, there were a large number of cases of failed banks, starting with the insolvency of Bear Stearns, an investment bank. This was soon followed by large-scale bailouts of the mortgage backers by the US government, for well know financial institutions like, Fre ddie Mac and Fannie Mae (Gamble, 2009). Within one year, by early 2008, it was evident that the financial crisis was not limited to just the subprime mortgage markets, but had affected the entire financial system (ibid), and had been primarily caused due to the manner in which financial debts were converted into an intricate web of various securities, and then traded with other financial institutions (ibid). Thus, what had started as a small crisis within the housing mortgage market, transformed into a catastrophic banking disaster, seriously affecting primary the financial systems of US and Europe (both at domestic and international levels). Though the crises the global in nature, it was noticed that despite the Asian and LATAM emerging market economies (EMEs) suffering bad setbacks from the crisis, the basic financial system of these countries remained comparatively stability. The economic crises failed to affect any of fundamental financial institutions in these countries, thus m aking the economic downturn as being more of a North Atlantic financial crisis instead of a global one. A press report in 2007 stated that it was necessary "to draw up radical proposals to improve transparency in financial markets and to change the way credit rating

Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Report - Research Paper Example They employ, train and support local workforce and its families. They have initiatives that allow employees to be active citizens in the community by showing their care for the communities. Moreover, the company advocates for civic engagement, tax contributions and volunteerism among its staffs. According to their website, the Company encourages good deeds via its Disney  VoluntEARS  program. It was initiated on Earth Day in 1995 to supports efforts of global and local non-profits that protect ecosystems, wildlife, and make a helpful impact on the community. Since its inauguration, the kitty has supported over $20 million projects in over 112 nations. Through the film, Disneynature, the company has shared important information and compelling stories that submerge audiences in the natural world. The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund supports efforts of global and local non-profits organizations that protect ecosystems, wildlife, and make a helpful impact on the community, Disney created a Green Standard agenda in 2008 to reduce their adverse impact on the environment. The program is directed at meetings/events, workplaces, dining and travels. Many more recycling bins have been introduced and hanging ads placed on in the hotel rooms reminding occupants to shut off the lights and water when not in use. These efforts are geared towards being more eco-friendly. The green standard has spread wide showing just how Disney has lobbied for environmental conservation. Volunteerism is a major center of attention for Disney. The company offers free tickets to a million individuals for them to offer a day of volunteer service to a community organization of their choice. ‘’This has encouraged a large number of people in America to commit volunteering in their communities’’2. As it has been indicated, the Disney Company has made massive investment in social responsibility. The three areas, volunteerism, environment and the community

Interpersonal Communication Essay Example for Free

Interpersonal Communication Essay I joined Eclairs Molders in 2003 immediately after I finished my studies. I had been attached to the organization for more than 3 months during my field attachment. Therefore I had a prior knowledge of the organization and had interacted with several people. When they considered my application for a job, I was happy to join an organization which I had the values oriented towards outcome achievement and had a high degree of people orientation. I was now part and parcel of the organization. When I joined the organization, I was lucky since I was put under the same department that I had served before. I was under the same supervisor who had supervised me during my field attachment. I did not have to be oriented much in the organization culture and other aspects of its operation since I had gone through the same socialization process before. But there was one person who had oriented me in the organization and who remained relevant to me even after I joined the organization for work. That was the secretary in the Production department where I was assigned as an assistant manager. She was still relevant to me as she showed me how I had to start my work and settled in my job. With time we became very close to one another. This was to end up in romantic relationship. In the development of our relationship, we had undergone the full Knapp’s relationship escalation model. I still remember the initiation stage of our relationship when I was directed to her office where she would orient me to the organization. The first 10 to 15 seconds were spent knowing about each other. There was a mutual attraction that developed between us that time as we observed each other’s appearance and manners. Our experimental phase was marked by the continuous interaction that we has as I worked with her guidance. I had a lot of uncertainties about her although I felt more attracted to her. I had to use several strategies in order to reduce this level of uncertainties. Under the uncertainty reduction theory it took on actives and interactive strategies in order to learn more about her. This helped me to gain knowledge and understanding about her. In active strategies, I enquired about her from her friends and also set up several situations under which I would observe her closely like enquiring a lot about work from her. In the interactive strategies, I talked with her most of the time often brining in other topics not related to work so that I would understand her more. Though our relationship remained at this phase when I was in my field attachment it dramatically changed its course when I started working in the company. Although I was assigned another secretary I would still rely on her most of the time and she was also supportive to orient my secretary to her work. We developed a liking for each other and she would spend some of her time in my office sometimes with no official attachment but just chatting with one another. We sure that our relationship had to go beyond business relationship but there was a sense of romance in the air. Our relationship grew and reached the intensification period. At this time we were closer with one another and we disclosed that were wanted to from a lasting romantic relationship. We knew that it would be hard for us to operate in the work place as lovers but we had to our best in order to keep our relationship rolling. Self disclosure was an important aspect that helped to cement our relationship. We developed from the hidden pane to the open pane of Johari window as we opened ourselves to one another. We came to understand our characters and helped each other to understand their characters as well. By undergoing several windows we were able to know each other. Mutual disclosure helped us to know each other well and the trust in our relationship deepened. Following the social penetration theory, we undertook several practices in order to gain closeness in our relationship. This helped our relationship to progress from superficial to intimate. Self disclosure was an important factor in this theory that helped our relationship to grow. We gave rewards from time to time. We all strived to achieve each others satisfaction to help gain stability in our relationship. At first I was not willing to disclosure myself to her. But with time she started disclosing herself and our trust grew. According other norm of reciprocity, I had to disclose myself to her since she had already disclosed herself to me. I found out that she felt better when I disclosed myself to her since she was able to know me well. In the intensifying phase we were able to disclose our love to one another. Our relationship grew and we found ourselves with each other most of the time. At tea break, she would be at my desk while I found myself entering the manager’s office more than office just to pays by her and greet her. Most of the workers around especially the manager and my secretary started noting that there was a growing relationship between us. We would go for lunch together. Slowly we started integrating with tone another. No one wanted to go for lunch or go home alone. After work, we would go to her house and we would have supper together. We started caring for one another. We were like one person. Mine was hers and hers was mine. With were simply inseparable. Most of the time we had to make personal sacrifice in order to accommodate each other. We involved several pro-social strategies in order to gain compromise with one another behavior. Like in any other relationship, we had to make sacrifices to accommodate the other. We made a lot of promises to one another in order to gain compliance. We expressed our positive and negative feelings in order to gain compliance with one another. This helped to build our relationship more and trust each other more. According to the Relationship Dialectics theory as far as connectedness-separateness is concerned with had to make a lot of personal sacrifice in our autonomy for the sake of our relationship. It is not that we did not experience conflict in our relationship but most of time we had to accommodation strategy in order to overcome our conflicts. Many times we accommodate each other but sometimes we had to compromise on a situation when it became too difficult for us to find a solution to the problem. Other time we had to collaborate with one another in order to find a mutually and completely satisfactory solution of our conflict in a win-win situation. At this stage of our relationship, we were sure that we needed each others in our life. Our parent started pressurizing us to get married and stay together. We though that we had the most romantic relationship on earth. We also felt the same need to get married and stay together. But there were other factors that we had to take into consideration before setting down for our marriage. We considered the fact that we had to take time to build ourselves and our relationship before deciding to get married. It was hectic at work to keep our relationship rolling. It was still more difficult to stay in the same department yet in different offices. I found myself delegating most of my secretary duties to my girlfriend and it was evident that she was not auguring well with it. The manager also felt that her secretary was being overburdened to handle his order and my orders as well. In most cases, it was my girlfriend who delegated her work to my secretary. It was like I had assumed her existence and her roles (West and Turner 2000, p. 32). However we did our best to manage our relationship. We had to set time to be together and time to stay at work and carry out our duties. Most of the time the manager complained we were not getting serious with our work and we seemed to value our relationship more than our work. These were some of the difficulties that we had expected from the begging when we decided to be together. Therefore we had to make a lot of sacrifices and commitment most of our time to our work rather than our relationship. But our relationship was not to stay for long. The more it became evident to coworkers that we were in love, the more it became difficult for us to handle our relationship. There were a lot of conflicts that we were able to go through but others became sticky with time. It was just one of such conflicts between maintaining our relationship and carrying out our duties as required that made our relationship difficult to continue with. The conflict As an assistant production manager, I handled most of the incoming production orders from the sales team. I had to vet those order and decide the one which had to be produced first before the others. The work of the manager was just of authorize the production of the orders. Therefore I acted as the main link between the sale department and the production department. On the other hand my secretary and my girlfriend who was the secretary to the production manager linked me with the manager. When I received the orders, I vetted them and gave them to my secretary who would then give them to the Managers secretary for them to be passed to the manager. After the manager signed them, they would follow the same route and come back to me where I would forward them to the production supervisor. This was a complicate change but there was nothing that I could do to make it simpler since that was the culture of the organization. One day, I received a call from the sales department and I was informed of orders that had to be produced within 24 hours. Although we used to handle such orders they were rare and most of our orders were produced within a period of one week. Therefore at this was an urgent order that had to be completed fast. In a normal condition, I was authorized to vet such an order and pass it direct the manager without involving the secretary so that it would be produced within the stipulated time. When I received the orders I decided to take them direct to the manager to be signed. I went to the manager office but I found that he was engaged with another client. For the past tow days, we had not been in good terms with my girlfriend but this was just a normal conflict in a relationship. Therefore when I found that the manager was engaged, we decided to talk with my girlfriend as we waited for the client to finish so that I would see the manager. But our conversation became deep and emotional and I forgot that I had urgent order to be attended to. I became very emotion as my girlfriend seemed to annoy me through the conversation. I just left the order on her table and hurried back to my office apparently very upset from the conversation we had. I did not remember about the orders again. I spent the day in my office attending to other work and I felt very low. The next day in the morning, I go a call from the sales department calling for the packaging of the products as the cline had come to collect them. This was the beginning of the conflict. I called the sales department and informed them that the manager had not signed the orders and therefore they had not been processed. According to the deception theory, I had to manipulate what had happened in order to shift the blame from my office to the manager office although I knew very well that there was a high level of apprehension about the deception in what I was saying. The sales department tried to assimilate the validity of my explanation and immediately it was clear that this as not true. There was some element of deceit in my message. Therefore the sales manager called the production managers office and enquired about the orders. The manager sought to be explained why production manager had not approved the production and yet the office did not communicate to the sales office in order to cancel the orders. The production manager was not aware of any such order and therefore he immediately called me in order to get to the bottom of what had happened. As per my explanation, I told the manager that I had taken a step of handing over the order sot here secretary so that they could be processed easily and I thought that he had not approved those orders. But the secretary had not handed in the order. Amid the conversation and conflict that we had with her, she had forgotten to hand in the order as a matter of urgency and therefore they had not bee approved. Therefore the conflict degraded to be a dyad conflict between me, my girlfriend and the production manager. I shifted the blame to my girlfriend that as the secretary of the manager she had the duty to hand in the orders. The manager on the other and blamed me since I did not treat order with the needed urgency. My girlfriend also blamed me since I did not inform her that the order was urgent and therefore she concentrated on finishing the work that was on her desk first. It ended up as a blame game but between me and her, it was more emotional and entwined to the other conflicts that we had before. Therefore it was a dyad conflict another it was far reaching as it involved deferent department. To me the conflict was more complicated by the emotional bond that I had with the person to who all the blame was falling. I blamed myself since I didn’t do what was right. I just found myself defending my position and forgot all the sacrifices that we had made in the past in our relationship in order to accommodate the other. There was power of love that was entwined in the conflict that made it difficult for me to come over it. At the same time there were office protocols that had to be followed in carrying out the needed activities. The cause of the conflict was vested in the misunderstanding in our relationship and lack of responsibility to my duties. The conflict was difficult to solve coupled with the emotional bond that was between us. In this case the more we tried to come up with solution on how the production could be achieved within hours in order to deliver the products the conflict went back to the start. With the full understanding of the relationship that was between me and his secretary, the production manager became harsher and his usual criticisms of neglecting our duties for the sake of our live escalated once again. There was just one condition that he put for us. It was either we took our relationship out of the work place or one or both of us resign from work and be left at home. His stance made it more difficult to resolve the conflict. But one again there was also the factor of my secretary who argued that she had been neglected in performance of her duties and she was considered to be under the manager’s secretary. With the full understating that both my office and the office of the manager had their own identify and freedom of operation, the manager could not understand how our relationship had fused the operation of both offices such that come of her office tasks were performed by my secretary and my work was performed by his secretary. We had to find a way out of the conflict. We were able to solve the immediate effect of the conflict and we ordered production of the order in a matter of hours. But there was still the problem our work and our relationship that could not be ignored. The manager wanted us to solve it once and for all. At the end the conflict had a destructive effect on our relationship. Coupled with the conflict that we had earlier with my girlfriend, it became difficult to go over the current conflict that we were facing. She accused me of deception and using her as a scape-goat in order to evade the responsibility of what had happened. The trust she had build on me had been deconstructed by one event and our relationship could not take off against or be the same as it had been before. We had entered into a conflict that we could hardly go over. Earlier we had revealed our conflict through accommodating each other and compromise on one situation. But this time she seemed to have taken an avoidance strategy in our conflict. She did not pay attention to what had happened and the ramification it had on our relationship but all she did was to avoid me altogether. She did not appear to pay close attention in order to match the strategies that we could use to solve the problem to the situation that was at our hand. I thought that with time we could recover from the time pressure that was affecting how we resolved our conflict. To me our relationship was more valued and thereof I was ready to compromise and sacrifice myself in order to overcome the conflict to match the situation. But I had used by relative power strategy in order to put the blame on her and I knew she would not forgive me for this. I realized that I was working and therefore I was ready to accommodate her for the sake of our relationship. But she had already reached interpscyhic phase where although she said noting she was more focused on my faults and show used may faults to withdraw from active participation in our relationship. She felt justified in withdrawing from the relationship. But it was over and our relationship entered the terminal stage. First we had differed as I had a ‘me’ stand instead of ‘we’ in the conflict. We were both responsible for the conflict but I had exempted myself from it and accused her. This had acted as the first warning sign that our relationship was just be ending. It had started to dissolve with our earlier conflict and this conflict as the last final strike that drove the nail in. Since that conflict happened we had less instance of communication. We had less interaction as we took to the workplace procedure. Suddenly we had developed different interests and what had our fun been before was not making sense to the other. Although we continued to be with one another from time to time and many thought that our relationships was normal, I knew inside myself that it was not working and non of us was working to save the situation. We reached as stagnation stage and none of us talked about our relationship again. Sometime we would be together and spend a lot of time without talking. In the office our interaction were reduced and even when we interacted, we talked about office matters most of the time. With time we started to avoid each other. There were efforts to reduce face to face conversation with the other and in case I needed something from the manager I would either send the secretary or if she was busy, I would use the office phone. I also noted that she had the same attitude and she reduced the number of trips she had been making to my office and the phone line became active as the main communication channel. At the end, the termination of our relationship was natural. We stopped seeing each. I used my secretary a lot when I wanted anything from the manager’s office. We simple ended our relationship like that and though with difficult, we tried our best to remain coworkers until the date she left the company for another. Up to date I feel that we didn’t hand our conflict the way it was supposed to have been handled. We didn’t pay attention to the fine details of our relationship and we were too emotional in trying to find a solution to it. But it was compounded by the fact that it had emanated from another conflict and this had the effect of an outsider who had more power than us. The nature of the conflict was also difficult as there were protocols or work procedures that had been overtaken by our emotional involvement.

Growing Up: The most Meaningful Lesson :: Virtue Upbringing Virtues Paper

Growing Up: The most Meaningful Lesson As I was growing up, I was constantly taught how I should treat others as well as how I should present myself. It was difficult for me to comprehend the importance of these concepts, but I always knew that obtaining these types of qualities was going to lead to pleasing my parents. It was later on in my life that I understood that these aspects were known as virtues. Virtues are valuable qualities of life to which everyone should aspire in order to live a more rewarding and joyful life. It is important to achieve as many virtues as possible while growing up, because having virtues is the core essence of peace and satisfaction. Throughout the process of maturing, every person must choose the virtues that he or she desires to represent his or her life. According to a book titled Friends of God: Human Virtues, by JoseMaria Escriva, there is not one virtue that is more important or superior than the rest. This is proven when she states, â€Å"It is not a matter of practicing one or even a number of virtues. We have to acquire and to practice all of them. Each individual virtue is interwoven with the others and thus our effort to be sincere will also make us upright, cheerful, prudent and composed† (Escriva 76). All virtues play an important role in a person’s life, and all virtues have certain benefits for achieving them. As one gets older, and advances in life, he or she will come to realize that virtues are the roadmaps to a more righteous life. The absolute control of one’s emotions, desires, or actions is the virtue of self-control. Although the greatest outcomes come from achieving this virtue, self-control is very hard to achieve due to the fact that it must be achieved completely upon one’s own w ill, and that it takes a lot of practice and time. There are many temptations and luxuries of life that limit our powers on having absolute self-control over our bodies and minds. One of the greatest examples of this virtue is Siddhartha. Throughout his childhood and into his teenage years, Siddhartha had a strong grasp over his mind and soul. He meditated and had a great desire for knowledge and wisdom. He knew how to fast for great periods of time and practiced self-discipline so frequently, that it became effortless to act accordingly.

Common Law Essay

a)Â  In a letter dated 14/02/2011, the manager (Dave) of Excellent Foods (EF) outlined conditions in writing to the manager (Ben) of Safe Foods (SF) in relation to the purchase of EF. These conditions were that SF must pay the valued amount of EF, which totaled $120,000, $30,000 more than the original amount that SF had been prepared to pay and stipulated during earlier negotiations. At the time of the earlier negotiations, SF also had set a purchase requirement, which was that EF’s sales must increase by 20% over the next two months and if this requirement was met, SF would be prepared to pay the $90,000. After earlier negotiations, EF had their business valued at $120,000 and notified SF of the valuation and that they now required this amount, not the $90,000 that SF had offered. SF did not reply to EF. Whilst EF met the sales increase target and forwarded the record of sales to SF along with the transfer of business contract as well as a new condition of the contract being that EF require 10% of the 120,000 within 14 days, SF responded in writing stating they no longer were interested in purchasing EF. It would appear that EF are no longer interested in purchasing SF due to the $30,000 price increase and the term that they would now need to pay 10% within 14 days. An important aspect in forming a legally binding contract is giving and receiving the acceptance of an offer. The requirement of acceptance with every binding legal contact is tied closely to the concept of unqualified mutual assent. Only when both parties have given their mutual consent does the law consider a binding legal contact to have been formed. Hence, if the offeree remains silent, their silence cannot constitute an acceptance.[1] Another important aspect when creating a legally binding contract is that the acceptance of the offer must exactly mirror the terms and conditions of the offeree and vice versa. If there is even a slight difference, this will most likely not constitute a valid acceptance. If an offer is made that does not mirror the terms of the original offer, than this is considered a counter-offer, which now negates the original offer. An example of this is demonstrated in the case of Hyde v Wrench (1840) where Wrench offers to sell his land to Hyde for the price of 1200 pounds of which Hyde declined to accept. Wrench responded with a counter-offer of 1000 pounds and Hyde responded with another counter-offer of 950 pounds. When Wrench declined the counter offer, Hyde decided he would accept the earlier offer of 1000 pounds, however Wrench decided he would no longer sell his land to Hyde for this amount. As Hyde had made another counter-offer after the earlier offer, the offer of 1000 pounds was now destroyed. Hyde sued Wrench for breach of contract claiming that the earlier offer was not withdrawn however the court found that Wrench did not need to withdraw the offer of 1000 pounds as it was destroyed when the counter-offer of 950 pounds was made.[2] In this case, SF made an offer to EF, being $90,000 if sales increase by 20% in two months. EF later responded with a counter-offer of $120,000, which then destroyed the earlier offer of $90,000. SF did not respond to this counter offer, therefore not accepting the new offer. EF also added terms to the offer that were not previously discussed with SF, which also did not mirror the terms of the earlier offer of which the court considers being a strict requirement for full and unequivocal assent.[3] Excellent Foods cannot commence an action for breach of contract against Safe Foods as the counter-offer negates the original offer of which Safe Foods did not respond to and therefore is not considered as an acceptance of the terms. b)Â  Promissory estoppel is an equitable action, which is designed to enforce promises made from one party to another where the promises are not supported by consideration. The doctrine of promissory estoppel can only be applied if a clear promise was made from the promisor to the promisee, if the promisse has suffered a significant loss from the promiser now going back on its promise, if the promiser acted unconscionably, and if the promisse undertook certain acts (or refrained from undertaking certain acts) due to the promiser’s initial promise. A leading case which illustrates the purpose of promisary estoppal is Waltons Stores v Maher where Waltons negotiated with Maher over the grant of a lease of property that Maher owned. Maher agreed to demolish a building in order to make way for a new custom designed building to be occupied by Waltons. Changes and agreements were made by both parties over the following months. Waltons later decided that they no longer required the building after Maher had already informed then that they were proceeding with the demolition and despite being aware of this, advised their solicitors to ‘go slow’ in informing Maher of their reservations. Due to Maher having initially received a clear promise, suffered considerable loss and completed many acts under the belief that Waltons would go ahead with the promise as well as Waltons acting unconscionably against Maher in ‘going slow’ in informing Maher of their true intentions, Maher was able to rely on promisary estoppel and therefore won on first instance and later at the appeal.[4] In this case, Excellent Foods did not suffer any considerable loss from Safe Foods not following through with the business transfer. Whilst there was an initial promise made by SF to EF, EF later requested 10% of the transfer price of $120,000 within 14 days– a term that had not previously been negotiated. It may be because of this term that SF does not wish to continue with the transfer in which case they have not acted unconscionably. EF informed SF in writing that they did not wish to continue with the transfer.

Chinese Features on Hamlet

Chinese Features on Hamlet By Xia Chen Student Number: 3070313019 Supervisor: Lu Junyan A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in the School of Foreign Language Studies, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University May 10, 2011 Abstract Hamlet is considered as one of the greatest works of Shakespeare, since the play Hamlet is a magnificent example of western classic tragedies and the hero Hamlet is a combination of various personalities and contradictive human values.It becomes valuable as an important source material of study for not only literature but also sociology and anthropology. This paper is composed of four parts including introduction, main body and conclusion. The main body could be divided into two parts, which are Hamlet’s Chinese features as a human and Hamlet’s Chinese features as a tragedy. In the first part, Hamlet’s characters will be compared with Chinese traditional culture: fili al piety, the concept of family, morality and sexual discrimination. Filial piety is considered as one of the most important Chinese traditional criterions.In the play Hamlet, when the ghost of the died king, who was Hamlet’s father, asks Hamlet to revenge for him, it seems that the revenging becomes the most important thing of Hamlet, even more important than his love with Ophelia, it shows that Hamlet has a strong sense of filial piety. What’s more, to Chinese people, family is as important as one’s life. Hamlet also tries his best to protect his family in the play. In addition, Hamlet has the sense of sexual discrimination. He thinks women are petty and low, and he does not think men and women are equal, which is also a feudal character in acient China.In the second part, the play Hamlet is compared with Chinese tragedy the Orphan of Chao’s on theme and the enjoyment of tragedy. By this way, the relationship between Hamlet and Chinese culture will be c learly expressed. Keywords: revenge; love; family; Chinese culture Contents 1 Introduction1 1. 1 Research Background1 1. 3 Research Purpose2 2 Hamlet’s Chinese Fetures as a Human3 2. 1 Hamlet’s Character3 2. 2 Hamlet's Chinese Fetures6 2. 2. 1 Hamlet’s Filial Piety8 2. 2. 2 Hamlet’s Concept of Family4 2. 2. 3 Hamlet’s Sense of Sexual Discrimination4 . 2. 2 Hamlet and Golden Mean4 3 Hamlet’s Chinese Fetures As a Tragedy5 3. 1 The Orphan of Chao’s4 3. 2. A Chinese Topic: Revenge4 3. 3 A Chinese Way To Enjoy The Tragedy4 4 Conclusion10 References12 Acknowledgements13 1 Introduction 1. 1 Research Background The play Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, is considered as one of the most magnificent art works in the world, and it has been long studied by scholars all around the world. Hamlet is a story about the princess of Denmark, Hamlet, whose father was murdered by Hamlet's uncle.Hamlet's uncle married Hamlet's mother, the queen, and became t he new king, which made Hamlet so despaired and angry that he was eager to revenge for his died father. However, Hamlet was a contradictive young man and he was always hesitating, which made him feel painful in his mental world and he almost committed suicide. By the leading of a ghost, which was Hamlet's died father, Hamlet found out the truth of his father's death, then he began to pretend as he was mad so that he might have a chance to kill his uncle, the new king.Hamlet tried to show the truth to the public by a play, which made the new king angry and he decided to banish Hamlet. Fortunately, Hamlet was so clever that he made a stratagem to get rid of the punishment, and he went back to Denmark. Then, Hamlet killed his fiancee’s father as a manslaughter, which made Hamlet's fiancee Ophelia lose her mind. Ophelia's brother asked him to duel with him in front of the new king and queen. The queen drank a bottle of poisonous wine which was for Hamlet when she was watching the duel and she died.Hamlet was stabbed by a poisonous sword in the duel, before he died, Hamlet killed the new king by that poisonous sword. Hamlet is an epitome of human being. His personality is complicated and everyone might find some similarities with Hamlet. This makes Hamlet a symbolic character, and the studies on Hamlet could not only help people to know western classic literature better but also make people think deeper about their life. In this essay, the author would like to make a comparison between Hamlet and Chinese culture. 1. 2 Research PurposeMany authors emphasize on certain aspects of literature study on Hamlet or Chinese culture, like the tradition of filial piety, the comparison of Hamlet and Chinese classic literature, Hamlet’s personality and Hamlet’s value system. The author thinks that many studies on this thesis have already been done but there is not anyone who has done a general study on the topic of Hamlet’s Chinese feature, so there is the possibility for the author to do some research on it. The weakness of recent study is that most of the studies are isolated from each other.For instance, â€Å"Tradition of filial piety in China and Western culture† [1] is talking about what is common that the Chinese people tend to extremely value such filial duties as serving, respecting, filially obeying the aged parents, and worshiping their ancestors whereas such acts of filial piety are not taken so seriously in the Western culture. It could be a point that supports what mentioned in â€Å"The family relationship in Shakespeare's plays† [2], and it can help readers to go deeper into each of these two essays. However, few authors have done any study on the filial piety in Shakespeare’s plays, which makes this field blank.What's more, when Chinese readers are reading the play Hamlet, what might help them to understand the literal meaning is a dictionary or a translation work, but they may always get c onfused about the story’s culture background and Hamlet’s thoughts about love, family and life. Bacause there was not many literature which can help Chinese readers to understand Hamlet from comparing Chinese culture with Hamlet, it is necessary for the author to do some research on it so that more Chinese readers can understand Hamlet easier. 2 Hamlet’s Chinese Features as a human 2. 1 Hamlet’s characterThe Tragedy of Hamlet is one of the four most famous tragedies written by Shakespeare, and Hamlet is the protagonist in it. Throughout the whole play, the contradictory sides of his character could be seen easily. On one hand, Hamlet is a wise, brave, and kind-hearted young man; on the other hand, he is sometimes timid, careless, and even a little bit cruel. Hamlet enjoys a high social position and has a good reputation among his people. But once he is called back from the university to Danmark by his father’s sudden death, he is involved in misery and the arduous task of avenging.Life suddenly becomes so complicated and challenging for Hamlet because of his mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle, the new king and also the one who killed his father. Hamlet is young and inexperienced, and his strong character enables him to stand firm under such a difficulty. Although he feels isolated and lonely, he remains calm, contend with his uncle’s repeated persecutions by using his intelligence, and carrying out the revenge finally, though at the cost of his own life.Through the whole play, â€Å"we can see that Hamlet is neither a frail and weak minded youth nor a thought sick dreamer, on the contrary, he is fearless and impetuous in action† [3] His rushing after the ghost, killing Polonius, dealing with the King’s commission on the ship, jumping into the grave of Ophelia out of honest love and executing his final revenge during the duel with Laertes make him appears insensible to the fear of any ordinary kin d. In the play, Hamlet’s delay and hesitations in carrying out his task of revenge is also obvious.Hamlet even appears to be slow and shrinking sometimes. There are several good chances for him to kill Claudius bu everytime he just lets them slip by. Sometimes, when he fails to make good use of a chance, he will find some excuses for his inaction to comfort himself. For instance, when Hamlet is on his way to his mother’s chambe, he finds the new king is praying, he could kill the new king on the spot by his sword, but he give up the chance and he tells himself it will send someone to the heaven if kill him when he is praying.If his delay is due to the lack of evidence of the new king's crime, now he has got evidence and he should have taken immediate action, but he still fails. Hamlet often reproaches himself bitterly for the neglect of his duty. He even asks himself in genuine hesitation, â€Å"What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? Do I linger? Can the cause be cowardice? What is it that makes me sit idle when I feel it is shameful to do so, and when I have cause, and will, and strength, and means to act ? Why in the world did not Hamlet obey the Ghost at once, and save seven of those eight lives? If he had been Laertes or Fortinbras, he would have accomplished his task in wears mourning dress and appears depressed at his mother’s marriage. † [4] When Hamlet’s mother asks him to exchange his clothing and â€Å"look like a friend on Denmark†, he says, â€Å"together with all forms, moods and shapes of grief that can demote me truly. These indeed seem, for they are actions that a man play, But I have that within which passeth show; these but the trappings and the suits of woe. The words of â€Å"play, and trappings and suits of woe† indicates that he suspects the cause of his father’s death. Knowing clearly that he is under the close watch by the new king and his followers, à ¢â‚¬Å"he speaks out the King’s crime in his mother chamber, A murderer and a villain, A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe of your precedent lord, a vice of kings, a cutpurse of the empire and the rule, that from a shelf the precious diadem stole And put it in his pocket. † [4]Fortunately, the eavesdropper Plonius is killed by mistake.But Hamlet has made a big mistake. Though his mother promises to keep what he says a secret, his rush act leads to the death of Ophelia, and the King has another reason to kill him, that is, the duel with Laertes at the end of the play. 2. 2 Chinese fetures 2. 2. 1 Hamlet’s filial piety In Chinese traditional culture, filial piety is as important as one’s life. One will get a bad reputation if he or she is considered as doing things against his or her parents. Young people are supposed to obey their parents and take good care of their parents.Especially for the well educated people, filial piety is one of the most imp ortant criterions. In acient China, people even could get an official position by treating their parents well enough. Confucius once said â€Å"Filial duty is the foundation of other duties. † [5]From this, we can see that filial piety is almost the core of Chinese social structure. However, in the western culture, people are more likely to be independent rather than always do what their parents ask them to do, and the concept of filial piety is quite different from Chinese’s view.For example, in western countries, going abroad and living far away from parents means being independent and competent, while living away from parents in acient China means being selfish and irresponsible. In the play Hamlet, when the ghost of the died king, who was Hamlet’s father, asks Hamlet to revenge for him, it seems that the revenging becomes the most important thing of Hamlet, even more important than his love with Ophelia. It is unusual that father’s order becomes the m ost important thing to a western young man, and Hamlet even lost his life for his father.There was a saying in China â€Å"It is the father's fault if a son doesn't do right. † It reflects that in China, the most important part of the relationship between father and son is succession. On one hand, it is father's responsibility to teach his son, and on the other hand, the son should always obey his father. In the play Hamlet, the old king is not only his son's father but also the idol of his son, when Hamlet said â€Å"O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew Or that the Everlasting had no fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. O God, God,How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't, ah fie, 'tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this! But two months dead—nay not so much, not two—So excellent a ki ng, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr. † It is obviously that Hamlet respects his father, the old king very much. Hamlet's duty in the whole story is to revenge for his died father, meanwhile, ancient Chinese people thought the most shameful thing to a man is being unable to revenge for his father.Chinese story The orphan of the Chao's is also about revenging for one's father. So, Hamlet has Chinese futures of revenging, too. 2. 1. 2 Hamlet’s Concept of Family An important Chinese feature that Hamlet has is the concept of family. From my point of view, Shakespeare's idea of family is a kind of humanism thought. It affects the characters' behavior directly and it puts forward the plots from developing or it even influences the end of a play. â€Å"Shakespeare advocates for pure love, for instance, the love betweenHamlet and Ophelia; he demotes carnal love like the love between Hamlet's mother and Hamlet's uncle. Shakespeare also promotes the harmonious conjugal relat ion which is based on love; he demotes the conjugal relation which is based on ambitions or benefits, for example, Macbeth and Mrs. Macbeth. † [6] Another thing that Shakespeare promotes is the fairness and trust between family members. He believes what breaks the love between family members is the power and influence, what’s more, power and influence also deprive the fairness between different people and lead people to guilty.In Hamlet, Hamlet demotes the love between his mother and his uncle, because it is a kind of incest, and Hamlet thinks it is sick. Chinese people think what prevent the society from collapsing are morality and ethics. Ethics means the relationship between family members should be regular and normal. Fornication must be forbidden. In China, if one's uncle married with his or her mother, he or she will be a joke of other people. 2. 1. 3 Hamlet’s Sense of Sexual DiscriminationAnother traditional Chinese feature that can be found on Hamlet is t he sense of sexual discrimination, which has influenced Chinese society for thousands of years. In ancient China, women were forbided to go to school, and they had no right to choose their husband. Women were considered as timid and inability, they had to stay home and look after their children, always obey their husband. In the play Hamlet, Hamlet says â€Å"Frailty, thy name is woman! † and â€Å"O God, a heast that want discourse of reason would have mourned longer. It shows that Hamlet looks down upon woman because his mother married his uncle soon after his father's death and he doesn't think man and woman are equal, women are more like heast than human. What's more, when Hamlet says â€Å"Ay truly, for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is to a bawd, than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was sometimes a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once. † Hamlet seems look down upon his lov er, Ophelia, too. Hamlet praises human being as the gift by god, while he thinks women are petty and low. . 1. 4 Hamlet and Golden Mean It is obvious that Hamlet is a character with hesitation, in the play, Shakespeare includes a number of other characters capable of taking resolute and headstrong revenge as required to highlight Hamlet’s inability to take action,. Fortinbras travels thousands of miles to take his revenge and finally succeeds in conquering Denmark; the plot that Laertes kills Hamlet to revenge for the death of his father, Polonius. Compared to these characters, Hamlet’s revenge is ineffectual. Once Hamlet decides to take action, he delays any action until the end of the play.What makes Hamlet a great unique piece of writing is the remarkable way in which Shakespeare uses the delay to build Hamlet’s emotional and psychological complexity. Hamlet’s revenge is delayed in three significant ways: 1. Hamlet must first find out Claudius’ guilt and tell it to the public, which he does in Act 3, Scene 2 by representing the murder of his father in a play. When Claudius went out during the performance, Hamlet becomes convinced about Clausius’s guilt. 2. Then, Hamlet intellectualizes his revenge, to contrast with the rash actions of Fortinbras and Laertes.For instance, Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius in Act 3, Scene 3. He already draws his sword, but is concerned that Claudius will be sent to heaven if he is killed while praying. 3. After killing Polonius, Hamlet is sent to England and it becomes impossible for him to gain access to Claudius and do his revenge. During his trip, he decides to be more headstrong in his desire for revenge. Although he does kill Claudius in the final scene of the play, we cannot credit Hamlet will kill Claudius if Claudius does not ask him to have a duel with others.Hamlet’s inability to take action might reflect a characteristic that Chinese traditional culture has , that is the sense of â€Å"golden mean†, which is an important rule of Confucian school. â€Å"Golden mean†means that one should not do things in a radical way and never go to the extreme, there is no absolute good or bad. Hamlet’s behavior shows that he is always struggling for right and wrong, do and undo, he does not make a decision until he has no way to go. 3 Hamlet’s Chinese Features as a Tragedy 3. 1 The Orphan of the Zhao’sThe Orphan of Zhao, or Orphan of the House Tcho is a Chinese play of the Yuan Dynasty, attributed to someone named Ji Junxiang, about whom almost nothing is known. Based on an episode in Shiji, the play has its full name The Great Revenge of the Orphan of Zhao Family. Loyalty is the theme of the play Zhaoshi guer (The Orphan of Zhao), written in the second half of the 13th century. In it the hero sacrifices his son to save the life of young Zhao so that Zhao can later avenge the death of his family. It is the first Chin ese play that known in Europe.Joseph Henri Marie de Premare translated the play into French as Tchao-chi-cou-eulh, ou L'orphelin de la maison de Tchao, tragedie chinoise, which was collected in Jean Baptiste Du Halde's Description geographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l'empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise, published in 1735 (the play was published separately in 1755). Thomas Hatchett (active 1721-1741) published an adaptation of the play in English, â€Å"The Orphan of China† (1741) that changes the ending significantly so that the play conforms to classical conventions of the three unities 3. A Chinese Topic : Revenge Revenge is a common topic of Chinese traditional drama, since there was a saying in acient China â€Å"An eye to an eye and a tooth for a tooth. † Which means that if any other people hurts one, one should revenge in the same way. â€Å"The orphan of the zhao’s is considered as the Hamlet of China, because th e mean character, Zhao Wu, whose destiny is similar to Hamlet’s, and they both have the duty to revenge for their father. Zhao Wu’s father is killed by his god-father, and he lives with his god-father to bear patiently for twenty years until finally he kills his god-father. [7] Hamlet’s father is killed by Hamlet’s uncle, and Hamlet pretends to be crazy to cheat others so that he has the chance to stay with his uncle and finally he kills his uncle and revenges for his father successfully. In addition, it is full of meaning that both tragedies share the same theme: revenge. The play Hamlet describes the story of Hamlet, the Danmark prince, who takes revenge for his father. The prince Hamlet learns from his father’s ghost that his uncle Claudius poisons the king, takes the power, and marries the queen. The ghost asks Hamlet to avenge him.After several trials and struggles between evil and good, Hamlet and his uncle, the fraud whose crime is finally e xposed, perish together. Zhao the Orphan describes the story of the Zhao's suffer from slaughter because the treacherous court official named Tu An’gu frames up Zhao Dun, the official loyal to his sovereign. The disciple, Cheng Ying, in Zhao’s place sacrifices his own son to save the infant of Zhao’s family and bring him up. After the orphan acquires his life experience, he takes the revenge for his family by killing Tu An’gu.As can be seen, the two tragedies share the common topic that the evil may succeed for a while, however, destines to receive the punishment of justice. 3. 3 A Chinese Way to Enjoy the Tragedy The main idea of the Confucians is â€Å"Ren†, which can be understood as sympathy. It is said that only people who have a heart of sympathy can be considered as a person of noble character and integrity. The tragedy of Hamlet and the tragedy of the Orphan of Chao’s are very popular among people all around the world.An important fa ctor that contributes to the enjoyment of these tragedies is sympathy. It is neither the sympathy in the ethical or moral sense, nor the feeling of pity and sorrow for somebody. It is aesthetic sympathy, which means the identification of ourselves without persons or things with the result that we participate in their feelings, emotions and sentiments. In actual life, we have only one life and most of us are living a very ordinary and calm life, which sometimes seems a little monotonous.One of the charms of dramas is that in them we can live a great number of different lives, experience what we cannot experience in real life , laugh and cry with the characters as long as we substitute ourselves in their places in imagination. For example, in Hamlet, we may identify ourselves with Hamlet. With Hamlet we mourn over the death of the old king, complain of the hasty marriage of Gertrude, feel friendly towards Horatio, despise Polonius, love and suspect Ophelia and fightt heduel with Laert es.In The Orphan of Zhao, we can imagine ourselves to be the hero Cheng Ying and feel his hesitation at the princess’ request of taking the orphan out of the court, his hatred for Tuan Ku when he declared to kill all the babies in the country to search for the orphan of Zhao, his agony to see his own son being killed and his final joy at Tuan Ku’s punishment. In one word , sympathy plays a great part in the enjoyment of tragedy, both the Shakespearean tragedy and the classical Chinese tragedy. 4. ConclusionHamlet has been studied by scholars from different countries with various ethnics in almost every possible aspects for a long time, so many people might hold the idea that Hamlet is a play which has been studied throughly. However, when Chinese students and readers study on Hamlet, they always find that it is difficult to understand because of the lack of culture background and language skill. If they were told that Hamlet has some similarities with Chinese culture, the study of Hamlet might be much easier. This is one reason for the author to study on Hamlet’s Chinese features.Another reason is that few scholars have studied on the Chinese features of Hamlet. On one hand, China has a 5000 years’ history which is profound and diversified, and the Chinese values have greatly influenced the world, so the importance of Chinese culture could not be ignored; on the other hand, China has its specific traditional thoughts of ethics and human natures, so some western scholars thought there were few similarities between Chinese traditional culture and western culture. Nevertheless, Chinese culture, just like the other cultures of the world, has many assosiations with western culture, including the classic literatures.The essay has concluded some Chinese fetures on Hamlet. It provides readers to have a more distinctive mind on the relationship between Shakespeare’s works and Chinese traditional culture, and more study on this topic w ill be done in the future. References [1]. â€Å"? † [J]. ,2010(3):83-86. [2]. [J]. ,2009(4):119-121. [3]. [J]. , 2008(6):80-82. [4]. [J]. , 2009(3):52-55. [5]. The Personality Determines Destiny——The Image Building Quesitions About Hamlet [J]. ,2010(1):199-201. [6].The Contradictory Sides of Hamlet’s Character[J]. ,2004(33):429-432. [7] David L. Hall. Thinking Through Confucius [M]. New York: Albany, 1987. [8]Arthur Kleinman. Normal and Abnormal Behavior in Chinese Culture [M]. Holland: Reidel, 1981. [9]Barbara Marshall Matthews. The Chinese Value Survey: An interpretation of value — scales and consideration of some preliminary results[J]. International Education Journal, 2000(1): 117-126. Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heart-felt gratitude to all my teachers and professors who have lent me a help in the process of the completion of this thesis.I am especially indebted to Mrs Lu Junyan, my supervisor, who has provided me with information, advice, criticism and encouragement. My thesis couldn’t have come out without the countless instruction and patient guidance from my supervisor. His invaluable insights and hearty encouragement have enabled me to fulfill and improve the quality of my paper. Meanwhile, my appreciation also goes to my classmates and friends. They were always willing to give me assistance and encouragement whenever I sought help from them. Finally, I wish to thank my family for their unconditional support and encouragement through my undergraduate study.

The Different Types of Cloning Techniques

The Different Types of Cloning Techniques Cloning refers to the development of offspring that are genetically identical to their parent. Animals which reproduce asexually are examples of clones that are produced naturally. Thanks to advances in genetics, however, cloning can also occur artificially by using certain cloning techniques. Cloning techniques are laboratory processes used to produce offspring that are genetically identical to the donor parent. Clones of adult animals are created by the processes of artificial twinning and somatic cell nuclear transfer. There are two variations of the somatic cell nuclear transfer method. They are the Roslin Technique and the Honolulu Technique. It is important to note that in all of these techniques the resulting offspring will be genetically identical to the donor and not the surrogate unless the donated nucleus is taken from a somatic cell of the surrogate. Cloning Techniques Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer The term somatic cell nuclear transfer refers to the transfer of the nucleus from a somatic cell to an egg cell. A somatic cell is any cell of the body other than a germ cell (sex cell). An example of a somatic cell would be a blood cell, heart cell, skin cell, etc. In this process, the nucleus of a somatic cell is removed and inserted into an unfertilized egg that has had its nucleus removed. The egg with its donated nucleus is then nurtured and divides until it becomes an embryo. The embryo is then placed inside a surrogate mother and develops inside the surrogate. The Roslin Technique The Roslin Technique is a variation of somatic cell nuclear transfer that was developed by researchers at the Roslin Institute. The researchers used this method to create Dolly. In this process, somatic cells (with nuclei intact) are allowed to grow and divide and are then deprived of nutrients to induce the cells into a suspended or dormant stage. An egg cell that has had its nucleus removed is then placed in close proximity to a somatic cell and both cells are shocked with an electrical pulse. The cells fuse and the egg is allowed to develop into an embryo. The embryo is then implanted into a surrogate. The Honolulu Technique The Honolulu Technique was developed by Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama at the University of Hawaii. In this method, the nucleus from a somatic cell is removed and injected into an egg that has had its nucleus removed. The egg is bathed in a chemical solution and cultured. The developing embryo is then implanted into a surrogate and allowed to develop. Artificial Twinning While the previously mentioned techniques involve somatic cell nuclear transfer, artificial twinning does not. Artificial twinning involves fertilization of a female gamete (egg) and separation of resulting embryonic cells in the early stages of development. Each separated cell continues to grow and can be implanted into a surrogate. These developing embryos mature, eventually forming separate individuals. All of these individuals are genetically identical, as they were originally separated from a single embryo. This process is similar to what happens in the development of natural identical twins. Why Use Cloning Techniques? Researchers hope that these techniques can be used in researching and treating human diseases and genetically altering animals for the production of human proteins and transplant organs. Another potential application includes the production of animals with favorable traits for use in agriculture.

The Complex Life of Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

The Complex Life of Charles Maurice De Talleyrand Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (born February 2, 1754, in Paris, France- died May 17, 1838, in Paris),  was a defrocked French Bishop, diplomat, foreign minister, and politician. Alternately renowned and reviled for his tactical skills of political survival, Talleyrand served at the highest levels of the French government for nearly half a century during the reign of King Louis XVI, the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the reigns of Kings Louis XVIII, and Louis-Philippe. Admired and distrusted in equal measure by those he served, Talleyrand has proven difficult for historians to evaluate. While some tout him as one of the most skilled and proficient diplomats in French history, others paint him as a self-serving traitor, who betrayed the ideals of Napoleon and the French Revolution- liberty, equality, and fraternity. Today, the term â€Å"Talleyrand† is used to refer to the practice of skillfully deceitful diplomacy. Fast Facts: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Known for: Diplomat, politician, member of the Catholic clergyBorn: February 2, 1754 in Paris, FranceParents: Count Daniel de Talleyrand-Pà ©rigord and Alexandrine de Damas dAntignyDied: May 17, 1838 in Paris, FranceEducation: University of ParisKey Accomplishments and Awards: Foreign minister under four Kings of France, during the French Revolution, and under Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte; played a key role in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchySpouses Name: Catherine Worlà ©eKnown Children: (disputed) Charles Joseph, comte de Flahaut; Adelaide Filleul; Marquise de Souza-Botelho; â€Å"Mysterious Charlotte† Early Life, Education, and Career in the Catholic Clergy Talleyrand was born on February 2, 1754, in Paris, France, to his 20-year-old father, Count Daniel de Talleyrand-Pà ©rigord and his mother, Alexandrine de Damas dAntigny. Though both parents held positions in the court of King Louis XVI, neither earned a steady income. Having walked with a limp since childhood, Talleyrand was excluded from his anticipated career in the military. As an alternative, Talleyrand sought a career in the Catholic clergy, bent on replacing his uncle, Alexandre Angà ©lique de Talleyrand-Pà ©rigord, as the Archbishop of Reims, one of the wealthiest dioceses in France. After studying theology at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice and the University of Paris until age 21, Talleyrand went on to become an ordained priest in 1779. A year later, he was appointed Agent-General of the Clergy to the French Crown. In 1789, despite being disliked by the King, he was appointed Bishop of Autun. During the French Revolution, Talleyrand largely abandoned the Catholic religion and resigned as a Bishop after being excommunicated by Pope Pius VI in 1791. From France to England to America and Back As the French Revolution progressed the French government took note of Talleyrand’s skills as a negotiator. In 1791, the French foreign minister sent him to London to persuade the British government to remain neutral, rather than joining Austria and several other European monarchies in the looming war against France. After failing twice, he returned to Paris. When the September Massacres broke out in 1792, Talleyrand, now an endangered aristocrat, fled Paris for England without defecting. In December 1792, the French government issued a warrant for his arrest. Finding himself no more popular in England than in France, he was expelled from the country in March 1794 by British Prime Minister William Pitt. Until returning to France in 1796, Talleyrand lived in the war-neutral United States as a house guest of influential American politician Aaron Burr. During his stay in the United States, Talleyrand lobbied the French government to allow him to return. Always the crafty negotiator, he succeeded and returned to France in September 1796. By 1797, Talleyrand, recently persona non grata in France, had been appointed the country’s foreign minister. Immediately after being appointed foreign minister, Talleyrand added to his infamous reputation of placing personal greed above duty by demanding the payment of bribes by American diplomats involved in the XYZ Affair, which escalated into the limited, undeclared Quasi-War with the United States from 1798 to 1799.   Talleyrand and Napoleon: An Opera of Deceit Partly out of gratitude for his assistance in the 1799 coup d’à ©tat that saw him crowned Emperor in 1804, Napoleon made Talleyrand his minister of foreign affairs. In addition, the Pope overturned his excommunication from the Catholic Church. Working to solidify France’s gains in the wars, he brokered peace with Austria in 1801 and with Britain in 1802. When Napoleon moved to continue France’s wars against Austria, Prussia, and Russia in 1805, Talleyrand opposed the decision. Now losing his confidence in the future of Napoleon’s reign, Talleyrand resigned as foreign minister in 1807 but was retained by Napoleon as vice-grand elector of the Empire. Despite his resignation, Talleyrand did not lose Napoleon’s trust. However, the Emperor’s trust was misplaced as Talleyrand went behind his back, secretly negotiating personally profitable peace agreements with Russia and Austria. Having resigned as Napoleon’s foreign minister, Talleyrand abandoned traditional diplomacy and sought peace by accepting bribes from the leaders of Austria and Russia in return for Napoleon’s secret military plans. At the same time, Talleyrand had started plotting with other French politicians on how to best protect their own wealth and status during the struggle for power they knew would erupt after Napoleon’s death. When Napoleon learned of these plots, he declared them treasonous. Though he still refused to discharge Talleyrand, Napoleon famously chastised him, saying he would â€Å"break him like a glass, but it’s not worth the trouble.† As France’s vice-grand elector, Talleyrand continued to be at odds with Napoleon, first opposing the Emperor’s harsh treatment of the Austrian people after the end of the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, and criticizing the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Though he was invited to return to his old office as foreign minister in 1813, Talleyrand refused, sensing that Napoleon was quickly losing the support of the people and the rest of the government. Despite what had become his utter hatred for Napoleon, Talleyrand remained dedicated to a peaceful transition of power. On April 1, 1814 Talleyrand convinced the French Senate to create a provisional government in Paris, with him as president. The next day, he led the French Senate in official deposing Napoleon as Emperor and forcing him into exile the island of Elba. On April 11, 1814, the French Senate, in approving the Treaty of Fontainebleau adopted a new constitution that returned power to the Bourbon monarchy. Talleyrand and the Bourbon Restoration Talleyrand played a key role in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. After King Louis XVIII of the House of Bourbon succeeded Napoleon. He served as chief French negotiator at the 1814 Congress of Vienna, securing advantageous peace settlements for France in what was then the most-comprehensive treaty in European history. Later the same year, he represented France in negotiating the Treaty of Paris ending the Napoleonic Wars between France and Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia.   Representing the aggressor nation, Talleyrand faced a daunting task in negotiating the Treaty of Paris. However, his diplomatic skills were credited for securing terms that were extremely lenient to France. When the peace talks began, only Austria, the United Kingdom, Prussia, and Russia were to be allowed to have decision-making power. France and the smaller European countries were to be allowed only to attend the meetings. However, Talleyrand succeeded in convincing the four powers to allow France and Spain to attend the backroom decision-making meetings. Now a hero to the smaller countries, Talleyrand proceeded to secure agreements under which France was allowed to maintain its pre-war 1792 boundaries without paying further reparations. Not only did he succeed in ensuring that France would not be partitioned by the victorious countries, he greatly enhanced his own image and standing in the French monarchy. Napoleon escaped from exile on Elba and returned to France in March 1815 bent on forcibly retaking power. Though Napoleon was ultimately defeated in the Hundred Days, dying in the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, Talleyrand’s diplomatic reputation had suffered in the process. Bowing to the wishes of his quickly expanding group of political enemies, he resigned in September 1815. For the next 15 years, Talleyrand publicly portrayed himself as an â€Å"elder statesman,† while continuing to criticize and scheme against King Charles X from the shadows. Upon learning of Napoleon’s death at Waterloo, Talleyrand cynically commented, â€Å"It is not an event, it is a piece of news.† When King Louis-Philippe I, a cousin of King Louis XVI, came to power after the July Revolution of 1830, Talleyrand returned to government service as ambassador to the United Kingdom until 1834. Family Life Well known for using relationships with influential aristocratic women to advance his political position, Talleyrand had several affairs during his life, including a longtime intimate relationship with a married woman who would eventually become his only wife, Catherine Worlà ©e Grand. In 1802, French Emperor Napoleon, concerned that the French people viewed his foreign minister as a notorious womanizer, ordered Talleyrand to marry the now divorced Catherine Worlà ©e. The couple remained together until Catherine’s death in 1834, after which the now 80-year-old Talleyrand lived with the Duchess of Dino, Dorothea von Biron, the divorced wife of his nephew.   The number and names of the children Talleyrand fathered during his life is not clearly established. Though he may have fathered at least four children, none were known to have been legitimate. The four children most widely agreed on by historians include Charles Joseph, Comte de Flahaut; Adelaide Filleul; Marquise de Souza-Botelho; and a girl known only as â€Å"Mysterious Charlotte.† Later Life and Death After permanently retiring from his political career in 1834, Talleyrand, accompanied by the Duchess of Dino, moved to his estate at Valenà §ay. He would spend his final years adding to his voluminous personal library and writing his memoirs. As he neared the end of his life, Talleyrand realized that as an apostate bishop, he would have to rectify his old disputes with the Catholic Church in order to be given an honorable church burial. With the help of his niece, Dorothà ©e, he arranged with the Archbishop de Quà ©len and abbot Dupanloup to sign an official letter in which he would acknowledge his past transgressions and beg for divine forgiveness. Talleyrand would spend the last two months of his life writing and re-writing this letter in which he eloquently disavowed â€Å"the great errors which [in his opinion] had troubled and afflicted the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, and in which he himself had had the misfortune to fall.† On May 17, 1838, abbot Dupanloup, having accepted Talleyrand’s letter, came to see the dying man. After hearing his last confession, the priest anointed the back of Talleyrand’s hands, a rite reserved only for ordained bishops. Talleyrand passed away at 3:35 in the afternoon of the same day. State and religious funeral services were held on May 22, and on September 5, Talleyrand was buried in the Notre-Dame Chapel, near his chà ¢teau in Valenà §ay. Did You Know? Today, the term â€Å"Talleyrand† is used to refer to the practice of skillfully deceitful diplomacy. Legacy Talleyrand may be the epitome of a walking contradiction. Clearly morally corrupt, he commonly used deceit as a tactic, demanded bribes from persons with whom he was negotiating, and openly lived with mistresses and courtesans for decades. Politically, many regard him as a traitor because of his support for multiple regimes and leaders, some of which were hostile toward each other. On the other hand, as philosopher Simone Weil contends, some criticism of Talleyrand’s loyalty may be overstated, as while he not only served every regime that ruled France, he also served the â€Å"France behind every regime.† Famous Quotes Traitor, patriot, or both, Talleyrand was an artist with a pallet of words he used skillfully to the benefit of both himself and those he served. Some of his more memorable quotes include: â€Å"Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"It is not an event, it is a piece of news.† (upon learning of Napoleon’s death)â€Å"I am more afraid of an army of one hundred sheep led by a lion than an army of one hundred lions led by a sheep.†And perhaps most self-revealing: â€Å"Man was given speech to disguise his thoughts.† Sources Tully, Mark. Remembering Talleyrand Restorus, May 17, 2016Haine, Scott. â€Å"The History of France (1st ed.).† Greenwood Press. p. 93. ISBN 0-313-30328-2.Palmer, Robert Roswell; Joel Colton (1995). â€Å"A History of the Modern World (8 ed.).† New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing. ISBN 978-0-67943-253-1. . Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Pà ©rigordNapoleon and EmpireScott, Samuel F. and Rothaus Barry, eds., Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution 1789–1799 (vol. 2 1985)Weil, Simone (2002). â€Å"The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind.† Routledge Classics. ISBN 0-415-27102-9.

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