American Politics in the Context of Obama’s Election and First 100 Days Essay

The election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States is a watershed in the history of American politics. In a country were blacks were once prohibited from voting just because of the color of their skin, his ascent into the White House is indeed a milestone. Obama’s victory is often attributed to several factors, including changes in voting behavior and public opinion and constant media exposure. Popular support of his regime did not end with the election hype – a 2009 Associated Press-GfK poll revealed that about 48% of Americans were satisfied with the economic outcomes of the Obama presidency’s first 100 days (Philstar. com n. pag. ). The rise of the Obama regime had a tremendous impact on American politics. It brought about the prospect of women and minorities gaining a greater voice in political institutions. But Obama’s first 100 days in office told a different story. His first 100 days revealed that the substance of his regime remained largely the same as that of George W. Bush’s. This just goes to show that in the context of Obama’s election and first 100 days, American politics changed its style but retained its hegemonic and elitist nature. Winning the nomination proved to be a greater challenge for Obama than winning the general elections. Because of a national political machine attached to her and her husband, Hillary Clinton was initially chosen by the Democrat Party to become its presidential candidate (Ceaser, Busch and Pitney 15). Although Obama was young, charismatic, cerebral and self-assured, the Democrats were apprehensive about his lack of experience in the political scene (Ceaser, Busch and Pitney 16). This weakness would probably not sit well with the American electorate, who were desperate for a leader who could rectify the damaging mistakes of the Republican administration (Ceaser, Busch and Pitney 15). But shifts in the economic and demographic profile of American voters rendered Obama a more suitable presidential candidate than Clinton. As of 2004, about 56. 6% of American voters were below 30 years old (Dahl n. pag. ). Majority of these individuals grew up using the Internet as an indispensable tool for work, study and leisure. When the Clintons staged their last national campaign in 1996, the Internet was just a fledgling industry. Obama’s youth and tech savvy (he kept a Blackberry with him at all times), therefore, would make him more appealing to the aforementioned voter’s age group than Clinton (Ceaser, Busch and Pitney 106). Obama must have been aware of these advantages of his – his election campaign involved mainly the utilization of the Internet. By April 2007, he already had 1,543,000 â€Å"friends† in his account in the social-networking website MySpace. com. In sharp contrast, Clinton only had 41,500 people in her network (Dupuis and Boeckelman 123). In the spring of 2008, Obama had at least 1 million â€Å"friends† in Twitter, while Clinton only had 330,000. Although they had the same number of Facebook â€Å"friends† during this period, the website’s largest pro-Obama group had over 500,000 members, while the largest Facebook group that supported Clinton only had 30,000 members (Tapscott 252). Furthermore, Obama’s rhetoric reflected the American public’s disillusionment with traditional political ideologies. His slogan, â€Å"Change You Can Believe In,† appealed to voters because it did not bombard them with highfaluting dogmas. Rather, it showed them that â€Å"change† meant exploring for new solutions to problems. The American people did not have to make do with traditional solutions which Obama believed have already failed them in the past. For instance, he is constantly criticized for his relative youth and limited high-level government inexperience. Obama downplayed this attack by claiming that â€Å"Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have an awful lot of experience, and yet have engineered what I think is one of the biggest foreign policy failures in our recent history† (Dupuis and Boeckelman 123). Through this argument, he pointed out that adherence to convention is not always the best for the nation. There are instances when the government and the people must work together and come up with new solutions. In addition, Obama created a firm connection between himself and the people by letting them know that he also underwent their plights. In his campaign speeches, he often used his experience as the son of a working woman and as the husband of a working woman in order to show to the people that he knew how it felt to be in their shoes (Leanne 52). He knew how it was to be poor, marginalized and to work hard just to keep ends meet. Thus, his cynicism towards conventional ideologies – he and so many other Americans remained impoverished despite their application. Given such a populist and down-to-earth campaign strategy, it was no longer surprising if Obama won a landslide victory in the 2008 national elections. But his first 100 days in office revealed that his regime was essentially the same as that of George W. Bush’s. Obama’s first 100 days revealed the â€Å"right-wing character of his administration and the class interests that it serves† (Eley n. pag. ). If there was any difference at all, it was the approach – Bush assumed a warmonger-like stance to obtain the presidency, while Obama adopted a populist one. Obama continued the Bush administration’s militarist and aggressive foreign policy. Although he promised that he will all American troops out of Iraq, troop levels in Iraq remained virtually unchanged. Furthermore, Obama expanded the war in Afghanistan and even extended it to Pakistan. Worse, he proposed a defense budget worth $664 billion – believed to be the largest appropriation for military spending in American history (Eley n. pag. ). The prison camp at Guantanamo Bay remains open, despite Obama’s pledge to eventually close it down. As a result, its inmates are at risk of being shipped to US military prisons such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they can be tortured and or killed in secret. Under the guise of â€Å"moving on,† he blocked all investigations and or criminal prosecution of parties that were responsible for the torture of detainees in US military prisons across the world. Obama’s government also intervened in the procedures of several court cases in order to deny habeas corpus to detainees in US military prisons in Afghanistan (Eley n. pag. ). While Obama was busy perpetuating Bush’s foreign policy, the American economy further deteriorated. Mounting layoffs took place, along with wage cuts, home foreclosures and depreciation of real estate value and retirement savings. These developments, in turn, resulted in escalating hunger and homelessness. But instead of creating concrete solutions to put an end to these calamities, the Obama administration used billions of dollars in public funds to bail financial institutions such as AIG, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch out of bankruptcy. Worsening the situation was that these banks were discovered to have been doling out huge portions of the bailout money to their executives as â€Å"bonuses† (Eley n. pag. ). It is very ironic that Obama, a black man who experienced growing up poor and marginalized, would end up perpetuating the repressive and anti-poor policies of his predecessor. But what Obama did reflected the recourse that the US most probably resorted to in order to steer itself from the economic crisis – tighten its grip over the Third World. It is during the current economic crisis that the US needs unlimited access to the natural resources of the Third World more than ever before. Thus, the Obama administration’s promise of â€Å"change† was replaced with the de facto continuation of the Bush regime. Works Cited â€Å"AP Poll: After Obama’s 100 Days, US on Right Track. † 24 April 2009. Philstar. com. 4 May 2009 . Ceaser, James W. , Andrew E. Busch, and John J. Pitney. Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Dahl, Melissa. â€Å"Youth Vote May have been Key in Obama’s Win. † 5 November 2008. MSNBC. 4 May 2009 . Dupuis, Martin, and Keith Boeckelman. Barack Obama: The New Face of American Politics. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008. Eley, Tom. â€Å"Obama’s 100 Days. † 29 April 2009. GlobalResearch. ca. 4 May 2009 . Leanne, Shel. Say It Like Obama: The Power of Speaking with Purpose and Vision. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008. Tapscott, Don. Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is changing Your World. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008.

Our Nightlife: Difference Between Europe and Hong Kong Essay

Introduction Student life is considered as one of the major steps in life. It is the time when young people start enjoying their autonomy and experience a lot a various activities. In Europe, going out at night is seen as a must do, an actual part of the whole student life and a sign of being a grown-up also. When I came to Hong Kong, a very dynamic, western-rooted city, I would have thought I would find the same spirit and same drinking culture. I was wrong. In the streets surrounding the â€Å"party areas† I almost only got to meet some exchange students or young expats staying here for a short period of time and basically taking the most of Hong Kong nightlife. What about the local crowd? Is it just invisible? Not interested in going to these areas? What about bars and cafà ©s? In Europe, in every corner of a street you can find a cafà © or bar where you can chill easily with your friends until 1 am and more. Here I could not find such places and I don’t see much group of friends hanging out together at night. Furthermore, some historians think that cafà ©s and â€Å"public sphere† were places where men could escape their role as the Church’s or a sovereign’s subjects, and exercise and exchange their own opinions and ideas. They say that nocturnal sociability and volubility accelerated Enlightenment thinking. So even though it might have a bad image sometimes, nightlife is still an important moment of social interaction and can also contribute to major evolutions in our societies. Thus, when the time came to define our topic for Contemporary Europe and Asia, I was really curious to talk about this particularity with the members of our group. During our discussion we found out that Europeans and Locals really did not have the same way of spending time with their friends and that the rules of social interactions were completely different. That is why we decided to focus on how the nightlife is organized among the youth in Europe and in Hong Kong and what are the implications behind these two different ways of life. [By Claire Couturier] What we do at night Partying as a majority in Europe In Europe, most of the students and youngsters go out at night in order to spend some time with their friends. We can list three different places where the European youth likes to go during the night time. Alcoholic Activities A. Bars In Europe bars and cafà ©s are very common places Craig Koslofsky, author of Evenings Empire: a History of the night in early Modern Europe, says, the elite shifted their bed time between 1500 to 1700, starting to go to bed at early hours in the morning. Cafà ©s and bars changed their opening hours till late at that time. Thus, going out to a cafà © or a bar is something very traditional in Europe. The main purpose of this kind of gathering is to share a nice moment with some people in a neural but casual atmosphere. Usually students would get a beer at the end of their day of class or later. It is a time for the participant to share their thoughts and lives around a drink. These kinds of talks are usually facilitated by subdued lighting and comfortable seats. Bars are also a gathering point for sport teams who are usually really eager to share beers in a pub for the â€Å"third half† after a match or simply after training. Sitting in a cafà © or a bar should be then seen as the extension of the daily social interactions: people would go to a bar with their acquaintances and usually stick with them. It is not really a time to meet a lot of different people. The accent is set on the sharing of a moment of joy between a somewhat close small group of people that is why bars and cafà © usually close down before 2 in the morning. Thus, consumers in bars are not seeking drunkenness in the first place. However this tend to change a bit with the appearance of themed bars, to be found mostly in big cities: the whole place is decorated with a common theme and the names of the cocktails served would also be related a specific universe. In these places, people will be more attracted by the ludic side of the bars rather than just the idea of spending time with the people they cherish. With the ludic background such as drinking in baby’s bottle, for example, consumers will be more disposed to get drunk. These themed bars would usually close down later, by 3 or sometimes 4 in the morning. B. Clubs Clubbing is an important side of the European nightlife. Dancing has always been, throughout the centuries a way to express oneself and to carry social conventions and values into one’s move. Clubs in Europe have a very wide range of music styles, reflect of a wide range of lifestyles. The main purpose of going clubbing is obviously to go dancing but it provides also one of the best opportunities to meet some new people. Clubbing is also the main field of seduction, while girls would rather go to clubs to dance, most boys go there intending to meet some girls. Alcohol is everywhere in clubs, it is the main drive to des-inhibition and clubs do not hesitate to make profit with it. Indeed, several hundreds of people confined in one room dancing leads to a need of hydration. The prices are usually extremely high and that’s the reason why most of people do not go clubbing so often, in order to save some money. Another the solution which tends to become common is the practice of pre drinks. People gather in other places like houses or bars before going to a club. They drink for cheap and reach the clubs at an advanced state of inebriation so they will not have to drink once inside to enjoy the effects of alcohol. Going to a club is one of the most tiring kind of nightlife since, in Europe, most of the clubs remain empty until half past midnight or one in the morning. Then, we would spend at least 2 or 3 hours dancing, (some also stay till the closing, usually around 5 in the morning) which requires a long time for the body to recover the day after. C. House parties One of the cheapest ways to go out in Europe is to set a party in a house. In the early stages of childhood, starting from primary schools, parents use to celebrate their children birthday while organizing small parties with music, drinks and candies in the late afternoon. These parties would not last for more than two of three hours but it can definitely be seen as the entry in social nightlife. This tradition of house parties would then continue throughout the years and then start and finish later. In high school, parents will sometimes spend one night at some friends’ houses and give their children carte blanche to set the party. It can somehow be seen as the heritage of the receptions held by the high society some centuries ago as they are entertaining and social events. Guests at parties are different from the people you go to bars or clubs with because they are many risks of material damages caused to belongings. The closest friends would be invited in the first place and will be allowed to bring some other guests, it is some kind of transmitted trust towards the respect of the host of the event. The average number of guest depends of the available space but would usually be around 20 to 30 people. The purpose of the house parties is to create a mix between going to a bar and going to club. Indeed, in the house, it is possible to divide the space. Thus, some people might be more interested in dancing while some other would rather go to more friendly rooms where they can chat all together. There is also no closing hour, the party will die by itself when people get tired or when the host kindly ask people to leave. The main advantage of this kind of party is that it is a big, safe and free space but the disadvantage is the possible nuisances for the neighborhood and, regarding the host, the need to clean the place afterwards. Thus, hosts and houses tend to change regularly. [By Claire Couturier] Local Style: Partying as a Minority In Hong Kong, there is a saying about this city – it never sleeps. The nightlife seems to be attractive, but how about to us, as the youngsters in this society, who are just qualified to be called as adults, just can yell at the parents â€Å"I am not a kid anymore†? In fact, for youngsters in Hong Kong, the night-time activities would still be non-alcoholic oriented. When choosing the kind of activities we hope to spend our night, the factors affecting our choices would be the cost of it and how much fun can we have from it, also we would be influenced by the social values, how other perceive it Non-alcoholic Activities For Hong Kong young people, drinking alcohol is not a norm. Therefore, comparing to European style of Nightlife, there are much more varieties of non-alcoholic nightlife. A. Hall Activities Young people in Hong Kong like to feel the sense of belonging. University students devote ourselves into group activities like becoming the committee of the interest clubs or academic societies. For nightlife, we would dedicate to collective activities at hall, such as small gathering in common room or evening out with â€Å"floor-mates†. The bonding with â€Å"hall-mates† or â€Å"floor-mates† is precious and built from the start of the hall life. When we first moved into hall, the hall tutor will take everyone out to have a dinner together, giving an opportunity for everyone to meet each other. Then we would have a floor meeting, deciding the name of the floor, even a name for each room. As the member of the hall, we are told that we should enjoy being a part of it by participating hall activities actively, so as to enjoy hall life to its fullest. With this environment, the bonding between hall-mates is strong, and generally many students living in the hall are willing to take part in the collective activities. This willingness can be best illustrated in their priority. There are lots of hall activities every year in HKBU, such as the floor decoration contest, where every floor will choose a theme of decoration and judges will examine the decoration with its appearance, embodiment of hall spirit and the â€Å"warmness† the decoration constructs. Usually, the students will spend whole night help decorating, even sacrifice their sleeping time and study time. The time devoted show their passion with group activities. Apart from contests, their hall life is about group activities. The boys love to gather a big group of people to play video games till morning, then they will call for take-out from McDonalds’ and have breakfast together. For girls, it would be more about late night chats and cooking late night snack together in the common room. All in all, for most of their time in hall, they will not spend time in their own room but hang out with others in the common room, unless they have to rush their homework. Some might think that living in the hall means the independency and seek of freedom of the youngsters, yet, the local hall life shows that local youngsters prefer group activities, they basically shifted their dependence from their own families to the â€Å"hall family†. B. Karaoke Another night activity would be singing karaoke. This activity in fact is not very expensive. The owl period, meaning about 12am to 5am, costs around $100 to $200 per person, is avoidable to the youngsters. Besides, it is not about singing, but more about having fun with friends. Most scenarios would be dancing and jumping on the couch singing the old-school songs, or the big hits with rhythm. With close friends in a private room, we would not mind to shake our bodies off and sing to the lame songs. After all, it is about having fun with friends. In the past, karaoke is related to alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. The older generations would regard karaoke sites as forbidden places, youngsters who go there were often treated as bad boys and girls. Nowadays karaoke sites are irrelevant to criminal activities, youngsters go there purely want to sing and have fun with friends. C. Mahjong Although Mahjong is not so common among youngsters, it is still a popular late night activities. For young people, they usually play it after examinations or just a Friday. It aims to celebrate and play until use up all their strength. As it requires four people to play Mahjong, it is more a socializing tool. Because the players have to take turns to play, they can chat while playing. Sometimes, they will play it with small-amount gambling, added it with excitement. Some will count marks upon the rounds, the one losing the most might need to pay for the breakfast. For them, playing is not just about relax, but also about bonding and having fun together. For non-alcoholic nightlife, there are still various ways of having fun with friends in Hong Kong. To young people in Hong Kong, there is no more fun than sharing fun with a large group of people. Hall activities can best illustrate the collective fun that the young people treasure. Alcohol is not a must in facilitating the discussion among friends or driving the good mood. Without alcohol, they can seek more fun by playing games like Mahjong. [By Rem Man Hou Sum] Hong Kong: Alcoholic Activities Hong Kong has a fabulous scene of nightlife, which is frequently used to depict the modern and international image of Hong Kong. However, in fact, unlike what we see in Europe, people who adopt an alcoholic lifestyle frequently are not the majority. And people who go partying is even a small minority. For those who would fancy alcoholic drinks late night, they would usually go to the following areas where the bars are usually located. They include: Tsim Sha Tsui, Mong Kok, Lan Kwai Fong and Causeway Bay. A. Bars in Hong Kong There are quite a variety of bars in Hong Kong. Some are operated like the European style, and charge customers according to the drinks they order. The price is comparable to that in Europe, and people can get a drink, relax and spend time chatting with friends. Some are operated in a local style, where drinks are relatively cheaper and customers can drink relatively more. Instead of just chatting or listening to live lounge music (as in some jazz lounge bars), people can play dices and drinking games, and getting drunk is relatively easier this way. Karaoke is an activity close to the hearts of many Hong Kong people. Karaoke bars are venues for people looking for a combination of good drinks deals, some casual singing, playing dices and darts. The idea that getting at least slightly drunk is a must for one to get up and sing in a high mood is seen among Asian Karaoke culture like Taiwan and Hong Kong. Drinks in karaoke come in a big lot at a rather cheap price (compared with the same amount one orders in a bar or club) of around $120 – $150 per set, each set carrying half a dozen bottles. That’s why karaoke bars offer a good alternative for people who want to drink the night away. Recently, shisha bars are popping up here and there in Hong Kong. Shisha is a kind of water pipe to smoke flavoured tobacco. The smoke would go through the water in the basin before you inhale. It is a new trend followed by quite a number of young people because of a few reasons. First, the perception that smoking shisha is better than smoking cigarettes. Because shisha inhalation does not have the harshness as cigarettes, many think that it is â€Å"healthier† than the latter though in fact in an hour of shisha session one would actually have consumed more than 100 times the volume of cigarette smoke. Second, the fruity flavours of shisha (for example, grapes, watermelon and apple) also make it easily accepted by people. Third, like many other trendy behaviours and culture, the motivation of smoking shisha is the desire to be seen and to see, especially for young people – while it makes others perceive you as hip and cool, it also opens the young to brand-new things that they have never seen, which would broaden their horizons. There is also something interesting to note regarding these newly popular shisha bars in Hong Kong – the spending is not cheap. A shisha pipe can be consumed alone, or shared by up to three to four people, and each pipe costs from $150 (Sahara Bar in Central) to $280 (Beirut Bar in Central), depending on where the shisha bar is located. B. Clubs Similar to bars, there are different kinds of clubs in Hong Kong. They can be categorized into three types: clubs with a foreign crowd as opposed to clubs with a local crowd, and clubs with a celebrities or tycoons crowd. For the first, visitors are mostly foreigners (including expatriates and tourists) or local people with their foreign friends. They attract foreign tourists the most. Examples would be Fly in Central. For the second, visitors are, obviously, mostly local people, and they always charge entrance fee for men, and ladies also have to pay a lot during festivals or special events. Examples would be Beijing Club or Billion Club. For the third, it has a strict code of entrance and people there all dress up to impress others. Examples would be the Dragon-I. There are something similar among these types of clubs though – for example, they all play electronic dance music which has an American origin and western pop music are remixed by disc jockeys, both of them are the key elements in nightclubs. Also, they are mostly located in the heart of Hong Kong nightlife area – Lan Kwai Fong. C. Exploring the Nightlife Spot – Lan Kwai Fong Lan Kwai Fong is a small square of streets filled with expatriates who go visit there for drinking, clubbing and dining. It is also the beating centre of nightlife in Hong Kong. Food and drinks in Lan Kwai Fong are generally considered more upmarket both in their price and quality. All in all, it is a spot where you cannot distinguish the East from the West. First, westerners are seen everywhere in the area – not only the visitors, but the people who serve there. Second, many of the local people who visit there dress up and behave like western people – speaking in English in a group of local friends is a good example of such behavior; and look at the ladies who go clubbing, they do not wear a cheongsam, they wear party dresses that look very similar to those one can get in Europe. We might as well look at the history and development of Lan Kwai Fong briefly to understand how it has become the most renowned spots for nightlife. In 1980s, Allan Zeman, the current Chairman of the Hong Kong Ocean Park Corporation, contributed a lot in developing Lan Kwai Fong, and thus later has been known as the Father of Lan Kwai Fong. He bought numerous properties in that area, founded the Lan Kwai Fong Group, and aspired to develop it into a world-class entertainment destination (Lan Kwai Fong Group, 2012). These two years, massive constructions and reconstructions are seen in Lan Kwai Fong. Interestingly, the Father of Lan Kwai Fong, is a Canadian who was born in Germany. Instead of developing it to become an area which carries Hong Kong cultural elements, he strived to make it an area full of foreign bars, clubs, and restaurants. These places employ waiters, waitresses, bar tenders and bouncers who are required to speak English most of the time. [By Priscilla Yuen Pui Yu] Chapter 2 Implications and Analysis Why would the choices of two sides be so different? What background factors influence our choices? What values do we reflect upon our choices? In the following chapter, these questions will be answered under the aspects of cultural difference, income difference and soft power. Cultural Difference From the difference of nightlife mentioned before, it is clearly that sense of collectivism and individualism ruling the two places respectively. And more obvious is that the perception toward alcohol is different between Europe and Hong Kong. At the same time, stereotypes in Hong Kong did define what is good and wrong, limiting the youngsters from entering the clubs or bars. Due to the patriarchy in traditional Chinese society, the parental control is still strong in Hong Kong. Asides from these, the motto of Europeans and Hong Kong people would be distinct from each other. A. Collectivism versus Individualism European societies are based upon the model of individualism. The History has always set the example of powerful men and European people struggled for their own liberations. In the European minds, still nowadays highly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment and then confirmed in their beliefs by the attachment to the so-called â€Å"Free-world†, it is always a good thing to escape from pre-constructed ideologies and mentalities, to step out from the social background pre-established before our birth. European peoples tend to live in constant revolutionary process. One of the latest revolutions could be the sexual revolution during the late 60s when women gained more autonomy and the youth claimed the right to enjoy themselves away from the diktats of the society. These values still have a powerful influence among the youngsters nowadays who have been raised by the children of the sexual revolution generation. Thus, individualism and claimed differences are the symbols of a healthy youth, the driving forces of a constant questioning of society that can then be transformed but not perish. European teenagers are consequently completely fed by this spirit and act in consequence. And going out is all about taking care of one self in an environment that can be sometime hostile, to fight against their fears : The darkness has always evoked danger to mankind, evolving into it is then a sign of bravery and independence. Thus, individualism is one of the reasons that explain why European youngsters like to go out at night. It matches the vales incorporated in their early education. If it is individualism behind European societies, then Hong Kong society is based upon the model of collectivism. Local young people are more group oriented. They would love to do things together. From the example of hall activities, it is obvious that they love the sense of belonging and they are willing to sacrifice their time and strength just to have fun with others. They know better with the concept of â€Å"the more the merrier†, especially with their private time where Europeans would rather hang out with friends, while local students prefer to hang out with hall-mates. The truth behind the passion toward group activities is that the importance of family is deeply rooted in Hong Kong people’s mind. With the influence of traditional Chinese thinking, they are taught that they should keep a good relationship with family members and family interest is always the top priority, even higher than your own. Also, independency is not a criterion when raising a child. Hong Kong families build trust between parents and kids by dependency, while European families would build trust upon mutual respect. Consequently, Hong Kong youngsters are relatively more dependent, and this can be reflected upon their passion toward hall life. When they leave home for hall life, they swift their dependency from the families to the hall-mates. If they praise the hall life, their comments are often associated with resemblance of â€Å"living at home†. Hong Kong youngsters feel more secure in the groups, they are afraid of being special. They act with herb behavior that they will follow what the majority of the group wants. The contradiction here is that they would want to be a bit different from the others, but all in all they are following the same trend. This can be seen in the field of fashion. They would want to be the first group of people who wear a different style of clothes, however, not the very first one as it would seem awkward. This kind of mentality shows that they lack of individualism in their spirit and they are sensitive to others’ perception and judgment. As a result, they follow the trend and feel secure. Two different kinds of mentalities shape different choices. Individualism leads the Europeans to act on their own, while Collectivism leads Hong Kong people to rely on their group. B. Image of Alcohol As we have said in earlier parts of our work, the European nightlife is mainly organized around alcohol. Alcohol in western societies is a long lasting tradition in society. From the Kings to the peasants, since the early ages of the civilization and throughout history, every single human being had access to alcohol. It is a social legacy and the drinking culture is deeply rooted in our contemporary societies. This means that alcohol actually punctuates every step of life. Young children will be accustomed to alcohol in the early stages of their life, in every social event they will attend. Alcohol is a symbol of celebration, it is then related to joy and happiness and reminds of pleasant moments. This is usually embodied by champagne which is always taken out in case of a big celebration such as birthdays, new year or weddings. Alcohol then carries a lot of positive values does not set off aversion. For example, as young children, teenagers will often be offered a sip in the glass of their parents so they can actually be part of the celebration. That is why, youngsters start drinking pretty early, by the age of 17, 80% of the French teenagers have already drunk alcohol and 49.3% admit they have been drunk in the past year. Moreover, alcohol is known for its dis-inhibition effect, students seek alcohol in order to get rid of their reserve and be able to act differently from how they would have acted while being sober. This â€Å"enhanced† behavior can be valued by the peers and could also explain why alcohol is so important in European nightlife. It is also important to note that in most European countries, alcohol is really easy to reach, we can find it easily and for quite cheap in supermarkets and even though there are some restrictive laws, sellers are usually compliant and do not hesitate to let the underage buy alcohol. There is a general irresponsibility about alcohol. For Hong Kong, the image of alcohol is not related to joy and happiness, but rather dangerous and negative. While Europeans focus on the joy they have during drinking, we think about the consequences of being drunk. This mindset in fact is constituted by the society, where government propaganda may stress on its problem and the social perception on alcohol is always bad on youngsters. There is a survey which is done by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups in 2009, asking the students aged 13 to 18 whether they regard drinking alcohol under festive atmosphere as acceptable. The results show that more than half of the respondents disagree that behavior is acceptable. This shows the value of the society – alcohol is bad. Drinking alcohol is a right to men, excluding youngsters and women. Girls who are good drinkers may be treated as bad girls in the past. As the society has promoted equality between male and female, we would not regard good female drinkers as bad, but we would still refer their behavior as manly. As the attitude towards alcohol is so different in Hong Kong and Europe, no wonder why Europeans have various night time activities with alcohol, while Hong Kong people have those without alcohol. C. Image on party girls/ boys Being a party boy or a party girl is usually assimilated with being cool. Party people usually carry the image of being nonchalant and careless. They seem to be set free. Party people also go out with many other party people that they meet in different places. That is why they appear to be always surrounded by fancy people and never left behind. The image they reflect is that of social accomplishment and carefreeness. As mentioned before, alcohol and going out are also symbols of celebration: they convey all these positive values of joy and shared happiness. However, in Hong Kong, where traditional value still matters, the older generations would regard partying as a bad thing. As in line with the image of karaoke sites, clubs and bars are associated with sex, drugs and criminal activities in the conservative thinking. This concept influences youngsters, especially with the girls. They would call the partying girls as â€Å"wet-mui† in the past, imposing a negative label on them. Due to such a negative impression on partying, young people seldom go to bars or clubs. D. Parental Control As mentioned before, parent’s control over their children tend to loosen years after years. Teenagers can enjoy a more and more early emancipation. Parents also have to face the pressure of their children. Indeed, as mentioned before, teenagers in Europe are raised to constantly experience by themselves because they can enjoy a wide freedom. But in school, they always need to compare to their peers and the latter will not hesitate to chime in. Parents would then be tempted to loosen the strings that attach them to their children in order to promote and realize the self-expression of their offspring. The hurdle is definitely passed when young Europeans enter University. This usually comes along with the majority and thus the official right to drink any kind of alcohol. Parents then think that their children reached a stage of maturity. For example, a French proverb says â€Å"maintenant tu es majeur et vaccinà ©Ã¢â‚¬ , it would be literally translated as â€Å"now you reached majority and you are also vaccinated†. This means that they completed their duty as parents: to bring up a healthy kid to give him or her all options for the future. It is now up to the teenager to decide for him or herself. Moreover, large parts of student also leave their parent’s house to live in private housing or in student residences. There, they can experience their own autonomy and decide for themselves what they want to do at night. This comes together with the idea that we should learn from our mistakes. For young people in Hong Kong, it is not usual for them to decide for themselves. As mentioned in the part of collectivism, â€Å"family interest is always the top priority†, our own pleasure is neglected in such sense. Our decisions are always made by our parents, what we feel is just not important, as they will decide for our own good. We have to fulfill parents’ expectation in life, therefore, they will decide a path for us to fulfill. Apart from fulfilling family expectation, the parents would think that they are wise enough to help you decide on things. There is a saying that is frequently spoke by parents, â€Å"What do you know, you child!† It reveals the hierarchic style of parent-child relationship. In the family, father has the utmost power to decide on everything, and they are unquestionable. While we might think that this kind of concept should be dropped with the influence of gender equality, the traditional thinking is still affecting the older generations. Parental control in Hong Kong may be severe from European point of view, but it may be lighter from traditional Chinese point of view. Parental control involves no alcohol, and for girls, there would be a curfew before 18. Girls are vulnerable and therefore they should be restrained, which is from parents’ perspective. Although the public security in Hong Kong is satisfying, the citizens normally are well protected by Hong Kong police, parents would still worry about girls’ going out. And when girls want to hang out with friends at one’s home, parents will drop down the address, phone number, what people will appear in that house, etc. Also, they usually have to return home before 12. That is the situation for girls under 18. After 18, the limit would be much reduced, depending on the family. Under strict parent control, there is almost no nightlife before 18 among Hong Kong young people. It is largely different from Europe, where parents’ attitude toward youngsters is to let go, let them try and experience. This also results in different choices we made for night time activities, as Hong Kong youngsters would go for non-alcoholic ones, and Europeans would go for alcoholic ones because they have no restriction on alcohol in their families. E. Motto According to the Swiss Bank UBS’ 2012 Global Prices and Earnings Survey, people in Europe tend to have less annual working hours, with an average of 1829 or 1757 hours, which is less than people in Asia, with an average of 2154 hours. Asian countries are leading in the field. Moreover, the survey also recommends people move their workplace to Europe, â€Å"if you like going on holiday, you should perhaps move your workplace to Europe, where workers enjoy around five weeks of paid relaxation.† In Europe, the motto seems to be â€Å"work hard, play hard†, however, the motto of Europeans may be half right in Hong Kong, the work hard part. According to the Global Prices and Earnings Survey, Hong Kong has average 2296 working hours per year, while vacation days per year are 12 only, meaning one paid day off each month. The intense, fast-paced lifestyle in Hong Kong makes everyone stressful about it. And youngsters could not escape from it. The tension begins once we are born. When we are small, the concept of â€Å"only hard-working people can succeed† is implanted in our mind. The social value regarding success is only defied by one factor, money. More money you possess, more successful you are. In order to become â€Å"successful†, we should stud hard to get good results in public examination, then get into the top universities in Hong Kong, and find a good job. This one-way road constructs a competitive and stressful atmosphere in Hong Kong. For young people, there is a saying among university students about five must-dos in university life, which one of them is doing part-time jobs. In fact, the main purpose of doing part-time jobs is to make their resumes look good. It is all about the future, all about getting a good job, about success. This atmosphere undoubtedly builds up the motto of Hong Kong people, â€Å"work hard to succeed†. In Europe and in France in particular, the notion of success covers a larger definition. Success is not all about money but also about self-fulfillment and overall happiness. Just like states the famous proverb, â€Å"money cannot buy happiness†, we tend to think that material happiness cannot be considered as a true success. Instead of working more, we would give priority to improve our standards of living. Indeed, overt the past decades trade unions struggled to reduce the legal working hours and extend the duration of paid leaves. In compensation, European workers are among the most competitive in the world which legitimate their wages and gives an explanation and a justification to the need of relaxing after work or study. And this attitude in fact contributes to high productivity per head rate as the graph below: Furthermore, our society values youth and freedom and the study years seem to be the only time slot when we can really experience both. It is important not to miss out on this precious moment. In addition, with the generalization of studies, student’s curriculums are converging to an identical level and subject of study. Recruiting consultant and society then attach more importance to life experiences than to degrees in order to distinguish the profiles of their future employees. The motto of life guides us to different choices and attitudes. â€Å"Work hard, play hard† sets a balanced life between work, study and entertainment among Europeans. â€Å"Work hard to succeed† drives Hong Kong people to an extreme that we have no life other than work. These values are reflected by the choices of nightlife, many Hong Kong young people stick to the norms, afraid of judgment from the others, while Europeans enjoy themselves with dancing and drinking. [Claire Couturier on descriptions and Rem Man Hou Sum on cross-cultural analysis] Income difference The cost of nightlife in Europe is almost the same as in Hong Kong. However, European students are more likely to spend their money in leisure and alcohol. The main difference between Hong Kong and Europe is that usually, the admission fee to clubs is cheaper and even sometimes it can be free. Social life is one of the most important components of life among young people and thus, as a result of a cultural practice, students and youngsters in Europe save a part of their budget which is then directly devoted to nights out and leisure. This share can be more or less significant depending on every individual. For example, in average, a French Student lives with about 6000 HKD per month without aids like scholarships and government subsidies and an average student would devote about 1000 to 1500 HKD per month for his nights out. This represents then 16% to 25% percent of his monthly income. The most costly budget item is definitely the drinks and alcohol while the share of admission fees is less significant. Indeed, bars do not require any entrance fee and clubs do not have a policy of high prices, the shortfall should be compensated by margin realized while selling drinks. We also need to point out the importance of house partying which is actually one of the cheapest way to party. No entrance fee is needed and everyone brings his own alcohol. While usually drinks and snacks are all gathered and everyone picks in the table(s) of food, in some European countries, it is a custom that everyone provides for his own needs. This means that no one gets to drink or eat what someone else brings unless it is offered by the owner. This tradition allows then every single person to control exactly the amount of money that he or she wants to put in one night out.[By Claire Couturier] Although cultural differences are of paramount importance in explaining the reasons why the locals adopt a different nightlife style than Europeans, the income differences are worth noting as well. On one hand, even if the cost of alcohol is comparable, the local income level is lower than that in Europe; and on the other, partying is generally more expensive in Hong Kong because of two reasons. First, partying in Hong Kong is costly because of the high entrance fee, especially for men. It can cost up to around $500, of which drinks are excluded. It explains why not many young men are attracted to this nightlife activity. Second, we do not have house parties as Europeans do, and it has to do with the housing of Hong Kong – we have a land mass of 1,104 km2 and a population of more than seven million people, according to Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, making us one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Consequently only very few people are privileged to live in a house. Many people just live in a flat, and given the small size and restrictions on noise which would affect one’s close neighbors next-door, a house party is unlikely. We suggest that future studies can look more deeply into the correlation between income levels and patterns of nightlife for Hong Kong young people, or Hong Kong people in general. Since the income discrepancies are large among different social classes, it might also explain the larger variety of nightlife in Hong Kong than in Europe. Moreover, the minority of people who go partying and fancy a more vibrant nightlife may also suggest the uneven distribution of income in Hong Kong.[By Priscilla Yuen Pui Yu] The Manifestation of Soft Power A. Soft Power of the West and its influence of Local Nightlife According to Joseph Nye, soft power in political sense is all about the ability to shape the preferences of others so that they want what you want. To make others want to follow you not by means of command or force, it is understandable that the behavior or action have to attract others in the first place. And once others are attracted, their values will gradually change. Nightlife is primarily a western idea. Other than Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Macau, late nights in the streets remain quiet. And in particular, local people do not have a fond heart of partying as Europeans do. Think of how exchange students in HKBU head out to Lan Kwai Fong in groups while many of the local ones have never been to a club before. On the other hand, this situation is gradually changing because more people are willing to try and there is a younger clubbing crowd than before. The slowly growing popularity of partying is a manifestation of soft power. We might find it natural that western culture can be seen and mixed with local culture in these world-class international cities, but are we aware of the fact that our nation is under the influence of other’s soft power? Below are some more examples that exemplify the influence of European or Western soft power on local nightlife culture. Previously in this paper, we have talked about local people speaking in English even though they are just hanging out with their local friends, and also how we dress like foreigners. This is almost the norms of clubbing or partying in Hong Kong. During the research for this topic, we have done a real-life experiment in six clubs. Three are those we categorize as local clubs, and the other three are those more foreign. In two of three for both, we try to speak in English to local men and western men; and in one among three for both types, we speak in our mother tongue, Cantonese and act like we have a rather low command of spoken English to both local and western men, and we wanted to see how would they respond differently. Results are not surprisingly – the most significant result is that when we spoke in English, both local and western men asked either where we came from or were we studying abroad in all the cases. However, when we spoke in Cantonese or rather bad English, western men were less interested and tended to walk away sooner than the other way and local men were less impressed. This simple experiment shows the superiority of the English language in social context in Hong Kong. What is striking in the findings and our observations is that, even in the less restricted social context, local people tend to act like westerners to impress others, and this way of impressing others is actually effective. We suggest that future studies might conduct a more detailed experiment, employing both men and women as experimenters to see if it is similar for men.[By Priscilla Yuen] B. The Help of Popular Culture and Mass Media Western soft power on local nightlife is also facilitated by the spread of western popular culture and mass media. With globalization and greater free flow of information nowadays, young people in Hong Kong are largely exposed to western popular culture. Even though not many young ones spend their nightlife in clubs, many would have heard of the club music (before being remixed) on YouTube, radio, television, and in many different places that would play such music. [By Priscilla Yuen] One of the most powerful vectors of soft power is the cinema. Like in every other developed country, American cinema is the most influential cinema over the world and in Hong Kong also. According to a survey commissioned by MasterCard, â€Å"watching movies at the cinema is the most popular leisure activity in Hong Kong with three quarters (74%) of respondents having been to a movie in the past six months. These respondents had on average gone to a cinema 3 times a month.† Many works have revealed how Hollywood influenced and managed to impose a cultural standardization over societies all around the world. Hong Kong did not escape from that spell either. Depicting the life of young Americans enjoying crazy student life, movies like Project X or Television shows such as Gossip Girl or 90210 provoked a phenomenon of imitation among the Hong Kong youth, a desire to live these fancy lives and enjoy the feeling of carefreeness showed through the stories of the characters. Hong Kong cinema industry seems also to start dealing with the night life. As an example,in September 2011, a movie called Lan Kwai Fong (Ã¥â€"Å"çˆ ±Ã¥ ¤Å"è’ ²)was released. It relates the life a group of young Hong Kong people who spend their nights partying hard in Lan Kwai Fong. The weekend after its release, the movie was ranked number one in the local box office. Even though it did not receive many good reviews, it at least shed light on the phenomenon and on this fringe of local youth who goes clubbing. Besides, the producers decided to release a sequel in 2012, focusing on another group of Lan Kwai Fong night birds. As a former British colony, Hong Kong has been deeply influenced and driven by western culture over the past century. Even after the retrocession to China, Hong Kong kept maintaining privileged relationships with the United Kingdom and the rest of Western world as the city is seen as a western enclave in China. This heritage of western tradition has made of Hong Kong one of the favorite destination for the expats as has shown a recent study realized for HSBC. The local Government issued last year 30,557 visas under the General Employment Scheme. This constant closeness to western culture and cultural exchanges can be seen as the main reason of the spread of the nightlife in Hong Kong. Regarding the students, many exchange programs are set between local Universities and Universities abroad which contribute to the implementation of the nightlife as a norm. Indeed, as we have said before, students in local universities are constantly brought face to face with Western students and even though they might not always talk and share with them, seeing them going out at night might arouse their curiosity. For those who are friends with exchange students, it can be a mentorship to get into nightlife. Finally, local student who go to study abroad experience overseas the student life and, as long as they have adopted it, might just want to reproduce the same when they are back. [By Claire Couterier] C. The Influence of the Membership to International Organizations Hong Kong has been a member of the World trade Organization since 1995, right after its creation. About ten years after and after the retrocession of Hong Kong, in turn China entered the Organization. This membership creates an improvement in trade with the rest of the world but also somehow create a cultural transfer from western countries to developing countries. Some works have shown that international organizations, even though they pretend to serve the whole world and be an open tribune which provide a chance for every country to speak up, are actually driven by Western principles and serve western interests. Regarding the WTO, negotiation rounds over trade go along with a tendency to reach a standardization of the social conditions: The European Union and the US implement some new restrictive norms regarding the working conditions in which are produced manufactured goods. These countries also spread their conceptions of work as they seem to set the example of powerful Nations. These elements are the main explanation of the standardization and improvement of working conditions. Hence, we can observe a decrease of overall working hours and the recognition of several rights for workers such as paid leaves. This modifies the place of work in daily life and can then make more room for leisure in local society. Nightly outings fit then more easily in people’s schedules but this new amount of time can also be used in many different ways such as going to the movies, listening to some music or having gatherings with friends in public places; many of these activities that are at the same time hugely influenced and by Western society and transmitter of its culture as we have seen above.[By Claire Couterier] D. The Repercussions and Overarching Effects of Colonialism Colonialism, in particular European colonialism, has profound influence in both trade and culture in Asia. It is interesting how although European colonialism ended after Second World War, its impact still exists up till now. Looking at Hong Kong, the share of British influence on trade has diminished; but its influences on our culture and the social system are very deep-rooted and evident. The aspect of changes that can be related to our topic here would be on the English language and the education system which stresses importance on bilingualism. Nowadays, there are still a large number of parents who would send their children to the United Kingdom to study, if they can afford the large amount of tuition, boarding and living expenses. The Chinese Societies of different top British universities are famous for co-organizing numerous parties in nightclubs when students are back to Hong Kong for vacation. Like what we have suggested, even though they are a whole bunch of local young people, it is not uncommon that they hold conversations mixed with English and Cantonese, if they are not entirely in English. We have to note that, while trade and economic influences were intended and deliberately brought about, cultural and social influences are not. They are unintended. However, their impacts are not necessarily smaller – because they are deeply embedded in our daily life, we might not be aware of it. There seems to be nothing bad about such a mixture of local and European cultures, but as soft power gets stronger, our local culture may diminish and may eventually be annihilated. Look again at the local nightlife scene, it is not only a mixture of West and the East – it is in fact a separation of our society: Although the expatriate crowd in the hottest nightlife spot, Lan Kwai Fong, are diversified in both their nationalities and walks of life, but in a general post-colonial context, expatriates might think that they are more superior over the locals. And this might be disliked by many local people. E. Increasing Hong Kong’s Soft Power, and Decreasing the West’s As previous studies have suggested, the core of a city’s soft power is the soft power, hence ability to attract, of its city culture (Lin, Li & Hong, 2012). It interacts with its economic and technological advancement to create the competitiveness of the city. More importantly, city culture should be coherent, appealing, innovative, as well as having integration. Looking at Hong Kong, our local culture as manifested by nightlife is not especially charming and focused. When talking about nightlife, the immediate examples we give in Hong Kong’s context are bars and clubs like what Europe or the West have – but strangely, neither is it the norms of the society, nor is it â€Å"Hong Kong† in itself, while other options like karaoke bars are actually evident and more popular among young people in Hong Kong. The problem is, feelings toward these are not largely positive nor are Hong Kong people proud of them – and it also cannot attract people from other cities to feel our city’s special appeal. Is Hong Kong’s world-famous nightlife culture innovative? Certainly it is not. The fact that Lan Kwai Fong, which is not much different from nightlife spots in Europe, pops up as the most popular nightlife spot in Hong Kong, might appear strange to exchange students or tourists. To enhance Hong Kong’s soft power through its city culture, it should increase its capacity to draw different cultural factors and to broaden the market. In the case of nightlife, the government might try to think of sponsoring the start-up and operation of bars playing local music, to start with, or for example, to promote karaoke lounges for foreigners. At the moment, karaoke lounges only target at local customers, this can be seen at the fact that the promotion leaflets, publication materials, and the like, are mostly in Chinese only and do not have an English translation. Also, the repertoire in karaoke lounges is narrow and has only a few foreign songs. [By Priscilla Yuen Pui Yu] Conclusion We would have expected nightlife to be different in such poles apart cultures, but by talking and investigating into the subject we realized that they were many cultural, historical and values implications behind this topic that could have been considered as frivolous in the first place. And even though Hong Kong is always seen from, a Western point of view, as a modern, dynamic and westernized city, the local culture is still deeply rooted in the Chinese tradition. One century of English protectorate did not modify much the structure of beliefs and traditions and way of thinking. The profound gap that separates both our nightlife culture appears to be the drinking tradition and the relationships and moral values towards alcohol. Whereas alcohol is a daily beverage on the western side, in the east it is frowned up to drink for the possible repercussions and bad behavior caused by alcohol. It is then a completely adverse thinking pattern between two sides of the world. The same goes for the notion of success. While in Hong Kong success is only related to money, in Europe, success embraces a wider definition. We live in a leisure society that considers, to a certain extent, work as an alienation of freedom. Thus, there is no point in working so hard if we cannot enjoy some time to spend the hard-won money. It seems like the difference in nightlife can then be explained by this completely opposed system of values. However, Hong Kong is at the core of the process of westernization and going out late at night becomes more and more common for the local youth. We can think that the process started under the British domination and keeps on going even after the retrocession thanks to a large range of cultural conveyers like cultural goods such as cinema, film, music, social medias but also the development of economic and social exchanges between Hong Kong and the Western world. At the end of the day, we might observe a convergence in the nightlife activities. After all, as mentioned earlier, nightlife appeared and developed in Europe between 1500 and 1700. The social nightlife nowadays is the result of a long lasting process. That is why, with the globalization, we can expect to see the next generation of local youth to fill up the numerous bars and clubs in Hong Kong soon. [By Claire Couterier] Bibliography Chaouachi, Kamal and Sajid, Khan Mohammad (2010) â€Å"A Critique of Recent Hypotheses on Oral (and Lung) Cancer Induced by Water Pipe (Hookah, Shisha, Narghile) Tobacco Smoking,† Medical Hypotheses 74, no. 5. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Information Services Department. (2012) â€Å"Hong Kong: The Facts.† Accessed at December 07, 2012. http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/population.pdf. Lin, Dan, Li, Wenjuan and Hong, Xiaonan (2012) â€Å"The Research on the Soft Power of City Culture,† Studies in Sociology of Science 3, no. 2. Nye, Joseph (2004) Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs). Observatoire de la jeunesse (2011) jeunesse et alcool. (Paris: Institut National de la Jeunesse et de l’Education Populaire). UBS (2012) Global Prices and Earnings Survey. http://www.static-ubs.com/global/en/wealth_management/wealth_management_research/prices_earnings/_jcr_content/par/columncontrol/col1/linklist/link_0.1393999310.file/bGluay9wYXRoPS9jb250ZW50L2RhbS91YnMvZ2xvYmFsL3dlYWx0aF9tYW5hZ2VtZW50L3dlYWx0aF9tYW5hZ2VtZW50X3Jlc2VhcmNoL1BfTF8yMDEyX2VuLnBkZg==/P_L_2012_en.pdf. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012) Charting International Labor Comparisons. http://www.bls.gov/fls/chartbook/2012/chart1.4.pdf. é ¦â„¢Ã¦ ¸ ¯Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ­ ¸Ã§ ¤ ¾Ã¦Å"Æ'ç §â€˜Ã¥ ­ ¸Ã§  â€Ã§ © ¶Ã¤ ¸ ­Ã¥ ¿Æ' (2010) ä ºÅ'é› ¶Ã¤ ¸â‚¬Ã©â€º ¶Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã© ¦â„¢Ã¦ ¸ ¯Ã© â€™Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã§ µ ±Ã¨ ¨Ë†Ã¨ ³â€¡Ã¦â€"™æ ¦â€šÃ¨ ¦ ½Ã£â‚¬â€šhttp://www.coy.gov.hk/filemanager/template/common/images/research/youth_report_20110520_c.pdf

Out of the Dust Essay

In the novel, Out of the dust, Billie Joe experiences conflict with herself, her environment, and others. Additionally, she has great conflicts with her dad. They secretly blame each other wanting the other to know they accidently killed the mom. Billie Joe also has to deal with the dust. The dust kills families and destroys homes. Futhermore, she also has a conflict with herself. She knows she accidently killed her mom, but despite tragedies and conflicts Billie Joe knows that her family loves her and they forgive her by coming together to help each other live in peace. Billie Joe works against herself by blaming and limiting herself. For example, she stops trying to heal her hands. She has an amazing talent of playing the piano, but since she suffered burns on her hands, she limits herself by not practicing. Without her mother’s support, Billie Joe can barely go on in life without thinking of her mother’s death. Billie Joe still has her dad but both stay stuck in the horrible past. She and her dad both move on knowing they love each other and that they can help one another get through the horrible times. Billie Joe encounters nature in a horrible way. He dust causes huge problems for the people living in Oklahoma and all the dust bowl states. The dust comes in as thick clouds, burying houses and sickening families. Billie Joe cannot wait to leave her town along with other families wanting to escape from the dust and drought. She makes a decision to leave Oklahoma on a train. After Billie Joe arrives in California she realizes that the dust defines her and she can’t leave her dad at home to live by himself. In the novel, Out of the Dust, Billie Joe finds herself battling for a relationship with her father. Billie Joe and her father both know they have a part in the mother’s death. They both secretly blame each other wanting the other to have the guilt instead. In the end, Billie Joe and her father come together knowing the both love each other and they can’t afford to lose each other. In the end, Billie Joe still experiences conflicts with herself, her environment, and others. As she goes on in the book, she finds that if she comes together with her father they can help each other move on from the tragedy. As the dust comes into her town, Billie Joe struggles to live her everyday life. She then runs away but decides that the dust defines her and she must go back. Billie Joe then has to deal with not blaming herself about her mother’s death. Billie Joe figures out that if she ultimately accepts her family, she can defeat any battle thrown her way.

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Organisations and Behaivours - Essay Example Divisional organisational structure- This type of structure is also termed as ‘product structure’. In this sort of structure, each and every function of the organisations is spread into their various divisions. This type of organisational structure is mainly incorporated by business of both smaller and larger scale. Functional Organisational Structure- This is a simple organisational structure that is being widely implemented all over. In this structure, the employees of companies are differentiated to perform specialised tasks. Can be effective in the operation of big business where are there are various sections of employees. Source: (Daft, 2010) Question 1.2 It has been apparently observed that the organizational structure as well as culture is quite different from that of Ford Motor Company and Google Inc. In this similar concern, Google is known to maintain an informal culture within the organisation. On the other hand, the organization culture and structure of Ford has been viewed to be quite disciplined as well as strict. Google incorporates flat organisational structure wherein its entire workforce has the freedom to put their observation and ideas in front of the management of the company regarding making any valuable decisions. Conversely, Ford has been noted to incorporate divisional form of organisational structure with an enormous gap between the top designated officers of the company and its staff. Furthermore, the organisational culture of Google is quite informal in which there does not lay any sort of restriction for its employees regarding dress code and other behavioural aspects. There are no set rules and regulations accessible in Google for the employees that they must follow. On the other hand, the organisational culture of Ford is quite disciplined and governed by certain rules and regulations. Employees need to behave in accordance with the norms and values of the organisation (Jones Education, 2013; Daft, 2010; Ha, 2008). H owever, there lay certain similarities in the organisational cultures of both the company. It has been noted that Google maintains an innovative culture in their workplace and seeks maximum creativity from its employees. Similarly, Ford also desire to maintain innovative culture in the organisation. Furthermore, the organisational structure of Google enables maximum involvement of the employees in making any sort of decision. In relation to this, the organisational structure of Ford also allows its employees to make greater participation in the decision-making procedure (Jones Education, 2013; Daft, 2010; Ha, 2008). Question 1.3 It can be stated from a broader perspective that the organisational culture as well as structure is directly related with the performance of the same in the long-run. In the similar context, the organisational structure and culture of Ford have maximum impact on the performance of the company. It has been noted that the organisational structure of the compan y is divisional and every task of the company is divided into separate jobs. This enables the task to be completed in specified period of time and ultimately increase the productivity of the company by a significant level. Furthermore, this particular aspect also

Oil price in GCC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Oil price in GCC - Essay Example Since the 1970s’ tremendous oil price shocks till the latest times, the oil prices have exhibited major changes which have immensely contributed to the volatility and uncertainty of the energy sector. The oil prices in the timeframe between 2007 and 2008 rose by 40 dollars to reach the threshold of 100 dollars down from 60 dollars, which had already increased to 147 dollars by July. By August, the prices fell to 145 dollars and in four months marked at the end of December 2008, they were trading at 45 dollars. The cycle of rise and fall of oil prices was repeated in 2009 and the trend has progressed till 2014. This trend has been a serious concern as it affects both producers and consumers. In the last decade, there has been much literature devoted to the exploration of the relationship between stock markets and oil prices in the GCC countries. Research from empirical documents indicate that the fluctuations in the oil prices has an impact on the corporate performance of companies, earnings and output as well as stock returns. Most of the studies conducted recently have indicated a link between stock prices and oil prices although such studies were based on market performances of developed economies. The assessment of the movement of GCC stock markets in response of the movements in oil prices can be examined both industry-level stock return data and country-level data (Bjornland, 2009). The findings show that there is a direct relationship between stock prices and oil prices in the short term which is not present in the long term. The casualty relationship exists, in most cases, running from oil prices to stock markets at the country level. At the industry level, the responses of the return on oil are relatively positive, as marked by only twelve out of twenty industries. The response of the oil price in relation to movements of the stock returns can be described as asymmetrical (Awartani & Maghyereh, 2013). This

Introduced or invasive species Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Introduced or invasive species - Lab Report Example With the introduction of globalization, efforts are on the way to introduce various plants and animals to other locations. Some of the species enhance the biodiversity of the new habitat while others require human involvement and care for their proliferation. The introduced species creates disturbance as it is potentially eliminating biomass from a specific community (Hughes, 2010; Invasive Plants-- A Horticultural Perspective). The problem occurs when the invasive species affects the agriculture, forest and also the prey and predators of the ecosystem. Reports state that 2/3rd of 40 North American fresh water extinct fishes in a century, were due to the invasive species. Thus invasive species are creating troubles for the native species in a varied manner- they not only affect the space, but also create competition for the food and therefore affect the food chain and food web, thereby affecting the ecosystem. They may act as predators for the native species, reproduce with the native species and generate hybrids. In such case rare species of the native environment are becoming endangered. Some of the US invasions encompass- Enhanced trade has made an invasion of Asian longhorn beetle from China to US (1996). It came to US in a wood packing material. The beetle is known to nourish on the hardwood trees and also on sugar maple thereby creating serious menace to the US forest (Invasive species.). Threats imposed by invasive species are becoming a serious issue across the world. They are affecting the natural ecosystem to a greater extent. Keeping this in view, President Clinton endorsed an Executive Order 13112 in the year 1999 to preclude the initiation of invasive species to prevent the ecosystem. It is the need of time to detect the introduction of the species as early as possible and measures should be taken to eradicate the species before it proliferates to the alarming levels.

Holistic Child Development With Special Needs Children Research Paper

Holistic Child Development With Special Needs Children - Research Paper Example In third world countries, Holistic Child Development is hindered by the discriminative social-economic and cultural factors that have provided a home for poverty (Santrock, 152). A clear outline of understanding of Holistic Child development is ideal in establishing the expectations between field ministries and missions of mercy. By provision of clear Holistic Child Development framework, the achievement of better training and evaluation is possible. Relevant programs can also take effect in the campaign for Holistic Child development. In the quest for Holistic child Development, four factors are considered and defined; Spiritual Development – This is the concept of creating change in the relationship with God and more awareness about Him. It is the subject where questions such as who am I, why am I here, what meaning does life have; are answered. This process of growth brings the believer in the maturity of Christ. Physical Development – This defines the changes in the sizes body organs. In this domain, health and growth are usually addressed together (Fox and Robert, 67). Social Economic Development – This addresses the change in the relationships between people. It consist changes in emotions and personality. According to a study of humans, it was discovered that emotional domain and social are inseparable. In merging the two together, we realize that the communication plays a major role in the growth of children in the fulfillment of emotional needs. Cognitive Development – It is true that the missions of mercy provide basic resources for the children who live in economic poverty. However, the subject of poverty seems to be multi-dimensional. Economic poverty would imply monetary handouts, micro-enterprise interventions and business ventures,... This report stresses on the concept of holistic child development which might be new. However, the principles behind it are definitely not, It is a reminder of what God requires of us as we focus on the blessing that comes out of a marriage; a child. Metaphorically, Holistic Child Development can be viewed as a lens that helps parents to magnify their approach toward handling a child in all aspect of its life. This paper makes a conclusion that different people have different perceptions towards children with disabilities. The implementation of any interventions needs to come after an effort to transform the way of thinking and campaign towards equality and equity. The disability in children is a major challenge for their family members. For people already living in hard situations, this calls for a high physical and emotional stress. It is important that in trying to improve on the situation of disability cases, the family members should also be considered more so in term of their environmental needs. These considerations would require a holistic child development approach, which involves as mention before; proper national policies and fair allocation of resources to promote access. Because of the simple fact that no one has an idea of what the disabled are undergoing better than they do, they should be included in the implementation of the programs. The growth of a child comes along with changes in its needs. Therefore, every child at least deserves the opportunity to develop and explore his or her own talent in environmentally friendly conditions.

Life of Pi written by Yann Martel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Life of Pi written by Yann Martel - Essay Example The novel consists of 100 chapters but in this paper with the constraint of developing facts from every chapter is not possible. However a robust endeavor is made in reflecting the theme of the paper by selecting important information from the novel. Special emphasis have been given on the dimension of religion, human comparison with other animals and the overcoming of the prime protagonist Pi against adverse odds explained in the novel has been exhibited with a strong message. In depth analysis will direct the reader towards grasping the crux of the theme which the paper demands. The extravagant novel, ‘Life of Pi’ written by Yann Martel is a solid exposition of the fact that the strength of will power is one of the greatest attributes of the living beings which have the capacity of overcoming all the obnoxious odds and develop from within a power which will be cherished as optimal. Before plunging in to the realms of detailed discussion some show of the will power which has been mentioned in this story can be mentioned. The story points out that the inhabitants of a wrecked ship did not simply agree to succumb to their fate rather they fight against it and overcome all the odds. The prime protagonist Pi also rejects his lifelong vegetarian habits and started to eat fish for maintaining his sustainability. The peaceful orangutans fight fiercely with the zebra in order to stay alive. The painful struggle through which these creatures went through in the story can be said to be the exhibition of strong will force as well as that of highly focusi ng on the strength of life. The author in his novel has stated that the creatures often perform extraordinary and unexpected things in order to survive. But the negative sides of will power are also exhibited which can be seen from the hyena’s treachery and the turn towards cannibalism by blind Frenchman which directs towards the extent to which these creatures can go when they are faced with the possibility of being getting extinct. The novel guide the readers through various situations and helps in analyzing the steps which the reader would be having in order to take the decisions in circumstances which will be exhibiting life-death situation. The paper with its synchronized analysis will point towards the force of the will power used in the novel and will also highlight on its robustness. Authors’ association The author has concentrated on the notion of the will power in his novel as one of the fundamental tools in explaining the subject matter of the novel and in t his endeavor it can be said that the author himself has written down the novel with sheer will power as a main motive behind its creation. The idea about writing this novel came in the mind of the author when he was in Portugal and came to India at a time when he has vey less money yet his passion for writing the novel was omnipotent and within his writings wild life gets highly focused as he has done bachelors’ from a reputed University in United States with zoology as a major subject. It is his strong determination that despite having tough financial constraints, he has been able to write the novel and he describes how he first came to know that about the fantastic tale of Piscine Molitor Patel. Within the framework of Martel’s narration, Pi’s fanatical first-person account of life on the open sea forms the bulk of the book. The end of the novel has been taken from a transcript which has been derived from the interrogation of Pi which reveals the possible

Saddams rule in Iraq Essay Example for Free

Saddams rule in Iraq Essay In text A, the war is represented as having to have exploited Iraq by the Americans; also the reader accuses Britain of having the same mentality as America and Britain are both allies. This is particularly evident in the same oil companies that used to exploit Iraq when it was a British colony are now returning the Iraq war was all about oil. The modal auxiliary verb was in the past tense makes the writer sound knowledgeable and certain that this was the case and also implies that it was not unexpected from the two super powers, commenting on how they are now returning. The verb exploited and the adverbial of manner used to creates sympathy towards Iraq showing how it has already suffered and been taken advantage of by the allies before. The writer then quotes that a US Federal Chairman, recently admitted. The verbal process verb admitted shows that even parties who are amongst the USA government acknowledge their greedy reasons behind the war on Iraq. The writer used this point to further more persuade that the war was a pointless decision. All three texts refer to Saddams rule in Iraq in correlation to the cause of war in Iraq. Text A expresses how Saddams rule in Iraq was for the benefit of his people and the writer does not blame Saddams dictatorship for Americas invasion of Iraq. Text B, shows a strong opinion against Saddams sadistic regime. Whereas, Text C refers to Saddams regime to be the main cause of war against Iraq. Eric Margolis in Text A, refers to Saddams rule as the benefit of Iraqs national development. The abstract noun benefit ties in with the larger theme of the article Iraq was in a well and stationary position before it was invaded, representing the war on Iraq in a negative way as it almost proves how there was no humane reason for war. However this shows the narrow-mindedness of the writer as Text A offers no criticism of how Saddam tortured his people under his dictatorship, or even explain in what way it increased Iraqs national development. Text B uses the evaluative adjectives tyrannical and sadistic to describe Saddams regime in Iraq. By representing it in this way, the article makes the American forces almost heroic because of their efforts to eliminate him. In Text C, it states how the main goal of the invasion of Iraq was to undermine Saddam Husseins ability to wage war, again using Saddams dictatorship of Iraq as a main reason to war, emphasising the importance and positives of the war. In this simple sentence the word war is first used, as the subject of the sentence is Saddam Hussein, showing how war is only associated with him and not the Americans. To make Saddams actions sound more aggressive the dynamic verb is used to create the alliteration wage war. The three texts use similar methods to represent the war on Iraq in the way that they want to. All three articles are heavily biased, which means one could argue that there could be lack of reasoning behind some of their points. They are also all trying to challenge the representations of the war, both positive and negative. Text A, portrays the war as having no backbone other than greed for oil by the Americans, persuading the reader that this is the ugly truth. Text B, tries to gain some sympathy towards American troops instead of the real victims of the American war against Iraq; however emphasising the good aspects the war on Iraq will bring such as liberating people from Saddams sadistic regime. Text B, uses rhetorical persuasive linguistic features to change the minds of people who are against the war on Iraq by convincing the audience that war on Iraq only has advantages.

Transfer of Property Law Essay Example for Free

Transfer of Property Law Essay 1.Marshall v Green (1875-76) L.R. 1 C.P.D. 35 In the case, the defendant purchased some growing trees, by word of mouth, on the terms that he would remove them as soon as possible. Later, when the defendant cut down some trees, the plaintiff countermanded the sale and prohibited the defendant from cutting the remaining. However, the defendant still cut them and carried them away. It was not denied by either party that there was a verbal contract. However, the question here was whether the contract was required to be in writing under the Statute of Frauds. The issue was whether there has been a transfer of interest in land (in which registration is compulsory) or whether it was a mere sale of timber. The Court held that it was a contract of sale and there had been acceptance of the agreement. It was not required to be in writing. Transfer of interest in land- when sale is of something which is to derive benefit from the land and to become altered by virtue of what it draws from the land. â€Å"The principle of these decisions appears to be this, that wherever at the time of the contract it is contemplated that the purchaser should derive a benefit from the further growth of the thing sold from further vegetation and from the nutriment to be afforded by the land, the contract is to be considered as for an interest in land; but where the process of vegetation is over, or the parties agree that the thing sold shall be immediately withdrawn from the land, the land is to be considered as a mere warehouse of the thing sold, and the contract is for goods.† 2.Shantabai v. State of Bombay – AIR 1958 SC 532 This case was a landmark case that laid down the test to determine when timber trees are standing timber and when they are immovable property. In this case, the petitioner filed a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India claiming that her fundamental right to cut and collect timber in the forest in question has been infringed. The petitioner’s husband, owner of the forests in question, had executed an unregistered deed, called a lease in her favour. According to the deed, she had the right to enter upon certain restricted areas in the forests and cut and take out bamboos, fuel wood and teak. There was a prohibition on the felling of certain trees and a few other restrictions are also put on the cutting. The question was whether any proprietary interests or rights were conferred on the petitioner. In this case, the court held that although the document repeatedly calls itself a lease, it confers no rights of enjoyment in the land. There is merely a right to enter the land and cut and carry away the wood. There was no transfer of a right to enjoy the land itself, it is conferment of right to enter the land and take away a part of the forest produce. In case of a lease, a person has a right to enjoy the land but not take it away. However, profit a prendre is in contrast to this. In the latter case, a person has the license to enter the lands only to take away a part of the produce of the soil and not for the purpose of enjoying it. If a tree draws sustenance from the soil it is immovable property. Bose J. further explains that, â€Å"a tree will continue to draw sustenance from the soil so long as it continues to stand and live and that physical fact of life cannot be altered by giving it another name and calling it standing timber . But the amount of nourishment it takes, if it is felled at a reasonably early date, is so negligible that it can be ignored for all practical purposes The test here was whether it draws nourishment from the soil. 3.State of Orissa v. Titaghur Paper Milss Co. Ltd. In this case, the Orissa government and its sales tax department tried to tax transactions of severed bamboo. The State contended that the subject matter was goods, so it had legislative competency. However, the respondents’ contention was that the law tries to create a new class of goods not known to the law. This was beyond the legislative competence of the state and hence, unconstitutional. The court held that the right to fell, cut, obtain, remove bamboos from forest areas for the purpose of converting it into paper was profit a prendre taking into consideration the duration of the contracts and the ancillary rights granted (like right to collect timber, fuel other forest produce) . Also, the court held that it cannot be viewed as a composite agreement, one which relates to standing bamboos and is movable property and the other related to bamboos that will come into existence in future . The right is integral and indivisible.

Developments of Stem Cell Technology

Developments of Stem Cell Technology The research of embryonic stem cell is classified under the study of biotechnology, which is one of the most recognized areas of research by the public, as well as one that have the potentials of benefited from the completion of the research7. The embryonic stem cells are the absolute base form of all cells that is within a human, they are frequently known for two of their main characteristics. One is the ability to self-renew though a long period of time while remain non-specialised, and the other main characteristic is the stem cells ability to differentiate and give rise to any specialised cell3. Because of these characteristics, it brings hope to cure diseases that were not possible before, by replacing the damaged cell with a new one that is being derive from a stem cell. Neurodegenerative diseases are a prime example where scientists believe that stem cells are the key to treating the disease. However, the research of embryonic stem cells has always being surrounded with contro versy, due to the pro-life movement around the world. This report will be mainly focused on the use of stem cell on treating neurodegenerative diseases, and a general overview of the progress in the research of stem cells. (202 Words) Review The majority of the research done on embryonic stem cells is directed mostly toward medical treatment such as bone narrow transplant, regrowing a new nerve cell to heal Neurodegenerative diseases and more. The researches of stem cell started in the mid eighteen hundreds, when scientists discovered that some cells have the ability to generate into others. But the application of stem cell only start to boom from 1960s, when the human understanding on natural biological systems had increased to the point that it allowed scientists and doctors to do bone marrow transfers between two humans which resulted in curing a patient with severe combined immunodeficiency in 1968. This is the reason that stem cell research attracted attention from the public, due to the possibilities of curing several different types of diseases or healing damages that were beyond humans natural healing ability. Stem cells are the fundamental cells of all the different types of cells that are in a human body. It has the ability to renew itself, under the correct environment and performs obligatory asymmetric replication (see diagram 1 at appendix 1). This, combined with their ability to transform into any specific cell type that can be found in a human body, makes it possible to create new cells to replace those that were damaged by disease or treatment processes. However, the current understanding of the behaviour of stem cells is not enough for scientists and doctors to use them to completely cure a certain disease. Nevertheless, we currently have enough understanding through research, to show that stem cells do have the ability to lessen the symptoms such ailments as Alzhei mers disease. The research into stem cells has potential of curing most of the long-term diseases known to doctors; however the cost of this research is the main reason of controversy. The reason of the controversy around stem cells is focused mainly because embryonic stem cells can only be gathered when an egg is being fertilized. The process of gathering a sample of stem cells started by triggering a human egg that has been left in cryo for more than the legal limit, to grow into an embryo like the normal growth of a child. Afterward, the egg started to grow for five to seven days where the blastocyst started to form along with the inner cell mass. The whole blastocyst is then moved to a specially prepared culturing plate that is covered in a feeder layer, that is designed to support the growth of the stem cell, and chemicals are added to break the blastocyst to allow the inner cell mass to be exposed. From this point on it is merely waiting for the inner cell mass to grow and divide into stem cells that the researcher can use to test in a controlled environment by using different growth factors that will hopefully allow the scientist to map out the reaction of different types of proteins and the chemical environment that would decide the growth path of these stem cells (see diagram at appendix 2). By this point, most biotechnologists require assistance from people in another field, such as chemical engineer, protein specialist and doctors to help culturing or to understand how this stem cell works. These specialist from other field of science, help scientists to understand the growth factor that is involved in the differentiation of the cells. A prime example would be the use of growth factors. Unfortunately this is also where the controversy starts; a lot of people around the world that support pro-life organisations believe that the research of stem cells is immoral; since every embryo that is being used to extract the stem cells have the possibility of becoming a full child, thus the process of extracting the stem cells would destroy the possibility of life. They believe that the same research can be conducted through adult stem cells, or known as somatic stem cells, that can be isolated from bone narrow, or any other cells that have the ability to self repair, without the need of creating a full embryo. While it may be possible to do so, the concentrations of somatic stem cells are extremely hard to isolate and researchers are currently unable to grow them in cultures for further study. However, most scientists believe that while each embryo has the possibility of developing into a child, the long period of cryo that is used to store the egg, is damaging it, to a point that the death rate of the infant will be higher, along with the fact that these cells were originally scheduled to be destroyed, thus it does not make much difference. Therefore, until either the somatic stem cells can be cultured and proven to be as potent as embryonic stem cells, or the latest induced pluripotent stem cells that are created by reprogramming the adult stem cell back into the pluripotent stem cell stage of development. Scientists are stuck on using embryonic stem cells for the majority of the study. (792) Application Case study The advancement in the field of biotechnologys research into stem cells has already started to show results. In the past, diseases such as Alzheimers, which are diseases that cause the degradation of neurons on nerve cells, which were not treatable by doctors before. The most that doctors were able to do was to relieve the pain caused by the disease, they were not able to locate the source of the disease, or how they affected patients. However, since the development of stem cell technology, scientists have regain hope of finding cure or treatment process that can permanent treat these diseases. Using the same system that was originally designed to house the stem cells, they were able to isolate the infected neuron samples that were affected by the diseases, and therefore, were able to devise a treatment or cure for the diseases as they now have a sample with which they can work. Alzheimers disease is one of the most common neuron degradation diseases seen in the world. In America alone, there are at least 5.3 million people that have this disease. Alzheimers disease attacks the nerves and neurons that are in the brain over a long period of time, which slowly causes memory loss, problem solving skills, thinking, to the point that the brain can no longer function properly, leading to death. Alzheimers disease currently has no cure, as the rate that the human body regenerates the brain cells are much slower than the rate of infection. Therefore, theoretically it will be possible to cure Alzheimers if all infected nerve cells could be removed, and replaced with new nerve cells that were derived from the adult stem cell of the patient. This same application can also be used on other diseases such as Parkinsons disease or sport injury that normally requires years of recovery. Based on a published journal in 2009, scientists were able to use bone marrow derived the mesenchymal stem cell to relieve symptoms of Alzheimers on a mice model that have been purposely induced. According to the research journal, when a patient (or mice in their case) that is presented with the disease, the concentration of amyloid-b (Ab) peptides in the form of amyloid plaques in the brain parenchyma increases, which causes neural loss to the patient. Therefore, in a direct treatment the research team injected bone-marrow-derived-mesenchymal stem cells into the brain of the induced mice, the result showed that there is a diminution of amyloid-b by the reactivation of microglia that were re-stimulated by the injection of the stem cells. Thus the research team arrived at the conclusion that BMMSCs can promote reduction of the amyloid-b through the microglial activation in the induced Alzheimers brain, suggesting a potential therapeutic agent against Alzheimers disease. (453) however, in the journal the research team fail to considered the other cause of Alzheimer the neruofibrillary tangles Conclusion In conclusion, it is clear that the development of stem cells is one field of biotechnology that is emerging quickly as the understanding of natural biological systems increase, along with the fact that the diversity of biotechnology is potentially limitless in the field of medical research. For example, during the process of creating a suitable environment for the embryonic stem cells to grow, researchers have accidentally created a solution that can keep donated organs for longer periods of time, allowing a higher chance of success to the transplant surgery after a long period of travel. In the future, once more is understood about stem cells, the whole technology may be advanced enough to reconstruct an entire limb. There remains much controversy around this field, due to the researchers ethical practices, notably, obtaining new stem cells. Referencing Kil Lee, Jong, Hee Kyung Jin, and Jae-sung Bae. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells reduce brain. Neuroscience Letter 450.2 (2009): 136-41. Web. 31 May 2010. . S. Shihabuddin, Lamya, and Isabelle Aubert. Stem cell transplantation for neurometabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. Neuropharmacology 58. (2010): 845-54. Web. 12 May 2010. . Stem Cell Basics. In Stem Cell Information [World Wide Web site]. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009 [cited Wednesday, May 12, 2010]ÂÂ  Available at Unknown, Unknown. What is the history of stem cell research? History of Stem Cell Research. AllAboutPopularIssues.org, 2010. Web. 12 May 2010. . Unknown, Unknown. What is Alzheimer? Alzheimers Association. Alzheimers Association, 06 April 2010. Web. 28 May 2010. . Unknown, Unknown. Stem cell. Stem Cell. AlphaMed Press, 28 May 2010. Web. 12 May 2010. . Keener, Kevin, Thomas Hoban, and Rekha Balasubramanian. BIOTECHNOLOGY and its APPLICATIONS. North Carolina State University. North Carolina State University, 06/03/2010. Web. 12 May 2010. . Lindvall O (2003). Stem cells for cell therapy in Parkinsons disease. Pharmacol Res 47 (4): 279-87. Doi: 10.1016/S1043-6618(03)00037-9. PMIDÂÂ  12644384.ÂÂ   Goldman S, Windrem M (2006). Cell replacement therapy in neurological disease. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 361 (1473): 1463-75. Doi: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1886. PMIDÂÂ  16939969. Unknown, Unknown. Stem Cells and self-Renewal. isscr. ISSCR, 2010. Web. 28 May 2010. www.isscr.org/public/SC_self-renewal.pdf Unknown, Unknown. Neurofibrillary Tangles. Department of Pathology. University of Oklahoma, 2010. Web. 30 May 2010. .