Compare and Contrast of Agriculture Technology Between hang Dynasty and Han Dynasty Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast of Agriculture Technology Between hang Dynasty and Han Dynasty Essay For the past five thousand years, human civilizations have existed on the earth and constantly reforming and contributing to our society. The excellences human made are unprecedented, and the experience theses civilizations cumulated can also be continuously studied by the people nowadays. This year, we learnt many great civilizations, among the civilizations in ancient China, the Shang dynasty and the Han dynasty are the most outstanding civilizations. Their cultures are distinct and their contributions are tremendous. Although now we can find their stories, cultures and inventions only on history books, their contributions and achievements are still having deep affection to us. Agriculture is a very significant part of a civilization. Without agriculture, making progress is impossible. Agriculture is the foundation of everything. Agriculture is a good reflection of science and technology in a civilization. During the comparing and contrasting of the agriculture of Shang dynasty and Han dynasty, we can get a deeper understanding of the great knowledge and intelligent of the people of the two dynasties. We can also discover the development and progress they have made. The Shang dynasty is the second dynasty in Chinese history. The Shang Dynasty last from 1600 B. C. to 1046 B. C. and experienced three big stages. The Han dynasty can be divided into two historical period which are western Han dynasty (202 B. C. to 9 A. D. ) and eastern Han dynasty (25A. D. to 220 A. D. ) Both Shang dynasty and Han dynasty are important civilization in Chinese history. Also, both dynasties made big breakthrough in agriculture. From the research of a large number of archaeological material and oracle records, archaeologists concluded that the Shang dynasty is operating mostly on agriculture. Although at that time, the handicraft industry has been developed, agriculture is still the ifeline of the economy during Shang dynasty. Basically, the main type of agriculture during Shang dynasty was glebe farming, and in the southward of Shang dynasty, which is the Yangtze River area, the popular agriculture type was paddy fields farming. A very important reason that stimulates the development of agricultural technology during the Shang dynasty is the development of bronze industry. During Shang dynasty, the bronze industry developed very quickly. Especially in the late Shang dynasty, the development of bronze industry came into its own stage. The appearance of bronze tools made the agricultural technology developed quickly. The question that most people will concern is that how did people in Shang dynasty make bronze tools? It is true that it was a very hard process for people in the Shang dynasty to make bronze tools. So, at the beginning, the amounts of bronze tools are very limited. People in the Shang dynasty usually use carpentry tools including knife, adz, and axes to make bronze tools. In the middle Shang period, craftsmen can already made variety kinds of bronze tools like shovels, Jues, adz. However, at that time, there were no enough sources of cooper metal compared with sources of stone tools; also, the process of making bronze tools is complicated. As the result, in the middle period of Shang dynasty, bronze tools were not widely used. Also, most of the bronze tools were under the control of agricultural officers. Civilians and slaves cannot have these bronze tools. They can only use the heavy farm tools like stone spade, axes. Then, at the late period of the Shang dynasty, this problem got solved because of the expansion of the production scale. At the same time, the appearance of irrigation technology and the strict management also helped to make the development of the agriculture in the Shang dynasty. As the main production department during the Shang dynasty, the developed agricultural technology provided the society with lots of food, in this way, a large number of people leave the career of agricultural production and began to work in other aspects for example business people, officers, soldiers, professional producers and so on. The government of Han dynasty put lots of effort on the restore and development of agricultural. Han dynasty began after the perish of Qin dynasty. At the beginning of the Han dynasty, because of the long period of wars occur during the late period of the Qin dynasty, the agricultural and economy paralyzed. The people died in the wars are mostly farmers, as a result, the labor decrease and there‘s not enough people to take care of the cropland. At that time, the total population went straight down from 20 million to 8 million. Emperor Gaozu of Han solved these problems and agriculture of Han dynasty restored and developed very quickly. There were lots of innovations and invention of agriculture during the Han dynasty. These achievements can be divided into three aspects. Firstly, there are huge developments towards the irrigation. Secondly, there are improvements of agricultural tools and technology. The third one is the cultivation of crops and vegetables. At the beginning of the Han dynasty, there are flood from upstream the Yellow River every year. It is a big hazard to the residents who lived in the downstream of the Yellow River. Their croplands got destroyed and some of them lost their houses. Emperor Wudi of Han lead his people solved this problem. Thirty thousand people work together to remove the siltation of the river and planted trees on the upstream of the river. After this recuperation, there was no big flood occurred in the Yellow River. There are lots of interesting and useful inventions during the Han dynasty. Above is agriculture equipment called Libi. Libi is a plow equipped with a double moldboard. People put Libi on a plough can turns up the soil on each side of the furrow. With the Libi, the efficiency of cultivation increase. The application of Libi is a big improvement in agriculture. Also, it is nearly 1000 years earlier than Europe of using the similar thing. Above is another invention which is called Lou. It is an animal- drawn seed plough. It has three feed. With Lou, people can do cultivation job three rows at a time. Lou can do three tasks: opening ditches, sowing, covering with soil at one time. Lou made farmers during the Han dynasty save much times and did more works. Lou increased the efficiency of the busy working farmers. The popularization of cultivation works with cattle would be another development on agriculture during the Han Dynasty. At that time, the most popular ways of cultivation are two people with three cattle and one people with two cattle. The ways that cultivation using cattle made people worked easily. The third achievement that we mentioned above is the cultivation crops and vegetables. Firstly, people made the cultivation of crops regionalized. In the northern area, people grew wheat, and In the Yangtze River area and Southern area, people grew rice. Also then the scales of the cultivation get larger. Another impressive improvement on agriculture is the cultivation of vegetables. During the Han dynasty, people already has variety chooses of vegetables including the vegetables we usually eat now like celeries, carrot, taro, green onion, garlic and so on. The most amazing thing is that during Han dynasty, people already learnt to grow vegetables in the greenhouse. During the eastern Han period, there were over 20 kinds of vegetables grew in the greenhouse. The use of greenhouse is one thousand years earlier than Europe. The biggest difference of agriculture between Shang Dynasty and Han Dynasty is the mode of production. Shang dynasty is a slavery society, slaves worked collectively. Also, During Shang dynasty, the croplands were all belonged to the emperor of Shang, and he put the land law of serf society into practice. As the image show above, at that time, the roads and channel crisscross and partitioned the cropland into squares. The emperor of Shang forced people work on the cropland. The outside parts are private fields and the inside part is public field. On the opposite, during the Han dynasty, people live and cultivation in the unit of a family. People have their own croplands. This kind of mode of production was usually described as small-scale farming by individual owners. Nowadays, in the remote mountain area or countryside, people are still using this kind of mode of production. A question may come out, why the first kind of production mode didn’t last long and in the contrary the second kind of production mode last till today. In my opinion, in the Shang dynasty’s example, people don’t have their own croplands. They work hard but the wheat and rice that come out of the croplands did not belongs to them, so they are not satisfy with the works they are doing. In contrast, with the second kind of mode of production, people are glad because if they put more effort, they will get more payback, so they are satisfy with their works and willing to do better. From the analyzing of the agriculture technology and development of Shang dynasty and Han dynasty, we can certainly conclude that the development in agriculture of both dynasties are significant and they both show their incredible intelligence to us. Their inventions and new ideas gave us inspirations. We can also see the huge improvement from Shang dynasty to Han dynasty in the 800 years. Their progresses are starling.

Properly Format An Apa Style Paper English Language Essay

Properly Format An Apa Style Paper English Language Essay In this paper we will explore how to properly format an APA style paper. This example will be of use to introductory psychology students who have never had any exposure to APA format. For senior students, this paper may serve as a useful reminder of the key elements of APA style. Learning APA Format for Psychology Students Frequently, students are required to write psychology papers. However, in doing so, there are two broad skills that need to be learned. The first skill is related to the content of the paper. For example, a student writing a paper about dreaming is likely to incorporate the ideas of Freud (1953) or even Hobson and McCarley (1977). The second skill is tied to properly formatting the paper. In psychology, we make use of the format developed by the American Psychological Association (APA: 2001). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the various aspects of APA format for psychology students. In psychology, there are two types of APA style papers. One format, which I call the quantitative paper, includes a method, results and discussion section. In statistics and research methods courses, you will tend to adopt the quantitative approach. I have published a number of articles in this format (e.g., Dyce OConnor, 1994). In this course you are not collecting and analyzing data, therefore, you do not include subtitles for the methods, results and discussion sections. The paper that you are going to write is a qualitative paper. This style of paper does not involve statistical analyses, rather, it involves a synthesis of ideas (e.g., Dyce, 1994). 1) Title Page The first thing students need to learn how to master in APA format is the title page. First, you will notice that the title page is numbered in the upper right corner. In fact, all page numbers are marked in the upper right hand corner. Please note the margins are one inch all the way around and the entire content is double spaced with 12 point font. As well, a good suggestion is to use Times New Roman for the text font. Second, you will notice something called Running head. To access the header in Microsoft Word 2007, at the top of Word select Insert. Under the tab Insert you will find something called Header. Select Header and click on the first option called BLANK. Click on the greyed area and then type in the following Running head: LEARNING APA FORMAT. However, when you get to page two of your document, click on the head in the document. When you do so, look to about the center of tab section of Word and find DESIGN. Under this tab, select Different first page. Then type the words LEARNING APA FORMAT (of course, your words will be differentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) and click on the red X in the upper right hand corner of the document. If you do so, this will bring you back to your regular document. Finally, on the title page of your article, your name, and institution are located in the center. In my case, the title of the paper is Learning APA Format for Psychology Students. Just below the title you will put your name. For many academic papers, there are multiple authors. The question isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ who goes first? A natural answer to this question would be to put the names in alphabetical order. However, in academic papers, the individual who does most of the work is often the lead author. Below your name, you will put your institution, and in our case it will be Universal University. 2) Abstract The second page is called the Abstract. The word abstract is centered and placed at the top of the page. The abstract itself is a short summary of the paper. In fact, you might be wise to write the abstract after you have finished your paper. The publication manual suggests that the abstract has a number of characteristics. The abstract is accurate as it does not include information that does not appear in the body of the paper. It is concise (i.e., 120 words or less). The purpose of the abstract is to report, not to evaluate. A well-prepared abstract can be the most important paragraph in your article (APA, 2001, p. 12). 3) Body of the Paper The third page is where you start the body of your paper. The title that you used on the first page of your paper is also used at the very top of the third page. In fact, the titles that appear on the first and third page are exactly the same. The title is centered. In the first paragraph, you will want to broadly introduce your topic. Authors often begin with the broad strokes of the research area they are about to describe. Next, you describe more specifically what you are going to talk about. You may take a paragraph or two to introduce your topic. On the third and subsequent pages of the paper, there will be numerous opportunities to discuss other authors ideas. Simply stated, you do not necessarily need to have an entirely original idea for a psychology paper (particularly a student paper). Making reference to another authors ideas can be done in two ways. You can either paraphrase an idea or cite the author directly. When you paraphrase, you are taking another individuals ideas and then putting them into your own words. If you paraphrase, you will have to indicate where the idea came from. For example, lets consider the following paragraph. There many views on dreaming. On the one hand, there is the Activation Synthesis Hypothesis (ASH: Hobson McCarley, 1977). Proponents of the ASH believe that dreams are largely physiological, starting with bursts of electrical energy from the pons, with the cerebral cortex later trying to make sense of this energy. In sum, Hobson and McCarley (1977) do not believe that dreams are meaningful. On the other hand, individuals such as Freud believe that dreams are loaded with meaning. Freud (1953) suggested that there are two components to dreams. The manifest content is the storyline, whereas the latent content is the underlying meaning. According to Freud, blah blah blah (1900, p. 52). You will notice that in this paragraph, I am paraphrasing and directly quoting authors. To avoid plagiarism, you will need to use one or more of these strategies. For example, in the above paragraph I paraphrase the ideas of Hobson and McCarley. In doing so, I do not directly lift these authors ideas (i.e., I am not using their ideas word for word). In brief, when using an idea from some source, you need to indicate where this idea came from. Not only is this proper formatting, but it also gives readers the opportunity to check the original source for themselves. You may be saying to yourself, how do readers know where to look? This is why we have a reference section that is found at the very back of the paper (we will talk more about this in a moment). You will also notice that in the bolded paragraph that I directly quote Freud. I am sure Freud never said blah blah blah but you get the idea. Whenever you directly (exactly) use someone elses ideas, you need to indicate the author, the year that the article/book was published and the page number from where the idea came from. It is very important to master this formatting otherwise you might be accused of plagiarism. Consider these factitious examplesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Freud (1900) suggests that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (p. 25). Dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (Freud, 1900, p. 25). Freud suggested that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (1990, p. 25) You will note that in all three examples, the quote is exact, and the author, year and the page number are listed. If an article/book has multiple authors, the authors names must appear in the body of the paper in the order that they are listed in the original work. Consider these factitious examplesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Freud and Dyce (1900) suggest that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (p. 25). Dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (Freud Dyce, 1900, p. 25). Freud and Dyce suggested that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (1990, p. 25) Notice the difference between the use of and and. The (shift 7 on your keyboard) is called ampersand. Ampersand is used when you source or quote within parentheses, whereas the word and is used outside of parentheses. For example, in the first example above, I use Freud and Dyce (1900) whereas in the second example I use Freud Dyce, 1900, p. 25. Lets suppose you want to paraphrase my lecture ideas (or email) in your paper. The way to do so is as followsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It has been suggested that classical conditioning was developed by Pavlov in the early 1900s (J. A. Dyce, personal communication, October 5, 2005). However, personal communications will not appear in the reference section. In fact, it is one of the few exceptions where a cited author does not appear in the reference section. In general, an author that is listed in the body of paper must appear in the reference section, and vice versa. Use personal communications when the data is not recoverable. I have noticed in recent years that many students use YouTube for presentations. If you use this kind of source for your paper, list it as follows in the body of your paperà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The date (2009, October 10) refers to the date when the video was watched. Dyce (2009, October 10) indicates thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 4) References The final page of your paper is the reference page, and it occurs on an entirely new page. The reference page lists all of the references that you used in your paper. The word References appears at the top and is centered (see my example at the end of this paper). The authors are listed in alphabetical order according to the first author of the paper. For example, consider these factious articles. Freud, S., Dyce, J. (2001) Flinstone, F., Rubble, B. (2001) Cat, T., Dogs, J., Fish, T. (2001) With this particular collection, the Cat article would appear first, then Flinstone and then Freud. You would not reverse the names in the references list. For example, it might be tempting to reverse the names Freud and Dyce, because they are in improper alphabetical order. However, for a single article, the order must remain the same way as it does in the original article. The lead author must remain the lead author. The various sources that you use can take the form of books, journal articles, or a chapter from a book. The following are some examples of formatting that are loosely taken from the APA manual. One author, journal article Dyce, J. A. (2000). The psychology of rats, cats, and wild dogs. Journal of Animal Behavior, 34, 35-45. Two authors, journal article Dyce, J. A., Kulak, A. (2000). The psychology of selling a house. Journal of Selling, 50, 56-89. Magazine Article Dyce, J. A., Kulak, A. (2000, October 10). Whats another word for thesaurus? Science, 450, 445-446. Newspaper article Dyce, J. (2005, October 1). The marital benefits of the expression You are right and I am sorry. The Washington Post, pp. A4. Book Dyce, J. (1900). How to live more than 100 years and not show your age. Washington, DC: American Publication Press. Encyclopedia Dyce, J. (1980). The merits of procrastination. In the new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 25, pp. 50-51). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. YouTube Dyce, J. A. (2009, October 10). What is psychology? [Video file]. Retrieved from You will notice for these references that the first line is flush to the left, and every other line is indented. In other words, the first line overhangs the other lines. You will also notice that there are a variety of ways in which material can be cited. Pay close attention to the location of periods and spacing. There are other sources that you could use for your paper, and the APA manual is filled with different ways in which material is cited (see chapter 4 of the 5th edition). If you have other questions about APA format, you could take a look at the manual. As of 2009, the 6th Edition has been published. In my opinion, the 6th edition is better organized than the 5th edition. Alternative, you might conduct a Google search using the key words APA format and see what you come up with. Although there are many nuances to APA format, following the examples in this paper should give you a very good start on how to write a psychology paper. 5) Final Comments K.M.S Throughout this paper, I have discussed the basics of APA style. However, formatting is only one part of proper writing skills. More importantly, students need to learn how to write. Learning how to write academic papers is not an easy task and takes years to master. The three most important words for good writing are edit, edit, edit. The goal of which is to be as clear and concise as possible. Often when composing something, it is difficult see our mistakes, and we often blur by them when reviewing. For this reason, it is useful to put your paper down for a day and then reread your work (alternatively, get a friend to proof your paper). Allow yourself enough time to write as rushed work is easily identifiable. As an example, it took about one day to put this sample paper together. If you consider that I am familiar with APA style and write fairly well, the process of putting your paper together is likely to take longer. Heed this advice and you should receive a good grade on your paper. Additions provided by A.E. Finally, if you feel that more needs to be added to this paper or there are mistakes, I would ask that you download the paper, make the changes, initial the changes with a textbox (see below), and then email the paper back to me ([emailprotected]). I will then repost the sample paper to the website.

Slavery and Human Decency :: American America History

Discrimination is very old in its origins. From the earliest periods of human existence, groups developed prejudices toward others and then discriminated against those whom they regarded as different or inferior. Many attempts were taken to maintain or increase power, prestige, or even wealth; groups found it easy to invent or accept the idea that others were somehow inferior to them and thus not deserving of equal treatment. Among the many differences that could be used as a basis for discrimination, people quickly discovered that physical appearance was the easiest to identify. It required no subtle analysis, no careful contemplation, but only a superficial glance at those visual features that would later be used to identify "race". The shape of one's nose, color of one's hair, or even the color of one's skin describes the universal nature of what we now call racial consciousness. Slavery is a perfect example. Racial animosity grew in both the North and South, and in many instances led to physical violence. The era of slavery should have been called the era of inhumanity. Slavery was inhumane, barbaric, and ultimately disgusting. In 1800 the population of the United States included 893,602 slaves, of which only 36,505 were in northern states (Phillips 18). Slaves were treated as if they were a piece of meat. The defined characteristics of slaves are as follows, " their labor or services are obtained through force; their physical beings are regarded as the property of another person, their master; they are entirely subject to their master's or owner's will" (Phillips 17). Slave life according to historians has never been and will never be classified as a so-called idyllic experience. There was little in the way of recreation and other forms of entertainment to pass the time. It must be remembered that, slaves had no time they could call their own. Rarely did slaves get any "free time" at all, but when they did it was spent recuperating from long sixteen-hour workdays. Most slaves were no t well taken care of. Many slaves went for days without eating, and in turn this caused their work pace to slow. According to Collier, plantation slaves worked sixteen-hour days in the summer, and were only given three pounds of bacon or pork and roughly twelve quarts of cornmeal a week (26). Many slave owners or overseers would peruse the plantations and lash out at any given slave particularly because they simply weren't working hard enough.

Colonization and the Black Mans Struggle Essay -- A Level Essays

Colonization and the Black Man's Struggle Slavery was one of the most horrific and in human acts ever instilled on a race of people ever in our world's history. People were stolen from their homelands, broken apart from their families, and were thrust into a lifestyle that inhibited their every move and instilled harsh punishments on them. It is almost impossible for many of us to comprehend the mindsets that these slave owners possessed, but history paints a truly horrific and emotional picture for us all to see. In speaking about slavery many quickly think of the African struggle under the possession of the whites, but slavery is not nearly as recent an occurrence as 1492 when Columbus reached the New World. For thousands of years slaves have been used for means of menial labor and the general dirty work of the more wealthy proprietors. Slaves were used in the creation of the pyramids in Egypt, work on Mayan temples in South America, and even used by the Mongols in northern Asia as a part of the Mongolian fighting machine. The enslavement of the Africans, however, created a legacy of oppression and tyranny that carried on much longer after the abolition of the systems. The reason for this is that African slaves were not looked upon as humans at all, but as a commodity that could be abused and sold purely for the purpose of making a profit. In most other instances of slavery throughout history motives like religion and love for a king drove the souls of the men and women laborers. This is the major striking difference between the Africans enslaved by the white man from the early fifteen hundreds until today. Although today slavery is abolished in all of Europe and America the people of Africa are still in a sense enslaved by... ... domination over others. Bibliography Barrett, E. Leonard. (1997). The Rastafarians. Boston: Beacon Press. Bridges, George. (1828). The Annals of Jamaica. London: Frank Cass and Company Limited. Carley, Mary. (1963). Jamaica: Old and the New. New York: Fredrick A. Praeger Publishing. Floyd, Berry. (1979). Jamaica- an Island Microcosm. New York: Saint Peters Press. Gardner, W. J. (1873). A History of Jamaica. London: Frank Cass and Company Limited. Green, Cencilia. (1997). Historical Roots of Modern Caribbean Politics. Against the Current. Vol. 12, (4), 34-38. Hart, Richard. (1999). Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour, and Economic Development in Jamaica. Kingston: Canoe Press. Manley, Michael. (1975). A Voice at the Workplace. Washington D. C.: Howard University Press. Verrill, A. Hyatt. (1931). Jamaica of Today. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.

Essay --

Paul’s first contact with a major center of slavery may have been in the city of Tyre. Groups of Gentile slave of both sexes from Syria and beyond came to Jerusalem through Tyre’s slave-market. He passed through Tyre on his way to Jerusalem. Paul went on to Judea and Jerusalem. In Judea and Jerusalem, Paul undoubtedly saw many slaves working in a wide variety of activities, including positions of high responsibility in the court of Herod and the families of high priest. Slaves varied place to place which determined the slavery population and gender. Around Jerusalem itself it seemed to have been no industries requiring of slaves nor many rural estates which used slave-labor in large numbers. Within the city Paul saw great number of domestic and civil slaves, both Jews and Gentile. One of the places Paul visited was Tarsus. In Tarsus where Paul was born was mostly woman since the type of work was mostly linen weaving, dyeing, leather cutting, and carpentry. Paul travelled from Tarsus to Corinth and saw many different types of slaves on this journey. From Tarsus, Paul continued on to Corinth. In Jerusalem as well as in Corinth, Paul saw slaves whose special abilities made it favorable to their owners to rent them by the day or by contract. In short Paul, was already acquainted with slavery before he left Jerusalem. When Paul traveled Asia Minor he saw an increasingly large slave population in the cities where the total of the slave population may have been about one third of the entire body of residents. In Ephesus slaves were involved in the widest thinkable range of activities, including working in the local wholesale and distributing agencies and managing retail stores. Very commonly, people were engaged in manufacturing, dis... ...hrough the imagery of slavery. b. Philemon, Letter to- written between 58AD and 60AD while Paul was in Roman prison. i. The letter was written to Philemon, who was a wealthy Gentile Christian in Colossae who became a believer a believer under Paul’s ministry (philem 19) ii. The heart of the letter centers upon Onesimus, Philemon’s slave who somehow wronged his master (philem 18), made his way to Paul in prison (philem 9), was converted (philem 10), and became a useful partners (philem 11, 13) But under the existing laws governing slaver, Paul knows that Onesimus must be returned to his rightful owner. Paul implores Philemon not only to receive (philem 17, forgive (philem 18: see Forgiveness) and acknowledge Onesimus’ new status as a fellow believer (philem 16), but to relinquish all claims upon Onesimus so that he can continue serving with Paul. (Philem 13, 21).

Position Supporting Stem Cell Research Essay

Cells that can make a distinction into a variety of cell types are called stem cells and comprise embryonic stem (ES) cells and adult stem cells. Since ES cells can turn into a new organism or can differentiate into any tissue type, they are said to be â€Å"totipotent.† Adult stem cells, conversely, as they cannot turn into any type of tissue, are said to be â€Å"pluripotent.† For instance, bone marrow stem cells can turn into red blood cells, T-lymphocytes, or B-lymphocytes, however not muscle or bone cells. Nerve stem cells can as well turn into different types of nerve tissue. Stem cell research attempts to engineer tissues from the body’s stem cells to replace defective, damaged, or aging tissues. In 1998, scientists were capable to grow human ES cells indefinitely. Since then, researchers have performed stem cell experiments on mammals and have had some achievement in repairing spinal chord injuries in mice. Since scientists cannot use federal funds to carry out research on embryos, private corporations, most particularly the Geron Corporation, have funded ES cell research. Geron, awaiting possible ethical concerns, appointed its own ethics advisory board. The Clinton administration sought to loosen the interpretation of the ban on embryo research to permit the government to sponsor research on the use of ES cells once they were available. President G. W. Bush had made the decision to permit use merely of about sixty existing cell lines, and not the production of embryonic cell lines particularly made for the purpose of use for stem cells[1]. The majority of the stem cell procedures proposed to date would employ the ES cells from embryos formed by couples in fertility clinics. In the United States, thousands of embryos are discarded each year as IVF couples cannot use all of their embryos. A couple may make three-hundred embryos in an attempt give birth to one child. One more approach to stem cell research suggests that researchers make embryos for scientific and medical purposes. This approach, recognized as therapeutic cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), engrosses transferring the nucleus from a cell in a person’s body into an enucleated egg[2]. The ES cells from this new embryo would match the tissue in the person’s body, therefore avoiding the potential tissue rejection problems that might occur in stem cell therapy. The potential of stem cell research is huge, for the reason that so many diseases result from tissue damage. Stem cell research could bring about advances in treating paralysis, diabetes, heart disease, pancreatitis, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, arthritis, as well as many further conditions. [3] Thus human pluripotent stem cell research is very important as firstly it propose help in understanding the actions that take place during normal human development. The understanding of human cell development could make possible further understandings regarding how abnormalities such as cancer occur. Secondly this research helps us to find out why some cells turn into heart cells whereas other cells turn into blood cells. Although it has been previously recognized that a gene turning on and off is central to cell development, however it is not recognized what makes these gene turn on and off–stem cell research will most probably give a possible explanation. In a realistic sense this could make possible further understandings of cell development abnormalities. Thirdly pure samples of specific cell types could be used for testing different chemical compounds so as to develop medicines to treat disease[4]. This would make more efficient the process of medical testing in order that merely medicines that have a helpful effect on cell lines would be tested on animals and humans. And most significantly this research could be very helpful for cell transplantation therapies. Theoretically, stem cells could be â€Å"grown† into replacements for diseased or destroyed cells[5]. This would permit medical science to get to the bottom of diseases of organ failure for instance diabetes as well as neurological disorders for instance Parkinson’s disease. The main protest to this promising research has to do with the source of ES cells. ES cells can be acquired from aborted embryos, embryos remaining after infertility treatments (IVF), embryos created only for research by IVF techniques, and from SCNT techniques (that is therapeutic cloning)[6]. To get ES cells, consequently, one have to either create embryos that will be used, manipulated, or destroyed, or one have to get embryos leftover from infertility treatments. However here is where the abortion debate resurfaces, as these techniques would engross treating embryos as mere things or objects and would not give embryos the esteem they deserve, as said by some critics. That is to say that a proper, fair and realistic account of what comes out of the freezer is a 5-day-old ball of about 150 cells, and of that the researchers will want to use about 30. What comes out of the freezer is unquestionably human tissue however it is not human. That ball of cells has no hope at all of becoming a human being without further intervention. One must not confuse the existence of a chance of becoming a human being with actually being human. The tissue can be likened to organs taken from a lately deceased person for transplant. Neither the organ nor the tissue is dead; it is human tissue but it is not human. One may say the same of sperm, for instance, every sperm must be protected that is available for the reason that it might, under circumstances where other things have to happen, become a human. That is practically the same thought. What has to happen there is that the sperm has to meet with an egg to fertilize that egg, which then has to be looked after. What has to happen with a 5-day-old ball of cells in which the egg and sperm have previously met is that it after that has to be implanted in a woman and stay there for nine months. In both cases nothing is going to happen unless other things are brought into play. It is a very strong view that it is not being talked about a human, rather about human tissue that will with the intervention of others, and only with the intervention of others, has the chance of becoming human. A parent’s right must be supported to demand that any of these untouched fertilized eggs be left untouched for afterward use or not be used for research. Very few, if any, parents who have had the advantage of the IVF program would refuse the chance for spare fertilized eggs to be used. They themselves turned to the wonders of science to give them what apparently nature was otherwise going to deny them, those who through the wonders of science have had what must have been their greatest dream realized would definitely not deny the chance for science to make better things for others. After all, how many fertilized eggs at varying stages of development were used in the IVF programs to get to the point where one could have a successful IVF program? †¦ [7] Some supporters of this bill do not deny where one is now with the science. He just wants science to have the opportunity to take him to further and better places. One cannot say that there is no practical application of this now, so not do the research. That is the equal of saying to a child that you are not permitted to swim in the pool until you have learned to swim. How can one possibly refuse to do research on the basis that he does not have the researchers’ outcomes? One can not get those outcomes until he proceeds with the research. So, again, one must be very much on the side of proceeding with stem cell research. Some of the objections which have their foundation in a religious view held by their proponents. Living by a decent set of values is far more vital than defending the doctrine of one church over another. If you lead a good life and if there is a kingdom of heaven you will be welcome into his or heaven. Your religion is your business and no-one else’s. When you make your religion an issue, you drag it into the political domain and you tarnish it. It follows that we attach very little importance or interest to arguments over religious dogma. Similarly, we do not turn to the state to legislate for one religious view over another. Without doubt, we can clearly see the risks of adopting a view that your religion is the right one and the rest of the world must be converted. This point is quite simple: each to his own religion. If you say to one that doing something is against God’s will, then he will respond by assuring you that, if God is annoyed, God will punish whoever has done that thing. The state should never be used as God’s enforcer. Over the years, as we have been approaching 50, we can assure you that we have every confidence in God’s capability to settle accounts. It has not been our experience that he or she usually waits until you are dead. Numerous people who have done the wrong thing have met their maker in a practical sense while they were still alive[8]. In brief, we are talking about fertilized eggs that are in the freezer. They have not the slightest chance of becoming human unless they are accepted by the mother to be carried for 9 months. We are talking about fertilized eggs where that is not the case. The outcome is that they are either going in the bin or going to be used for the betterment of mankind. My other proposition is that we cannot now say whether the science is good or bad. We do not know where the science is going to take us. Science of itself is not fundamentally good or bad; it is what we do with it that will make that case. We have to understand that the benefits of this research may take years to come. That merely makes us say: start more quickly. We simply ask those who, due to their religious beliefs, have a very authentic concern regarding this bill to accept that they are entitled to follow their religious beliefs; they are not entitled to demand by legislation that everybody else does the same. References: Adil E. Shamoo, David B. Resnik. Responsible Conduct of Research; Oxford University Press, 2003 Daniel Callahan. What Price Better Health? Hazards of the Research Imperative; University of California Press, 2003 John Harris. On Cloning; Routledge, 2004 Sandra Braman. Biotechnology and Communication: The Meta-Technologies of Information; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004 Thomas Kemp. â€Å"The Stem Cell Debate: A Veblenian Perspective†; Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 38, 2004. [1] Daniel Callahanpg 55 [2] John Harris, pg 90 [3] Daniel Callahan, pg 67-69 [4] Thomas Kemp, pg 6 [5] ibid [6] John Harris, pg 78-79 [7] Sandra Braman, pg 105 [8] Adil E. Shamoo, David B. Resnik, pg 210

Night World : The Chosen Chapter 9

How long since he'd identified with humans? That had all stopped the day he stopped being human himself. Not at the moment he'd stopped being human, though. At first all his anger had been for Hunter Redfern†¦. Waking up from the dead was an experience you don't forget. For Quinn, it happened in the Redfern cabin on a husk mattress in front of the fire. He opened his eyes to see three beautiful girls leaning over him. Garnet, with her wine-colored hair shining in the ruby light, Lily with her black hair and her eyes like topaz, and Dove, his own Dove, brown-haired and gentle, with anxious love in her face. That was when Hunter informed him that he'd been dead for three days. â€Å"I told your father you'd gone to Plymouth; don't tell him otherwise. And don't try to move yet; you're too weak. We'll bring in something soon and you can feed.† He stood behind his daughters, his arms around them, all of them looking down at Quinn. â€Å"Be happy. You're one of us now.† But all Quinn felt was horror-and pain. When he put his thumbs to his teeth, he found the source of the pain. His canine teeth were as long as a wildcat's and they throbbed at the slightest touch. He was a monster. An unholy creature who needed blood to survive. Hunter Redfern had been telling the truth about his family, and he'd changed Quinn into one of them. Insane with fury, Quinn jumped up and tried to get his hands around Hunter's throat. And Hunter just laughed, fending off the attack easily. The next thing Quinn knew, he was running down the blazed trail in the forest, heading for his father's house. Staggering and stumbling down the trail, rather. He was almost too weak to walk. Then suddenly Dove was beside him. Little Dove who looked as if she couldn't outrun a flower. She steadied him, held him up, and tried to convince him to go back. But Quinn could only think of one thing: getting to his father. His father was a minister; his father would know what to do. His father would help. And Dove, at last, agreed to go with him. Later Quinn would realize that of course he should have known better. They reached Quinn's home. At that point, if Quinn was afraid of anything, it was that his father wouldn't believe this wild story of bloodthirst and death. But one look at Quinn's new teeth convinced his father of everything. He could recognize a devil when he saw one, he said. And he knew his duty. Like every Puritan's, it was to cast out sin and evil wherever he found it. With that, his father picked up a brand from the fire-a good piece of seasoned pine-and then grabbed Dove by the hair. It was around this time that the screaming started, the screaming Quinn would be able to hear forever after if he listened. Dove was too gentle to put up much of a fight. And Quinn himself was too weak to save her. He tried. He threw himself on top of Dove to shield her from the stake. He would always have the scar on his side to prove it. But the wood that nicked him pierced Dove to the heart. She died looking up at him, the light in her brown eyes going out. Then everything was confusion, with his father chasing him, crying, brandishing the bloody stake pulled from Dove's body. It ended when Hunter Red-fern appeared at the door with Lily and Garnet. They took Quinn and Dove home with them, while Quinn's father went running to the neighbors for help. He wanted help burning the Redfern cabin down. That was when Hunter said it, the thing that severed Quinn's ties with his old world. He looked down at his dead daughter and said, â€Å"She was too gentle to live in a world full of humans. Do you think you can do any better?† And Quinn, dazed and starving, so frightened and full of horror that he couldn't talk, decided then that he would. Humans were the enemy. No matter what he did, they would never accept him. He had become something they could only hate-so he might as well become it thoroughly. â€Å"You see, you don't have a family anymore,† Hunter mused. â€Å"Unless it's the Redferns.† Since then, Quinn had thought of himself only as a vampire. He shook his head, feeling clearer than he had for days. The girl had disturbed him. The girl in the cellar, the girl whose face he had never seen. For two days after that night, all he could think of was somehow finding her. What had happened between them†¦ well, he still didn't understand that. If she had been a witch, he'd have thought she bewitched him. But she was human. And she'd made him doubt everything he knew about humans. She'd awakened feelings that had been sleeping since Dove died in his arms. But now†¦ now he thought it was just as well he hadn't been able to find her. Because the cellar girl wasn't just human, she was a vampire hunter. Like his father. His father, who, wild-eyed and sobbing, had driven the stake through Dove's heart. As always, Quinn felt himself losing his grip on sanity as he remembered it. What a pity that he'd have to kill the cellar girl the next time he saw her. But there was no help for it. Vampire hunters were worse than the ordinary human vermin, who were just stupid. Vampire hunters were the sin and the evil that had to be cast out. The Night World was the only world. And I haven't been to the dub in a week, Quinn thought, showing his teeth. He laughed out loud, a strange and brittle sound. Well, I guess I'd better go tonight. It's all part of the great dance, you see, he thought to the cellar girl, who of course couldn't hear him. The dance of life and death. The dance that's going on right this minute all over the world, in African savannas and Arctic snowfields and the bushes in Boston Common. Killing and eating. Hunting and dying. A spider snags a bluebottle fly; a polar bear grabs a seal. A coyote springs on a rabbit. It's the way the world has always been. Humans were part of it, too, except that they let slaughterhouses do the killing for them and received their prey in the form of McDonald's hamburgers. There was an order to things. The dance required that someone be the hunter and someone else be the hunted. With all those young girls longing to offer themselves to the darkness, it would be cruel of Quinn not to provide a darkness to oblige them. They were all only playing their parts. Quinn headed for the club, laughing in a way that scared even him. The club was only a few streets away from the warehouse, Rashel noted. Made sense. Everything about this operation had the stamp of efficiency, and she sensed Quinn's hand in that. I wonder what he's getting paid to provide the girls for sale? she thought. She'd heard that Quinn liked money. â€Å"Remember, once we get inside, you don't know me,† she said to Daphne. â€Å"It's safer for both of us that way. They might suspect something if they knew that first you escaped and now you're turning up with a stranger.† â€Å"Got it.† Daphne looked excited and a little scared. Under her coat, she was wearing a slinky black top and a brief skirt, and her black-stockinged legs twinkled as she ran toward the club door. Under Rashel's coat, hidden in the lining, was a knife. Like her sword, it was made of lignum vitae, the hardest wood on earth. The sheath had several interesting secret compartments. It was the knife of a ninja, and Sensei, who had taught Rashel the martial arts, wouldn't have approved at all. He wouldn't have approved of Rashel made it in, too, her story must have passed inspection. That was a relief. Inside, the place looked like hell. Not a shambles. It literally looked like Hell. Hades. The Underworld. The lights turned it into a place of infernal fire and twisting purple shadows. The music was weird and dissonant and sounded to Rashel as if it were being played backward. She caught scraps of conversation as she walked across the floor. â€Å"†¦ going out Dumpster diving later†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"†¦ no money. So I gotta jack somebody†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"†¦ told Mummy I'd be at the key-dub meeting†¦Ã¢â‚¬  You get a real cross section here, she thought dryly. Everybody had one thing in common, though; they were young. Kids. The oldest looked about eighteen. The youngest-well, there were a few girls Rashel would put at twelve. She had an impulse to go back and insert something wooden into Ivan. A slow fire that had started in her chest when she first heard about the Crypt was burning hotter and hotter with everything she saw here. This entire place is a snare, a gigantic Venus' flytrap, she thought as she took off her coat and added it to a pile on the floor. But if she wanted to shut it down, she had to stay cool, stick to her plan. Standing by a cast-iron column, she scanned the room for vampires. And there, standing with a little group that in-duded Daphne, was Quinn. It gave Rashel an odd shock to see him, and she wanted to look away. She couldn't. He was laughing, and somehow that caught hold of her like a fishhook. For a moment the morbid lighting of the room seemed rainbow-colored in the radiance shed by that laughter. Appalled, Rashel realized that her face had flushed and her heart was beating fast. I hate him, she thought, and this was true. She did hate him for what he was doing to her. He made her feel unmoored and adrift. Confused. Helpless. She understood why those girls were clustered around him, longing to fling themselves into his darkness like a bunch of virgin sacrifices jumping into a volcano. I mean, what else do you do with a guy like that? she thought. Kill him. It would be the only solution even if he weren't a vampire, she decided with sudden insane cheer. Because prolonged contact with that smile was obviously going to annihilate her. Rashel blinked rapidly, getting a grip on herself. All right. Concentrate on that, on the job to be done. She was going to have to kill him, but not now; right now she had to get herself chosen. Walking carefully on her heels, she went over to join Quinn's group. He didn't see her at first. He was facing Daphne and a couple of other girls, laughing frequently- too frequently. He looked wild and a little feverish to Rashel. A sort of devilish Mad Hatter at an insane tea party. â€Å"†¦ and I just felt so totally awful that I didn't get to meet you,† Daphne was saying, â€Å"and I just wish I knew what happened, because it was just so seriously weird†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She was telling her story, Rashel realized. At least none of the people listening seemed openly suspicious. â€Å"I haven't seen you here before,† came a voice behind her. It belonged to a striking girl with dark hair, very pale skin, and eyes like amber or topaz†¦ or a hawk's. Rashel froze, every muscle tensing, trying to keep her face expressionless. Another vampire. She was sure of it. The camellia-petal skin, the light in the eyes†¦ this must be the girl vampire who'd brought Daphne food in the warehouse. â€Å"No, this is my first time,† Rashel said, making her voice light and eager. â€Å"My name's Shelly.† It was close enough to her own name that she would turn automatically if anyone said it. â€Å"I'm Lily.† The girl said it without warmth, and those hawklike eyes continued to bore straight into Rashel's. Rashel had to struggle to stay on her feet. It's Lily Redfern, she thought, working desperately to keep an idiot smile plastered on her face. I know it is. How many Lily's can there be who'd be working with Quinn? I've got a Redfern right here in front of me. I've got Hunter Redfern's daughter here. For an instant she was tempted to simply make a dash for her knife. Killing a celebrity like Lily seemed almost worth giving up the enclave. But on the other hand, Hunter Redfern was a moderate sort of vampire, with a lot of influence on the Night World Council. He helped keep other vampires in line. Striking at him through his daughter would just make him mad, and then he might start listening to the Councilors who wanted to slaughter humans in droves. And Rashel would lose any hope of getting at the heart of the slave trade, where the real scum were. I hate politics, Rashel thought. But she was already beaming at Lily, prattling for all she was worth. â€Å"It was my friend Marnie who told me about this place, and I'm really glad I came because it's even better than I thought, and I've got this poem I wrote-â€Å" â€Å"Really. Well, I'm dying not to hear it,† Lily said. Her hawklike eyes had lost interest. Her face was filled with open contempt-she'd dismissed Rashel as a hopeless fawning idiot. She walked away without glancing back. Two tests passed. One to go. â€Å"That's what I like about Lily. She's just so absolutely cold,† a girl beside Rashel said. She had wavy bronze hair and bee-stung lips. â€Å"Hi, I'm Juanita,† she added. And she's serious, Rashel thought as she introduced herself. Quinn's group had noticed her at last, and they all seemed to agree with Juanita. They were fascinated by Lily's cold personality, her lack of feeling. They saw it as strength. Yeah, because feeling hurts. Maybe I should worship her, too, Rashel thought. She was finding too many things in common with these girls. â€Å"Lily the ice princess,† another girl murmured. â€Å"It's like she's not even really from earth at all. It's like she's from another planet.† â€Å"Hold that thought,† a new voice said, a crisp, laughing, slightly insane voice. The effect it had on Rashel was remarkable. It made her back stiffen and sent tingles up her palms. It closed her throat. Okay, test number three, she thought, drawing on every ounce of discipline she'd learned in the martial arts. Don't lose zanshin. Stay loose, stay frosty, and go with it. You can do this. She turned to meet Quinn's eyes.