The Quaternary period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Quaternary period - Essay Example 1). In order to accurately gauge the occurrences of the past in preparation for the future, it is necessary to establish a system or a scale of timing of these occurrences. In addition to knowledge of all the operations of the earth, having in mind a specific (or even general) idea of the time that it takes for events to occur gives historians, scientists, and even the man in the street an idea not only of the future impact of actions done today, but also when to expect those effects to materialize. Because of this, many scientists have worked hard at developing different techniques to date the past. Techniques have developed over the years, from those that rely on myth to ones that rely on scientific evidence. The general trend of these techniques as the were developed was to posit an older and older earth. The time for the beginning of the earth was at first "estimated" at about 4 ka BP (Walker, p. 2); now there's evidence of its beginning approximately 15 ba BP (Greene, 2003, p. 347) . Though no one technique is conclusive, they counterbalance each other to produce a general timescale concerning the evolution of the earth., These techniques have proved useful in examining the evidence for the geological and climactic activity of the earth during the Late Glacial and Early/Holocene era, and the possibilities for human activity resulting from it. Modern Quaternary science began when Louis Agassiz posited the former existence of a "Great Ice Period" (Walker, p. 3). Later, when scholars got accustomed to the Ice-Period idea, Albrecht Penck of Germany attempted to "estimate the duration of interglacial periods" by measuring the "depth of weathering and 'intensity of erosion' in the northern Alpine region of Europe" (p. 3). Other attempts at gauging the length of periods in the Quaternary include the analysis of laminae, which give evidence about the types of activity of the soil and its vegetation through the analysis of layers of sedimentation in the earth's crust. In this study, this technique is used to analyze the layers of soil existing in the British Isles and make conjectures about what sort of climate or geological occurrence produced them. Looking at the size of the layers also gives an idea of the duration of each phase and sheds light on probable oscillations within each phase. Dendrochronology was developed during the early part of the twentieth century, which uses the analysis (counting) of tree rings to gauge the age of a tree and by extension the age of a period. This kind of measurement is useful in establishing the age of civilizations. This works because "trees within a small region often share the same experiences of good and bad years, with resulting patterns of wide and narrow rings that can be matched from tree to tree, from living trees to dead trees, and even to timber, charcoal, etc., used by human beings" (Calder, 1984, p. 224). Because trees also show, from their rings, the type of weather experienced in a given year, tree-ring analysis has been applied here to the study of the climates experienced during the Holocene epoch. This technique is called dendroclimatology (Walker, p. 3). Tree-ring analysis, though able to give only a comparatively short view into the past, is useful in this study, as the entire Holocene epoch lies just within its range. With the advent of radio-carbon dating came a very important tool in the

C-myc Monocular Antibody (McAb) on Gastric Cancer Cells

C-myc Monocular Antibody (McAb) on Gastric Cancer Cells Introduction Gastric cancer (GC) is estimated to be one of the most common and frequent malignant tumor of the digestive system. The incidence and mortality of GC have ranked the second among all tumor diseases worldwide [1-5]. However, it ranks in first place in China[6]. Complete surgical resection is still the standard for all patients with resectable GC. It remains highly problematic for the regional and less common systemic recurrences[7]. Recent improvement in surgical technique, adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy has increased the survival rate of patients with early-stage, but the patients who have advanced GC are difficult to cure. With more and more research of molecular biological mechanisms known by us, molecular targeted therapies including cell growth, cell cycle, apoptosis and invasion have become a popular tumor comprehensive therapy[8]. Some of single-targeted spots are mainly Human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER-1, HER-2), Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Human epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI), Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKI), Human proto-oncogene (c-MET)[9, 10]. However, it needs a huge space to develop the targeted anticancer drugs. An elegant way to accumulate therapeutic agents at the tumor site is their specific antibodies[11]. Oncogenes are well documented to be involved in mediating apoptosis and cell cycle resulting in cancers[12, 13], its activation can play an important role in the progress of cancer. C-myc is an important member of the c-myc family and a master regulator of genes involved in diverse cellular processes in GC[14]. The c-myc is a nuclear transcription factor which centrally regulates cell proliferation, differentiation, cell cycle and apoptosis, once c-myc is activated in vivo or in vitro, it is easy to make the cells far from the normal growth and promote cell malignant transformation to cancer finally[15-17]. It was reported that the expression of c-myc is an important consideration in the biological characteristic of GC [18-20]. The previous studies also have proved that c-myc has tight relation with Brest cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, hematopoietic cancer [21-24]. Currently few da ta exist on the occurrence of the c-myc McAb targeting against GC. In this study, we assessed the effects of c-mycMcAb on the Balb/e2nu/2nunude mice model of GC and the human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells, and tried to investigate the function of c-myc McAbfor targeting against GC. Materials and Methods Preparation of c-myc monocular antibody (McAb) All experiments involving animals were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University of Medicine. Mice were used in this study from Animal Science Laboratory of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and all effects were made to minimize distress.Thec-myc proteins prepared in E.coliBL21 were used as immunogens.[U1] Before McAb preparation, the c-myc proteins were mixed withequal volume of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Female Balb/c mice aging from 6-8 weeks [U2]were immunized intraperitoneally with 50 ÃŽ ¼g c-myc proteins (1v:1v) in CFA. The immunization was repeated with the same amount of immunogens[U3] in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) at 14d. A final immunization was performed with 100ÃŽ ¼g mixture of c-myc proteinsand IFA at 28 d. Then, the blood was drawn from the caudal vein and serum titers were measured by ELISA at 35 d. A booster injection was given intraperitoneally at the antibody titers of 640,000[U4] tested by ELISA at 35 d. Five days after boost, spleen cells were isolated and mixed[U5] with SP2/0 myeloma cells. When the Hybrid cells grew to 50%, the positive clones were collected by ELISA. The hybridomas processed by Silica gel H was inoculated intraperitoneally into unsexed Balb/c mice. Then, the mice were scarified and the ascetic fluid was collected. The McAb was purified and the concentration was determined by bicinchoninic acid assay (BCA) Protein Assay Reagent Kit. Characteristic Identification of c-myc McAb The subtype of purified McAb was determined by antibody chips according to the manufacturer's instructions (Raybitech Company, USA) and antibody titers were measured by ELISA kit (Cistron Biotechnology, Pine Brook, NJ)[25]. The assay was carried out in 96-well polystyrene plates according to the standard procedures [26]. Briefly, c-myc protein (10ÃŽ ¼g) were loaded onto plate in 0.1 M carbonate buffer (PH 9.6) and reacted with McAb at 37oC for 2 h. After washed, the mixture was monitored with horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated rabbit-anti-mouse IgG (diluted 1:100; Sigma) at 37oC for 1 h. Nonspecific antibody binding sites wereblocked with 2% FCS in blocking reagent for 15min.The OD450vaule was read with a 96-well plate reader. The antigenic specificity of McAb was determined by Western blot. Purified c-myc protein was transferred into E.coil DH5ÃŽ ± and Cells were lysed inice-cold radioimmunoprecipitation buffer (RIPA) for 30 min and centrifuged to collect the supermanant[27]. Cell lysates were blent with 3Ãâ€" loading buffer (6 % SDS, 15 % 2-mercaptoethanol, 30 % glycerol, and 0.3 mg/mL bromphenol blue in 188 Tris-HCl, pH 6.8), heated at 90oC for 10 min, and then separated by 16 % SDS-PAGE. Separated proteins in the gels were electrophoreticaly transferred onto nitrocellulose membrane, boiled in phosphate buffered saline for 4 min, and blocked with 5 % nonfat dry milk for 20 min[28]. After several rinses, the membranes were incubated with c-myc McAb overnight at 4 oC. McAb were detected by HRP-conjugated goat-anti-mouse IgG (50 ÃŽ ¼g/mL) at 22 oC for 1 h. The establishment and treatment of nude mice model of GC Four-to-five-weeks old Balb/c nu/nu mice (body weight was 18 ±1.5g) were purchased for the establishment of nude mice model of GC . The human gastric cancer cell line (SGC-7901) was grown in 10% DMEM (Gibco) supplemented with FCS (100 mL/L), penicillin sodium (100 U/mL) and streptomycin sulfate (100 ÃŽ ¼g/mL), and cultured at a 5% CO2 incubator at 37 oC. Exponentially growing SGC-7901 cells were trypsinized resuspended to make a cell suspension of 2Ãâ€"107 cellls/mL. The nude mouse was injected subcutaneously with the suspension (0.2 mL) into the right and left root. Tumor masses were obvious at 10 d. Mice were randomized into 4 groups including low-dose group, middle-dose group, high-dose group and saline group (10 mice/group). Mice of each treatment group were inoculated intraperitoneally with c-myc McAb weekly (10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, 30 mg/kg, respectively), and mice of saline groups were injected with normal saline (0.2 mL) instead. Four weeks after injection, the mice were sacrificed and tumors were examined to calculate the tumor inhibition rates (). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) The procedures of SP immunohistochemical kit (SP kit, Maxim Biotech) were as follows: The tissue of tumors was fixed in 10 % phosphate-buffered Formalin, embedded in paraffin, and sectioned at a thickness of 4ÃŽ ¼m. Tissue sections were deparaffnized, hydrated and washed in PBS. Antigen retrieval was performed by combining the tissue with 10mM citrate buffer (pH 6.0) in a microwave for 10 min. Nonspecific protein bindings of tissues was blocked with 5 % normal sheep serum (NSS) for 10 min. after rinsing in PBS, sections were incubated with c-myc McAb at 4 oC overnight at a dilution of 1:100. Secondary antibody (Carpinteria, goat anti-mouse biotenylated, 1:50 in PBS) was applied at room temperature for 30min after washed, and then HRP-conjugated streptavidin were added. The slides were visualized by diaminobenzidine (DAB) (Dako, Carpinteria, CA, USA) for 5 min and counterstained with hematoxylin for 2 min, terminated, dehydrated, transparentized, sealed and photographed step by step. Negative controls were prepared by replacing primary antibody with PBS. Western blot analysis C-myc McAb (1 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 2 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 4 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, respectively) were added into SGC-7901cells andcultured for 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, for blank controls, the SGC-7901cells were omitted and HFE-145 cells were used instead. Cells were collected and lysed in ice-cold RIPA,and then following sections were mainlysimilar with the procedures of the Characteristic Identification of c-myc McAb. MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay Cells were seeded into 96-well plates (10, 000 cells/well) and cultured at 37 oC in a 5% CO2 incubator after HGC-7901cells and normal gastric cell line HFE-145 were trypsinized. The culture medium was washed with PBS 3 times, and thenc-myc McAb (1 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 2 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 4 ÃŽ ¼g/mL,) were added respectively, 20 mL (5 mg/mL) At the indicated time points (1 d, 2 d, 3 d, 4 d, 5 d), each well were added with 20 mL MTT cultured at 37 oC for 4 h. Then 150 ÃŽ ¼L DMSO was added again to stop the reaction after the supernate were dropped, The plate was read on multiwall plate reader (Thermo Fisher, Basingstoke, United Kingdom) at 570nm. . A dose-response curve was plotted for the HGC-7901cells and HFE-145 cells. Cell adhesion assay Before cell adhesion and migration assays, SGC-7901 cells and HFE-145 cells were serum starved in bascal culture medium overnight. In brief,6-well tissue culture plates were coated with 10ÃŽ ¼g/mL fibronectin and 10 ÃŽ ¼g/mL poly-L-lysine overnight, the wells were washed with PBS-T and blocked with 5 % BSA in PBS-T[29]. SGC-7901cells and HFE-145 cells were released with trypsin to prepare of single cell suspensions. The cells were applied to 6-well tissue culture plates (50 ÃŽ ¼L/well) and incubated at 37oC for 12 h. When cells were grown to approximately 90 % confluence, the c-myc McAb(1 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 2 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 4 ÃŽ ¼g/mL,) were added respectively. Cells were allowed to attach for 2 h, and the culture medium were discarded. Before released with trypsin, cells were washed twice with PBS and 1mM Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid (EDTA). The formula of was used to calculate the adhesion rates. Cell migration assay Cell migration assays were performed in transwell bicameral chambers as described[30]. Matrigel (Becton Dickinson Company, Bedford) at a dilution of 1:100 were coated with culture medium without serum at 37oC for 30 min in the apical chamber. Cells were released with trypsin, washed ,and resuspended at a final concentration of 5Ãâ€"105 cell/mL in serum-free bascal culture medium (EBM) containing 0.1 % BSA. The suspension (100 ÃŽ ¼L), which were seeded on the upper chamber, were mixed with c-myc McAb (1 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 2 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 4 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, respectively). The lower chamber was filled with 500ÃŽ ¼L mouse embryonic fibroblasts (NIH3T3) which were cultured with RPMI (10mM Hepes, 0.5% BSA, pH 7.4). Migration chambers were incubated at 37oC in 5% CO2 incubator for 72h. After removing stationary cells from the upper side of the membrane with a cotton-tipped swab, migrated cells were fixed and stained with 1% crystal violet. Cells were counted in three fields at a magnification of Ãâ€" 400. Cell apoptosis and cell cycle assays HGC-7901cells and HFE-145 cells were seeded into 6-well plates containing Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) with 10% FCS and cultured at 37 oC in a 5% CO2 incubator overnight. Supernatants were discarded, before c-myc McAb (1 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 2 ÃŽ ¼g/mL, 4 ÃŽ ¼g/mL,) were added respectively and attached for 72 h. cells were fixed with pre-cooled ethanol (75%) and stained with Propidium Iodide (PI, Sigma) in the dark at room temperature for 15 min , after centrifuged at 1,000 rpm and rinses in PBS several times. The cell cycle and apoptosis rates were analyzed by FACS (Elite ESP, Beckman Coulter, Brea, CA). Statistical analyses Statistical analysis was performed using Software version SPSS11.0. All data was expressed as mean  ± SD (standard deviation). Comparisons were made by Student's t-test and comparisons of parameters were made using one-way analysis of variance among 4 groups. A value of P

Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes :: essays research papers

Title: Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes Genre: Mystery Author: Wendelin van Draanen Pages: 277 Choice: 3 I think the word â€Å"responsible† describes the main character, Sammy. She is very brave and she’s a troublemaker, but she also cares a lot about other people. I believe that Sammy is responsible since she took good care of the baby and worried about it even after it was taken in by a welfare organization until its mother got it back. It started when she was hanging out in the arcade one day while her friend, Marissa, played games. Then all of a sudden a frightened woman comes in and hides behind her. She gives Sammy a Sears bag and tells her to meet her back at the mall at 7:00 with the bag. After she leaves, Sammy soon discovers that a baby is inside the bag! When she returns at 7:00, she waits there for three hours but the mother doesn’t show up. The woman specifically told her not to take the baby to the police, so Sammy didn’t. She returns to her grandmother’s house with the baby, and since there are no kids allowed where her grandma lives, she has to be extra careful that the baby doesn’t cry. The reason that she went to her grandmother’s house is because that’s where she lives. Her mother left her a long time ago. Anyway, she spends the whole night taking care of the baby by feeding it with the formula provided in the bag, and changing its diapers. She soon gets really sick of it. In the morning, before school, she decides that it’s unsafe and annoying to have the baby around and take care of it, and she feels the baby would also be safer in the hands of the

Anne Frank’s Post Capture Diary Essay

The following all takes place between the time of Anne Frank and family’s capture and her death in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp  4th August 1944  I don’t know what happened. I just don’t know. There is no way they could have found without some despicable, racist and selfish person turning us in. Margot hasn’t stopped crying. She is depending on me. I have to put on a brave face no matter how terrified I am of our destination and what awaits us there. The truck we are on smells of urine and something else disgusting I can’t imagine what is secreting out. They tell us that we are going to a prison where we can meet other scum like us. I think it is them who should be locked up. After all it is they themselves who are the scum†¦ 5th August 1944  We have arrived at our destination. I caught a glimpse of the name. We are in Weteringschan Prison. It means the prison of death. I can see why. Rotting corpses are all around. Many of us have vomited at the mere sight. However we have been told there is worse to come. I can’t imagine a worse place than this. I am beginning to feel an illness about me. If I am sickening for something this early on, I will never survive. Soon they are shipping us off to Westerbork. I assume that where I will perish. I’m so scared. I don’t know how much longer I can bear this†¦ August 8th 1944  This is it. I cannot go on living anymore. They separated myself and Margot from Mummy and Pim. I kicked up such a fuss that Margot had to pull me back to keep the guards from shooting me there and then. There are no words to describe how melancholy I am feeling right now. I just have to sleep and hope that this fiendish life is all just a nightmarish dream†¦Ã‚  September 3rd 1944  I was shaken awake by guards early this morning. I was not awake enough to catch all of what they said but I caught the gist of it. Auschwitz Death Camp. Those words stroke fear deep into my heart. All hope of survival drained instantly from my body. I didn’t have the energy to fight back, so I stumbled onto the train with what few belongings I had left and watched my screaming tearful mother reach out to us. I couldn’t stop crying for the whole journey. Why are the Nazis doing this to us? What have we ever done to upset anyone? I’ve tried to lead a good life but obviously god needs to make Jews repent for something. Maybe this is like Noah’s Ark. God is cleansing the Earth of all bad things. Maybe we are bad. Maybe we do deserve to die†¦ September 5th 1944  Westerbork isn’t as bad I thought. Apparently the Germans just let the Jews run the place as long we work hard. Me and Margot have been ‘sentenced’ to potato peeling. There are worse jobs out there! I still miss Mum and Pim so much though. I hope they’re okay†¦Ã‚  October 19th 1944  My hopes lifted when we were sent away form this horrible place. They descended back down again as soon as I realised we were just being transported to the worst place I had ever heard of. Bergen Belsen†¦ December 24th 1942  What a way to spend Christmas. Crammed in a dark dank hole with hundreds of others like us. There appears to be an outbreak of a disease with yellow pustules oozing blood in the rest of the tents. It is only a matter of time before it reaches me and Margot. Speaking of Margot, she is sickening a lot worse than me. She is as pale as a ghost. I don’t know how likely it is for her to pull through†¦ January 12th 1945  The Germans might as well have abandoned us. There is no food or water. Everyone is covered in mud and scars. We only have bits of cloth to cover ourselves with. Worst of all Margot is taking a new turn for the worse every day. She can’t even walk anymore. She spends all day in bed, just coughing and spluttering. The little food I get goes to her. I’m so cold. We can’t last much longer†¦Ã‚  19th March 1945  I can’t go on. I woke up this morning. Margot didn’t. I can’t even walk as I am so grief-stricken. All hope is lost. Hitler will conquer the world and it shall perish at his hands†¦Ã‚  It is believed Anne died within a few days of Margot. They both perished of Typhus in March 1945.

1949 and the early 1960s in Communist China: Women; Landlords and Businessmen; Peasants Essay

How far did life improve for the following groups between 1949 and the early 1960s in Communist China: Women; Landlords and Businessmen; Peasants. The years of 1949-1960 in China were indeed ‘Years of Great Change’. Who could have predicted a civil war, a Communist takeover, a complete turnaround in the land ownership system (and the economy in general) and the launch (and failure) of a near-Industrial Revolution? Mao and co heralded a headfirst launch into the twentieth century for China’s governmental system, that’s for sure. But amid all the â€Å"reforms†, how much did life actually improve for the Chinese population? This essay aims to examine what reforms were made, and how they affected the peasants, women, landlords and businessmen of China. Before China’s Communist â€Å"liberation†, it had been ruled by Chiang Kaishek and the Guomindang. Their Nationalist regime had favoured the businessmen and landlords of China. Chiang Kaishek ruled as a dictator and had his army of â€Å"blueshirts† to enforce order, just like Hitler and Mussolini. By the late 1940s, however, his rule was starting to become unstable, with massive inflation causing poverty for many people in the cities. He realised that his regime was doomed, and retreated to the island of Taiwan, leaving the Communists to rule China. Nearly everyone, even the landlords and businessmen, would have been happy about any kind of takeover at the time, as everyone’s future looked bleak under the collapsing Guomindang government. The Communists came as a breath of fresh air. But were they? The Communists were not exactly verbose in their Common Programme when they said â€Å"Women shall enjoy equal rights with men†. Likewise, Mao wasn’t when he said â€Å"Women hold up half the sky†. Yet that was the Communist attitude towards women: equal to men, no more, no less, and it was a refreshing one at the time. The traditional attitude to women was that they were strictly possessions of their husbands. Consider that women had been oppressed virtually since the start of Chinese society: it was traditional to practice such things as foot-binding and child prostitution. Under the Communists, the 1951 Marriage Law abolished both of these barbarities, as well as arranged marriages, child marriages and bigamy. Two of the most significant events equality-wise were the property and divorce law changes: husbands and wives now jointly owned property and either one could divorce the other (before only men could divorce women). Nearly all women would have been pleased about this, and the Party now had a whole gender, so to speak, on its side. However, there were downsides. For the older generation, who were fierce traditionalists, this would have been shocking and disruptive, and since they had not much time left to enjoy the newfound freedoms brought by Communism, they might be opposed to these changes. The only women not affected at all by these reforms were those living in the remote parts of China. These places refused to break with tradition, even under pressure from the Communists. Also, the Marriage Law and social reforms meant that women were now treated exactly the same as men; i.e. they were expected to work just as hard regardless of their state of fitness. A lot of the Maoist policies towards women were fuelled by the wish to turn the currently unworking half of the nation into a productive force; for example, the crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ches organised for children were designed not really for the benefit of the women as such, but to get them out working in the fields again. Not to be unfair to them though, some policies were selfless: the law to give mothers maternity leave with full wages for two months does seem to be fully aimed towards helping women. In general, I believe that life for women definitely improved under the Communists. There was still quite a way to go, but Communist policy in this area was in many ways quite prescient. Landlords and businessmen probably came off the worst under the Communists. Under the Common Programme, they were defined as being â€Å"capitalists† and â€Å"reactionaries†. The same document stated that they would be â€Å"deprived of their political rights†, so their harsh treatment did not come entirely as a surprise. Under the Agrarian Reform Law, landlords lost an average of 93% of the land they had own. They were also subject to abuse, heavy fines and sometimes, in cases where they had been particularly cruel to their tenants, execution, at â€Å"speak bitterness† meetings. Around three million landlords were killed during these meetings. Businessmen had it nearly as bad. If you had business with the Guomindang or had ripped off the peasantry, you could be sure of at least re-education, if not complete deprivation of any form of rights (in society; no-one in Communist China really had any â€Å"political rights†). Even if you hadn’t committed any â€Å"offences†, you would face fines. Life wasn’t good if you were either a landlord or a businessman in China. It was probably worse if you were a landlord; businessmen at least weren’t executed. At least, not very often; the Communists had something nasty against anyone who had dealings with their old enemy, the Guomindang. Considering that most of Mao’s Communist policies were targeted towards peasants, they are the most important part of this essay. Under Mao, there were three types of peasants, â€Å"rich†, â€Å"middle† and â€Å"poor† peasants. Rich peasants meant those who could afford to hire other peasants to work for them. Middle peasants were those who could afford some basic equipment, while poor peasants formed the vast majority of China’s agricultural system, and were employed by landlords who paid them a pittance to work the land. Mao was very ambitious when it came to China’s work system. First he turned the land-ownership system around full circle. Then he launched the country into the industrial era of the twentieth century. He had to start somewhere, however, and that place was the Common Programme, where it was stated that â€Å"[the party] must systematically transform†¦the land ownership system into a system of peasant land ownership†¦It must steadily transform the country from an agricultural into an industrial one†. This was some goal, considering that the years of warring between the Communists and the Guomindang had lain waste to farms and peasants, causing the agricultural output to drop radically. And through all this there was massive population growths, so there were more mouths to feed with less crops. Mao and his ragtag band of Communist officials had the peasants’ support, though. Many peasants supported the Communists already; after all, they were the original worker’s party, and they had been very popular in the liberation areas, respecting the locals and trying out some reforms with regard to land and women with great success. The first step he took towards his agricultural revolution was by profiling all the peasants and teaching them how to sort themselves into the classes mentioned above. Land was then redistributed between the peasants evenly. This table illustrates how the land reform system changed: % houses % crop area owned Before After Landlords 2.6 28.7 2.1 Rich peasants 3.6 17.6 6.3 Middle peasants 35.8 30.2 44.8 Poor peasants and others 58.0 23.5 46.8 The Agrarian Reform Law turned the land ownership system on its head. Rich peasants lost land, poor peasants gained the rich peasants’ lost land and middle peasants stayed roughly the same (the increase is due to the heavy imbalance between landlords and poor peasants; there was almost too much land to go round after the landlords had been stripped of their land). The peasants had troubles, however: they found that they hadn’t enough money or equipment to cultivate the land. Mao suggested that peasants therefore organise themselves into Mutual Aid Teams, groups of peasants who would share each other’s land and equipment. So far, Mao’s plan was going extremely well; he was popular with the peasantry, having given them the land that had been their dream, and allowed them a chance to get back at their landlords (the â€Å"speak bitterness† meetings were known for becoming quite bloody). The Communist government, however, refused to leave its land reform manifesto at this stage. The Five-Year Plan to revolutionise China’s economy was underfoot, and mutual aid teams were not efficient enough to hit the high economic targets that Mao had set for China. So the co-operatives were introduced: first lower and then higher stage. The lower-stage co-operatives were simply an extension of the mutual aid teams idea, only with many families (around forty) pooling their resources. Only when the higher-stage co-operatives went into action was what Mao probably would have called true Communism in action achieved: two to three hundred families, all having surrendered land, animals and equipment to the co-operative and being paid nothing except for what they earned in the fields for it. The immense pressure and control on Chinese society (wall-posters, censorship and propaganda everywhere) was borne out by the fact that by 1956 ninety-five percent of Chinese peasants had joined higher-stage co-operatives, an idea that must have looked unattractive even then. As you can see, even for peasants Communism was not without big downsides. Perhaps one of the biggest was the onslaught of conformity and control inherent in the whole Maoist idea. â€Å"Propagandists† ensured a constant stream of pro-Communist posters. The media broadcast tutorials on how to defeat American imperialist pigs. Anyone who might be anti-Communist was either forced to leave the country or sent to a camp to be â€Å"re-educated†. And what happened when the censorship was relaxed? Mao decided to let the people say what they wanted about the Communists for a while. From 1956 people said exactly what they pleased, and many of them were rather vocal in their criticisms of the regime. In June 1957 Mao suddenly stopped the period of free discussion, known as the Hundred Flowers period, and clamped down on the more vocal opposition to his regime. Chinese society was back to its closely-controlled state, and if anything, the censorship was even harsher than before. â€Å"Perhaps†¦because of the steely control, China was more stable in 1956 than at any time this century. Foreign occupation, civil war, widespread death from starvation†¦inflation –all seemed to be things of the past. Stability, the dream of the Chinese, sustained the faith of people.† Perhaps the Chinese forgave all of the Communists’ flaws just for a little stability. They abided by their standards and conformed purely to stop any of these other tragedies occuring, and the Communists realised this, and even called meetings to remember how bad things were under the Guomindang. Overall, peasants would have been initially pleased but quite dubious in the long term about the benefits of Communism. They would have enjoyed the land – for the short period that it was available to them. By the end of the first period of land reform, the Communists would be losing their popularity. Mao liked the peasants to seem selfless, and working towards a common good, and depending on how brainwashed they truly were, this might have been the case to an extent. But I am sure that peasants secretly longed to have back the privately owned land it felt like they’d fought for. Some of them would also be unhappy about the repression and censorship, but this would have been even harder for most to see because of the controlled media’s constant presence. In 1958 a â€Å"Great Leap Forward† was announced: a plan to make China into a competent world power, both industrially and agriculturally. It was similar to the first Five-Year Plan in that it relied heavily on the organisation of society into steadily larger parts. These parts were called â€Å"communes†, and were created as groups of villages containing about 5000 families who gave up land, animals and equipment to common usage and ownership by the members of the commune. This was the ultimate unit of control in Chinese society: it was something that was everywhere you went, you ate there, you worked there, you slept there, and anything you felt was also felt by your whole commune. Or so Mao hoped. Posters, speeches, newspaper articles and all the other standard propaganda mechanisms were much more effective there because there really was no escape. The communes were a great success, producing things in record time, and the workers were well motivated. The Communist brainwashing was so total that people were working harder and were motivated because of the propaganda and censorship. However, only a year later, the honeymoon period was over, the Great Leap Forward was having serious marital issues, and the only marriage counsellor was too busy telling his workers to work harder. In short, Mao pushed too hard. Equipment fell apart. Workers fell asleep at their tasks. To add to this, lack of field workers, bad weather two years running and government lies caused a horrific famine, killing over twenty million people. Mao Zedong really should have been forced to resign after this; indeed, if Chinese society had not been so utterly brainwashed I believe he would have. Instead, he was forced to step down slightly, but was still a very prominent figure. And, crucially yet unbelievably, he retained the public’s support after all his crimes against them. The peasants were still with him. But I do not believe life got better for peasants under the Communists during the period I have described. An improved living standard cannot justify the removal of identity from an entire nation and a famine killing millions. I do not believe that the Communists did a lot of good for the vast majority of China. The only segment of Chinese society whose lives improved markedly were women, and when evaluating the importance of the reforms to end sexism, you have to take into account that most women were also peasants. So, whilst they were freed from being killed at birth and so on, they were also left to die later on in the famine, or through overwork, since women now had to work just as hard as men. The lives of landlords and businessmen could hardly be expected to get better under the Communists. However, perhaps they were unnecessarily cruel; execution hardly seems necessary. But Mao’s regime’s performance regarding peasants is unforgivable. A peasant-focused regime making thing worse for peasants is unforgivable, and life indeniably was worse for peasants by 1961.

reconfiguring a network Essay

reconfiguring a network Essay reconfiguring a network Essay New User Guide & Basic Troubleshooting Guide Table of Contents Network Login and Passwords There are two separate networks on the campus, and they require separate logins. The admin network is only available in the Instructor area and admin offices. Administration To log into the admin network you will use your 1ITT email as your username. You will also be given a password to use for your initial login. Once you have successfully logged in with the initial password, you will be required to change that password. Your new password must meet the following complexity requirements: Passwords must be at least 8 characters and a maximum of 16 Must contain at least three of the following Lower-case characters: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvqxyz Upper-case characters: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Numbers: 0123456789 Special Characters: !@#$%^*()-_=+;:,./?`~ Users are required to choose passwords that are difficult to guess. Password must not be easily deducible words or characters such as the user’s first or last name, spouse’s name, name of pet, a sequence of numerals or letters, or any word found in a standard English dictionary. Passwords should never be written down Users must not write down or otherwise record their passwords in readable form near the system to which the password pertains. For example, a user must not write his/her network password on a note and tape it to his/her computer. Passwords must not be written down and left in a place where others might discover it. If a password must be written down, it must be secured and far away from the system to which it pertains. In general, users must choose passwords that are challenging for others to guess but easy for them to remember, so users do not feel compelled to write down a password in order to remember it. Display and printing of passwords The display and printing of passwords must be masked, suppressed, or otherwise obscured so that unauthorized parties will not be able to observe or subsequently recover them. Electronic storage of passwords in readable form Passwords must not be stored in plain text or in other readable forms in places where unauthorized parties might recover them, including, but not limited to: batch files; login scripts; computers without access control; terminal function keys; or in software macros. Use of same password prohibited While the specific generation retention depends on the computer system, users on all systems are prohibited from re-using a password when prompted to change it by the system. Suspected disclosure forces password changes If a user suspects or knows that their password integrity has been compromised, it must be changed immediately. Password sharing prohibition Regardless of the circumstances, passwords must never be shared or revealed to anyone else besides the authorized user. To do so exposes the authorized user to responsibility for actions that the other party takes with the password. If users need to share computer resident data, they must use electronic mail, public directories on local area network servers and other authorized mechanisms as appropriate. No user should ever use another person’s login for any reason Limit on consecutive unsuccessful attempts to enter a password To prevent password guessing attacks, the number of consecutive attempts to enter an incorrect password must be strictly limited. After three unsuccessful attempts to enter a password, the involved user ID must be suspended for thirty minutes or until reset by a system administrator. Password Reset If you have forgotten your network password or suspect that your account has been compromised, the SST can reset your password. IRIS passwords require a Service request through the SST. IRIS password resets may take up to a day to be changed. Pinnacle password resets are handled through the Dean. Locking Unattended PC’s All unattended PC’s must be locked to

Ben frankiln and the US dream essays

Ben frankiln and the US dream essays It has always been a common belief in this country that there is nothing that cannot be obtained through hard work and diligence. This is a belief that America was founded on and leaned against during its hardest times. Ben Franklin certainly believed in this, in fact he conducted his life by those very ideas. Franklins autobiography reads more like a self-help book rather than a life story It is one that tells not just how to live as a good person, but how to live as an American. Ben Franklin is not shy about his self opinion, he is aware if the success and prestige he has obtained in his life and is more than happy to let people know the secret of his success. Similarly Franklins attitude towards America are much like his self opinion, proud and boastful of being the best. Franklin sees America as a free market of open competition where the strong survive to be number one. This is true of both the country and its people, and reflects Franklins support of capitalism. The America of Ben Franklin was one where anyone could come to get away from their problems and start a new life in freedom if you were willing to work for it. Franklin makes it evidently clear that he came from rather meager beginnings and was a self-made man. This idea of rags to riches and the ability of anyone to have success only becomes more profound a belief decades after Franklins death.. Franklins America was one of a common idea of building a new nation versus the idea of self-betterment and doing what it takes to be successful. Throughout his autobiography Franklins description of how he lives his daily life can be compared to the regiment of most early Americans: work hard, succeed, gain on edge on your fellow man, and dont stop until youve reached the top. With all this boasting about being so successful, on may see Franklin as gloating a bit. Well why shouldnt he be, he would not be...