Essay --

El uso del tabaco en Amà ©rica se viene dando desde tiempos prehistà ³ricos. Su Origen se encuentra en la Zona Andina entre Perà º y Ecuador, donde se cultiva desde hace mà ¡s de 5.000 aà ±os. No solo se fumaba, sino que se masticaba, bebà ­a, se cocinaban ungà ¼entos para frotarse por el cuerpo y se esnifaba triturado utilizà ¡ndolo en forma medicinal y ritual (Rodriguez, 2012). Gracias al comercio de los mayas con los olmecas y otros pueblos, el uso del tabaco se extendià ³ hasta Amà ©rica del Norte y Canadà ¡. Durante las à ºltimas dà ©cadas, el tabaco y el tabaquismo se han convertido en uno de los problemas de salud mà ¡s severos, al descubrirse los daà ±os que ocasiona y al encontrarlo relacionado con varias enfermedades graves. Se realizarà ¡ un anà ¡lisis del tabaquismo como problema social. Los epidemià ³logos no tardaron en darse cuenta que el cà ¡ncer de pulmà ³n, poco frecuente antes del siglo XX, habà ­a aumentado de forma considerable a comienzos de la dà ©cada de 1930. Muchas organizaciones iniciaron estudios comparando las muertes de fumadores con las de no fumadores durante un periodo de varios aà ±os, tanto...

Charles Dickens Reflection on Society in Hard Times, Oliver Twist, Nic

Charles Dickens' Reflection on Society in Hard Times, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, and David Copperfield In this essay I will be examining how and why Dickens chose to comment on the society in which he lived through his novels. I will be examining ‘Hard Times’, ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘Nicholas Nickelby’ and ‘David Copperfield‘. Charles Dickens was considered to be one of the greatest English novelists during the Victorian period, and during this period, novelists had a tradition of commenting on issues affecting society through their work. They chose to express their views like this so people would realise exactly what is taking place in the town or village they are living in. Charles Dickens had a very disturbing childhood, members of his family were sent to prison and he was sent to work at the age of twelve in a Blacking Factory; he became miserable. He escaped from this by writing fictional texts in school; he then developed his existing skills and made rapid progress. From the entire trauma he went through, he decided to express his pain through his words. The education system was extremely poor. Only children with working parents would be educated, whereas poorer children would have to work. In the novel ‘Hard Times’, the education system was firm, harsh and stern; ‘Quadruped. Graminivorous†¦Age known by marks in mouth.’ This straight-to-the-point definition of a horse suggests that the teacher spoon-feeds the young, tender, innocent children with useless facts. The word ‘Graminivorous’ highlights that these children are being turned into adults mentally because he ‘fed‘ the innocent children with facts that adults will normally know. Everything is so simplified for him, the teacher does... ... was irony that Dickens used here: the word ‘parlour’ suggests that it is a pleasant home but what’s going on inside is totally the opposite. In conclusion, Dickens has used his works successfully to comment on society because all of the issues that were affecting all classes of people, he included them so we could really understand what went on during the Victorian times. I have learnt a lot from this, about how people lived and how they were treated. I have learnt that these two periods of time were totally different to each other. The novel that had the most impact on me was Nicholas Nickelby; this is because Dickens made us feel sympathetic for the characters, he made me feel as if I was there as one of the characters because this novel was so convincing. I really felt a lot of sympathy for the children who had to suffer from this inhumane cruelty.

egypt :: essays research papers

There are many things similar and different between ancient China, Egypt and the Sumerians were lead by the high priests. One important thing is how the three kingdoms were ruled. With Egypt they had Pharaohs, which were appointed by their gods. In Sumeria they had. With Chinese leaders were mostly conquers which lead for a while and passed down through their families. Also each one of the civilizations had made their first writing systems but the writing was different with Chinese but somewhat the same with Egypt and Sumeria. In the Old kingdom Egypt and Sumeria the words were mostly symbols or pictures. With Chinese there are plenty of lines in different directions, which mostly are like symbols, which is almost like the new kingdom Egypt. With China outside wars were not a worry due to the fact of the mountains and the sea and the Great Wall of China. But with Egypt and Sumeria there were plenty of rivers to get to each city which were a good source for conquers to try and get the land. Also with Egypt and Sumeria there were rivers, which gave them good soil, and a good resource for water and transportation for trades. In China they didn’t really have a chance to trade with other countries but it was big enough to trade with themselves and to fight themselves for other Lords to get more land then what they already had. All three civilizations had temples to hold their gods, priests or Pharaohs. These were for the afterlife for their leaders to live good in the afterlife. They all put precious things in there with their leaders. This was for them to live well in the afterlife.

Heb Own Brands Analysis Essay

Rob Price was recently made vice president of Own Brands, which was the private label of H-E-B. The chairman, Charles Butt, had a real interest in growing the sales of the Own Brand product line. At the time, Own Brand represented 19% of sales while national brands accounted for the rest, which was opposite of 30 years ago when Charles took responsibility for the business. Charles gave Rob a goal to increase the sales of Own Brand’s private label by 11% in the next five years to bring it up to a 30-70 ratio of private and national brands, respectively. The increase needed to be across all product lines, but Rob had a specific assignment regarding the Own Brand’s bottled water under the label Glacia. The problem with the existing Glacia water was that it did not accurately market itself as imported spring water from Canada, which would increase its market share from the French imported water, Evian. There were many things for Rob to consider as his research showed that c onsumers would be more likely to buy Glacia if they knew it was Canadian spring water. With the competitive grocery market at the time, especially with Wal-Mart’s emerging into the grocery scene, Rob needed to make a specific recommendation on how to increase its sales in context of the overall Own Brand strategy. Initially, the problem was an undetected flaw in the marketing and labeling of the product. If consumers do not have something repeatedly pushed in their face, they will not likely remember it when asked. Other problems were caused by Wal-Mart and their huge ability to undercut pricing of most other chains because of their national, even international supply-chain relationships. Wal-Mart had its own brand in Great Value products but, according to the case, was not as high quality as the H-E-B Own Brand products. Great Value compared to the Hill Country Fare tier-3 generic that H-E-B put out. Rob knew that his competition was with Wal-Mart but he wasn’t sure yet how to properly compete. He wanted to keep their pricing model of Every-day Low Price s but the pricing against Wal-Mart was difficult to match because of other national brand’s pricing positions. I think the options that Rob had to decide between were whether to place Glacia in  competition with Evian as comparable imported spring water or keep it positioned against Ozarka, which is where it was, and add the Canadian value to help boost sales through points-of-difference? One of the reasons why they should consider a direct market-comparison with Evian is because there isn’t a competitor right now. Evian has far out priced itself among its competitors and Glacia scored equally as high in a double-blinded taste test showing that it didn’t actually need to change the product, just the positioning. Own Brand could significantly increase the pricing to be more related to the pricing of Evian. This would remove Glacia off the shelf next to Ozarka and next to Evian. This could possibly allow Own Brands to create a Hill Country Fare product to compete with Ozarka. However, Evian was a good premium national brand brought in money for procurement revenue. If the new Gl acia began beating out Evian in sales and profit, Evian could pull its product from the H-E-B stores and then they would lose the procurement revenue derived from a national brand. National brands also help bring in consumers who end up buying other Own Brand products in the store. This was a decision bases for the entire Own Brand product line. The options of pricing, promotions, positioning, and the overall corporate strategy were all involved in this first decision regarding Glacia. According to Butt’s target goal to Rob shortly after he became VP, only 30% of a store’s products should be their own, with a 70% mix of national brands. If Rob decided to simply elevate the existing position of the Glacia against Ozarka to increase their market share, they could grow sales and not have to compete with the national brands. I think this would be effective considering the low cost of refining their label and less hassle in re-configuring pricing and moving the product closer to Evian. A third possibility was to reposition Glacia as domestic spring water, which is what Ozarka was. I don’t see the logic behind this because they were already a direct competitor with Ozarka and their only point-of-difference was the source of their water. Why would they go through all the effort and cost of relabeling, promoting, and re-launching to get more of the same? If I were in Rob’s position, I would re-launch Glacia to be a somewhat generic competitor to Evian and create a Hill Country Fare product with purified water to be placed just below Ozarka. Evian needs some competition and according to their profit data in Table B, Glacia could increase their price  and profit significantly without changing the product, only the labeling. Also, Evian users indicated preference for the Canadian water over France. I  f Evian users began to prefer Glacia water instead, and that’s what H-E-B stores carried, what would be the downside if Evian eventually pulled their product out of H-E-B stores? It wouldn’t be in demand anymore, so the loss would be some procurement revenue, but the profits off the increased price of Glacia would seem to overcompensate for that.

Developments in 3 Dimensional Art in 20th Century Essay

Three dimensional art works went through a heavy period of transition through the 20th century. At the start, sculpture could be summed up in Johann Gottfreid von Herder’s consideration of sculpture as â€Å"a harsh reality. † Unlike painting and the other traditional media, sculpture was being redefined, both formally and technically. Painting, despite the many innovations and explorations that occurred in the 20th century, was still oil and pigment put on a flat surface. But sculpture, rather 3 dimensional arts, became so much more dynamic and expansive. There was no requisite to make 3 dimensional artworks to be made of traditional materials like stone, bronze or wood; but instead, they could-and were-made of anything. One major development was installation art. Installation art was three dimensional works that was meant to engage and transform the exhibition space or whatever is in proximity to the work itself. Land art is the outdoor equivalent of this phenomenon. Installation can be considered coming into real prominence during the 1970’s, but has its roots all the way back with Marcel Duchamp’s readymade sculptures The genre can include traditional and everyday materials, as well as new media such as video, audio, and performance. Before the nomenclature of installation was coined, these types of works were also called environments, project art, and temporary art. Its primary focus is to have the work of art exceed traditional media through the escaping of flat, square frames, and pedestals with isolated objects. Instead, it attempts to immerse the viewer, the environment, and all its other adjunct factors in as a part of the art. For this reason, most installations are considered to have no definite specific media. Instead, it is said that time and space are the only persistent elements of this type of work. The overwhelming element of installations developed from Richard Wagner’s revival of Gesamkunstwerk in his operas. He incorporated every element of art to completely overwhelm the viewer. This is the intent of the installation artist. In another vein, three dimensional arts, particularly the more traditional genre of sculpture, the element and philosophy of minimalism became dominant with the vanguard of David Smith. David Smith is a primary example of this. His sculptures were some of the most original and simplistic sculptures at the time. Among the greatest American sculptors of the twentieth century, David Smith was the first to work with welded metal. He wove a rich mythology around this rugged work, often talking of the formative experiences he had in his youth while working in a car body workshop. Yet this only disguised a brilliant mind that fruitfully combined a range of influences from European modernism including Cubism, Surrealism, and Constructivism. It also concealed the motivations of a somewhat private man whose art was marked by expressions of trauma. Smith was close to painters such as Robert Motherwell, and in many respects he translated the painterly concerns of the Abstract Expressionists into sculpture. But far from being a follower, his achievement in sculpture was distinctive and influential. He brought qualities of industrial manufacturing into the language of art and proved to be an important influence on Minimalism. Collage was an important influence on Smith, and it shaped his work in various ways. It inspired him to see that a sculpture, just like a paper collage, could be made up of various existing elements. It also encouraged him to combine found objects like tools into his sculptures; it later influenced the way he contrasted figurative motifs and informed the way he assembled the large-scale geometric abstract sculptures of his last days. One of Smith’s most important formal innovations was to abandon the idea of a â€Å"core† in sculpture. This notion was pervasive in modern sculpture, fostering an approach that saw sculptural form springing from a center that was almost imagined to be organic and alive. But Smith replaced it with the idea of â€Å"drawing in space. † He would use thin wire to produce linear, transparent sculptures with figurative motifs at their edges. Later he would use large geometric forms to create structures reminiscent of the vigorous gestures of the Abstract Expressionists. One of the means by which Smith sought to keep the viewer at a distance from his sculptures – emotionally and intellectually – was to devise innovative approaches to composition. These were aimed at making it difficult for the viewer to perceive or imagine the entirety of the object at once, forcing us to consider it part by part. One method he used was to disperse pictorial motifs around the edge of the sculpture, so that our eyes have to move from one element to another. Another was to make the sculptures look and seem very different from the front than they do from the side. He completely redefined the construction methods of sculpture, using a blow torch to weld instead of casting—the normal way to make sculpture. As a result, much of his work is highly original, and it is considered that he has a strong relation to painters. The method he uses is, in fact, more closely related to painting than the typical act of sculpture. He adds separate pieces of scrap metal and welds them together. He also pushed the boundaries subjectively in sculpture, producing some subjects that were never produced in three dimensional arts before. Later on, he also began using a sander—which helped define the texture found on his cubi series. It was through this man that American sculpture was defined. Minimalism was his main influence in these later designs, in which he stripped forms of all their excess elements to give it the bare minimum representation. David Smith’s career encompasses a range of styles, from the figurative expressionism of his early relief sculptures, to the organic abstraction of his Surrealist-influenced work, to the geometric constructions of his later years. In this respect, he drew on many of the same European modernist influences as his peers, the Abstract Expressionists. And, like them, one of his most important advances lay in adapting the language Even with David smith and the minimalist movement, there were still more stylistic developments in the 20th century. There was also a resurgence of figurative art during this period. IN 1960, art critic Pierre Restrany wrote a manifesto for a group who called themselves the new realists, and called for a new way of perceiving the real. The term nouveau realisme, or new realism, has long been tied to the specific claims made by the critic Pierre Restany about the Paris-based art group he promoted. Restany convinced Arman, Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Daniel Spoerri, Martial Raysse, Jacques de la Villegle, Raymond Hains, and Francois Dufrene to sign on initially, and then added Cesar, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Gerard Deschamps, Mimmo Rotella, and Christo. His 1960 manifesto characterized their art as affirmatively summoning â€Å"the whole of sociological reality, the common good of human activity, the large republic of our social exchanges, of our commerce in society. This movement led to a newfound interest in the human figure, which seemingly disappeared during the popularity of abstract expressionism and minimalism. To this group any image could be incorporated into the art of the new realists. They had a similar goal as the makers of installations—to bring the world of art closer and more applicable to real life. Therefore they tended toward realistic artwork. In the field of figurative art, they often focused on outside objects of the figure for identification, in an attempt to avoid the â€Å"traps of figurative art:† petty bourgeois and Stalinist social realism. These artists also began a more collective attitude towards art, sometimes making works in collaboration with each other, with the intent of displaying the works anonymously. This massive new development in three dimensional work is partially due to the photograph making the realistic image somewhat obsolete, and thus at the beginning of the century an urgency of abstracted and eventually non representative work began to develop. Later on, abstract expressionism pushed boundaries even further to challenge the process of making art. By the time the sixties come around, artists are on the edge of these two frontiers, and some manage to push the boundaries even further, exploring the process more through building installations out of anything and making sculpture from scrap. Others, however, feel a drought in the art world and call for a new, innovative way to display the real. All in all, disinterest in realistic images and a thirst for exploration are what mark the midcentury three dimensional art scenes.

Agriculture and Wiley

Minerals can affect society in many ways for example; Surface mining destroys vegetation across large areas, increasing erosion. Open-pit mining uses huge quantities of water. Acid mine drainage is pollution caused when dissolved toxic materials wash from mines into nearby lakes and streams. Minerals is approximately 80 percent of mined ore consists of impurities that become wastes after processing. These wastes, called tailings, are usually left in giant piles on the ground or in ponds near the processing plants (Figure 12. 9). The tailings contain toxic materials such as cyanide, mercury, and sulfuric acid.Left exposed, they contaminate the air, soil, and water (Wiley, 2009). What is the difference between metallic and nonmetallic minerals? Provide two examples from each category and discuss their uses. Earth's minerals are elements which are typically compounds of elements and have precise chemical compositions. Sulfides are mineral compounds in which certain elements are combined chemically with sulfur, and oxides are mineral compounds in which elements are combined chemically with oxygen. Minerals are metallic or nonmetallic (Figure 12. 5).Metals are minerals such as iron, aluminum, and copper, which are malleable, lustrous, and good conductors of heat and electricity. Nonmetallic minerals, such as sand, stone, salt, and phosphates, lack these characteristics (Wiley, 2009). These valuable minerals are used for aircrafts, faucets, nails, wire, and alloy steel products. Mining How are minerals extracted from the Earth and processed? In extracting minerals first they need to decide which mining will be determined surface or subsurface mining will be used. Surface mining just means minerals extracted are close to the surface. Surface mining is muchless inexpensive and is more commonly used. Because even surface mineral deposits occur in rock layers beneath Earth's surface, the overlying soil and rock layers, called overburden, must first be removed, along with the vegetation growing in the soil. Then giant power shovels scoop out the minerals (Wiley, 2009). Processing minerals often uses a procedure known as smelting. Purified copper, tin, lead, iron, manganese, cobalt, or nickel smelting is done in a blast furnace. Figure 12. 7 shows a blast furnace used to smelt iron. The iron ore reacts with coke (modified coal) to form molten iron and carbon dioxide (Wiley, 2009).What are the different ways minerals can be mined? Provide a brief description of at least three types of mining. There are two kinds of surface mining, open-pit surface mining and strip mining. Iron, copper, stone, and gravel are usually extracted by open-pit surface mining, in which a giant hole, called a quarry, is dug in the ground to extract the minerals (Figure 12. 6A). In strip mining, a trench is dug to extract the minerals (Figure 12. 6B). Then a new trench is dug parallel to the old one, and the overburden from the new trench is put into the old one, creating a hil l of loose rock called a spoil bank (Wiley, 2009).What effect does extracting minerals have on the environment? Mining, particularly surface mining disturbs large areas of land. In the United States, functioning and abandoned metal and coal mines occupy an estimated 9 million hectares (22 million acres). Because mining destroys existing vegetation, this land is particularly prone to erosion, with wind erosion causing air pollution and water erosion polluting nearby waterways and damaging aquatic habitats (Wiley, 2010). Soil What is your definition of soil? What is soil composed of? Why is soil important to the environment?Soil is the uppermost layer of Earth's crust and supports terrestrial plants, animals, and microorganisms. Soil is formed from parent material—rock that is slowly fragmented into small particles by biological, chemical, and physical weathering processes. Soil is composed of mineral particles, organic matter, water, and air. Soil horizons are the horizontal l ayers into which many soils are organized, from the surface to the underlying parent material. Vast numbers and kinds of organisms, mainly microorganisms, inhabit soil and depend on it for shelter, food, and water.Plants anchor themselves in soil, and from it they receive essential minerals and water. Terrestrial plants could not survive without soil, and because we depend on plants for our food, humans could not exist without soil either (Wiley, 2013). What types of organisms are found in soil? Determine the relationship between soil and organisms. Soil organisms carry out nutrient cycling, the pathway of nutrient minerals or elements from the environment through organisms and back to the environment. What is soil erosion?How can soil become polluted? What effect does soil erosion and pollution have on the environment? Soil organisms provide ecosystem services such as maintaining soil fertility and preventing soil erosion. Water, wind, ice, and other agents cause soil erosion, the wearing away or removal of soil from the land. Soil erosion reduces fertility because essential minerals and organic matter are removed. Erosion causes sediments and pesticide and fertilizer residues to pollute nearby waterways ( Wiley, 2009). What is the purpose of soil reclamation?To undertake soil reclamation, erosion protection, Site restoration and reinstatement, taking into account natural processes, operational requirements and technical feasibility, to deliver post-construction land conditions as similar as possible to those prior to construction or as agreed with the relevant authorities and/or landowner (LMS, 2013). Forestry and Rangeland Resources and Management Strategies Differentiate between government-owned lands and public lands. Which government agencies are involved with government-owned lands? What is the purpose of government-owned lands?Private Citizens, corporations, and nonprofit organizations own about 55 percent of the land in the United States, and Native A merican tribes own about 3 percent. State and local governments own another 7 percent. The federal government owns the rest (about 35 percent). Government-owned land encompasses all types of ecosystems, from tundra to desert, and includes land that contains important resources such as minerals and fossil fuels, land that possesses historical or cultural significance, and land that provides critical biological habitat.Most federally owned land is in Alaska and 11 western states (Figure 13. 1). Federal land is managed primarily by four agencies, three in the U. S. Department of the Interior—the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the National Park Service (NPS)—and one in the Department of Agriculture—the U. S. Forest Service (USFS) (Table 13. 1) (Wiley, 2009). Why is the forest an important ecosystem? Forests, important ecosystems that provide many goods and services to support human society, occupy less than one-third of Ear th's total land area.Timber harvested from forests is used for fuel, construction materials, and paper products. Forests supply nuts, mushrooms, fruits, and medicines. Forests provide employment for millions of people worldwide and offer recreation and spiritual sustenance in an increasingly crowded world (Wiley, 2009). What is your definition of forest management? What is its purpose? Describe the concept of sustainable forestry. Management for timber production disrupts a forest's natural condition and alters its species composition and other characteristics.Specific varieties of commercially important trees are planted, and those trees not as commercially desirable are thinned out or removed. Traditional forest management often results in low-diversity forests. In recognition of the many ecosystem services performed by natural forests, a newer method of forest management, known as ecologically sustainable forest management, or simply sustainable forestry, is evolving. Sustainable forestry maintains a mix of forest trees, by age and species, rather than imposing a monoculture (Wiley, 2009).What effect does the harvesting of trees and deforestation have on forests and the environment? Is there a preferred method for harvesting trees? Explain. In seed tree cutting, almost all trees are harvested from an area; a scattering of desirable trees is left behind to provide seeds for the regeneration of the forest. Clear-cutting is harvesting timber by removing all trees from an area and then either allowing the area to reseed and regenerate itself naturally or planting the area with one or more specific varieties of trees. Timber companies prefer clear-cutting because it is the most cost-effective way to harvest trees.The preferred method of harvesting tree is tree cutting as oppose to the other 3 methods (Wiley, 2009). What is a rangeland? Describe rangeland degradation and desertification. What effect does degradation and desertification have on the environment? Ra ngelands are grasslands, in both temperate and tropical climates, that serve as important areas of food production for humans by providing fodder for livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goats (Figure 13. 8). Rangelands may be mined for minerals and energy resources, used for recreation, and preserved for biological habitat and for soil and water resources.The predominant vegetation of rangelands includes grasses, forbs (small plants other than grasses), and shrubs. Land degradation is a natural or human-induced process that decreases the future ability of the land to support crops or livestock. This progressive degradation, which induces unproductive desert-like conditions on formerly productive rangeland (or tropical dry forest), is desertification (Figure 13. 9). It reduces the agricultural productivity of economically valuable land, forces many organisms out, and threatens endangered species. Worldwide, desertification seems to be on the increase.The United Nations estimates tha t each year since the mid-1990s, 3,560 km2 (1,374 mi2)—an area about the size of Rhode Island—has turned into desert (Wiley, 2013). What is overgrazing? What effect does this have on rangelands? Overgrazing is the destruction of vegetation caused by too many grazing animals consuming the plants in a particular area, leaving them unable to recover. Overgrazing accelerates land degradation, which decreases the future ability of the land to support crops or livestock. Desertification is the degradation of once-fertile rangeland or tropical dry forest into nonproductive desert (Wiley, 2009).What strategies can be employed for the management and conservation of forests and rangelands? Endangered U. S. ecosystems include the south Florida landscape, southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests, and longleaf pine forests and savannas. Criteria used to evaluate whether an ecosystem is endangered and to what degree it is threatened include its history of land loss and degradation, i ts prospects for future loss or degradation, the area the ecosystem occupies, and the number of threatened and endangered species living in that ecosystem (Wiley, 2009). AgricultureWhat is the difference between industrialized agriculture and subsistence agriculture? Industrialized agriculture uses modern methods requiring large capital input and less land and labor than traditional methods. Subsistence agriculture requires labor and a large amount of land to produce enough food to feed a family. There are three types of subsistence agriculture. In slash-and-burn agriculture, small patches of tropical forests are cleared to plant crops. In nomadic herding, carried out on arid land, herders move livestock continually to find food for them.Intercropping involves growing a variety of plants simultaneously on the same field. What effect do these methods of agriculture have on the environment? Environmental problems caused by industrialized agriculture include air pollution from the use of fossil fuels and pesticides, water pollution from untreated animal wastes and agricultural chemicals, pesticide-contaminated foods and soils, and increased resistance of pests to pesticides. Land degradation decreases the future ability of the land to support crops or livestock.Clearing grasslands and forests and draining wetlands to grow crops have resulted in habitat fragmentation, the breakup of large areas of habitat into small, isolated patches (Wiley, 2013). What is one agricultural challenge, other than soil erosion, that society faces? Explain your answer. Prime farmland in the United States is being lost to urbanization and urban sprawl. Global declines in plant and animal varieties have led many countries to collect germ plasm, plant and animal material that may be used in breeding.Farmers and ranchers strive to increase yields in many ways, including by administering hormones and antibiotics to livestock (Wiley, 2013). How would you describe sustainable agriculture? Ho w does it affect the environment? In regards to agriculture, what are the advantages and disadvantages involved with genetic engineering? Sustainable agriculture uses methods that maintain soil productivity and a healthy ecological balance while minimizing long-term impacts.Genetic engineering, the manipulation of genes to produce a particular trait, can produce more nutritious crops or crop plants that are resistant to pests, diseases, or drought. Concerns about genetic engineering include unknown environmental effects (Wiley, 2009). References WILEY PLUS: Berg, L. R. , & Hager, M. C. (2009). Visualizing Environmental Science (2nd. ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. http://www. sakhalinenergy. ru/en/documents/45_Soil_Reclamation_and_Site_Reinstatement_E. pdf `University of Phoenix Material Environmental Resources Worksheet

Analysis of “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs

The descriptive essay, â€Å"On Being A Cripple,† by Nancy Mairs demonstrates a purpose to postulate the way society has brainwashed people to judge others incorrectly in order to expose the true thoughts of a person living beneath the glamorized world. Mairs strongly feels that â€Å"[she has not] lost anything in the course of this calamitous disease† (37), known as Multiple Sclerosis, a disease that deteriorates the nerves and interferes with brain and body communication because the immune system has eaten away the protective covering on the nerve cells.To assert her confidence, Mairs initiates her essay with a strong, simple term to define herself: â€Å"a cripple† (37). She wants society to â€Å"wince† (37) in order to portray that candy coated euphemisms have made society weak. Mairs does not want her readers to feel sympathy, but to see the perspective of a person with the disease. Towards the end of the essay, Mairs is reflects back on society's w ays by comparing herself to other women who have the same disease and by declating she is â€Å"not a disease† (43) magnifies what this condition is to her on a more personal level.This disease is not just a besetment, it is a part of her life. Mairs exemplifies her suggested use of â€Å"cripple† by alluding to the â€Å"Lindsfarne Gospel† (37), which contains the first use of the word â€Å"cripple. † Mairs uses this to allow the audience to view the world in a more formal way. Therefore, a gospel might put on a different view of â€Å"cripple† rather than an impolite slang term.Her goal is to create an acceptance and understanding of the word and her condition to the society and the people who are living with the condition as well. Mairs points out numerous times that she has as learned to live through her disease in which she compares herself to many others who have MS yet gave up on trying to live their life; Mairs sees herself â€Å"like fat people, who are expected to be jolly,† (41) but states â€Å"cripples must bear their lot meekly and cheerfully,† (41) creating a comparison for herself.Subsequently, Mairs has added on more pressure for herself. Although she claims that she is against society's ways, she cares about the expectations they give her, later adding â€Å"this is a class act† (41). Trying to please society and herself at the same time is difficult for Mairs as she â€Å"[winds] up feeling like Tiny Tim, peering over the edge of the table†¦waving [her] crutch† (41), but prefers to be a â€Å"Caliban, a most scurvy monster† (42).When she feels like â€Å"Tiny Tim† (41), she is viewing herself how the world views her, a person who is disabled. Mairs would rather classify herself as a â€Å"Caliban† (42) or a â€Å"cripple† to evoke society to â€Å"wince† (37) at her and see her as the strong woman that she truly is. Nancy Mairs' purpose is to leave an effect on her readers to help them understand her feelings about the pressure society has established and how it has changed her and the rest of humanity in order to prove them wrong.