Media Reaction Paper – West Side Story

Media Reaction Paper: West Side Story West Side Story was one of the first musicals this writer saw on Broadway. It was such a mesmerizing experience to live the culmination of the hard work performed by a group of very talented individuals that stemmed from a single idea. It was not until research was done for this paper that this student realized what a great cultural impact West Side Story was when it was first introduced to audiences. The book for West Side Story was written by Arthur Laurents in 1949. An interesting fact about this legendary story is that it was not always named West Side Story. The original name given this tale, based on Romeo and Juliet, was â€Å"East Side Story. † It was written as a rivalry tale between a gang of Roman Catholic teenagers named The Jets, and a gang of Jewish teenagers named The Emeralds. Because this topic of rivalry between the Jewish and Roman Catholic communities was redundant in the industry at the time, the creative team composed of Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein, decided to put the project on hold. Thus, they ceased work on the idea for a period of almost five years (Miller, 2006). After five years the creative team reunited to work on other projects and decided to revisit East Side Story and give it a completely new twist and decided to set it in Harlem, New York City (Miller, 2006). West Side Story depicts the love between a Caucasian teenage boy from the West Side of New York City and a young Puerto Rican girl from the same neighborhood. The characters were all from a poor neighborhood and hung out on the streets together. There were two gangs that were in constant conflict with each other: The Jets and The Sharks. Tony, the main character, is a member of the Jets, a gang composed of Caucasian teenage boys. He is however, different from the rest of the members and wants to work and someday go on his own way. Maria is the sister of the leader of the Sharks, a gang composed of teenage Puerto Rican boys. Maria and Tony meet and instantly fall in love and have to deal with the turmoil of being from different cultural backgrounds and the difficulty of having their love accepted by each of their groups. The relationship causes conflict in the neighborhood that results in violence and ultimately Tony’s death. West Side Story was considered a breakthrough for the Puerto Rican community. Very little exposure about the Puerto Rican culture and their presence in New York City had been portrayed in any type of media up to the time the play’s debut on Broadway. Although Puerto Rican’s were depicted with stereotypes that were not necessarily true about their culture, the story delivers a message of change. It describes racism as dangerous and as an obstacle to love. To have developed such a controversial story during times when segregation still existed in the United States was very brave. What softened the diversified and strong topic was the fact that it was a musical with very vivid choreography and colors andan upbeat script full of humor. This factor made the story more acceptable to the American people. The media has its ways to persuade the masses. Within the past century, the media has played an important part in the cultural changes in America. Television, radio, theater and written works have broken through the racism barriers to expose the many faces of the American population. Everyone is different and their cultural background makes a special contribution to the community of the world. West Side Story is a good example of a media piece that addressed America’s cultural diversity in a time when most people had no idea how multicultural our country really was. References Miller, G. (Wintr-Summer 2003). Arthur Laurents chronology. American Drama, p. 1(9). Retrieved November 10, 2009, from General OneFile via Gale: http://find. galegroup. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/ips/start. do? prodId=IPS

Is Super Size Me Convincing? Essay

The doctors were certain that if he did not end the experiment immediately, he would have caused irreparable damage to his body. Using the rhetorical triangle, we can illustrate how the documentary utilizes the three points of logos, ethos, and pathos in order to establish a well founded, credible, and effective argument. Without the use of the rhetorical triangle, trying to create a well founded, credible account of anything would be difficult. One could argue that if an argument lacks any part of the rhetorical triangle, the argument is incomplete, and has no credibility or effectiveness. The rhetorical triangle provides the structure; the frame of a well thought out and well presented meaningful argument. And by doing so – using the rhetorical triangle, on can create a nearly foolproof reasoning and support for something they believe or support. This is what Spurlock has done here. The message; the appeal to ethos – the argument, the reason, data, evidence, and structure. The documentary uses simple, straightforward scientific methods to gather, collect, and analyze the data obtained from the study. Spurlock does this in order to get the message to people that eating nothing but fast food all of the time is terribly detrimental to your body. Your health suffers, and can even affect you mentally. Throughout the movie, he provides a simple structure of the task at hand, to eat nothing but McDonald’s all day, every day, for every meal. He does this to show that in no way is eating fast food good for you and that it should absolutely be limited if not totally eliminated from your diet. Fast foods have caused – or at least helped to cause many American’s problems with obesity and iseases such as diabetes. There have been many studies to support these claims and none are unfounded assumptions. The next unit of the rhetorical triangle that the documentary has covered is that of pathos – the audience and the appeals to their emotions, beliefs, values, knowledge and experience. Every American and many of the other peoples of the world have heard of McDonaldâ⠂¬â„¢s. They all know of food, and most have had experience with it as well. They know that it tastes good, and is fast and easy. They believe that it is perfectly harmless as well, most of them, anyhow. What they don’t know is that it is absolutely terrible for you and causes much more harm than good. What the movie tries to do is show how the effects of eating so much fast food can harm you. The results can be absolutely horrible, and if left uncorrected could lead to permanent damage. The movie tries to use the shock and scare factor of your emotions to get their message across that this stuff is no good. Any intelligent, rational person will take a step back and think twice about what they eat and especially whether or not to eat fast food, even a little. The effect for some people may be nothing, but others, like me will initially completely avoid fast food because of the shock that the movie gave us. Later on, however, after the shock has passed it is no big deal to go back for a burger – which can be dangerous. The biggest appeal to fast food it just that – it is fast. It is fast, easy, convenient and tasty. Quite appealing. The use of pathos on children is especially prevalent in McDonalds. They target children everywhere, on television, in schools, on signs, and on billboards. Children today cannot avoid them. They use these advertisements almost subliminally, so that the children will crave and seek out their food. Once they get there, they are overwhelmed with flashy, fun advertising gimmicks. They have happy meals with toys to entice them with, and a playground too. Why wouldn’t a child want to go to a place like that? Food, toys, and a playground all in one, it is wonderful. I remember I used to always enjoy going there as a kid. I cannot stand McDonalds now, however, for many it has and will become a life-long bond of company and consumer. This is exactly what McDonalds wants and is what they thrive on, f course – they are a business. The last appeal to be covered is that of ethos – credibility, authority, appearance and eloquence. Here, as in other aspects there are two sides to the ethos in this documentary. On one side is Spurlock and his doctors and professionals, and on the other side, McDonalds. First off, McDonalds wants you to think that their food is noth ing but tasty and filling – which it can be. They do not want you to know the harmful and unhealthy aspects of eating there. After all, they want you to come back and spend more money! What Spurlock wants to do with his documentary is get the message out that what we are doing to ourselves by eating this food is hurting us. He wants to expose that what the fast food business is doing is wrong. He does a good job of doing this, as he is very clear about what he is doing, and how he does it. He uses credible people such as doctors, scientists, and specialists to support his claims and make sure what he tells us is accurate. He does a great job of creating a convincing argument – one that is difficult to pick apart and find fault within. He has done a great job of providing clear, concise, convincing data. The movie Super Size Me is a great documentary and does a wonderful job of – well, documenting the research that Spurlock has done. He put himself through thirty days of hell of eating nothing but McDonald’s food in order to show what would happen if that is all you ate – nothing but McDonald’s food for an entire month. The result was shocking and horrifying at the same time. Spurlock gained over twenty pounds of body fat – while probably losing quite a lot of muscle mass and gained nearly twenty percent body fat. After thirty days that is amazing. His health deteriorated to the point that he nearly caused permanent damage to some of his vital organs such as his liver. The results were simply shocking, and they were foolproof as well, everything was done in a way that no one can argue with them and say that well, this was not caused by eating only McDonald’s. It was all directly caused by the food. This a very well structured and convincing study and they have done a great job through the documentary of portraying the information to the public.

Analysis of the Effects of Modernism and Post-modernism on Management Practice Essay Example for Free

Analysis of the Effects of Modernism and Post-modernism on Management Practice Essay The concepts â€Å"modem† and â€Å"post-modern† have become common currency in intellectual debates regarding organizational theory. Within such debates, the postmodern is perceived as an epoch, a perspective, or an entirely new paradigm of thought (Callas 1999, p. 649). Such a conception of the aforementioned term stems from its rootedness in the conception of the modern. Chia (1995) notes that what distinguishes the postmodern from the modem is â€Å"a style of thinking which eschews the uncritical use of common organizational terms such as ‘organizations’, ‘individuals’, ‘environment’, ‘structure’, and ’culture’, etc† (p. These terms refer to the existence of social entities and attributes within a modernist conception of organizational cultures. The rationale behind this lies in the ontological conception of being which privileges thinking in terms of discrete phenomenal states, static attributes and sequential events. As opposed to such an ontological conception of reality, the postmodern stands as the champion of weak forms of ontology that â€Å"emphasize a transient, ephemeral and emergent reality† (Chia 1995, p. 579). If such is the case, it thereby follows that a postmodernist perspective of reality adheres to thought styles wherein reality is deemed to be continuously in flux and transformation and hence unrepresentable thereby impossible to situate within a static conception of reality. Within the sphere of organizational management, an adoption of a post-modernist perspective of reality thereby leads to a rethinking of the modern conceptions of organizations since adherence to postmodernist perspectives lead to the de-emphasis on organizations, organizational forms and organizational attributes. Such a conception of reality, however tends to emphasize the importance of local forms of organizational methods, which collectively define a social reality. In a sense, the shift from a modern to a postmodern conception of organizations thereby leads to the re-definition of existing ontological conceptions of reality that determine the various forms of intellectual priorities as well as theoretical stipulations in the study and conception of organizations. In lieu of this, this paper’s will provide a contextualization of the implications of such perspectives within organizational structures. The analysis of such will be determined through the analysis of the effects of such perspectives in relation to management practices. An example of the application of the postmodernist perspectives within the field of organizational theory is evident in the Foucauldian analysis of human resource systems. Edward Baratt (2003) notes that a Foucauldian conception of organizational structures has enabled the formation of â€Å"a conceptual architecture and a method for exploring and problematizing Human Resource Management† (p. 084). Baratt notes, a Foucauldian conception of organizations has enabled the formation of conditions wherein all members of an organization may engage in â€Å"the practice of critical truth telling† (p. 1085). The importance of such may be fully understood if one considers its effects in relation to the two dominant paradigms that dictate Human Resource Management discourse: managerialist and critical evaluative positions. Jacques (1999) notes, â€Å"Managerialist and critical evaluative positions in binary opposition to each other constitute the main sites from which we can speak academically about HRM† (p. 200). The distinction between the two positions are evident if one considers that in one line of argument has been an emphasis on the production of an enterprising subject dependent on practices designed to engage an employee’s psyche. The possibility of such lies in the formation of managerial practices that opt for the continuous subjectification of the subject [in this sense the employee]. Within such managerial practices, the subject is placed within various forms of practices of subjectification that leads to the development of different form of competencies that further lead to the continuous embeddedness of the subject within the organization. The difficulty within such a managerial method lies in its creation of a fabricated subject. The pragmatic aspect involved within such a method, however, may be traced to its ability to create productive subjects [productive employees]. As opposed to such a totalizing form of managerial methodologies, alternative arguments [of the postmodernist kind] emphasize the possibility of enabling the co-existence and interrelationships between human resource technologies of the self and other disciplinary practices specifically those situated within the grounds of technological and accounting controls (Baratt 2003, p. 1084). A popular theme of such methodologies gives emphasis on the intensification and sophistication of surveillance and control method [through technological and accounting measures]. Within these method, management methods are thereby perceived as enabling the formation that determine the relationships within the workplace by taking control of indeterminate relationships [amongst the members of the workplace] through the imposition of increase surveillance methods that â€Å"impose order on the inherently undecidables† conditions of the workplace. Such a methodology thereby adheres to a postmodernist conception of human relations and social reality as it opts to clarify the indeterminate variables within organizations through the use of â€Å"effective instruments for the formation and accumulation of knowledge-methods of observation, techniques of registration, procedures for investigation and research, apparatuses of control† (Foucault 1980, p. 102). Within such a scheme, the function of management systems [and hence of managers] lies in ensuring the maintenance of â€Å"the precarious local orchestration of material, technical and social relationships which give rise to relatively stabilized configurations† (Chia 1995, p. 601). The heads of the management of organizations, in this sense, are thereby tasked with ensuring the implementation as well as the continuous development of more efficient production practices within the surveillance scheme of management systems. Analytic evaluation schemes used in forming job evaluations will thereby be created so as to ensure the ordering of a population. Managerial positions, in this sense, may be seen as the roles that enable the implementation of the surveillance scheme that enables the continuous effectiveness of a human resource management system. In summary, the effects of the tenets of both modernism and postmodernism are evident within the workplace [or within organizational theories of management and hence management itself] as they influence the historical means of constructing the relations within the workplace. The modernist conception, which perceives reality as bound by static relations, failed to account for the indeterminate variables resulting from the complexity of power relations within the workplace. Such a complexity, however, was accounted for by a postmodernist perspective of organizations due to its recognition of the fluidity of social relations as a result of their embeddedness within the discourse of power and knowledge that define the conditions within any sphere [in this context the public sphere]. Within the field of Human Resource Management, the construction of knowledge operates through rules of classification, ordering, and distribution evident in the definitions of activities and the formation of rules of procedure, which determines a particular institution’s management discourse. The importance of postmodernist perspectives lies in its promise of the possibility of autonomy within such a predefined and hence rigid sphere. The possibility, in this sense, may be attained through enabling the co-existence and interrelationships between human resource technologies of the self and other disciplinary methods. In line with the postmodernist [specifically Foucauldian discourse], the postmodernist has thereby enabled the development of Human Resource Systems and hence Management systems that enable the formation of an understanding regarding the means in which various individuals may be formulated so as to create a system which allows the creation of objectivity amidst the grounds of subjective wills. Analysis of the Effects of Modernism and Post-modernism on Management Practice. (2017, Feb 06).

Analyzing the Relationships between Service Quality and Special Events Essay - 1

Analyzing the Relationships between Service Quality and Special Events in the Entertainment Industry - Essay Example While examining this issue the other questions which this research seeks to answer are: Is the current SERVQUAL instrument an effective overall measure of perceived service quality for special events organizations; if the answer to the first question is â€Å"No†, can new dimensions be added to make SERVQUAL more effective for measuring customers’ perceived service quality of special events and can such an adapted and modified SERVQUAL instrument be generalized for measuring perceived service quality of special events’ offerings? Modification of the 1991 version of the SERVQUAL method would aim at the reduction of ambiguity in expectations definition and unstable dimensionality (Babakus and Boller 1992; Carman 1990; Cronin and Taylor 1992). Babakus and Waller in fact suggest (p. 265) that â€Å"it may not be fruitful to pursue the development of a standard measurement scale applicable to a wide variety of services†. In order to achieve this modification an attempt would be made to add one or two dimensions to the standard instrument so that the scale would become more contextual for situations concerning special events. To identify these additional dimensions factor analysis would be conducted on variables (factors) to identify relevant and critical factors. Respondents would be chosen from the customer base of the targeted special events company(ies). External validity would be addressed by also surveying non-customers. The sampling scheme deployed would be stratified random sampling. The company’s entire customer base would be organized according to the demographic variable of customer income. The underlying assumption would be that the ability to purchase entertainment offered by the special events company is a direct function of the income of the consumer. However, income/ability should not be deemed to be synonymous with â€Å"willingness† to pay. Customer willingness assessment, on the other hand would be the

Ingle-family detached residences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ingle-family detached residences - Essay Example Now is a great time to invest in a home in Dallas. This is the position that is going to be argued for. According to Dallas Dirt Magazine, â€Å"Despite the worst about [various neighborhoods in Dallas],folks always clamor to live there† Property values are apparently suffering because of unethical treatment to animals in the area. Additionally, Dallas has difficulties with its housing market due to the fact that sometimes, commercial areas are notorious for not being separated from residential living areas. This poses a serious problem and must be ameliorated, or else the community will suffer. SLP 1 Question 2) Identify an area you believe to a sound area in the Dallas MetroPlex for real estate investment. (Don't just say "Dallas" or "Dallas Area" - try to be more specific - identify a particular area of town.) Explain why you chose this area. http://recenter.tamu.edu/ (100 words) According to Dallas Dirt (2010), some of the more desirable neighborhoods include â€Å"who is doing the best in this market†¦[including neighborhoods such as] Park Cities, Westlake, Southlake, North Dallas/Preston Hollow, despite the Dallas City Council [problems]. Also[, other good areas in which to live include] Coppell, Irving, Oak Lawn† (pp. 1). These cities are preferred by the people who chose to live in them due to their high popularity. Basically, people currently prefer to live in areas where the people in the neighborhood are understanding, compassionate, and feel like genuine neighbors who care about the person moving in next door. SLP 1 Question 3) Discuss your selection in (2) based on price ranges of homes in the general geographic area.   Give specific values on the ranges and tell me where you found the data to support the range you cite.   (131 words) The certified estimated value report for 2010 based on market value of real estate in the University Park neighborhood in Dallas is estimated to be â€Å"$6,863,828,520,† according to the Dallas CAD (Central Appraisal District) Estimated Value Report (2010, pp. 1). The average value of a home in University Park, for example, is $856,797; of course, this is not necessarily representative of the area. Homes in Dallas tend to range between $53,000 and $200,000 in general, although there are some homes ranging up to $200K to over a million dollars (Dallas CAD Average Values for Single-Family Detached Residences, 2010, pp. 1). â€Å"One of the most desirable neighborhoods in all of Texas, University Park (UP) is known for having some of the most beautiful Dallas homes† (Dallas Texas Real Estate, 2010, pp. 1). SLP 1 Question 4) Discuss your selection in (2) based on affordability of homes in the general geographic area.  Ã‚   Affordability refers to the cost of the home relative to the earnings of the local populace.   You may want to reference the Texas Real Estate Research Center Housing Affordability Index. (100 words) The Texas Housing Affordability Index ( THAI) Publication 1926 helped determine the housing costs relational to income. â€Å"With mortgage interest rates at historically low levels and a large supply of available properties for sale, afford- ability for the next several years should be at a favorable level [in Dallas] for households that can qualify for financing†¦ Even down times have an upside. Decreasing home prices, the higher volume of foreclosed homes available, tougher mortgage lending standards and reluctant buyers are combining to make Texas homes more affordable than anywhere in the United States† (THAI Publication 1926, 2010, pp. 3). SLP 1 Question 5) Discuss your selection in (2) based on anticipated future appreciation in value and/or rents.

Should the government be neutral in matters of conscience by jerry Essay

Should the government be neutral in matters of conscience by jerry mills - Essay Example The importance and relevance of neutral government The main idea of the article lies in the fact that there should be strict separation between the church and secular laws in order to eliminate unjustified oppression on people’s conscience and provide all the conditions for personal liberty and human natural rights realization. Law making and church should act in accordance with each other to help people understand what is right and what is wrong in our world (Mills). If the church imposes definite things and the laws does not even try to disprove them, such situation prevents people from good understanding what is good and evil and can’t help form right principles with the youth. Jerry Mills presents several arguments to support his point of view, which are mainly based on previous works by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson (Mills). According to Madison, neutral government should strive for establishing common morality. At the same time the social system is supposed t o provide such human rights as individualism, opportunity and stability (Mills). In his draft ‘Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments’, Madison provided quite well-reasoned explanation for the necessity of division between state and church power: religious liberty is considered to be a part and parcel of human natural rights and it should be completely free of civil legislature; religions are not in need for any civil support: there are a lot of historical examples when religion arised in response to certain opposition, not support of legal laws (Mills). In order to demonstrate horrible consequences, which church and state relationship caused, Thomas Jefferson described Virginian law about Quakers, which stated that in case Quakers refused to take an oath of adherence to the Crown, they were exiled from the state, imprisoned or even sentenced to execution (Mills). The author’s ultimate goal is to create a civil system, which would allow for moral pluralism without domination of leading factions. There are two ways how governments could deal with factions: the first method suggests that government removes the reasons, which evoked the fraction existence by making people believe in one thing; the second method is associated with neutral government, which is supposed to control the effects of factions’ activities (Mills). Such social regime implies government tolerance of citizens’ adverse interests and views. According to Mills, the main task of ‘sufficiently neutral’ government is supposed to be the promotion of democracy, control and restriction of dominating factions’ invasion into other communities (Mills). Conclusions The main question of the article is about the role and influence of government in human life. Even in our modern democratic world, there is no common consent about the extent to which government could or should intervene in social activities without putting any restrictions on human freethinking. We assume the Mills’ arguments against church and state consolidation are relevant and support his point of view about importance of establishing ‘sufficiently neutral’ government, which would interfere into social and personal life of citizens to acceptable extent and

Business communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Business communication - Essay Example While writing, keep the key purpose in mind and by no means one should drift from it. Nonetheless, if during the way of writing, one notices that centre of attention has altered, it is imperative to correct writing as considered necessary to reveal the point with the intention of keeping an understandable, as well as logical document (Guffey, pp.27, 2007). The readers should be inform in the beginning how they will get advantage by reading the document; what they can achieve, which facts and figures can be found, or how they can be benefited from reading that document. Identifying the audience for which one is writing will assist in deciding the manner as well as substance of the document. If one is not certain regarding the readers then the writer should inquire from himself for whom he is writing the document as well as who is almost certainly get the advantage from his writing. If one is writing with the plan of advertising an artifact or service to a target market or supporting a cause, he might have to know the age of anticipated readers, the background of anticipated readers, the place where they live, their phase of life, their interests as well as activities, and what factors are important for them. These sorts of questions will assist the writer to aim his audience and then write for them (Locker & Kaczmarek, p.91, 2008). While one writes, he should take care of practical as well as other terminologies, short forms of words, in addition to abbreviations. Except that one is writing for a specially focused area, it is better to stay away from slang and to spell acronyms and abbreviations completely, at least when they are used first. Regardless of the readers, one usually does not have to be excessively conventional or reserved. A standard, relaxed tone will generally be helpful in getting the point across (Guffey, pp.13, 2007). As the reader has recognized, an effort should be made to foresee the facts that the reader would like or require,

CISCO Case Study Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CISCO Case Study - Research Paper Example 2). This means that dynamism has been the strategic approach of the company and in doing this, it has made the entire globe its platform for operation. Hitherto, Cisco began a right company to include in the Partnership for Lebanon (PFL) when it became necessary to put together five companies to send relief to the country in various ways. If for nothing at all, functions of corporate social responsibility are part of a globalised dynamic strategy and so meet the vision and culture of Cisco squarely. CSR Lessons Reading through the case, there are several key strategic lessons that any senior manager of projects within a company could adapt. The first of this has to do with the use of integration in both the approach and stakeholder base. That is, the Partnership for Lebanon, as the name implies, was undertaken in an integrated or partnership manner. Integration has been found to hold the key to the many failures recorded in project management in terms of effectiveness and efficiency (Nonis & Swift, 2001). This is so because most project managers tend to take up all the task of project implementation and execution or at best include only a few stakeholders. Once this happens, there tend to be inefficiency and ineffectiveness because very little is achieved within a longer time frame and what is achieved is hardly guaranteed of quality. From the manner in which the Partnership for Lebanon was implemented using as many stakeholders and agents as possible, it is important that senior managers always adapt an employee involvement approach when carrying out major projects. In terms of approaches too, it could be seen that as many as five criteria were set for the implementation and running of the development program. In light of this, senior managers are admonished to always have a backup strategy that they can fall on in case substantive strategies fail. Alternatively, they may choose to use many strategies at a go so the weaknesses of some of the strategies will be overshadowed by the strengths of others. The second lesson that can be learned in terms of implementation and running of development programs has to do with the implementation approach adapted by the stakeholders. Indeed, not only did the stakeholders have a differentiating approach that was made up of several different strategies. What is more, the approach that was adapted when implementing the strategies gives a strong signal to senior managers. The implementation approach is what could be referred to as the spiral implementation approach. In such spiral implementation approach, the strategies or tasks in implementation are prioritized. The prioritization is made to move from the less complex to the most complex. Complexity could be defined in terms of cost, urgency, relevance and resource demand. In whatever the case, the ones that demand less are first implemented before jumping on to the ones that demand more (Norberg, 2000). In the present case, we read about stakeholders of the project at the April 2007 conference in Paris, deciding on the immediate priorities to

Indian Culture and American Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Indian Culture and American Culture - Essay Example It is only when we understand the differences and similarities between the cultures of the two nations; we can better understand why people behave as they normally do. In the below paragraphs, the essay tries to examine the contrasts and similarities People respond to colors in different ways and this greatly has to do with the cultural backgrounds they are from. In the American culture, black signifies death and mourning. Worn mainly due to the weather conditions, it also refers to formality and sophistication that reflects in dressing. However in the Indian culture, black signifies mourning, evil influences and penance. In certain cultures, completely black attires are worn by men for a chosen number of days in form of penance. White in the US signifies purity and life. However in India, the meanings are contradictory and white suggests peace, marriage and mourning all at once. In Southern part of India, women wear traditional white saris on the day of the wedding. In times of someone's death, white is also seen to be worn by widows. Blue color refers to trust and stability in American culture while in India it refers to calmness. Besides individual colors, combinations also have diverse meanings in the two religions. Red, white and blue remind Americans of the native flag and convey patriotism while in India the same patriotism comes through saffron, white and green (colors of the Indian national flag). The colors red and green represent prosperity and marriage in India and refer to Christmas in America. Red and yellow are considered auspicious in India as they represent kumkum2 and turmeric, two ingredients imperative for every Indian wedding. However in America, colors of red, orange and yellow signify warmth and thanksgiving. Religions The freedom of religion is seen to be prevalent and a common point between the diverse cultures of India and America. In India, the major religious communities include Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis. Among all religions, Hinduism is most prevalent as the 'religion of India' (Ellwood, 1992) with its origin dating to over 4000 years ago. Over 672.6 million people in India are Hindus and they believe in 330 million different Gods, Goddesses and incarnations. Thousands of beautiful temples have been constructed for these Gods and each day of the week is dedicated to a special God. Mosques, churches and gurudwaras (holy places for Sikhs) coexist in all cities and people from different religions go to their respective places of worship. In India religion plays an important role for many people in taking decisions about their personal lives, professional lives, and even food habits. For example, in many parts of South India, families do not eat onion and gar lic, as their religion dominates so. While in certain fasts certain food items and vegetables are avoided, there are various seasons where certain food items are considered to be good for consumption. Yagnas3 are a popular means to appease the Gods and are conducted for varied purposes like for getting rain during drought, attaining prosperity or for winning a cricket match. While no specific religion is imposed on people, many follow the religion of their forefathers. In many cases people are seen to convert to another religion (usually from Hinduism to

Stereotyping Essay Example for Free

Stereotyping Essay Many would agree that stereotyping can be seen as an individual’s preconception about another individual depending on race, color, gender, or religion. Once an individual has built a stereotypical opinion he or she would view the communication and actions individuals of a different race, color, gender, or religion with prejudice. Racial stereotyping is an extremely detrimental facet of stereotyping. It actually paves the way for outright racism, which can cause communication barriers on multiple levels. For example, a stereotypical individual feels that some people are more intelligent that others due to their race, or the color of their skin. Racial stereotyping can lead to the suppression of the minority population in an area by the dominant culture, and this hinders societal development. The practice of racial stereotyping through the use of the media has been used throughout history by some members of society to attain various goals. The most effective way to get peoples reaction about an issue is through the media. Racial stereotyping is perpetuated highly through the film and television media, so it is important for people to mind what they watch, and how sincere the materials are being represented. In addition, a lot of movies are racially stereotypical. For example, in the movies members of gangs are most times, big black guys. This can be misinterpreted as showing that black people are usually gang members, which is not necessarily true. Furthermore, when a particular group is stereotyped, they will begin to internalize the inherent negative image, and might actually mimic some behaviors that have been portrayed in the negative imagery. The fact that they are already being criticized, can lead people to actually portray the action in reality. As mentioned above, the media can affect the way people react to certain matters, so when people are stereotyped negatively, they could change themselves in response to what is shown in the media. Ronald Takaki observed that â€Å"the pressure that the majority puts on a minority being stereotyped is high because their upward mobility will not reach equality† (Takaki, Ronald 1990 p. 101). This can cause people who are being stereotyped to feel isolated and can lead to a barrier being created between communities. In addition, a common reaction to stereotyping and criticism is that people become extremely defensive. This is a natural reaction, which most people tend to do when they feel trapped or scared. Racial stereotyping occurs between different races because many people are scared of being seen as different. For example, when a black or Hispanic family moves to a place like Canada, some people around might be initially reluctant to interact with them due to their racial difference. Hence, a communication barrier might be built between them. Stereotypical people are afraid of the idea of being different, and this is why they try to criticize others. They might also try to persecute the minority in the community, so that they would feel unwanted and eventually leave their country. As Anna Lisa Raya indicates her experience of having to define her self as what others thought in the article â€Å"it’s hard enough being me†. Overall, the idea of racial stereotyping will always be in our lives. However as time goes by we become more humanism because people are learning to not judge others by their race, gender, or religion. Therefore, we shouldn’t be afraid of being different and we should allow more cultural diversity into our lives, as stereotyping can lead to the suppression of minority populations by the dominant culture.

Antimitotic Prodrugs Advantages And Disadvantages

Antimitotic Prodrugs Advantages And Disadvantages Abstract The intricate prodrug therapy has made possible the synthesis and identification of novel drug discovery that have significant structural modifications or intermediate derivatives which may facilitated and enhanced therapeutic parameter during in vitro and in vivo studies. Along with improved target delivery of prodrugs provides the capability to not only overcome certain limitation of antimitotic drugs, but to increases the chances to undergo clinical phase trial studies to get in to action. Development of these new prodrugs as improved alternatives gone through from significant challenges; nevertheless these potential therapies also use to analysed and give suggestion about their further development by clinical studies. Introduction Cancer is diseases in which the bodys cells become abnormal and split without control. Cancer cells may show aggression nearby tissues. They may spread through the bloodstream and lymphatic system to other parts of the body. [1, 2, 3]. Now the days there are mainly three types of treatments are in use surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Among these, surgery and radiotherapy are to be employed for specific treating are and chemotherapy employed during the systemic treatment of metastases in local as well as regional cancer cells. Chemotherapeutic drugs can be divided in to alkylating agents, antimetabolites plant alkaloids (antimitotics), topoisomerase inhibitors, and other antitumor agents. All of these drugs affect the cell division or DNA synthesis and translation, and function in other ways. The proliferation rate is the play the key role in for the effects of these drugs thus; they are not much selective of tumours. Chemotherapy is treatment with drugs that kill cancer cells and make them less active. It is the treatment of disease by chemicals, especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen. In its non-oncological use, the term may also refer to antibiotics, long time use of chemotherapy consequences natural cell deaths in the treatments of tumour [4]. Sometime these agents produce remission and re-growth which result in proliferation of cancer cells along with resistance of drugs. Although, intense researches have been conducted in the field of cancer, there are some pioneering ideas need to come in this field to decrease toxicities, physicochemical properties and therapeutic index [5]. The use of prodrug is generally established as a strategy to improve the physicochemical, biopharmaceutical or pharmacokinetic properties of pharmacologically potent agents, and thereby increase the develop ability and usefulness of a potential drug [6,7]. The aim of the prodrug establishment is to improve (i) physicochemical properties like solubility, chemical stability, taste and odour etc. (ii) selectivity; (iii) pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic problems and (iv) therapeutic index. Thus; by these improvements, we can overcome the formulations challenges of the drugs [8, 9]. The most of the antimitotic prodrugs developed with conjugating prodrug molecules to low to high molecular weight molecules like sugars, enzymes, vitamins, antibodies, polymers and nanoparticals. These are the carriers which transport prodrug in to tumour and drug release with conjugating the drug to the carrier through a spacer that include particular point which make the specific targeting of the drug. These carriers are very complicated in the structure and demand very hard work to make carries linked prodrugs. Hetrogenecity, biodistribution, expression of multidrug resistance, interstitial pressure and amount of the drug reaching to the target site, are the problems which make the task more difficult. Along with that targeting properties will preserved or not with structural changes are major problems in the formulation of carrier liked prodrug molecules. Here I provide an overview of recent developments in targeted antimitotic prodrug and conjugate design. These are examples which, illustrating the salient features of different targeting strategies. I have focused on prodrug and conjugate examples in priclinical trials or advanced preclinical studies with advantages and disadvantages associated to each strategy are also discussed. Antimitotics In the process of mitosis eukaryotic cell isolate the chromosome in its cell nucleus into two the same sets which are divided in two nuclei. In cancer the single cell start converts from normal cell to cancerous cells by the process of mitosis. The mitosis inhibitors contain certain different cancer drugs. They are different in mechanism of action from the other classes of cancer drugs [12]. They mainly interfere with cell proliferation of cell rather than alter DNA structure and function. Mitosis includes DNA replication which divides the cells in to two new cells. Spindle fibers separate newly replicates chromosomes and convert them in to two forming cells. The fibres which are produce microtubules which fix with the replicated chromosomes. Now chromosomes pull one of this copy to each side of the cell which includes spindle fibers, without that cell cannot divide. Antimitotics inhibit this earlier uncertain spindle function during cell cycle. Spindle fibers form of long chains of smaller subunit of tubuline protein. In the process of polymerisation tubuline subunits can add to microtubule. Some types of antimitotics stop the process of forming of tubuline monomers which inhibits the microtubule. In this process they arrest movement of chromosomes as well as spindle tubule [13]. Examples of mitotic inhibitors include Taxanes, paclitaxel (Taxol) and docetaxel (Taxotere), Epothilones like ixabepilone (Ixempra), and Vinca alkaloids: vinblastine (Velban), vincristine (Oncovin), and vinorelbine (Navelbine), estramustine (Emcyt) and Colchicines. Vinca alkaloids and colchicines are those who have more over same mechanism of action. Vinblastine inhibiting the formation spindle fibers which are responsible for position of chromosome and the separation of the chromosomes during anaphase. It also inhibits the formation of microtubules which are responsible for the formation of cell division. Vinca alkaloids have many side effects like others [14]. Vincristine also binds to the tubuline monomers and arrests the formation of spindle microtubules. As result of this, it blocks the movements of chromosome during cell division. Speficity is the major problem with vincristine because it also affects the healthy cells with cancer cells during cell division. Vindesine is another Vinca alkaloid who binds to the microtubules. It has target specificity problem which makes them less potent [15]. Texel is natural antimitotic drug and different in mechanism of action from Vinca alkaloids. Paclitaxal and docetaxel are the two important analogues . Paclitaxel inhibits microtubuline assembly rather than monomers. It binds to microtubules and prevent this breakdown because these two processes, polymerisation and breakdown, both are requiring for movement of replicated chromosomes. The prevention of chromosomes breakdown inhibits them to move to opposite direction of dividing cells. Reduction in bone marrow function which may result in anaemia, blood in stools or black stools, fast or irregular heart beat, are common side effects associated with paclitaxel [16]. Docetaxel has same mechanism of action as paclitaxel but if the drug is give with combination it will cause major side effects than paclitaxel [17]. Epothilones is microtubule function inhibitor. It binds to beta-tubuline subunit on microtubules and preventing polymerization during cell division and eventually causes cell death. Mainly peripheral neuropathy, mylosuppersion with white blood cells and hypersensitivity reactions are the side effects which cause by Epothilo nes [18]. Colchicines are antimitotics which have same mechanism of action as Vinca alkaloids. It also binds to tubuline and inhibits polymerization of microtubules. Tubuline availability is necessary for mitosis process and colchicines are inhibiting these tubules as spindle poison. Cancer cell have nature to proliferate most and this make them more susceptible to Colchicines drugs [19]. These are natural anitimitotics and their analogues. Their mechanism of action is mainly on tubuline and sometime called antitubuline agents. But they have their own challenges like insolubility, bioavability, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynemics, and toxicities problems. Tubuline plays a key role in their effects to bind mitosis but to overcome these challenges, proteins which are involve in the mitosis, are founded. They are presently under process to develop the capacity of clinical efficacy that those drugs have established [20]. Present scenario in antimitotics drug development (Specific druggable protein targets) The targeted proteins with specific function of new generation of anti mitotics are identified with molecularly targeted drug discovery. These new agents play important role in the unique way to provide the significant effects, which take beyond the certain limitations of drugs as well as extend the scope of their clinical efficacy of current antitubuline drugs. Although, they are facing some considerable challenges, but molecular mechanism of action of mitotic-checkpoint plays important role in mitosis [21]. Antitubuline drugs have complex chemical structure and are complicated to isolate and synthesised from their natural sources. Neurotoxicity and insolubities are the major problems with Vinca alkaloids and Taxanes. They also interfere in function of microtubules in axons, which provoke the neuronal vesicle motility. The non-structural components of mitosis as potential drug targets are one of the solution for therapy. They have unique effects in morphological stages during the mi tosis which is bring mitotic Kinesins, Aurora kinases and polo-like kinases (PLKs), as druggable protein target classes [22]. Targeting these proteins is well known as mitotics kinesin, kinesin spindle protein (KSP) are requires for the proliferation from prophase to prometaphase and Centromeric protein E (CENPE) is required during prometaphase to metaphase and also have effects in mitotic checkpoint [23, 24]. These protein targets are only finds in dividing cells so non-dividing cells are not effected. This showed that, this kind of target inhibition have potential and improved therapeutic index compare to tubuline target anti mitotic drugs. Although, proteins inhibitors might not enough effects on both the mitotic spindle and cytoskeleton but they have some significant role out side the mitosis. Moreover, to support these new agents, the role played by them in the mitosis, cause target inhibition to be connected with tumour growth inhibition. By the using pharmacodynemic marker, significant effective dose during drug development founded. These doses were affected instead of maximally tolerated dose, might also caused improved therapeutics index. The mechanism of action of these agents by which they inhibits tumour cells undergo cell death was not properly defined but they have many positive effects on these proteins. Activation of caspace 3 (significant effectors) has been identified in studies of protein target drugs, along with that mitotic catastrophe has also been founded [25, 26, 27]. Actually, catastrophe is cell death occurs from metaphase of mitosis against the drugs that produce DNA damage because of in this stage the caspace 2 is involved rather than caspase 3 which produces many morphological and therapeutic aspects of cell death. On the other hand, mitotic check point as effectors of cell death against protein inhibitors was contentious. It was suggested that KSP inhibitors needed mitotic checkpoint. In contrast to that, role of checkpoint studies involved that; this signalling might cause cell death with mitotic damage [28, 29, 30]. This mechanism might supported by Aurora B inhibitors [31]. Eventually, the mechanism of action of these new protein inhibitors became more understandable that, they are more involved in killing cell by unique mechanism but also, different genetic alterations, which may produce during cancer, play the important role during inhibition by these agents. Although, this studies is unfinished so its hard to get these new agent in action because they needed further more researches. KSP Inhibitors: Ispinesib was first KSP inhibitor and studied in clinic to check the therapeutic effects. Small molecules of KSP ATPase were targeting by this drug but it was not involved in effecting ATP and ADP. In terms of specificity, it was 40,000 times more selective as compare to other kinesins. Firstly it was studied intravenously and results founded that during different number of days, the cumulative dose delivery was same and dose limiting toxicity on both occasion was neutropenia as well as haematopoietic lineages, along with that nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea also observed. Raise in the dose also increases the amounts of phosphor-histones-H3 in tumour which involved inhibition of proliferation of tumour cells with dose. As consequence, the pharmacodynamic activities also increased. In earlier, the renal cell, hepatocellular and colorectal cancers are not responding to anti tubuline agents, but this KSP inhibitor extend the time duration of stability for more than 6 months. This agent a lso needed following treatments of natural anti tubuline agents [32]. The next KSP ATPase inhibitor is same to Ispinesib, and during clinical evaluation it came from the chemical synthesis [33]. It has more efficacious than first one. During the studies it is connected with dose limiting toxicities that is neutropenia and hyperbilirubinaemia [34, 35]. For cholangiocarcinoma, it gives some positive effect and two more cancers extend as stable diseases for more than six months. Third potent KSP inhibitor is MK-0731. It is more selective about more than 20,000 fold and associated with increased activity of hepatic transaminases and neutropenia [36]. Finally, clinical experience of KSP inhibitors showed that these agents associated with common dose limiting toxicities like neutropenia, increased activity of hepatic transaminases which are also observed with tubulin inhibitors. Although, some of toxicities like alopecia, mucositis and neuropathy, are not often seen. Nausea and vomiting have seen uncommonly with these protein targeting inhibitors. AURORA and PLK inhibitors One of the potent drug called as VX-680 also know as MK0457 as ATP competitive inhibits Aurora A, B and C to inhibit the cell differentiation in cell culture [37]. Its mechanism of action is to inhibit the FMS-related tyrosine kinase 3 and imatinib-resistant mutants forms of Abelson tyrosine (ABL) kinase. Imatinib and dasatinib are the resistant to those agents. During the studies, cancer cell from different patients, were tested against intravenous infusions. As results, neutropenia was mostly observed dose limiting toxicity and when the dose increased the some pharmacodynemic effects in skin was also observed. To evaluate that, phospho-histone-H3, Ki67 (antigen) and cycline B1 expressions are being checked before and after these studies. In the skin biopsies, there was no strong evidence observed, which showed the mitotic arrest or decrease in cell proliferation in the skin, during clinical studies. There was strong proof about the effects on cell proliferation which are haematopoi etic, but it was not case with skin biopsies. Mitotic inhibition, aneuploidy, was expected from the pan-Aurora but only delay in the mitotic progression observed during studies. Moreover, these agents inhibit the Aurora B and decrease the PHH3 levels when other anti-mitotic agent increases this biomarker. To overcome this limitation, the assays procedures developed which are capable to find out the decrease in the level of PHH3. Skin was not responding to these drugs. Extended stable disease for more than 6 months observed [21]. Another ATP-competitive Aurora B inhibitor is AZD1152 with significant IC50 cellular proliferation. This inhibitor evaluated in two schedules. In the both schedules, neutropenia observed as dose limiting toxicity for intravenous infusion. Moreover, next assessments reached in phase I and II studies for cancer like leukaemia [38]. BI 2536 is first ATP-competitive inhibitor of PLK1. There were three different partitions to evaluate this small molecule inhibitor. Every partition was evaluated by intravenous infusion and as result of that, same toxicity and dose delivery were obtained. Thrombocytopenia and neitropaenia were major dose limiting toxicities in every partition [39]. The second ATP non-competitive inhibitor of PLK1 is ON 01910. It may support PLK, to bind the substrates. It is currently under trail for two different doses because it has low potency to FLT1 and platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR). Increased activity of hepatic enzymes, anaemia, leucopoenia and gastrointestinal symptoms, are the adverse effects with this inhibitor [40]. All over, neutropaenia without significant neuropathy was major dose limiting toxicity with these inhibitors. Challenges and Developments in New Antimtotic Drugs Although, these novel antimitotic drugs have very significant role in inhibition of mitosis, they are facing many problems during their developments. Their appropriate ways, potential to reduce toxicities, activities, safety profile, and efficacy are some promising questions are yet to be solved. These agents have reduced risk of neurotoxicity, which is proved in clinic, but they also have dose limiting toxicities like neutropenia with relative sparing of the other haematopoietic lineages. So it will be difficult to tell yet that they have potential [41]. Another challenge was that, there was no clear perceptive between inhibition of respective mitotic target and cell death. Because they have mechanism of action is to arrest mitosis but whether this mitosis arrest initiate by activating by mitotic checkpoint or it is followed by mitotic slippage for further cell death. To identify the patients who are best responding to these agents is also a challenge in developments in theses agents. In addition to that, during clinical development, it is difficult to develop surrogate tissue to check the pharmacodynemic responses of these drugs because targets of these agent, was absent in most of them [42]. Along with pharmacodynemic effects, duration of such effect both is also crucial determinants for apoptosis. Therapeutic window can be calculated by evaluation of tumour markers at maximum tolerated dose (MTD) or below the MTD if possible but this might be achieved by incorporation of serial tumour biopsies was uniquely challenging. In addition to, which schedules would be sufficiently discover pharmacodynemic and pharmacokinetic data was difficult [43]. Considerable steps have already come in to view, to overcome these limitations and evade toxic side effects, produced by these agents. Such steps make two different types of practices; they are prodrugs and drug targeting methods. During these practices both methods led to increase some of biochemical properties along with pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynemic effects. Prodrug Prodrugs are chemically modified versions of pharmacologically active agents that must undergo transformation in vivo to release the active drug. The prodrug is administered in an inactive or significantly less active form. The use of prodrugs is generally established as a strategy to improve the physicochemical, biopharma-ceutical or pharmacokinetic properties of pharmacologically potent agents, and thereby increase the develop ability and usefulness of a potential drug [6]. Antimitotic Prodrugs which are in Use or Developing The following are the antimitotic prodrugs which try to develop to overcome these limitation associated with specific antimitotic drugs like Vinca alkaloids, Texans, Cochicines and phodopyllotoxins. A) Hydrolytically Activated Paclitaxel Prodrug Paclitaxel is well using in diseases like ovarian cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer but it has limitation like low water solubility, less effective, drug resistance and some effects. At high dose it produces hypersensitive reactions, hematologic toxicity, and neurotoxicity. It also limited by granulocyte colony-stimulating factors dependent neutropenia. It has dose dependent neurotoxicity expressed by loss of sensation [44]. Adapt from [44] By masking position7 hydroxyl group of paclitaxel with hydrophilic side chain (*) and resulted 7-(2, 3-dihydroxypropyl carbonoxy) paclitaxel is biologically inert and is activated at low pH conditions by hydrolytic cleavage of the carbamate linkage, obtaining active paclitaxel, dihydroxy propanol, and CO2 [44]. Following are the results obtained by analysing paclitaxel prodrug. Figure, (A) Figure, (B) Table 1, Figure A and Figure B, Adapt from [44]. Table 1 is hydrolytic activation of paclitaxel prodrug in vivo, indicating decrease in prodrug and increase in active drug. Figure (A), for conversion to active paclitaxel in vivo, indicating peak plasma concentrations were observed at 3 hours for paclitaxel prodrug (P1) and at 6 hours for active paclitaxel (P2), for 1 patient. Figure (B), for activation of paclitaxel in vivo, demonstrates the slow-release mechanism in vivo, for 5 pateints [44]. B) First enzymatically activated Taxotere Prodrugs Designed for ADEPT (Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy) and PMT (Prodrug Mono Therapy) Paclitaxel and its semi synthetic analogue docetaxel is essential drugs in the treatment of cancer as antimitotic drugs. There is slight difference between them is substitution at 3- nitrogen on the side chain and the 10-posititon of the taxoid core. They have high potency to solid tumour but they have number of undesirable side effects and poorer water solubility and also with detergent they initiate hypersensitivity reaction on body. These drugs delivery have evaluated on enzymatic hydrolysis in ADEPT (Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy) and PMT (Prodrug Mono Therapy).The two docetaxel prodrugs in figure A have synthesised with glucuronic moiety is linked to a double spacer. Para hydroxyl bezyle alcohol connected to diamer tether through a carbamate linkage in this spacer. This complex was shown to be more potent and labrets drugs in the presence of ÃŽÂ ²-Dglucuronidase enzyme in ADPET and PMT therapy [45]. Figure A, structure of scheme 2 and scheme 3 (Prodrug 4), scheme 2 and scheme 4 (Prodrug 5) and Prodrug 3 Adapt from [45] Following are the results by the comparison of these two drugs. Both of prodrugs have 24 hr-run of stability and there was no release from the prodrug during this time. Table 1 showed that these two prodrugs have compatible IC 50 values for the ADEPT and PMT strategy. Figure A and figure B showed that, during HPLC detection, prodrug level decreased until finished and spacer and parent drug, docetaxel, reached at area of stability [45]. Table 1, measured for L1210 cell lines were (HPLC): Prodrug, Scheme 2 and scheme 3 : 4.86 uM Docetaxel : 14. 4 uM Spacer: 75.3uM Prodrug, Scheme 2 and scheme 4: 2.69 uM Spacer:45.8uM Figure A, Comparison of the disappearance of the three prodrugs. Figure B, Enzymatic cleavage of prodrug 5 Figure 2, Scheme 2 and Scheme 4. Table 1, Figure A and Figure B adapt from [45]. C) Zyn-Linked colchicines: Controlled-release lipophilic prodrugs With enhanced antitumor efficacy Zyn-linked drug have rapid binding property to cell membrane. These Zyn-linkers prolong their binding and preservation in tissues, make sense to produce Zyn-linkers conjugates those who have better local delivery of therapeutics. Colchicine has chosen for these studies because this drug and its analogues are still under examination. Five Zyn linked colchicine analogues with either cleavable hydrazone or imine bonds, have synthesised and evaluated their stability ,cytotoxicity and antitumour activity [46]. Fig.1. Structures of colchicine and modifications to form the analogues for Zyn-Linking are shown. Fig. 2.Structures of the Zyn-Linkers modified for attachment of the colchicine analogues. Fig.3. Structures of Zyn-Linker conjugates are shown with the bonds subject to hydrolysis indicated by an arrow: (a) hydrazones conjugates linked at the B-ring of the colchincine moiety, (b) imine conjugate, and (c) hydrazones conjugate linked at the A ring of the colchicine moiety. Figure 1, 2 and 3, adapt from [46] Following are the results for their relationship among different properties. Table 1 Table2 Table3 Table 1, 2 and 3, adapt from [46] Table 1 showed that, ZYN 162 and PKH 158 at pH 7.2, are two potential products and out of them one is expected and one is unidentified products. Table 2 showed that, 80% to less than 1%, was range of therapeutic and unhydrolysed conjugated, was inactive. Zyn-linkers had no antimitotic activity; on the other hand, drug or Zyn-linked drugs were active. Table 3 showed that, with 4-formayl group thiocolchicine have reduced their toxicities and enhanced therapeutic activity [46]. D) Preparation, characterization, cytotoxicity and pharmacokinetics Of liposome containing water-soluble prodrugs of paclitaxel Paclitaxel have antimitotic effect against the various cancers like breast cancer, ovarian cancer, head and neck cancers. Due to its aqueous insolubility, it was dissolving in the mixture of 50 % Ethanol and 50 % Cremopher EL (caster oil). Neurotoxicity and hypersensitivity are side effects of this Cremopher. So to reduce this side effect and to enhance the drug entrapment in liposome with better aqueous solubility, three prodrugs and prodrugs liposome formulations have synthesised and evaluated their pharmacokinetic parameter, stability and antitumor activity with parent drug [47]. Following are the results obtained during comparison in stability, cytitoxicity and pharmacokinetic property of drug, prodrugs and their prodrug liposome. 1) Stability Table1 Table 2 Figure 1, 2 and 3, Table 1 and 2, adapt from [47] Figure 2 and 3 showed that, by the changing the property like diameter, membrane fluidity and charge, liposome containing 2-mPEG-paclitaxel composed of PC-PG-CHOL 9:1:5 showed better stability more than 2 months and good entrapment ability. Table 1 and 2 showed that, in vitro cytotoxic effects of liposome containing compound 3 and 4 on two cell line, HT-29 and MeWo, maintained, but rapidly hydrolysed and giving free parent drugs, while liposome loaded paclitaxel-2succinyl had more resistance to hydrolysed. 2-PEG-paclitaxel also had ability to make difference in pharmacokinetic parameters as compare to free drug [47]. D) Synthesis and evaluation of water-soluble docetaxel prodrugs- Docetaxel esters of malic acid. Paclitaxel and docetaxel are semi synthetic analogues widely used for various cancers. But water solubility is major limitation for these drug and to come over from this limitation, at C20, C7 -or/and C10 position several research group introduced solubilising moieties [48]. Figure A Figure A, table 1 and table 2, adapt from [48] Figure A, table 1 and table 2 showed that, 20-DLmalyl docetaxel sodium salt 3a come out with excellent water solubility, more active than docetaxel in vitro and antitumor activity in vivo [48]. E) Synthesis of Water Soluble Prodrugs of the Cytotoxic Agent Combertastatin A4 Combertastatin A4 has structure similar to colchicine. It is an inhibitor of tubulin polymerisation to stop proliferation of cells. Although, this drug has potential for antimitotic activity, it is soluble in the few pharmaceutically accepted solvents. Synthesis of water soluble glycosides of combertastatin A4, have conducted by make modification by hydroxyl function. To increase the yield, they have reversed the components of the Witting reaction [49]. Adapt from [49] The ammonium salt have prepared and converted into potassium salt to make crystal form. This ammonium salt was more stable in buffer solution and degraded slowly in plasma at 37 C when incubated with acid phosphates and alkaline phosphatise [49]. F) Prodrugs of 40-Demethyl-4-deoxypodophyllotoxin: Synthesis and Evaluation of the Antitumor Activity 4-Deoxypodophyllotoxin (DPT) and 4-demethyl-4-deoxypodophyllotoxin (DDPT) have comparable in vitro potency against different cell lines but free hydroxyl group at 4 position in structure of DDPT loss its in vivo antitumor activity against BDF1/3LL model. Replacing this free group by bioreversible functionality might improve in vivo activity. For that series of prodrugs have synthesised and evaluated their cytotoxic and antitumor activities [50]. Following are the results obtained during studies. Adapt from [50]. Table showed that 10 and 11 derivatives were properly transferred in to parent drug 2 but weak in vivo activity and 6 derivative showed IR of 95% of antitumor activity. The carbamates and carbonates of two compounds, 6 and 9, showed potent antitumor activity, might be by intermolecular cyclic rearrangements of hydroxyl side chain. Moreover, amino acid prodrugs, 12 to 17, demonstrated better water solubility and potent antitumor activity [50]. Discussion Presently the antimitotics prodrugs are novel compounds and hold many promises and may have abilities to improve the drawbacks of anti tubuline or specific protein inhibitors, which are regulating the cell cycle, demonstrated by clinical data. With observations to clinical activity, it is too premature to tell for most of the agents in development. There are number of prodrugs have been developing and some have evaluated in laboratory. Antimitotic prodrugs may improve limitations of these drugs during in vitro and in vivo studies but there are still need more information about clinical phase trails by using number of patients, to these prodrugs. In particular, hydrolytically activated paclitaxel prodrug has decreases toxicity in vivo and produced better responses in patients with end stage in cancer. Serum half- life also dramatically increased with maximum plasma concentration, in vivo, but more studies require about responses in phase III trails, as it was evaluated in 10 patients. Moreover, information needed about, high concentration expose to tumour tissue for critical time, as significant G2M phase arrest is primary mechanism of action. First prodrugs of docetaxel have synthesised for the ADPET (Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy) and PMT (Prodrug Mono Therapy) strategies. Spacer have nitro group on the aromatic ring. In the hydrogenesis step it could be preserved which is not seen in the previous paclitaxel prodrugs. This nitro and amino groups containing prodrugs have expressed good kinetics and enzymatic hydrolysis in particular cell line, but more information needed about self immolative spacer for its effects on the paclitaxel on various cell lines. This issue need more clarification prior to clinical trails in malignancy models. Four conjugates of Zyn-linked colchicine have hydro linkage, imine bond in spacer arms, colchicines moiet

Superconductors and Superconductivity :: physics science superconductor

Before Kamerlign Onnes, in 1908, was able to liquefy helium and bring its temperature down to about 1K, it had been known that the resistance of a metal falls when cooled below room temperature. However, it was not known what value the resistance would approach if the temperature was reduced towards 0K until Onnes, while experimenting with platinum, discovered that, its resistance fell when cooled to a very low value that depended on the metal’s purity. As the temperature of mercury was reduced toward 0K, the value of the resistance would fall smoothly until the resistance fell extremely suddenly at about 4K. Below 4K, mercury passed into a new state with electrical properties unlike those previously known: this new state that mercury had entered was called the â€Å"superconducting state.† Superconductivity can be destroyed if a sufficiently strong magnetic field is applied. A metal in this state has very unique magnetic properties that are unlike those at normal temperatures. A superconductor is often referred to as the perfect diamagnetic. Diamagnetic, ideally, are a class of materials that do not conserve magnetic flux, but expel it. A superconductor is classified as a perfect diamagnetic because by all measurable standards the magnetic flux within the material is zero. Electrons have a wave-like nature so an electron moving through a metal can be represented by a plane wave progressing in the same direction. A metal has a crystalline structure with the atoms lying on a repetitive lattice; a plane wave can pass through a perfectly periodic structure without being scattered into other directions. An electron is able to pass through a perfect crystal without any loss of momentum of its original direction. That is why it is important for superconductors to have very low impurities; any fault in the periodicity of the crystal will scatter the electron wave and introduce some resistance. This is called the residual resistance and it is independent of the temperature. Thermal vibrations also increase the resistance so when the temperature is lowered, the thermal vibrations of the atoms decrease and so the electrons are less frequently scattered. In short, the resistance of a metal is dependent on the purity of a metal and its temperature: metals with few impurities reach a superconducting state at low temperatures. The superconductivity state of a metal exists only in a certain range of temperature and field strength.

A Good Samaritan Law is Never a Good Idea Essay -- Argumentative Persu

A Good Samaritan Law is Never a Good Idea Less than one year ago, the largest television audience since the series finale of M*A *S*H tuned in to watch the last episode of Seinfeld As the nation watched, Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer said farewell with the arrest, trial, and conviction of violating a Good Samaritan law. While this made for a hilarious television show, this law itself seems to both contradict its essence as well as violate the right to freedom of choice of a citizen. The Good Samaritan law, which requires a bystander to provide aid to those who are in harm’s way if there is no apparent immediate danger to the bystander, encroaches upon the rights of a citizen. This law is an inexcusable violation of American civil liberties and should be stricken from the records, leaving only people’s moral compasses as their guide. The morality of this law is relatively simple: help those in trouble. Generally society seems to consider it a moral obligation to prevent the injury of another person, sometimes even at risk to one’s self. People who do not help others in need are frequently bad examples for the rest of the world. For example, in Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol, Ebeneezer Scrooge is infamous for his selfishness and disregard for the well-being of others such as Bob Cratchett and his family (barely paying him and not allowing him more than a day for Christmas). Scrooge’s partner, Jacob Marley, is damned for the same type of crimes. The only path to redemption for Ebeneezer is through helping others who are in need: giving food to the Cratchetts and caring for a sickly Tiny Tim. While Scrooge had a moral reason to help others, there was no Constitutional burden to do so. If the federal... ...ce call buttons more accessible to the public since many are willing to contact the law enforcement officials. Although Jerry and Elaine can not seem to provide more than a few jokes when seeing their fellow man in trouble, the majority of Americans seem to be willing to help. Despite several incidents to the contrary, the morals of most people will guide them. These less-talked-about occasions in which people called the police, yelled for help, or even tried to physically stop attackers outweigh the apathetic few. With these facts in mind, this law presents unacceptable violations of the freedom of liberty. Ultimately, then, Good Samaritan laws are both unnecessary and dangerous. Bibliography â€Å"Good Samaritan Laws are Questionable.† alt.politics.lawenforcenieflt.Ca.Com (12 October 1998) â€Å"Rapist-Murderer Case.† alt.adoption.com (03 September 1998).

Assisted Suicide Essay -- Assisted Suicide Death Essays

Writing the fifth assignment for the English class was by far the hardest essay I have had to write. Constantly was I running into problems, and this ended up taking me much longer than I had originally planned. Writing about the opposing side of this topic was very hard, as I usually caught myself writing things that I couldn’t make work in my paper. The writing was very tough to keep on track because it isn’t actually how I feel. This essay helped me to better understand the argument that is presented from both sides. Originally I knew my own opinion, which is an advocate of euthanasia, but I did not know the side that the opponents argue. All in all, I was able to learn more than I thought I would. Since ancient times, many people have contemplated the concept of a merciful and acceptable death. However, individual choice in dying did not become a widespread social issue and legal concern until recently. As technology advances, the medicines have enabled doctors to keep patients alive for longer periods of time. This has caused the development people to legally be allowed to ignore medical intervention. Although a mentally competent patient’s right to refuse treatment is widely and obviously accepted, doctors, in most cases, assume control over the patient’s length of hospitalization and type of treatment. A patient who refused a life-sustaining treatment was considered to have requested something that could not be done. This view changed during the 1970s, when the right to refuse treatment was established by various court cases. Today the dispute over patient autonomy extends beyond the right of treatment refusal to issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Most people who believe that assisted sui... ... to death, because they can not even decide if they want the treatment. Assisted Suicide, more than many other things, gives opponents the fear that doctors will become less committed to saving lives, that families may respond to financial pressures by encouraging suicide, and that limitations in the resources of the health-care system might dictate decisions of life and death. All in all, assisted suicide has been a large topic for debate and discussion for many years. Ever since the incident with Dr. Kevorkian, very much attention has been brought to the topic of euthanasia. All in all, the act in itself is morally, ethically and obviously wrong. People should not be able to take their lives from themselves with aid from a doctor, because it is not good for a society or community. Assisted Suicide should not be condoned in any situation or at any time.

Prison and Parole

CJ 365 1 – April – 2013 Parole In Society Last year, 77% of prisoners released from incarceration were released through and in to a system of community and authoritative supervision called parole. Parole is the conditional release from confinement of a person serving an indeterminate sentence (Corrections Today, page 262) and it is an idea which has had a huge impact on the justice system and the workings of the U. S. Department of Corrections as we now know it. The concept of parole can be traced back to the works of Alexander Maconochie.Maconochie was the superintendent of a penal colony on Norfolk Island, Australia. In his work, Maconochie utilized a system through which good behavior was encouraged through the use of ‘marks’. Prisoners served their sentence in three stages of progressively increasing responsibility. Prisoners advanced through the first two stages through labor, studies and good behavior. They would then be released into the outside worl d under the condition that disobeying the law would result in reincarceration.Walter Crofton adopted Maconochie’s ideas as the basis for the ‘Irish mark system’ which made permissible the early release of prisoners with a record of good behavior. This mark system was instituted at the Elmira reformatory in the 1870s and from there went on to spread rapidly throughout the United States justice system. Today, around 77% of inmates that are released from prison do so through the parole system or some very similar form of community supervision. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, at the end of 2011 there were 853,900 adults on parole and around 1. million adults that had moved on to or off of parole over the course of the year. The main goal of parole is to supervise the reintegration of inmates back into society and encourage their rehabilitation towards becoming a more productive member of society. There are three different purposes of the institution of parole: to help the parolee obtain help for problems with employment, residency, finance, and any other personal troubles that may interfere with a prisoner’s reintegration into everyday life; to make society safer by preventing situations in which prior offenders might commit new offense; and also to prevent the needless imprisonment of those not likely to commit further crime (Parole FAQ’s). Parole is often confused with probation, though they are distinctly different. Probation is used as an alternative to incarceration in which the offender receives state supervision whilst still living a mostly normal life, whereas with parole, an offender serves most of their sentence in a reformatory and pending good behavior, is then released to serve the remainder in the community (under state supervision).There are several rules and guidelines used to determine eligibility for parole that must first be met by an inmate. Eligibility for parole depends on the type of sentence assigned by the court. Accompanying an offender’s sentencing is a ‘parole eligibility date’. This is the earliest potential date upon which an offender may be released in the instance that the parole commission finds them suitable for release. Unless the court specifies a minimum amount of time that an inmate must serve or said offender is serving an indeterminate sentence, an inmate becomes eligible for parole after completion of one third of their court-mandated sentence.To apply for consideration, an inmate must fill out a parole application furnished by a case manager. The case manager then informs the potential parolee of his parole hearing date. This date generally occurs within a few months of placement in the respective institution, except in cases where the offender is serving more than ten years time. In this instance, ‘the initial hearing is scheduled six months prior to the completion of ten years.At this parole hearing, the offender receives an opportunity to present their side of the story and to offer their argument as to why they should be released. The general factors considered during a parole hearing include â€Å"the details of the offense, prior criminal history, the guidelines which the Commission uses in making their determination, the offender's accomplishments in the correctional facility, details of a release plan, and any problems the offender has had to meet in the past and is likely to encounter again in the future† (USPC FAQs).When determining parole eligibility, there are four important factors which the parole commission must consider: can the inmate be released without being a detriment to himself and/or the community, will their release serve the best interest of the community, is the inmate willing and able to meet the conditions of both their parole assignment and of everyday life, and whether or not continued correctional treatment would further their chances of leading a normal, law-abiding life.To make a determination of these factors, each potential parolee is interviewed by the acting parole board. A parole board is a group of people who decide whether or not an offender should be released on parole. On February 7th, 2011, Governor Rick Snyder signed State of Michigan Executive Order No. 2011-3 abolished the ‘Michigan Parole and Commutation Board’ and replaced it with the ‘Michigan Parole Board’, granting membership â€Å"†¦ to ten full-time non-Civil Service employees who are appointed by the director of the Michigan Department of Corrections† (MDOC Parole Board).Michigan’s current board members come from a variety of backgrounds including law enforcement, law, corrections, ministry, social work and public service. These ten people are split up into three groups of three, with the remaining person acting as the chairperson and also the deciding vote in ties. The MPB (Michigan Parole Board) is the sole parole authority f or prisoners under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Corrections. It should be noted that parole board structure and decisions differ from one jurisdiction to the next. According to statute MCL 791. 33, a prisoner may be granted parole only after the board has reasonable assurance, after consideration of all of the facts and circumstances, including the prisoner's mental and social attitude, that the prisoner will not become a menace to society or to the public safety† (Parole – Learning More). Most prisoners are interviewed by one member of the board. This interview is used to explore the offender’s criminal, social and substance abuse history, their behavior in prison, their plans for parole, and any other matters pertinent to the specific case.The prisoner is allowed to have one other ‘representative’ present at the interview with them (this representative cannot be a lawyer or fellow prisoner). On October 30th, 2004, the ‘Crime Rights Victims Act’ was enacted. This act is intended for the preservation of the rights of crime victims. A crime victim is defined as â€Å"an individual who suffers direct or threatened physical, financial or emotional harm as a result of the commission of a crime is considered a victim† (Crime Victim’s Rights Act). This act entitles the crime victim notification and consultation throughout each step of the justice process.According to the act, at the written request of the victim, the MDOC must provide notifications at every stage of the prisoner’s incarceration process. This act also grants the victim the right to submit a written, telephone or oral impact statement to the parole board for hearing prior to the approval of a parole request consisting of any relevant statements regarding the effects of the crime upon the victim, the circumstances surrounding the crime and any other details relevant to the crime, and also the victim’s personal o pinion as to whether or not the offender should be released on parole.The parole board utilizes a numerical scoring system called the parole guidelines. This process applies objective criteria and is generally a significant factor in the parole approval decision process: in some situations, parole can be approved or denied before an interview even takes place. The score is important enough that in instances where the Parole Board makes a decision contradictory to that suggested guideline score, they â€Å"†¦must provide, in writing, substantial and compelling reasons in support of the decision. † The guidelines used in parole guidelines are outlined in Administrative Rule 791. 716 (Parole Consideration Process). After the hearing has been completed and the case file examined, the parole decision is made by three-member panels of the board. If their request is denied, the inmate is returned to the institution where they then have the option of filing an appeal of the paro le decision with the National Appeals Board (so long as they do so within thirty days of the date listen on the Notice of Action). The National Appeals Board then has the option of affirming, reversing or modifying the decision made by the regional commissioner, or they may order a new hearing.Decisions made by the National Appeals Board are final, and offenders will not have the option of appealing the Appeals Board’s decision. If the inmate declines to submit an appeal, he is legally entitled to reconsideration after a certain amount of time. If the inmate is sentenced to less than seven years, they will receive another hearing 18 months from the date of their last. If their sentence exceeds seven years, their next parole hearing will be scheduled 24 months from the date of the last.If the panel approves the parole request, the inmate’s case file is then assigned to a parole officer based upon the county in which the subject will be fulfilling their parole requiremen ts over a specified amount of time. The offender should have a release plan denoting a suitable residence and ideally a verified offer of employment. This is not mandatory though and there are exceptions to this law which are decided on a person to person basis. If everything goes accordingly, the detainee will be released from incarceration on the date listed on their release certificate.They then return to their approved housing and must then report to the United States Probation Office listed on their certificate. Their assigned officer will establish a plan for regular reporting in person, along with mandatory monthly reports for the remainder of the sentence. Also listed on the release certificate are the rules and conditions by which the parolee agrees to live. So long as the parolee fulfills the requirements established by the parole board and finishes his parole period without any violations of the predetermined parole conditions, the parolee will be released from government supervision.These rules vary from one person to the next and are tailored by the Parole Board to better equip each individual offender for success in the integration process. Common conditions of parole often require abstaining from any and all drugs and alcohol, confinement to a defined area/perimeter, steady employment/residency, counseling or, if deemed necessary, enrollment into in-patient treatment facilities. In the event of a violation of parole conditions, the offender isn’t always returned to prison.Depending on the nature of the violation, various programs and sanctions can be used as an alternative to re-incarceration. The Michigan Department of Corrections cites â€Å"†¦an added emphasis on offender success in the community and tries to keep parolees out in the community when they believe that they can continue to be safely managed there† (Parole – Learning More). Though it is, like nearly every other government approach to social issues, plagu ed with disadvantages, parole serves as an efficient and mostly effective tool for managing some of the flaws and issues within the justice system.Parole allows the freeing up of space in already rapidly overcrowding prisons nationwide by releasing non-violent drug offenders and other reformed prisoners ready for reintegration into society, opening up space for inmates who pose a more serious threat to society. After spending months, years or even decades in prison, the average inmate has lost at least some sense of what life is like outside of their institution. Parole is a gentle easing back in to community life; allowing the prisoner supervision and some restrictions to help keep them from the activities which got them into trouble into the first place.Parole’s accompanying threat of a return to prison is often enough to deter those who might otherwise fall back into their old ways. Many inmates report feeling lost and alone following their release; some don’t know what to do in the absence of the basic structure and routine that they’d grown accustomed to during their period of incarceration. Parole is not a unanimously accepted issue and some think it to be little more than an extension of mercy towards the prisoner in the form of a reduced sentence. These people feel that early release on parole drastically reduces the effectiveness of the prison sentence.What most do not realize is that even if a person doesn’t receive approval for parole, this does not disqualify them from or affect their chances of an early release on account of good behavior and/or other contributing factors. Citing information from ‘White Paper’, a report compiled by a firm called â€Å"Prisoners’ Legal Services† which covers nearly all aspects of the current state of parole in Massachusetts; lower rates of parole negatively affect the prisoner, the community to which he returns, the crime victim, and also the justice system of which he is a part.The report states that the number of state and county prisoners released on parole decreased from 4,508 in 2010 to 2,043 in 2011. By the end of 2011, there were only 1,649 offenders out on parole; nearly half the number of the previous year’s end. In 2010, 38% percent of released offenders were put on parole, compared to 2012’s meager 15% release rate. Instead of having a parole officer to guide them through the reintegration process, prisoners are released back into the world with no form of supervision, services or support.Reduced parole approval rates also mean that prisoners serving time in medium and maximum security institutions return directly to the community with no transitioning steps. Failure to provide assistance to released inmates and the state’s ignorance of the rehabilitation process can be directly correlated with higher rates of recidivism. Recidivism is defined as â€Å"the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences for that ehavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior† (Recidivism, Wikipedia). Recidivism is one of the most important subjects of consideration within the criminal justice process as the purpose of a release from incarceration is rendered useless if the perpetrator will simply return to the life that lead him into the justice system in the first place. This is an issue of the highest priority as over 95% of prisoners serving time in state and federal prisons will eventually be released back into the community.While the United States continues to take increasing measures aimed towards the arrest and incarceration of its criminals (resulting in drastically higher arrest rates and increasing issues with overpopulation and crowding in the nation’s institutions), it has failed to respond to increasing rates of recidivism among its prisoners. A survey conducted in 2003 by the Urban Institute of the Ju stice Policy Center reported that 53% of arrested males and 39% of arrested females would be re-incarcerated.This same study states that within three years of release, nearly seven out of every ten males will be rearrested and half of that number will end up back in prison. The report says recidivism happens due to both personal and situational conditions. It also claims that one of the main reasons for recidivism â€Å"†¦is because it is difficult for the individual to fit back in with normal life†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  It says many prisoners report anxiety regarding their release and excitement about how their life will be ‘different this time’ and this often proves a matter of utter disappointment and frustration in the instances where this doesn’t end up being the case.Nearly every study and report on the issue reports the same thing: the more efforts taken to work towards rehabilitation of released prisoners, the lower their chances of recidivism. The su ccess rates of rehabilitation efforts depend largely on the nature of the original offense, but in almost every single instance, an inmate has a notably higher chance of success in the outside world with the assistance and support of the state. In 2010, 51% of United States federal inmates were doing time as a result of a drug-related charge.Estimates state that nearly three out of four prisoners returning from prison have a history of substance-abuse. Despite this, only 7%-17% of prisoners actually meet the DSM criteria for alcohol and drug dependence and actually receive treatment in prison. Effectiveness studies have reported that inmates who partake in residential treatment programs during their incarceration have 9%-18% lower recidivism rates, and possess a 15%-30% lower chance of relapse than their fellow prisoners who did not receive treatment.One interesting statistic to note is the rate of recidivism in offenders with prior arrest history. Within three years of release, 41% of prisoners with one prior arrest were re-arrested while 82% of those with more than fifteen prior arrests were re-arrested. A study published in McNair’s Scholar Journal entitled â€Å"The Relationship Between Parole and Recidivism in the Criminal Justice System† by Jacquelin Robinson of Grand Valley State University claims a direct association between parole and recidivism.Interestingly enough, she says that because of modestly high rates of parole violation and failure among parolees are a direct opposite of what they seemingly should be; as the rate of parole increases, so do the chances of recidivism. According to the same studies, parole supervision (regardless of how intensive) was not a direct contributor towards lower recidivism rates. This same article cites a study conducted by Jeremy Travis in May 2000 on behalf of the National Institute of Justice.Travis’ findings indicated that rehabilitation programs actually had very little effect on reduced re cidivism and actually states that parole violations are ‘now the driving force behind prison growth’, being responsible for 34% of all admissions. A study entitled ‘Does Parole Work’ compiled by Amy Solomon of the Urban Institute in Washington D. C. for the Bureau of Justice Statistics offers statistics indicating a meagerly higher chance for recidivism of unconditional releases (61%) in comparison to discretionary parolees (57%). While these studies claim that parole supervision is next to useless, other studies present very different ideas.According to a four year study conducted by Rutgers University and presented to the New Jersey State Parole Board, intensive supervision of violent and high-risk offenders significantly reduces the chances that they will be re-arrested. According to this study, parolees subjected to intensive law-enforcement supervision and to programs designed to ease their re-entry into the community fared best, boasting a 41% recidiv ism rate in comparison to the 51% general parolee rate and the 73% rate of those who completed their full sentence and were under no supervision post-release.Though as a general whole, these high rates of recidivism and the low rates of parole success might seem to support the idea that parole is not a terribly effective manner of approaching the release and treatment of the country’s lower-threat class of criminals, it is proven more effective in cases involving violent/high-risk offenders which should be of a higher priority anyways. That said, parole also makes sense from a financial perspective which is ultimately of huge important in the process.Though it varies from one institution to the next and from state to state, it costs taxpayers $47,000 per year to keep inmates incarcerated in a California prison (less than yearly tuition at Princetown University) which stands in comparison to a probation cost of around $1200 a year and about $1500 a year to keep an offender out on parole. In the fiscal year of 2010, the Michigan Department of Corrections had $1. 2 billion in prison expenditures and more than seventy million in prison-related costs outside the department’s budget. A Michigan inmate will end up costing the state $28,117 for each year of incarceration (Price of Prisons).Obviously withstanding the offender themselves, the most important person in the parole supervision and reform process is the parole officer. Parole and probation supervision is a social-based job, rather than one rooted in information and data and often culminates in an end-result of satisfaction and rewards when a parole officer gets the opportunity to have a positive impact on the life of one of their parolees. In a news article published in New Hampshire News, reporter Chris Jensen follows parole/probation officer John Loven through an average day in his line of work.Loven starts the day out with a folder containing the files of all of the parolees to which he is a ssigned. His job is to make sure that the people in these files are living up to the conditions agreed upon that are listed upon the parolee’s assigned certificate of release, and in the cases where they are not, it is his duty to see to it that they’re either rewarded for their efforts or punished for their lack thereof. Loven says that most of his cases involve problems stemming back to alcohol and drugs, though there are the inevitable outliers to this too. Each probation or parolee,† Loven states, â€Å"is really an individual; they have individual problems and they each have individual needs. † (Day in the Life)† Loven’s job entails a daily commute of up to (and sometimes more than) two hundred miles. Most of his visits are unexpected; intended to catch the parolee in their natural environment living out an average day. Hoping to catch them in the act, he often finds himself digging through their trash cans for evidence of recent drinking or drug use. One case special to Loven is that of a twenty year old recovering addict.Loven stops by her house regularly, checking up on her physical well-being, keeping track of what stage she is at in her recovery. Upon arrival, Loven finds the girl in a bad state. She appears visibly nervous, and is quite shaky and seemingly anxious and upset. At first Loven probes for any evidence of deviance from the court-ordered conditions but after a phone call informs the girl of family problems she breaks down in to tears. Loven works to console the girl, and that done, asks to look at her arms. She explains two bruising track marks as the areas from which she had her blood drawn for a recent medical procedure.Loven makes sure that she’s taking proper hygienic standards to keep herself in optimal shape. With a history of previously missed appointments, Loven then reminds her that she’ll have another meeting with him in two weeks time. After running through her schedule with him, he wishes her well and then heads back to his car to go about his day. With 96 cases that month, and nearly 110 the month before that, Loven keeps plenty busy. His visits take him to a variety of different environments filled with a variety of different people.Drug users, alcoholics, sex offenders, violent criminals and also everyday average American citizens; there are few limits drawn around Loven’s scope of duty. With a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and graduate’s degrees in community counseling and psychology; although he does mention a huge amount of paperwork, he says that when it comes down to it, his job is a delicate balance of counseling and investigation. He must reach a point where he’s not unapproachable to his parolees, but at the same time, doesn’t come across as a sucker that will fall for their lies and tricks.He must count on a sense of reason and logic to guide him through the day to day. â€Å"You get to know them, you get to know their families, their lifestyles and how they’re doing. † Though not for everyone, the role of parole officer/supervisor is a job that will prove both enriching and rewarding to the right kind of person who is ready to endure the hard work and dedication required to meet the demands of a job so important in modern-day society. All in all, parole is one of society’s stepping stones towards a brighter future.Though not a guarantee of success and not without the occasional flaw, parole still holds much greater promise than most of the alternatives. Through the hard work of officers, parole gives criminal offenders a chance at putting together the pieces of a normal life in the wake of a lengthy prison sentence. So long as both officer and parolee are willing to put in the time and effort towards improvement on a personal and community level, parole gives a reformed and well-intentioned offender the chance for a new start and a better life.Works Cite d Alarid, Leanne Fiftal, and Carmen Rolando V. Del. â€Å"Probation. † Community-Based Corrections. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2011. 139-55. Print. â€Å"Crime Victims' Rights Act. † Michigan Department of Corrections. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . â€Å"Crime Victims' Rights Act. † Offices Of The United States Attorneys. United States Department of Justice, n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . Jensen, Chris. â€Å"A Day in the Life of a North Country Parole Officer. † New Hampshire News. NHPR, 23 May 2011. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . Marushack, Laura, and Erika Parks. â€Å"Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). † Bureau of Justice Statistics. N. p. , 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2013. Http://bjs. gov/index. cfm? ty=pbdetail&iid=4538 Michigan Exec. Order No. 2011-3, 3 C. F. R. (2011).Print. â€Å"Parole – Learning More. † Michigan Department of Corrections. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . â€Å"Parole Conditions. † LegalMatch. Ed. Ken LeMance. N. p. , 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. . â€Å"The Parole Consideration Process. † Michigan Department of Corrections. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. â€Å"Parole Position