Science Development and Computers Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Science Development and Computers - Coursework Example This paper would also supplement to entailing the ethical reasons behind making use of computers as fast paced humanoids and also shedding some insight on the much growing artificial intelligence in the world today. Conclusively it might be imperative to reason out the differences in the working of a human brain in retrospect to a central processing unit and how both these entities are in effect the working of the same principal thinking. Science developments and computers With the rapid growth in the information technology industry it is an ever so imperative fact that fast and reliable data transfers are the key to enterprise success in the upcoming future. While organizations battle out for the highest gains and profits, all it comes down in the end is to the fact that which company pertains to the fastest solutions and outputs, whereas this being the age of the integrated technological advancements it is no wonder that a lot has been researched for necessitating new methods and w ays of providing fast data transfer and processing techniques. Before lunging into the technical specification of when and how an industry can optimize its information technological feats it is profoundly imperative that we seek the reasoning and logic behind as to what causes an uplift in most technological advancements. ... With time we have seen that those IBM personal computers have been effectively reduced into mere handheld smartphones today having more than four times the amount of memory and processing speed those early vintage personal computers could potentially offer. With this type of an increasing change in trend and usage we can establish the datum that size of the object has significantly affected the experience these computers provide today and with specification from the study of material science it can duly be distinguished that ascertaining to the working size in a technological development makes way to a much compacter solution to the same specifications while sometimes working on molecular level can yield great optimizing results. With such reasoning we can surly address that the three things imperatively necessary to influence any sort of material and integrated source are firstly the kind of atoms that embed the structure for example the use of silicon atoms as opposed to copper one s idealize the functionality of a microchip while subsequently how these particular atoms are bonded and arranged are the preceding qualities that are in close check with computational hardware development. The reactivity, density and malleability are also features that ascertain a physical influencing change but on a more fundamental aspect of modeling hardware the atomic size structure and behavior are the key material things that effectively model a wiser choice of technology. Coming back to the usage of silicon and how fast this tech seems to cater have fundamentally establishes that the developments in Silicon technology and the express

Employment Law, First Examination (Essay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Employment Law, First Examination ( - Essay Example To be noted, Momma Mia operates through a total of around 1000 employees, which is greater than the minimum required size to be classified as a Title VII included company, whereby the employees are protected under the provisions of the Civil Rights Act (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, â€Å"Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964†). Security, Inc. However, in doing so, she will have to prove few elements, which will support her action of whistle blowing. Laws and elements that Jill needs to prove. In order to avail the benefits liable to her for whistle blowing against the sexual harassment she had to face in Momma Mia, Jill has to prove that she is an employee in the company and not an independent contractor by policy as was mentioned in her contract. In order to prove that she was an employee and correspondingly, justify the contractual term ‘independent contractor’ as void, Jill needs to satisfy the 6 silk criteria as was declared in accordance to the case of [Schultz v. Capital Intern. Security, Inc. No. 05-1192. 460 F.3d 595 (2006)] (Leagle, â€Å"Schultz v. Capital Intern†). ... o share the profit/loss of the company depending on their managerial skills, which signifies the second silk factor and hence should be proved by Jill to obtain the legitimate rights in the case. The third silk factor states than an independent contractor and not an employee will have rights to invest in the resources to make the work done in the best interest of the company. As Jill did not make any such investment and also because no such clause was mentioned in her contract, she can prove that was an employee in Momma Mia. However, a critical understanding to the factors depict that the fourth and the fifth silk factors do not clearly advocate in favor of Jill but also do not oblige Momma Mia to suffice the conditions required to prove Jill as an independent contractor to the company. In the sixth silk factor, Jill can prove the significance of her job role in the company as a public relations manager, which in turn would suffice her stance as an employee and not as an independent contractor to Momma Mia (Juffras, 2008). Jill can furthermore prove the selection process of the company, through which she was hired, as unjustifiable and irrelevant for the position on offer. In the selection process, the employers intended to select candidates on the basis of their physical appearances where the educational merits along with other professional skills commonly argued as mandatory for such a job role became decorative features. Additional preference to females rather than to males also indicates towards the fallacy of the selection process, which might turn the case in favor of Jill. Correspondingly, taking the advantage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Jill can also file for privacy rights violation conducted by the employer in her interview

Historical Book Analysis Assignment Essay Example for Free

Historical Book Analysis Assignment Essay History, it has often been said, is as much a story of individual people as it is of places, events and larger circumstances. This is especially true when considering pivotal figures from American history, for in the stories of pivotal historical figures, the saga of the growth of America can often be seen. Such is the case with first lady, political activist and women’s rights pioneer Abigail Adams and former American slave, orator and anti-slavery advocate Frederick Douglass. It is with these two prominent historic figures in mind that two historical books about them, Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave will be discussed. Upon conclusion of the research, not only will two historical icons be better understood, but also, two key works about these people will be as well. Main Character of Each Work As was mentioned in the Introduction to this paper, two historical books as well as the people who were the main characters of those books would be discussed. Understanding the books first requires an understanding of the backgrounds of each of these main characters respectively. Abigail Adams, for all of the achievements that her life would hold, was not the product of fine universities or finishing schools; rather, she was for the most part an educated woman, and someone who possessed a great deal of inner drive and instinct, which more than made up for the lack of formal education. The wife of John Adams, who was a founding father of the United States and would eventually become president of the nation, Abigail managed the family farm, took care of the children, and showed a great streak of independence while John, early in his political career, was compelled to travel internationally. Abigail shared her husband’s passion for American independence, with one glaring exception- she did not subscribe to the idea that all men were created equal. For Abigail, there certainly was room to tolerate slavery, but this is not to say that Abigail felt the same about gender issues. One could fairly classify Abigail as a feminist, which she continued to advocate when she accompanied her husband to the White House. Overall, while not perfect, Abigail Adams contributed a great deal to the cause of women’s rights and by some accounts, aided her husband significantly during his presidency (Withey). Like Abigail Adams, Frederick Douglass was not the most formally educated man, but through sheer determination and a high level of natural intelligence, in time became one of the most articulate men in America, slave or free (Douglass). Early evidence of Douglass’ yearning for freedom and equality in a nation which promised this but only delivered to select races can be seen in his escape from slavery and refuge in northern free territory as a young man. This escape not only allowed him to pursue his own destiny, but also allowed him to seek the same for every man, with the abolition of slavery as Douglass’ main ambition. In fact, it was Douglass’ personal experience as a slave which gave him the credibility and passion that he required in order to be able to see the abolition of slavery to completion. Historical Events that Involved the Main Characters of Each Work When comparing Adams and Douglass, it can fairly be said that each of them were similarly exposed to extraordinary circumstances that inspired them to action, while being impaired to a certain extent by limitations that society attempted to place on them. In both cases as well, each of these individuals used that adversity not as a roadblock to future progress, but as a catapult to bigger and better things. Abigail Adams entered the stage of American history at a time when the role of the president as well as first lady was far from well defined, as well as a time when women were largely regarded as subordinates to their husbands and not worthy of equal opportunities or education. In the midst of all of these circumstances, Adams devoted a great deal of her energies in assisting her husband-some say too much- in the duties of the presidency and set the protocol for first ladies to come. Also, Adams chose as her cause the equality of women in all areas of society, making her an early pioneer for women’s equality. Like Adams, Frederick Douglass came upon the American scene at a time when pivotal issues were still undecided; for all of the talk of liberty and justice for all, Douglass had to flee from an environment whereby he was owned, like property, by another human being, as were tens of thousands of other African-Americans. Also, Douglass fearlessly spoke out against the evils of slavery, and became an influential resource for none other than Abraham Lincoln, who would become known in history as The Great Emancipator.

X Ray Production And Interaction With Matter Engineering Essay

X Ray Production And Interaction With Matter Engineering Essay The x-ray tube is the most important part of the x-ray machine because the tube is where the x-rays are actually produced. The production of x-rays requires a rapidly moving stream of electrons that are suddenly decelerated or stopped. (C., Andy, 2008). Basically this means that when fast-moving electrons slam into a metal object x-rays are produced. (Bushong, 2008, Ch.6 p.101). Inside of the x-ray tube are three main factors that play important roles in x-ray production: 1.) The cathode 2.) The anode 3.) The vacuum The cathode and anode are basically the only components that help in the production of x-rays. The cathode or also known as the fast-moving electrons is a negatively charged electrode that contains a focusing cup and a filament. The focusing cup is made of nickel or molybdenum and nearly surrounds the filament. It is open at one end to allow electrons to flow freely across the tube from the cathode to the anode. (Fauber, 2009, p.15). It has a negative charge, which keeps the electrons emitted from the filament spreading apart. The focusing cups purpose is to focus the stream of fast-moving electrons. The filament is coil of wire (about 2mm diameter and 1 to 2cm long) that emits the electrons when it is heated. When the current through the filament is sufficiently high, the outer-shell electrons of the filament atoms are boiled off and ejected. (Bushong, 2008, Ch.7 p.122). This is also referred to as thermionic emission. The Anode The positively charged electrode of the tube is called the anode. It consists of a stator, rotor, and a target. The stator is an electric motor that turns the rotor at very high speeds. These speeds range from 3,000 to 10,000 revolutions per minute (RPM). The rotor is rigidly connected to the target through the anode stem, causing the target to rotate rapidly during x-ray production. High Strength ball bearings in the rotor allow it to rotate smoothly at high speeds. (Fauber, 2009, p.17). The last component of the anode is the target. The target is the metal object that is struck by the focused stream of electrons coming from the cathode. The target then stops the fast-moving electrons and thus creates the opportunity for the production of x-rays. (Nave, 2006, http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/Hbase/quantum/xtube.html) The Vacuum Another contributing factor called a vacuum, which allows for more efficient x-ray production and longer tube life. However, if there is just a little gas is inside the tube, the electron flow from the cathode to the anode is reduced, fewer x-rays are produced, and more heat is generated. If there is too much gas, x-ray production falls and the tube can fail. (Bushong, 2008, Ch.7 p.122). This is why the radiographer needs to be aware of the amount of heat that is produced during x-ray production because excessive heat can damage the tube: and without the tube x-ray production cannot be created. X-ray Interaction with Matter If x-ray production falls, then x-rays cannot interact with matter. X-ray production and x-ray interaction with matter help to form an image. X-rays interact with matter in five different characteristics: 1.) Coherent Scattering 2.) Compton Effect 3.) Photoelectric Effect 4.) Pair Production 5.) Photodistegration Only the Compton effect and the photoelectric effect are important in the process of creating an x-ray image. Coherent Scattering Coherent scattering is an interaction with low energy x-rays, below the diagnostic range. The incoming photon interacts with the atom causing it to become excited. Fauber (2009, Ch.3 p.49) has suggested that the x-ray doesnt lose energy, but changes direction. Coherent scattering contributes very little to the x-ray image, and only a few percent undergo this type of scatter. Coherent scatter contributes slightly to the deterioration of the image, often referred to as image noise, the general graying of an image that reduces image contrast. Most coherent scattered x-rays are emitted in a forward direction. Coherent scattering is a small importance to creating an x-ray image. However, if these scattered photons are absorbed within the tissue, they do contribute to the radiation exposure to the patient. Compton Effect The Compton effect can occur in all x-ray energies and are very important interaction with matter. When scattered x-rays interact with an outer-shell electron, the electron is thrown or ejected from the atom and the atom becomes ionized. The electron that was ejected is called a secondary electron. With the secondary electron ejected the x-ray scatter continues in a different direction with less energy then it started out with. During a Compton interaction the scattered x-ray and secondary electron have divided the energy between them, but usually the scattered x-ray maintains most of it. Eventually both lose all their energy and the scattered x-ray is absorbed photo electrically, while the secondary electron loses all of its energy through ionization and then falls into a vacancy in the electron shell created by a previous ionizing event. The purpose of the Compton effect is to reduce as much contrast on the x-ray image. Photoelectric Effect The photoelectric effect takes place when the incident x-ray is not scattered, but is totally absorbed during the ionization of an inner-shell electron. The incident photon disappears, and the k-shell electron; called a photoelectron is ejected from the atom. The x-ray image results from the difference between those x-rays that are absorbed by photoelectric interaction and those x-rays that are absorbed during ionization through the body as image-forming x-rays. Pair production Pair production is explained by Bushong (2008, Ch.10 pg.168) as an incident x-ray that has sufficient energy; it may escape interaction with electrons and come close enough to the nucleus of the atom to be influenced by the strong nuclear force field. This causes the x-ray to disappear between the nuclear field and x-ray, and in its place forms two electrons: a positron (positively charged) and one that is negatively charged. Pair production interacts with matter, but does not occur during x-ray imaging. Photodistegration The last characteristic of x-ray interaction with matter is Photodistegration, although it does not occur is diagnostic radiology. This process by which very high-energy x-rays (approximately reaching above 10 MeV) can escape interaction with electrons and the nuclear electric field, and can be absorbed directly by the nucleus. When this occurs the nucleus is raised to an excited state and instantly emits a nucleon or other nuclear fragments, which are released. (Bushong, 2008, Ch.10 pg169). Conclusion In conclusion x-ray production and x-ray interaction with matter help to create an x-ray image. Without both basic concepts a simple image would not be possible. Two of the three components that make up the inside of an x-ray tube is: the cathode and anode, which are both important factors in x-ray production. Similar to the five ways an x-ray can interact with matter, only two are important to the formation: the Compton effect and the photoelectric effect. X-ray production and x-ray are different in so many ways, also they go hand in hand, but without one the other does not exist and without either diagnostic imaging cannot occur.

The Clown Doll: An Urban Legend Essay -- Urban Legends

The Clown Doll: An Urban Legend When my friends and I were younger, we loved to tell each other scary stories late at night at sleepovers. This memory resurfaced this past February as three friends and I exchanged tales late one night while on a trip in New Jersey. All of the stories were entertaining, but this purportedly â€Å"true† urban legend remained in my mind long after the other accounts. â€Å"The Clown Doll† was told by a twenty-year old, Christian female University biology major. She was born and raised in Pittsburg, PA, which is where she heard the story and where the story itself is set. As soon as she had all of our complete attention, she began the legend as follows: Well, back in high school, one of my best friends told me this story. It’s true because it happened to one of her close friends that went to a different high school in my hometown. This actually happened. This girl always babysat for this certain family in a nice, medium sized suburban neighborhood. The family had two kids; the little girl was six and the boy was eight. They lived in a nice, two story house. But there was something weird about the family. They loved dolls. They had a huge collection of dolls. Kind of weird, but you know. And so they had dolls displayed in cases and dolls sitting out. One night, the parents go out to a dinner party, and this girl comes to baby-sit the children. She takes care of the kids, feeds them dinner, plays with them, and then puts them to bed upstairs. After that, she comes back downstairs and sits on the couch in the living room to start watching TV. But the whole doll thing is really creeping her out. She just doesn’t like the way they are sitting there and seem to be looking at her. But th... ...y proposition. People want to be able to feel safe in the comfort of their own homes, and be able to protect their own families. Tellers of the Clown Doll tale seeks to instill chills in their audiences by interrupting this idealized vision of security. Another fear that is made evident in this story is the apprehension and dread that accompanies thoughts of the taboo. The Clown Doll manifests our society’s fear of things or people that are different, such as little people or the mentally or physically handicapped. Those with mental illness are unknown, taboo, and frightening to our society. There are many examples of mentally ill people being the center of movies about serial killers or stories in which we â€Å"normal† people cannot control the actions of those with mental illnesses. People afflicted with these diseases are normally kept away from everyday society

Post Colonial Perception on the Grass Is Singing Essay

The Grass Is Singing, first published in 1950, was an international success. The story focuses on Mary Turner, the wife of a farmer, who is found murdered on the porch of her home. After her body is found, we are taken back to her younger days and slowly discover what happened to her. The background, location of this story is set in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in South Africa which has been drawn from Doris Lessing’s own childhood spent there. Her first hand knowledge of living on a farm in South Africa shines through in this book. The land, the characters, the farming are all vividly described. Both of her parents were British: her father, who had been crippled in World War I, was a clerk in the Imperial Bank of Persia; her mother had been a nurse. In 1925, lured by the promise of getting rich through maize farming, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Doris’s mother adapted to the rough life in the settlement, energetically trying to reproduce what was, in her view, a civilized, Edwardian life among savages; but her father did not, and the thousand-odd acres of bush he had bought failed to yield the promised wealth. Similar sequences are presented in the book. Doris Lessing was born Doris May Tayler in Persia (now Iran) on October 22, 1919. She is a great female British writer and in October 2007, became the eleventh woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in its 106-year history, and its oldest recipient ever. Lessing has written many novels, short stories and tales, drama, poetry and comics of which novels like The Grass Is Singing, The Golden Notebook are the most popular and her works continue to be reprinted. Lessing realized that she had quite an amazing life but didn’t know how to attack it when she started writing a book. She read a newspaper cutting about a white mistress murdered by her black cook, none knows why and he is waiting to be hanged. However, Doris knew perfectly well why he had committed this crime because of her upbringing. For example, there was a lady gossiped about in her neighborhood that she allowed her cook-boy to button up the back of her dress and brush her hair. It is appalling and awful, she says. It was a violation of the white behavior. But she didn’t behave like a white mistress. She had treated him like a friend and then started treating him like a servant. They were treated abominably. It was said that the white mistresses didn’t know how to treat their servants and obviously it was a sex thing. In African culture, for women to tell a man what to do was impossible. Yet, all these houses had men-servants and the white mistresses spoke to them in high, harassed, angry voice. They couldn’t talk to them like people. The author chooses to start this novel by the end. It begins with a brief newspaper clipping, suggesting the murder of Mary Turner under the headline ‘Murder Mystery’. However, it certainly is not a murder mystery as we are told the suspect has confessed the crime and there is no serious effort to unravel the crime. It is not who but why behind the murder. Lessing’s purpose is quite different. She wants to establish an end point in order to examine the extremely fl awed society in which it occurs. The author has given the reader a place, an event and a social problem all before her narrative begins. Lessing wrote two books, one of them at long-hand after returning home to the farm. The other one, in which she made fun of the white culture, was mannered. This helped her to write about the white culture in Southern Rhodesia in ‘The Grass Is Singing’. According to Ruth Whittaker, one of the readers of Lessing’s works, this novel is â€Å"an extraordinary first novel in its assured treatment of its unusual subject matter†¦ Doris Lessing questions the entire values of the Rhodesian white colonial society.† The novel reflects its author’s disapproval of sexual and political prejudices and colonialism in the Southern African setting through the life of Mary Turner and a fatal relationship with their black servant. On the surface, it seems a psychological and personal portrayal of a female protagonist from childhood to death but seen as a whole, it is the political exposure of the futility and fragility of the patriarchal and colonial society upon which the masculinity of imperialism has sustained itself. The whole novel can be seen as Mary’s struggle towards individuation to preserve her authenticity and sense of self but it fails because of the psychological and the political forces which furnish her little insight and threaten to crush her. I attempt to show how Lessing portrays Mary’s subjectivity as shaped and entangles within the ideological triangle of class, gender and race; and how the same sexual and ideological factors, rooted in family and culture, causes failure in Mary’s achieving her own sense of self and dooms her to death. Mary is fragmented between two contradictory statuses: on one hand she longs to be a subject of her life, to live in a way she desires, and on the other hand she unconsciously performs a role as an object of the white oppressive structure of a colonial society which extracts meaning of her personal self and imposes its values forcing, the individual to yield to the good of the collective. Mary’s subjectivity and behavioral pattern are shaped by the cross-hatched intersection of class, gender and race through the operation of sexual and political colonialism in the context of imperialism. Gender and Class: The early sketch of Mary’s characterization entails a subjectivity negotiating between gender and class positions. Mary’s early childhood is shaped under the influence of an oppressive father who wastes his money on drinks while his family lives in misery and poverty. Her mother, â€Å"a tall scrawny woman† who â€Å"made a confidante of Mary early†¦and used to cry over her sewing and Mary comforted her miserably†, is her first model of gender role: a passive and helpless woman, dominated by the overwhelming masculine patterns, nonetheless the complying of victim of poverty. Besides sharing the pains of poverty and living in â€Å"a little house that was like a small wooden box on slits† and the twelve month quarrel of her parents over money, Mary has been the witness of their sexuality and her mother’s body in the hands of a man who was simply not present for her. All her life, Mary tries to forget these memories but in fact she has just suppressed them with the fear of sexuality which comes up later nightmarishingly in her dreams. By seeing her mother as a feminine victim of a miserable marriage, she internalizes a negative image of feminity in the form of sexual repression, inheriting her mother’s arid feminism. Race and Gender: The narrator exposes that the Turners’ failure at farming and their poverty and reclusiveness have made them disliked in the district. The Turners’ primitive condition of life is irritating for other white settlers because they do not like the natives to see themselves live in the same manner as the whites, which would destroy that spirit de corps â€Å"which is the first rule of South African society†. This anxiety is more political than economic based on the opposition of white/black. ln this way, another complex clash of value system, besides gender and class, is added to the narrative structure of the novel and that is the matter of race. Colonialism is based on the white men’s spirit of venture for missionary and farm life through their settlement in the third world countries and harvesting their resources by establishing the imperial authority over the native people. The white men, by enslaving the native men on the lands they have in fact stolen fro m them and feminizing some others in their house chores, preserve their own position as masters in the center and the natives as â€Å"Others† in the margin. They use race and gender, two inseparable qualifiers, to access their privilege of power in the imperial hierarchy and legitimize their actions. Gender and race are components of this hierarchy by which the white settlers attempt to establish their own rules and security in the alien land. The binary of white/black reminds us of race difference which itself is linked and dependent on other differences, more importantly gender. White women are objectified as unattainable property of white men through stereotyping the native men as violent, savage and sexually threatening. These double strategies both take the individuality from white women and colonize them as sexual objects always in danger and in need of the heroic protection of their white men and help the white men overcome their fear and jealousy for the superior sexual potency of the black men. The dominant White culture projects â€Å"all of those qualities and characteristics which it most fears and hates within itself† on the natives which creates for the subordinate group â€Å"a wholly negative cultural identity†. Similarly Jan Mohamed notes that: â€Å"the native is cast as no more than a recipient of the negative elements of the self that the European projects onto him†. The patriarchal myth of white woman as white man‘s property and symbol of his power and the â€Å"forbidden fruit† for black man expels women from subjective roles by imposing on them the view that they are unable to handle the black laborers. Therefore the white women are convinced that they cannot share power with the white men especially in the farm life which is the current context of masculinity, tough work, action: challenge beyond domesticity. So they are confined in the domestic sphere and considered shiftless. Charlie Slatter, the most successful and powerful farmer of the district in this novel, makes a joke of it: â€Å"Needs a man to deal with niggers. Niggers don‘t understand women giving them orders. They keep their own women in their right places†. In such colonial discourse, the black natives, employed whether as domestic servants in feminine sphere or as impoverished agricultural workers, are represented as wild, violent, potential rapists, and threatening the white women who need the white men‘s protection against the natives. In this way, white patriarchy makes a heroic scenario for itself. During the first scene in which Moses touches Mary, she is alarmed at the sensation and feels certain that it is a prelude to rape. Instead, he pushes her gently on the bed, and covers her feet with her nightgown. Even in the later scene in which Moses is caught by the Englishman in a moment of scandalousl y inappropriate contact with Mary, he is caught pulling a dress over her head with â€Å"indulgent uxoriousness†. The insinuations of tenderness, indeed romance between Moses and Mary appear in this moment to offer a radical alternative to the prototypical script of rape applied to all relationships between white women and black men during the apartheid era. Any doubt as to Moses’s fundamentally violent nature is also eradicated in the final scenes in which he returns to batter Mary to death. In the sexual politics of the colonial myth, white women are victims as the native subjects are in the racial politics. A woman who is privileged racially can simultaneously experience gender limitations and class difference within her own category, like in the case of Mary Turner. Mary fails to preserve her individuality because she is not able to resist the strong master narratives of the false colonial and patriarchal myth of superiority of her culture through the discourse of gender and race which place her firmly in a predetermined position. Marginalization: Lessing has described the feelings of the characters, especially of Mary profoundly. The description of Mary, her wishes and her behavior, is done in a rather psychological way proving Mary Turner’s life tragic. She is effectively forced into marriage by the weight of social expectations and traditions. She never loves her husband, but she is, at least initially, glad to have one, as it makes her â€Å"normal†. From the moment she marries, she is engaged in a losing battle to hold on to her own identity and survive this marriage. We can distinguish Mary as a victim of marginalization. This is mainly because her needs for development are not considered by her husband and she plays no role in influencing decisions for their house. Since she is bewildered by Dick’s house which consists of a corrugated iron roof, zinc bath, skins of animals on red brick floor – all old and badly maintained, with her own saved money Mary brings flowered materials and cushions t o make curtains, a little linen, crockery and some dress lengths (61). Further she asks Dick for ceilings over corrugated iron roof but he refuses saying that it would cost too much and they may have it done next year if they do well (63). Dick is now instead investing in other things like setting up a grocery store, growing maize, harvesting beehives, pigs, turkeys, etc. that he thinks would help them grow rich less realizing his wife felt sick with the heat when she stayed in the house under the iron roof. Unfortunately, Dick keeps failing at every attempt of his to improve their condition. Mary is, all the time, counting money wasted on Dick’s various attempts at different jobs which could have improved the condition of their house. Here, Dick has never taken into account Mary’s guidance and excluded her from making or influencing his decisions before going on with these jobs. We can, hence, distinguish Mary as a victim of marginalization, the marginalized. Perhaps Mary’s tragedy is all the deeper on account of the fact that she never realizes that the native Africans who must work the farms of the white settlers are just as much tragic victims as she is. The natives are deprived of their own land and looked down with contempt. The black native men are made to serve the white colonies. Much of the discourse around the British colonies in postmodernism is centered on the exploitation of the resources and the people from the colonies, leading to a feeling of racial superiority on the part of the colonizer. This deep-seated racism is clearly evident in Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing as none of the white colonials are sympathetic or even see the Zimbabweans as fully human. Mary too treats all her house boys dreadfully; she despises their carelessness, their laziness, and their failure to pander adequately to her. At one moment, when she replaces her sick husband in the fields, she is thoroughly brutal with the black farm hands. However, I feel that Lessing’s novel is less concerned about showing the misery felt by the Zimbabweans for the hand they were dealt by the colonial Empire and more about showing the toll colonialism has on those who do not belong there. What Lessing is really showing is how damaging the colonial psyche can be when one is not equipped for it. One is left with a sense that when prejudice and false ideas generated by self-interest become institutionalized, they cloud the perception of people so thoroughly that even the victims are capable of victimizing others. In spite of its formulaic narrative, The Grass Is Singing has nonetheless been read as a progressive critique of â€Å"injustice, racism, and sexual hypocrisy,† in part because of its open investigation of gender and sexuality. It is through Mary’s predicaments as a woman and in particular as a member of the working class that The Grass Is Singing opens up potentially radical grounds for sympathy. At first glance, Mary’s stereotypical obsession with domesticity combined with scorn for all her black servants recalls Ronald Hyam’s caricature of white women in the colonies as â€Å"[m]oping and sickly, narrowly intolerant, vindictive to the locals, despotic and abusive to their servants†. For some, however, Mary’s plight is a more realistic and â€Å"tragic example of how hardship and isolation can destroy even the most independent of women† (Fishburn 2). Indeed, her intolerance for her black servants becomes more complex when read as a displaced resistance against the patriarchal norms of her society. Mary’s belligerence is a clear projection of her anger against an unsatisfactory marriage and the oppressive, gendered social norms that led to its existence. Dick’s attitude towards her is never hostile or abusive, but she persistently resents him for things that she knows he is not able to help, such as his string of financial failures, the unbearable poverty, and the virtual absence of any company or entertainment at the farm. Even among other white people, such as the nearby Slatter family, Mary feels too much pride and humiliation to express the full depths of her loneliness and despair. It is only in the presence of her black servants that she feels able to release the full-blown rage and intolerance that have clearly erupted from elsewhere. What really killed Mary Turner? Various critics have expressed confusion over why the dialectic must necessarily be resolved by Moses’s murder of Mary. A reviewer in The Doris Lessing Newsletter asked, â€Å"Why does Moses murder Mary?† The TLS queried, â€Å"Why does he feel he has to kill her?† and The Listener demanded, â€Å"Is this the only possible outcome?† (11) Lessing leaves Moses’s inner states shrouded in mystery: after his act of murder, â€Å"what thoughts of regret, or pity, or perhaps even wounded human affection were compounded with the satisfaction of his completed revenge, it is impossible to say† (206). Equally cryptic is the fact that Mary herself becomes complicit in her own murder, to the extent that she runs toward Moses, sure of the fact that he should kill her. This desire to die is prefaced by an unbearable, tragicomic sense of her South African history. Shortly before her death, Mary peruses volumes of books celebrating the legacy of Cecil Rhodes, and she laughs long and bitterly, thinking absent-mindedly to herself, â€Å"But the young man [Moses] would save her† (199). As she lies down to sleep on the night of the murder, she â€Å"turned her face into the darkness of the pillows, but her eyes were alive with light, and against the light she saw a dark, waiting shape. †¦ Propelled by fear, but also by knowledge, she rose out of bed, not making a sound† (203). As Mary makes her way onto the veranda, â€Å"the trees stood still and waited† until finally Moses appears, and â€Å"at the sight of him, her emotions unexpectedly shifted, to create in her an extraordinary feeling of guilt, but towards him, to whom she had been disloyal, and at the bidding of the Englishman† (204). As she opens her mouth to apologize, Moses clasps one hand over her mouth to silence her and with the other hacks her head with a blunt instrument. â€Å"And then the bush avenged itself: that was her last thought†. Mary’s cognizance of the murder as one compounded by her own guilt and by vengeance, rather than unwarranted aggression, shows a strange ability to forgive her own murderer even as he performs the act that she knows he is compelled to do. Charles Sarvan argues that Mary’s death has religious and apocalyptic overtones in that she decides â€Å"to offer herself as a sacrifice which will both atone for past crimes and hasten the coming of the new order†. Well if it came down to forensics it would be clear that the killer was Moses. But Mary Turner was long gone before Moses took a machete to her. This begs the question then of what really killed Mary Turner? In my opinion, I would argue that the real killer was the African outback. Lessing’s protagonist Mary spent her whole life in the African colony, and yet she never seems to fully belong. She spends the first half of her life in the town where she is blissfully and naively happy. Yet, even in the town Mary remains an outsider. Mary belongs to an English community and therefore must conform to English standards for women. She loves England (despite never having been there) so she performs her civic duty and jumps into a marriage with a poor farmer living deep in the African outback. A marriage in town is nothing like a marriage in the country and Mary quickly realizes it. She is uprooted from the life she immensely enjoyed in town and is planted into a decrepit farm house that is falling apart around her. The misery she feels about her living conditions is no match for the true conditions of Africa she sees for the first time. In the outback, Mary is confronted with the reality of colonialism- the natives- and she can not mentally or physically stand it. When the natives are far away working for Dick, Mary can at least barely tolerate living on the farm. However, when confronted with the natives in her home she unravels. In the African outback this idea of British civilization falls to pieces because as Sarah De Mal says in her article â€Å"Doris Lessing, Feminism, and the Representation of Zimbabwe, â€Å"the omniscient narrator describes how the main protagonist feels displaced within colonial culture since her desires and dreams are at odds with the prevailing values and rules of this culture† (De Mal 36). What Mary dreams of is a life in town, away from the natives working as a typist in an ordinary office living with other white colonists. Her reality is far removed from this as she is living with the true colonials whom she resents and despises as being the â€Å"other†. And when this â€Å"other† characterized by Moses confronts her and invades her space, her mind and her body deteriorates rapidly until she resembles merely a shell of a human being. Moses is a direct confrontation of the fantasy Mary has. She envisions herself as an English rose whose purity must not be tainted by the black man. Yet when Moses physically touches her and confronts her about her attitude towards him, Mary falls apart. By these two acts, Moses has killed her fantasy by forcing her to see him as a human being. Mary can no longer pretend she has superiority over him as a white woman. It is this realization that kills her for after she submits the Moses’ humanity she loses all sanity. Moses only finished the process by ending her physical life. I believe all in all Moses was the end of Mary. However, it was not his machete that killed her. What killed her was his which is the reality of the colony and the people who lived there. Her fantasy of being a true and righteous English woman could not hold up against the vastness of Africa and this reality broke her spirit and left her as empty as she had envisioned the African outback to be. Conclusion Mary Turner is not able to grasp her own identity because her identity is compounded by the overpowering colonial and gender narratives in which she is knit. The colonial ruling power dictates that she as an individual has to behave according to the terms imposed by her imperial identity. Even her disintegration must be silenced because it threatens the whole authority of the dominant category. Mary fails in her journey of self-quest but she is the heroine of this novel because she reverses the social, racial and cultural orders of her society though unconsciously. As in Katherine Fishburn‘s words, she is as an â€Å"accidental rebel† who at least dissolves the dichotomous orders and consequently reveals for the reader the fear and falsity of the white civilization whose indictment is the division between privileged white and the dispossessed black. (Fishburn 4) Sima Aghazadeh quotes, â€Å"by her death, Mary paves the way for the native (Africa/Moses) to take a subject ive action†. She cannot guarantee her own identity since she does not have any antidote to loneliness, poverty and gender limitations, but she foreshadows a change in Imperial attitudes. The Grass is Singing, through its circular narration from a collective perspective of Mary’s murder to an individual account of her personal life, completes an indictment of its central character’s life in the center of a closed white colonial society in southern Africa in which the linked discourses of class, race, and gender bring her into exclusion, isolation, break down, and finally to death. Mary’s failure of individuation is the failure of patriarchy and colonial culture to satisfy its female member to find fulfillment within this status quo. References: * Fishburn, Katherine. â€Å"The Manichcan Allegories of Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing†, Research in Literature, Vol.25, No.4 Winter I994. * Wang, Joy. â€Å"White postcolonial guilt in Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing.† Research in African Literatures 40.3 (2009): 37+. Academic OneFile.Web. 15 Sep. 2012. * Fishburn, Katherine. â€Å"The Manichean Allegories of Doris Lessing’s The Grass Is Singing.† Research in African Literatures 25.4 (1994): 1-15. * Postcolonial African Writers- A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook – Pushpa Naidu Parekh, Siga Fatima Jagne – Google Books * http://www.dorislessing.org/biography.html * Doris Lessing – Writer – -The Grass Is Singing- – Web of Stories – http://www.webofstories.com/play/53470?o=MS * The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing – http://www.dorislessing.org/the.html * The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing – Review – Life and death in South Africa – http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/printed-books/the-grass-is-singing-doris-

Consumption patterns

This essay is geared towards analyzing an article that was done on the year 2001 concerning the increasing â€Å"Consumer Demand for Fruits and Vegetables: The U.S. Example.† The consumption pattern then could be seen to have increased over the years. It was in the article that several factors where enumerated with regards to the increasing demand for both fruits and vegetables among the citizen in the United States of America. It was then concluded that the demand could be seen as a pattern where other developing countries could have the same patterns in the long run. As could be implied in the article’s title, the author aims to reach a certain justification that given time, several countries would have an increase in the demand for fruits and vegetables.Consumer Demand for Fruits and Vegetables: The U.S. Example It could be gathered that this particular article is directed towards the behavioral pattern of the people in the United States. Ergo, it could be deduced th at most of the data gathered is much dedicated in the statistical aspect where the demand for fruits and vegetables had increased. It was said that the consumption of both fruits and vegetables had already been a part of the usual food consumption on the people of the country especially when it espouses a healthy lifestyle (Kurtzweil, 1997).It could be seen then that, over the years, food consumption patterned has increased especially when incomes had increased. It could be sensed here that as income increases, the buying of goods also increases, including that of fruits and vegetables aside from the other necessities. To further reinforce this assertion, it was studied that over the course of year 1961 and 1998, there had been a considerable increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetable on places where income had surely increased. However, those who had lower incomes had little or no difference when it comes to the consumption of the said goods.It would then be heir apparent that as the incomes of the people increased there is an extensive increase in buying goods. Suffice to say that this first reason would have given a reason for the increase in the consumption rates of the people. In connection to this, the main argument for this could be seen as such that most people were gearing towards the convenience of a product.Canned and processed fruits and vegetables then are getting popular. It would then be inferred that the supplies needed would increase since manufacturing these goods could take larger number of fruits or vegetable. Albeit, fresh fruits are still popular and they are aptly so since they are much convenient. Connecting this to the second reason, it could be seen that technological aspects had made the difference since packing and delivering goods could be made easy.However, this assertion could be further asserted by the third justification over the change in consumption pattern. In this aspect the concept of healthy living could be injec ted. It was said then that the people had a strong belief in going back to the healthy living lifestyle (Pollack, 2001). It seems that the household with older members in the family tend to purchase more fruits and vegetables. Age then becomes another big factor.The fourth assertion could be found that the availability of the goods has already increased. This increase in the availability could have been due to the imports from other countries. It could be seen here then that a â€Å"wide selection of products†¦Ã¢â‚¬  had been made available to American citizens that even if the fruits or vegetables are not produced for the season in the particular country, it could still be made available through importing and   trading (Pollack, 2001).As was mentioned above, improved technological aspect has paved the way for easier shipping and packing that some seasonal fruits could be made available in the United States. The trade business has also increased during this time that some p roducts that are not actually available in the country had made its way to American soil due to trade and imports. It seems that tropical produce had become popular among the people. Americans may be able to produce these tropical goods on some areas of the land but the demand for it is high that supplies are needed; hence trade and imports are needed.All these patterns if conjoined together could create a change in the demand for the said goods – fruits and vegetables. On the year 1997-99, it was said that the trend consumption of fruits and vegetables in the United States had been averaged as 741 pounds per person. It could be seen as 25 percent more than what was consumed during the year 1977-79. The increase was much focused on the fresh melon and processed potatoes. Either way, vegetables had been a forerunner when it comes to people’s favorites as compared to fruits in general. In fact, vegetable consumption has increased to 24 percent as compared to the 8 percen t consumption rate of fruits.After the mid-seventies, it could be argued that lesser people had become enamored with canned goods and are much inclined to purchasing fresher goods. It seems then that aside from the increase in percentage, a much wider variety of vegetables are now made available as some people are slowly creating certain variations in their consumption purchases. Examples of these vegetable diets are asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, and lettuces, and many others. Of all the fruits, banana had become the most popular fresh fruit treat. However, this particular fruit is garnered through imports. Other examples of fruits that are popular are apples and oranges, also grapes, pears, and strawberries. Regardless of the increase in consumption rates, it would still not sufficient to claim that Americans are consuming the â€Å"recommended daily servings† for both fruits and vegetables.It could then be concluded that the demand for fruits and vegeta bles in the U.S has increased through several reasons: 1. Convenience might lead to larger demand for supplies, 2. Technological aspects makes it more convenient, 3. Health issues are being addressed, and 4. Availability of goods through imports and trade is rapidly growing. Also, these patterns could also be realized in other developing countries.References Kurtzweil, P. (1997). Fruits and Vegetables: Eating Your Way to 5 A Day.  Ã‚   Retrieved September 27, 2007, from http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/food/eating5-aday/297_five.htmlPollack, S. L. (2001). Consumer Demand for Fruits and Vegetables: The U.S. Example [Electronic Version]. Changing Structure of Global Food Consumption and Trade. Retrieved September 27, 2007.