The Four Causes of Aristotle Essay Example for Free

The Four Causes of Aristotle Essay Aristotle, being the first historian of philosophy, categorized his predecessors according to how they’ve answered the central questions of the human mind – the question of the first principle of all things. It is otherwise known as the Four Causes. He defined science as knowledge through causes. This doctrine of causes is scattered in different Aristotelian treatises but have its highlight in his book Metaphysics. This principle of causality is an essential part of Aristotelian thought. In his mind, Aristotle argued that events happen for a cause which will explain its origin, end and the way it came to be. For him, â€Å"everything that comes to be is due to causes.† He criticized his predecessors for their not having clearly explained the why of this, that, and so on. Chance, mythology or fortuitous events are not sufficient enough to solve the problem of cosmology. These causes are divided into four distinct types. He developed this principle from the standpoint of being. For this reason, the basic Aristotelian division is between actual and potential causes, contrary to the traditional division made by the scholastics between intrinsic and extrinsic. As for the actual cause, there is the formal, efficient and final causes and for the potency only the material cause; in the traditional scholastic division, material and formal causes made up the intrinsic cause while the remaining two makes the extrinsic cause. Each of these causes can be shortly defined as follows: 1.Material Cause is the constitutive element from which something is made from. 2.Formal Cause means the form of something, â€Å"it is what determines its essence to be what it is† 3.Efficient Cause is the being who made that something. 4.Final Cause is that for what sake something exists, â€Å"it is what constitutes the perfection of the being† . In other words, it is the purpose of that being. The final cause is the summation of all other causes; it is where every other cause can be founded. â€Å"‘Cause means (1) that from which, as immanent material, a thing comes into being, e.g., the bronze is the cause of the statue and the silver of the saucer, and so are the genera to which these things belong. (2) The form or pattern, i.e., the definition of the essence, and the genera which include this (e.g., the ratio 2:1 and number in general are causes of the octave), and the parts included in the definition. (3) That from which the change or the resting from change first begins; e.g., the adviser is a cause of action, and the father a cause of the child, and in general the maker of a cause of the thing made and the change-producing of the changing. (4) The end, i.e., that for the sake of which a thing is; e.g., health is the cause of walking† As mentioned earlier, Aristotle classified earlier philosophers by what kind of cause is their philosophy. We can classify Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras and Empedocles in the material cause. These philosophers, though differing in opinion of the primary principle of all things, emphasized the constitutive element of everything. Thus, they are rightly to be numbered in the material cause. The water of Thales, the air of Anaximenes, fire of Heraclitus, the atoms of Leucippus and Democritus, the Homeomeries of Anaxagoras, the four elements of Empedocles and the apeiron of Anaximander (â€Å"†¦ he [Anaximander] said that the principleand the constitutive element of the things that exist is the apeiron. He was the one who first designated the material principle of all things by this name† ) are all primary element of everything for these philosophers, may it be by some other cause or not. For the formal cause, we can only classify only three pre-Socratic thinkers, Pythagoras, Parmenides and Anaxagoras. By formal cause, we mean that it pertains to the form of everything. Let us try to briefly examine each of these philosophers: The Pythagoreans have thought that the first principle is Numbers; their idea of Numbers is different from ours. For them, numbers have resemblances from everything. â€Å"Musical harmony for example, could be reduced to a set of numerical relations. Natural phenomena followed an order e\which could also be measured numerically – the duration of the year, the seasons, the length of the day, etc.† Parmenides, on the other hand, thought of the â€Å"being† as the principle of everything. â€Å"One statement alone expresses the road to follow: being is† . His being is univocal; it can only be apprehended by the intellect. He denied the existence of change, therefore, making his being as something permanent, unchangeable, immovable. It cannot cause something for it will mean to cause a change, thus, we cannot classify being as an efficient cause. Rather we classify it to the formal cause for his being underlies everything, it is actually in everything. Lastly, Anaxagoras, though numbered earlier among the material philosophers, can also be classified in the formal cause. Because of the multiplicity of substances, he concluded that the first principle (in his case his Homeomeries) must, in a way, embody all things in itself. We can also enumerate Anaxagoras and Empedocles in the efficient cause. Let us examine how this had happened. Alongside his Homeomeries, Anaxagoras added another principle, the Nous (Intelligence). It is important to bear in mind, that the Nous is separated from matter. It merely starts the cosmic movement from where everything starts to differentiate from one another. Its movement determines the diverse proportion of Homeomeries in each thing. Thus making reason â€Å"deus ex machina† â€Å"’The Intelligence ordains everything that is brought into being – those things that existed in the past and exist in the present and exist no longer, those that exist in the present and those that will exist in the future.† Empedocles is another philosopher with an efficient cause. Because of the influence of Eleatic philosophy, he is forced to search for another cause besides the material principle in order to salvage the world of phenomena. He put Love and Hate as the efficient cause that unites and separates the four elements. While love brings forth together, hate separates. There is a perpetual alteration of dominance between those two; this cycle dictates corruption and generation. â€Å"Things never cease to change, sometimes uniting with one another through Love; and at other times, separating themselves from one another through the divisiveness of Discord† The final cause: the most important of all the causes. In this category we can classify the sophists and Socrates. They have put man as the measure and end of all things. The final cause is for man. Sophism ushered a new era in philosophy as a whole, this age turned to man for the first time. Everything belonged to man. Though sophism had been degenerated into â€Å"apparent wisdom† , with it still came the time where man has been the focus of philosophy. His end and his goodness is the final cause of everything. Protagoras, most famous of the sophists argued that man is the one who determines everything, even truth. This relativism of Protagoras is because he based his knowledge exclusively on senses which are constantly subjected to change. This can be summarized on his words in the introduction of On Truth: â€Å"Man is the measure of all things – things which exist insofar as they exist, things which do not exist insofar as they do not exist.† Socrates, the one who â€Å"called philosophy from heaven†; is the foremost philosopher of the final cause. For him the most important thing is for the benefit of the human soul, ergo, knowing the good. For him the soul is the center of moral life. He identified virtue as knowledge, the mainspring of all other virtues. For him, only in ignorance does one commit sins. In Socratic thought, human dignity has been raised that all things are for the good of his soul. These four causes of Aristotle gave a very clear view of the improvement of ancient Greek Philosophy, from its coldest principle for all things to the warmest humanistic approach. I am in a position with Aristotle concerning these causes. As for me, the causes clearly demonstrate the history of Greek Philosophy from the pre-Socratics up to Socrates.

Different Alternatives To Imprisonment Criminology Essay

Different Alternatives To Imprisonment Criminology Essay 1. INTRODUCTION Alternatives to imprisonment are a new approach globally in corrections. Following the World War II, penal authorities began to doubt the wisdom of keeping the prison alone as the primary correctional strategies. According to Todd, Clear Braga, (Todd, 1995, p. 80) provides that community-Based Correctional approaches grow in become common for second and third time criminals to receive sentences of probation with certain conditions established by the court and where the same felons is on the community service programs. The focus here is on alternatives to imprisonment by looking it through internationally accepted standards. The authors of this paper will focus on the following alternatives to imprisonment: community service, periodical imprisonment, correctional supervision, house arrest/ electronic monitoring and day-parole. 2. DIFFERENT ALTERNATIVES TO IMPRISONMENT 2.1 Community Service Community Service is an alternative the court may use when it has decided that a persons offence is serious and that he/she is suitable for making compensation by productive unpaid work in the community. Community Service should be physically and emotionally demanding of the offender in that it is a restriction of freedom, involves self-discipline and a respect for others and should engage the offender in tasks or situations that challenge his/her attitude, experience and ability. Community service can therefore be a positive way of making an offender compensate for offences and it can encourage personal growth and self-respect. It shows the offender that the community is affected by criminality and the community can see that offenders can make a constructive rather than destructive contribution to the community. (ZNCCS Service, 1997, p. 4) Legal framework for alternative non-custodial sanctions is highlighted in international guidelines and national legislation as provided by Bukurura (Bukurura, 2003, p. 82). On international level it is provided for in the United Nations Standards Minimum Rules for non-custodial measures (Nations, 1990). In the United States of America for instance, community-based sanctions are crucial of the United States criminal justice system. Professionals have constantly demonstrated their willingness to adopt evidence based practice. According to (Melvor, 2004) who described community service in Belgium, Netherlands, Scotland and Spain in co-operate perspective by stating that, current criminological research is particularly interested to know if they are not witnessing a punitive turn which seems to western democracies today than few decades ago. The new punitive literature and study on the culture of control have fuelled an ongoing debate and research on this question. Community service order was for the benefit of the community as it was introduced in Spanish legislation with the 1995 criminal code of that country. The Uganda Correctional Service also introduced the Uganda Community Service Bill, 1998, with its main objectives to provide community service for persons who commit minor offences, in order to reduce overcrowding in Prisons, to rehabilitate prisoners in the communities by doing productive work and to prevent minor offenders mixing with hard core criminals. The bill further seeks to empower a court which convicts a person of a minor offence, to direct the offender, with consent of the offender to perform community service as an alternative to imprisonment. (Service, 1998, p. 1) The first initiatives in the Community Service Orders started with National sensitization seminar that was held in 2002 and attended by Regional Governors, line Ministries, Home Affairs, and Justice, Prisons and Correctional Service and heads of Criminal Justice System. (Coordinator, Consultative Visit Report, 2002, p. 1) The proposed Bill on Community Service Orders in Namibia introduces various provisions that may facilitate the implementation of Community Service Orders in the country. It is important to note that from sentencing point of view, Community Service Orders is an option employed in appropriate cases to keep an offender out of prison. Accordingly a relationship exists between the imprisonment that might have been imposed and the Community Service Order that is to be served instead. (Coordinator, Namibia Community Service Orders, Manual, 2005, p. 5) 2.2 Periodical Imprisonment The court can direct an offender to stay in Prison on weekends or at night between 18h00 and 06h00. A sentence of periodic imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment during which the committed person may be released for periods of time during the day or night or for periods of days, or both, or if convicted of a felony, other than first degree murder, a Class X or Class 1 felony, committed to any county, municipal, or regional correctional or detention institution or facility in this State for such periods of time as the court may direct. Unless the court orders otherwise, the particular times and conditions of release shall be determined by the Department of Corrections, the sheriff, or the Superintendent of the house of corrections, who is administering the program. (b) A sentence of periodic imprisonment may be imposed to permit the defendant to: (1) Seek employment (2) Work (3) Conduct a business or other self-employed (4) Attend to family needs (5) Attend an educational institution With regards to periodical imprisonment, the Namibian Correctional System is line with abovementioned definition. 2.3 Correctional Supervision It is a sentence which is served within the community and not in the Prison. A person who is serving a sentence of Correctional supervision is known as a probationer. The aim of Correctional supervision is to provide a means of rehabilitation within the community, thus preserving the important links which the offender may have with his or her family or community. Correctional supervision allows, or encourages the offender to be employed. While imprisonment results in a loss of employment and the offenders failure to support his or her dependants and result in additional costs for the State. Since offenders are in the community, they are able to make decisions and take responsibility for their life. Offenders are also encouraged to take steps towards correcting their criminal behaviour through participation in rehabilitative programmes. A person sentenced to correctional supervision remains under the supervision and control of the Department of Correctional Services until the sentence expires. Supervision takes the form of direct monitoring of the offenders movements and compliance with the sentences conditions, as well as regular support sessions with social workers. Conditions of the sentence may include a period of house arrest; the requirement that the person be home between specified hours of the day; that he or she attends a treatment programme; self-restraint from alcohol or drugs; prohibition from leaving a magisterial district; or a certain number of hours of community service. Any or all of these conditions may be imposed. (Dissel, 1997, p. 4) Diversion is endorsed by Section 6 of the Criminal Procedure Act, and can be used where the offence committed is relatively minor. (Justice, 1977, p. 76). When the offender has admitted responsibility for the offence, the prosecutor can suspend the prosecution of the case upon fulfillment of certain conditions. This is usually on the condition that the offender attends a particular treatment programme. Charges are withdrawn after the conditions have been fulfilled. The Namibian legislation makes provision in the Prisons Act 17 of 1998 (Gazzette, 1998, p. 83) Section 96 and 97 that inmates be release on parole or probation on conditions as may be determined by the Zonal Release Board. 2.4 House arrest/electronic monitoring Home detention can be seen as an alternative to imprisonment and aims to reduce re-offending while also coping with increasing prison numbers and rising costs. It allows suitable offenders to retain or seek employment, maintain family relationships and responsibilities and attend rehabilitative programs that contribute towards addressing the causes of their offending. The terms of house arrest can differ, but offenders are rarely confined to their houses 24 hours a day. Most programs allow employed offenders to continue to work, and only confine them during non-working hours. They can leave their homes for specific, predetermined purposes; for example visits to the probation officer or police station, religious exceptions and medical appointments. (Spohn, 2008, p. 52). Many programmes also allow the offender to leave the home during regular, pre-approved times in order to carry out general household tasks such as shopping, church services, performing Community Services or attending authorised activities. (Stinchcomb, 2005, p. 99) House arrest in some countries such as Canada and New Zealand is often enforced through the use of technology products or services. An electronic sensor is sometimes locked to the offenders ankle known as an ankle monitor. A small portable monitoring unit that pick-up radio signals generated by offenders ankle or arm bracelet which is linked to a central computer system provides verification of an offenders whereabouts. (Champion, 2008) The electronic sensor transmits a GPS signal to a base handset. The base handset is connected to police or a monitoring service. If the offender with the sensor moves too far from home, the violation is recorded and the right authorities are summoned. Many ankle monitors can now detect attempted removal; this is to discourage tampering. The monitoring service is often contracted out to private companies, which assign employees to electronically monitor many convicts simultaneously. If the sensors detect a violation, the monitoring service calls the convicts probation officer. The electronic surveillance together with frequent contact with their probation officer and checks by the security guards provides for a secure environment. (Collins, 1974, p. 79) Another method to ensure house arrest are the use of automated calling services that require no human contact to check on the offender. Random calls are made to the residence and the respondents answer is recorded and compared to the offenders voice pattern. Authorities are notified only if the call is not answered or if the recorded answer does not match the offenders voice pattern. (Allen, 1986, p. 36). Currently, the Namibian Criminal Justice System is not making use of house arrest/ electronic monitoring. 2.5 Day Parole It is a management mechanism preceding the parole phase to gradually assist an offender to be released into the community at his own responsibility under controlled circumstances. Day parole implies the temporary release of an offender from Prison or a Correctional institution such as a halfway house to work or study, followed by re-confinement during non- work or non-school hours. During working hours offender work for an employer and are paid for the work. (Bruyns, An overview of the Criminal Justice System and Community-Based sentences, 2011). Currently, the Namibian Criminal Justice System is not making use of day parole. FINDINGS Based on the literature review and own understanding of the subject area, the authors of this paper found that there is a great need for alternatives to imprisonment. Community Service as a community-based sentence, a pilot projects in the Northern region of the country has proved that it is a success in Namibia. The Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) have a draft Community Service Order Bill which stipulates clearly the conditions under which an offender had to perform Community Service. Political or religious groups must not benefit from the work allocated to inmates. (Bruyns, The impact of prison reform on the inmate population of swaziland, 2007, p. 60). An offender who has not committed a serious crime or developed a criminal lifestyle, in the community will be able to access community support systems to assist him in rehabilitation, with the hope of preventing his re-offending. The findings also have it on good authority that the rationale for community-based sentences is to keep offenders out of the Prison, and rather send them to serve their sentences in the community. This simply means that offenders remain in their communities to perform productive work in order to support themselves and their families, in other words the alternatives to imprisonment were found to be promoting family cohesion. Through serving their sentences in the community the offenders also repay victims (retribution) for losses suffered. With regards to the effectiveness of community-based sentences, the advantages and disadvantages were also thoroughly scrutinised and it is found that its advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Alternatives to imprisonment were found to be the process of reducing prison population (overcrowding). Overcrowding is found to be a general situation in Prisons when the total number of inmates in prison is beyond the authorised holding capacity. In order t o address this ever increasing problem within our Correctional facilities the authors of this paper found that alternatives to imprisonment is a suitable answer to overcrowding. Alternatives to imprisonment is also found to be promoting community development through utilisation of skills possessed by the offenders other than locking them up in prisons. A good example is, when a professional such as a Medical doctor is sentence to an alternative to imprisonment the skills possessed by that particular Medical doctor can be utilised to the great benefit of the community, rather than locking him/her up in Prison, which will serve no purpose. Community based sentences in comparison with imprisonment was found to be much cheaper. This finding is evident from the fact that offenders incarcerated have to be provided with food, bedding, clothing, water and electricity and so forth through government expenditure. On the other hand the offenders serving community-based sentence remains in the community and is responsible for his needs. Community-based sentence is furthermore found to have positive impact on recidivism in a sense that offenders are given chance to remain and serve their sentence in the community. In other words their chances of reoffending are very slim contrary to those incarcerated, while offenders who are imprisoned are mixing with hard core criminals and the programme officers do not have enough time complete rehabilitation programmes, especially when they serving short term imprisonment. 4. CONCLUSION It is evident from the findings that alternative sentences outweigh imprisonment in terms of maintaining offenders dignity, reducing of prison population (overcrowding), promoting community development through utilisation of skills possessed by the offender other than locking them up in prisons, saving government expenditure and promoting family cohesion, and reduction of recidivism. Apart from serving all abovementioned good purposes, alternatives sentences also served as a way of avoiding mixing of the first offenders with hardcore criminals in the prisons. The offenders who are serving alternative sentences will perform positive unpaid work within their areas of home and do the kind of reparation to the community rather than ending up in Prisons. Imagine, locking up offender who committed minor offence such as shoplifting together with hard core murderer or rapist would result in that offenders become more criminal than rehabilitated. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS Against this backdrop, it is strongly recommended that alternative sentences to imprisonment such as community service, periodical imprisonment, correctional supervision, house arrest/ electronic monitoring and day-parole be considered by Correctional Services, particularly, Namibian Correctional Service. After studying the pros and cons of alternatives to imprisonment, this type of sentencing is just one of the positive ways of dealing with offenders. Against this background the authors of this paper strongly recommends these other alternatives as follows: The Court sentence offenders with minor offences to alternative as such community service, periodical imprisonment, correctional supervision, house arrest/ electronic monitoring and day-parole. This type of alternatives aims to achieve and involve the reintegration of the offender as law-abiding citizens back into the community by; enforcing unpaid work, ensuring reparation to the community, reduce a risk of recidivism or repeat offending, increased chance of rehabilitating the offender to acceptable social standards. Secondly, periodical imprisonment is recommended to be used as alternative to imprisonment as it promotes community development through utilisation of skills possessed by the offenders other than locking them up in prisons. Thirdly correctional supervision is recommend by the authors as alternative to imprisonment based on the reasoning that this type of alternative aims to provide a means of rehabilitation within the community, thus maintaining the important links which the offender may have with his or her family or community. Furthermore correctional supervision allows, or encourages the offender to be employed. Correctional supervision as an alternative to imprisonment ensure that the offender remain employed and thus able to support his or her dependents and do not result in additional costs for the State. Since offenders are in the community, they are able to make decisions and take responsibility for their life. Offenders are also encouraged to take steps towards correcting their criminal behaviour through participation in rehabilitative programmes. Fourthly, house arrest/ electronic monitoring is recommended not to be a viable alternative to imprisonment in Namibia as this may not be in concurrence with the Constitutional provisions such as respect of human dignity and freedom of movement provided for in articles 8 and 21 respectively of the Namibian Constitution. (Government N. , 2010) page number. Lastly day parole is strongly recommended by the authors as a viable alternative to imprisonment since it gradually assist an offender to be released into the community at his own responsibility under controlled circumstances. Day parole implies the temporary release of an offender from Prison or a Correctional institution such as a halfway house to work or study, followed by re-confinement during non- work or non-school hours. During working hours offender work for an employer and are paid.

History of Genetic Engineering

History of Genetic Engineering Genetic engineering is a deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material. This chapter describes how work carried out between 1970s and 1980s produced technologies that researchers now use to manipulate the genetic material of organisms. Key concepts covered: Recombinant-DNA technology is a technology in which genetic material from one organism is introduced into another organism and then replicated and expressed by that other organism. Gene sequencing is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. Recombinant-DNA technology has been used to make insulin and other human proteins for medicine. Recombinant DNA The prospect of recombinant DNA emerged from two advances in biochemistry: (1) Discoveries of restriction enzymes that act as scissors to cut molecules of DNA at specific nucleotide sequences; and (2) Discoveries of DNA ligases enzymes that forge molecular bonds. Creation of First Recombinant DNA (1972) In 1972, Paul Berg (1926- ), a biochemistry professor at Stanford University, created the first recombinant DNA molecule. He first isolated the DNA molecules from two different organisms, the SV40 monkey virus and a bacterial virus known as Lamdba bacteriophage (or phage ÃŽÂ »).   Using a cut-and-splice method, he created sticky ends in the DNA of both viruses. Then he joined them together with DNA ligase. Invention of Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Technology (1973) Recombinant-DNA technology is a technology in which a rDNA plasamid is introduced into bacteria and then replicated and expressed by that bacteria. It was invented through the work of Herbert W. Boyer (1936- ), Stanley N. Cohen (1935- ), Paul Berg, and Janet Mertz (1949- ). After Berg created the first recombinant DNA molecules in 1972, Boyer and Cohen took Bergs work a step further by introducing the rDNA plasmid to E. coli bacterial cells. A plasmid is DNA, found in bacteria, that is separate from and can replicate independently of the bacteriums chromosomal DNA. The phenomenon of transformation permits the rDNA plasmid to be introduced into and expressed by E. coli cells. The bacteria containing the rDNA plasmid grow on petri dishes to form tiny colonies. But in a typical procedure, only 1 in about 10,000 bacteria cells takes up the rDNA plasmid. The rDNA plasmid must contain a selectable gene so that they can be efficiently picked up   from the culture. This can be done by using a drug-resistance gene to make the rDNA plasmid resistant to antibiotics such as tetracycline.   Adding tetracycline to the culture will ensure that only the bacteria with the rDNA plasmids survive. In 1974, at the urge of Standford Universitys patent office, Boyer and Cohen filed a patent for recombinant DNA technology. Asilomar Conferences Potential dangers of recombinant genetic engineering emerged even before Berg published his landmark 1972 paper. Although the SV40 virus was thought to be harmless for human, Borg was concerned about the prospect of an altered form of the virus spreading through a common bacteria. So he deferred part of his research program, and did not insert the recombinant virus into bacterial cells as he originally planned. In 1973, Berg organized a small conference at Asilomar, California to address the growing concerns about gene-manipulation technology. In 1974 Berg published a widely discussed letter on the potential dangers of recombinant DNA research. Subsequently, a moratorium on research in 1975 (Asilomar II) provided time for regulations to be devised and put into effect in 1976. Gene Sequencing, Gene Splicing, and Reverse Transcription Gene Sequencing Gene sequencing is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. It includes any method that is used to determine the order of the four bases A, G, C, and T in a strand of DNA. Frederick Sanger (1918-2013), a biochemist in England, is a pioneer of sequencing. He has received two Nobel prizes: one for the sequencing of proteins (in 1958), the other for the sequencing of DNA (in 1980). In the early 1950s, Sanger had solved the sequencing of a protein using a sequence of degradation reactions. A protein is made up of a sequence of amino acids strung into a chain. To identify the sequence of a protein, Sanger would snap off one amino acid from the end of the chain, dissolve it in solvents, and identify it chemically. He would repeat the degradation and identification process until he reached the end of the protein. In the mid-1960s, Sanger switched his focus from protein to DNA. But his methods that had worked so well for proteins didnt work for DNA. Proteins are chemically structured such that amino acids can be serially snapped off the chain but with DNA, no such tools existed. In 1971, Sanger devised a gene-sequencing technique using the copying reaction of DNA polymerase. At first, the method was inefficient and error-prone because the copying reaction was too fast. In 1975, He made an ingenious modification. He doctored the copying reaction with a series of chemicals variants of A, C, G, and T -that were still recognized by DNA polymerase, but slowed down its copying ability. On February 24, 1977, Sanger used this technique to reveal the full sequence of   phi X 174 (or ÃŽÂ ¦X174) bacteriophage. Gene Splicing In 1977, scientists discovered that most animal (and animal virus) proteins were not encoded in long, continuous stretches of DNA. They were split into modules, interrupted by regions called introns that do not hold protein-encoding information. By splitting the genes into modules, a cell could generate more combination of messages out of a single gene. When a DNA with introns is used to build RNA the introns have to be removed from the RNA message. This phrase for the process is called gene splicing or RNA splicing. Reverse Transcription In 1970, David Baltimore (1938- ) and Howard Temin (1934-94), two virologists, discovered an enzyme that could build DNA from an RNA template. They called the enzyme reverse transcriptase. Using this enzyme, every RNA in a cell could be used as a template to build its corresponding DNA. The production of proteins from recombinant DNA represented a crucial transition in the history of medical technology. To understand the impact of this transition from genes to medicine we need to understand the nature of drugs. Nearly every drug works by binding to its target and enabling or disabling it turning molecular switches on or off. To be useful, a drug must bind to its switches but to only a selected set of switches. Most molecules can barely achieve this level of specificity but proteins have been designed explicitly for this purpose. Proteins are the enabler and disablers, the regulators, the gatekeepers, the operators, of cellular reactions. They are the switches that most drugs seek to turn on or off. Proteins are thus poised to be some of the most potent and most discriminating medicines in the pharmacological world. But to make a protein, one needs its gene and here recombinant DNA technology provided the crucial link. The cloning of human gens allowed scientists to manufacture proteins and the synthesis of proteins opened the possibility of targeting the millions of biochemical reactions in the human body. Proteins made it possible for chemists to intervene on previously impenetrable aspects of our physiology. The use of recombinant DNA to produce proteins thus marked a transition not just between one gene and one medicine, but between genes and anovel universe of drugs. Founding of Genetech (1975) In 1975, Robert Swanson (1947-99), a venture capitalist, approached Herb Boyer with a proposal to starting a company that would use gene-cloning techniques to make medicines. Boyer was fascinated. His own son had been diagnosed with a potential growth disorder, and Boyer had been gripped by the possibility of producing human growth hormone, a protein to treat such growth defects. Three hours after they met, Swanson and Boyer had reached a tentative agreement to start such a company with seed moneys from venture firms. Boyer called this company Genentech a condensation of Genetic Engineering Technology. Synthesis of Insulin (1978) Purified animal-sourced insulin was the only type of insulin available to diabetics until genetic advances occurred later with medical research. The amino acid structure of insulin was characterized in 1953 by Frederick Sanger. The protein was made up of two chains (A and B) one larger and one smaller, cross-linked by chemical bonds. Boyers plan for the synthesis of insulin was simple. He did not have the gene for human insulin at hand no one did but he would build it from scratch using DNA chemistry, nucleotide by nucleotide, triplet upon triplet. He would make one gene for the A chain, and another gene for the B chain. He would insert both the genes in bacteria and trick them to synthesizing the human proteins.. He would purify the two protein chains and then stitch them chemically to obtain the U-shaped molecule. But Boyer was cautious. He wanted an easier test case before lunging straight for insulin.   He focused on another protein somatostatin also a hormone, but with little commercial potential. To synthesize the somatostatin gene from scratch, Boyer recruited Keiichi Itakura and Art Riggs from the City of Hope in Los Angeles. Swanson was opposed to the whole plan. He wanted Boyer to move to insulin directly. Genentech was living in borrowed space on borrowed money. Still Boyer convinced Swanson to give somatostatin a chance. In the meantime, two teams of of geneticist had also entered the race to make insulin. One at Harvard and the other one at UCSF. By the fall of 1977, they succeeded in synthesizing somatostatin, and started focusing on insulin. At this time, the competition was fierce. The Harvard team had apparently cloned the native human gene out of human cells and were ready to make the protein. The UCSF team has synthesized a few micrograms of protein and were planning to inject the human hormone into patients. It was Asilomar that came to their rescue. Like most University laboratories with federal funding, the UCSF team was bounded by the Asilomar restrictions on recombinant DNA. In contrast, Boyers team had decided to use a chemically synthesized version of the insulin gene. A synthetic gene DNA created as a naked chemical fell into the gray zone of Asilomars language and was relatively exempt. Genentech, as a privately funded company, was also relatively exempt from the federal guidelines. In the summer of 1978, Boyer learned that the Harvard team was about to announce successful isolation of the human hormone gene. To his relief, the gene that the Harvard team had cloned was not human but rate insulin. Cloning had made it easy to cross the barriers between species. By May 1978, Genentech had synthesized the two chains of insulin in bacteria. By July, the scientists had purified the proteins out of the bacteria debris. In early August, they snipped of the the attached bacterial proteins and isolated the two individual chains.   On August 21, 1978, they joined the protein chains together in a test tube to create the first molecules of recombinant insulin. In September 1979, Genentech applied for a patient for insulin. The Genetech patent would soon become one of the most lucrative petents in the history of technology. Synthesis of factor VIII (1983) Hemophilia is a rare bleeding disorder in which the blood doesnt clot normally. If you have hemophilia, you may bleed for a longer time than others after an injury. You also may bleed inside your body (internally), especially in your knees, ankles, and elbows. This bleeding can damage your organs and tissues and may be life threatening. Hemophilia is caused by a single mutation in the gene for a crucial clotting factor in blood, called factor VIII, and, until the mid-1980s, was treated with injections of concentrated factor VIII. During 1982 and early 1983, an emergence of mysterious immunological collapse among patients with multiple blood transfusions pinpointed the cause of the illness to blood-born factor that had contaminated the supply of factor VIII -a virus called AIDS. Nearly all the HIV-infacted hemophiliacs from the initial cohort had died of the complications of AIDS. In the spring of 1983, Dave Goeddel (1951- ) at Genentech began to focus on cloning the factor VIII gene. Meanwhile, a team of researchers from Harvard, lead by Tom Maniatis (1943- ) and Mark Ptashne (1940- ), formed a company called Genetics Institute (GI) also joined the race. As with insulin, the logic behind the cloning effort was evident: rather than purifying the missing clotting factor out of liters of human blood, why not create the protein artificially, using gene cloning? If factor VIII could be produced through gene-cloning methods, it would be virtually free of any human contaminants, i=thereby rendering it inherently safer than any blood-derived protein. Genetech knew that the factor VIII project would challenge the outer limits of gene-cloning technology. Somatostatin had 14 amino acids; insulin had 51. Factor VIII had 2,350. To succeed, the gene cloners would need to use new cloning technologies   Both the somatstatin and insulin genes had been created from scratch by stitching together bases of DNA. But factor VIII gene was far too large to be created using DNA chemistry. To isolate the factor VIII gene, Genetech would need to tpull the native gene out of human cells. Tom Maniatis of GI, found a solution: he had pioneered the technology to build genes out of RNA   templateds using reverse transcriptase, the enzyme that could build DNA from RNA. Reverse transcriptase made it possible to clone a gene after the intervening stuffer sequences had been snipped off by the cells splicing apparatus. In April, 1983, both Genentech and GI announced that they had purified recombinant factor VIII in test tubes a blood-clotting factor untainted by human blood. The production of factor VIII from its gene broke an important conceptual ground. The fears of Asilomar had been perfectly inverted. And gene cloning had emerged as potentially the safest way to produce a medical product for human use.  

gene therapy :: essays research papers

Gene Therapy is hope or disaster for Human Being? ◊Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DNA determines the placement of amino acids according to DNA sequences. A specific chain of amino acids composes a specific protein that plays the essential functions in the bodies. The defect of the gene, however, results in producing wrong protein; as a result, some part of the bodies abnormally works compared to that of other normal bodies. This is called ?gGenetic Disorder?h. The scientists studied about genetic disorder and suggested an alternative for genetic disorder called ?gGene Therapy?h. Recently, gene therapy is useful to cure other diseases such as a cancer or other. (http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/medicine/genetherapy.shtml http://www.asgt.org/ ) ◊History of Gene Therapy David suffered from a rare inherited disease known as adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA). He spent all his life in a germ-free plastic bubble, because gene causes a lack of enzyme that helps immune system to fight disease from outside. In 1984, he received a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, cells from donator?fs marrow attacked his body. As a result, he was died after a year. This event was a big issue at that time and scientists studied gene therapy to stop this bad event. In 1989, at first, W.French Anderson and a team at the National Institutes of Health gained permission for experiment to inject gene into human beings. In 1900, at first, he applied gene therapy to 4 year girl who suffered from adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA). He extracted T- lymphocytes from her bloodstream and injected gene-corrected T lymphocytes to her with a normal gene function for ADA; then he repeated a few times more. After a year, she lives as a normal kid. Her treatment was successful. In 1 991, 9 years old girl was applied to this gene therapy and her treatment was also successful. (http://www.frenchanderson.org/history/history.asp, Mapping our genes by Lois Wingerson, Medical Dilemma by Margaret O.Hyde& Elizabeth H. Forsyth. M.D.) ◊Gene Therapy Today, basic theory of gene therapy is that normal gene is inserted into genome to replace disease caused gene. The gene by itself, however, is almost impossible to get the target cell. To deliver gene successfully, a carrier called vector is necessary and virus is good for delivering gene, because virus genetically approaches human genes. Virus, however, can have a potential toxic or respond a massive immune system. In fact, some people died because of that. For this reason, scientists tried to find replacement of virus as vector. The most common virus for vector is adenovirus that causes cold.

Mobile Phones :: essays research papers

The Mobile Revolution Rakesh Mohan Hallen By March 2004 the total number of cell phone users in India exceeded 3 crores. Experts call it a mobile revolution. People from all walks of life, of all ages use them. They carry it in their hands, pockets or purses. One can find advertisements related to cell phones anywhere: roads, newspapers, and television. Theoretically one can contact a person carrying a mobile (cell phone) anywhere, anytime. But few are aware of the technology that makes it possible. It is not very difficult to become aware of its nitty-gritties. How it works To use a cell phone one needs a handset. The handset of a cell phone, as you might have seen, has a small screen at one end and a panel of buttons below it. Some handsets have a small antenna that is protruding out from its, but it is not universal. Some modern handsets are foldable so that when not in use the panel of buttons is not visible, these handsets have a larger screen that can display colour pictures also. The essential component of the technology that make cell phone possible are networks of a large number of radio transmitters/receivers. Each cell phone company has a network of this kind that is controlled in each city/state by its central office known as MTSO (Mobile Telephone Switching Office) . You know that our body is made up of many cells. These networks are also cellular akin to the body of any animal. The area covered by a cell phone company, a city or a state, for its services is divided into zones that are called its cells. Thus the network of a cellular company is made up of many such cells. Each of these cells has a moderately sized radio transmitter/receiver and a microprocessor based instrument somewhat like a computer, located at a place known as its base station. Base stations can communicate with each other. They can easily located in a town/city because of the prominent size of their antenna above some buildings. A cell phone handset is also a low power radio transmitter/receiver. It can transmit as well as receive electromagnetic waves from its closest base station when it is powered on. As soon as one turns on a cell phone handset it listens for SID (System Identification Code - a unique 5-digit number that is assigned to each carrier by the central authority say TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) and is programmed into each handset when it is activated by a company.

Revitalization of the Daugava Riverside by the City of Riga

Urban contextHistory and urban construction alterationsRiga is the capital of Latvia which is a Northern state of Europe. The metropolis is good known by the Historic country inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List on 4 December 1997, is considered of one of the largest and dynamic metropolis in Northern Europe whit the entire country is 304,2 square kilometres and the population around 713,000 in dwellers. The Riga metropolis has a really long and copiousness history which has a great influence to the urban context of the metropolis. Particularly in the 19Thursdayand 20Thursdaycentury, when World War I and World War II occurred, the state is under controlled of Russian Empire ( 1721 – 1917 ) , Germany ( 1917 – 1918, 1941 – 1944 ) and Soviet Union ( 1940 – 1941, 1944 – 1991 ) which changes the civilization every bit good as the manner of life of people, the urban construction and architectural of the whole metropolis is varied and complex. During the clip of the Russian Empire and Germany, Riga is a seaport metropolis which is the most vivacious and dynamic with over 800,000 industrial workers from Baltic state, Riga become the 3rd largest metropolis in term of the figure of workers after Moscow and Saint Peterburg. The value of the Daugava river and its waterfront was enhanced but it is dominated for ports and mills. As a consequence, the population of Riga metropolis increased rapidly which went along with the demand of lodging and infinites. More houses were built but harmonizing to Russian military ordinance, the people merely have the permission to construct wooden house in suburbs. In 1812, the wooden houses were destroyed by war and they were rebuilt but still follow the old wooden signifier. In mid-nineteenth century, the wooden houses have raised in figure and became surrounded the metropolis centre. These houses nowadays is a heritage and affects strongly to the preservation policy and urban theory. In 1860, a new maestro program with avenue, blocks of flat, alternate edifice and park were established. A new rail route was opened which stimulated the development of suburbs and mills, Riga port at that clip has the highest gross in Russian Empire, the river bank was developed rapidly. It led to a consequence that the economic system and the metropolis life existed with a strong connexion which is the chief quality of the development undertaking in the hereafter. In the period of So Viet Union, a new urban program was approved with the building of the big graduated table lodging undertaking every bit known as â€Å"mikrorayon† and the railway belt environing the metropolis centre. Besides that, the construction with the critical tallness such as Television tower ( 368m ) , Latvian academy of scientific discipline ( 108m ) were built, along with it Numberss of architecture tendencies were appeared in the urban context of Riga and one of those is the Art Nouveau which have specific architecture and the restriction of constructing tallness of 5 narratives. The alterations in urban construction in the Soviet Union times have the sinewy impacts to the policy of preservation in the current clip every bit so as the high restriction of edifice in the metropolis. Riga metropolis from holding independency boulder clay now ( 1991 – now ) has the important development. After 1995, metropolis started to reconstruct the valuable edifice and lodging which is considered as a roar in building at that clip, the service and new map edifices was established in the suburbs, efforts have been made to recover cultural symbol, historic value and houses which are lost after the 2nd World War. In the Riga particular program of 2006 – 2025, the new Riga centre has been created with the visions: planned as an country which is contrast the Old Riga in the right bank of Daugava river in a modern architecture and construction, full of map and services in which concern maps play as an of import function. Reduction in conveyance force per unit area in the Old Riga centre where the old circulation system to guarantee the saving intent of the old site. An international competition was hold by City of Riga to plan the new Riga along the left bank of the D augava River at that clip.Site contextThe riverbank of Daugava screens really larges districts in the entire cityscape country and travel along with the development of Riga through historical timeline when the metropolis economic system and day-to-day life have a stable nexus with the river Bankss. From the clip when Riga was found until now, the river has an every indispensable portion non merely because it is a metropolis natural component but besides the finding in planning and spacial individuality of the metropolis. For illustration, during the clip of Russian Empire and Soviet Union, because of the great function in H2O transit and industry, the metropolis construction has changed for the intent of functioning lodging for employees and edifice railway countries. From the really shortly period of 13Thursdaycentury, the substructure of Riga metropolis was changed, for functioning and linking seafaring with river transit by flatboats on Daugava, the merchandisers in Riga have cre ated a vivacious trading metropolis centre, the circulation system, constructing quality and unfastened infinite was improved for lading concern and burden. Until the 19Thursdaycentury, as a consequence of the rapid industrialisation, the development of railroads web and the embankment of port installations, the component of the ricer such as: islands, waterfront, etc. was transformed with the edifice of industrial objects and warehouses. It is assumed to be a comfortable clip of Riga Port every bit known as the major port of the Russian Empire. At the beginning of 20Thursdaycentury, a portion of Riga port was still situated right opposite the Old metropolis centre. The map of the market and the seaport was terminal in 1930 when the Central Market was established and broad public infinite were created in the metropolis centre. In World War II, the river Bankss of Daugava were destroyed, until 1949, they were reconstruct for basic and local transit demands. The port developed stronge r in lower Daugava, near the Bay of Riga. At the same clip, the developing industrialised countries along the riverbank appeared architecturally distractively and forestall the handiness of citizens. Presents, Riga metropolis has a develop program to work and reconstruct the value of the left bank and the right bank of Daugava river. The bing issue is traversing the river by Bridgess causes traffic jams in haste hours because of the high rise of autos and personal transit means. The infinites of Daugava river is defined by its derelict Bankss and aquatorium which is non considered to be a portion of incorporate urban environment in physically and psychologically. But due to the impacts in spacial composing and urban development in the yesteryear, the Daugava river can be understood as ‘the river of possibilities’( Dace Kalvane, 2010 ) . Its infinites can do a general position of metropolis position and lift. However, the handiness is prevent by bing substructures such as: span entree inclines and arterial roads which take downing the chances of river Bankss redevelopment and interaction for public community with waterfronts. The busy traffic flows separate the walkin g waies and diversion zones from the river Bankss. There is a deficiency of bike roads system in Daugava river countries. Those things led to a consequence that the river is about abandoned, it became more clearly when the old developments which were created in the yesteryear have lost their function in metropolis economic system and current developments have no connexion to the river. The development schemes for Riga metropolis from 2006 to 2025 expect to animate the nexus with Daugava for doing an active waterfront. Therefore, a varied enlargement of the riverbanks from different countries such as: container port and ware house country will be developed. The building of commercial, touristry sites, prosaic walk ways and bike roads which start from the suburbs to metropolis centre would be an interesting vision of substructures.Undertaking analysingUndertaking debutThe building, revival of Daugava riverbank and new modern urban one-fourth every bit good as its jobs in development has become a challenge and chief inquiry in several competitions and workshops hold by the City of Riga. One of those is the completion named â€Å"The prospective building on Mukusalas Street, Buru Street un Kilevina Ditch† occurred in 2006 to 2007. As the victor of this competition, the undertaking called â€Å"City of squares metropolis of towers† introduced a big country of new urban tissue on the left bank of Daugava river which is opposite with Old Riga centre and has the chief quality is the H2O elements and its of import function in the history. The undertaking belongs to the extension of protected UNESCO zone. The proposed maestro program includes the development of a system of squares, public infinites, mix-used edifice and flexibleness. Those squares and towers contribute in specifying their active surrounding and construction country. Furthermore, supplying feasible rules to guarantee an articulated brotherhood become more cardinal than the elements create it. The chief points of this undertaking is the systems of squares and tower which create the frame position of develop country of Riga metropolis. The new develop country is the theoretical account of long-run vison of the metropolis, make a new full map which portion the force per unit area of transit and dweller with the Old Riga centre, assisting in saving the civilization and heritage which is the most point attended in undertaking over the universe in by and large and in Europe peculiarly. In the article â€Å"Measuring urban heritage preservation: theory and structure† by Silvio Mendes Zancheti and Lucia Tone Ferreira Hidaka. They mentioned: â€Å"The sustainable preservation of urban heritage sites depends on the care of their present and past significances† . To make the end of sustainable

Leonardo de Pisa

Leonardo of Pisa or Fibonacci and the Issue of Moneylenders NFaly Konate Texas A&M University – Central Texas FIN 590 Dr. Mary Kelly Summer 2012 Northern Italy in the early thirteen century was a land subdivided into multiple feuding city-states. Among the many remnants of defunct Roman Empire was a numerical system (I, ii, iii, iv†¦) singularly ill suited to complex mathematical calculation, let alone the needs of commerce. Nowhere was this more of a problem than in Pisa, where merchants also had to contend with seven different forms of coinage in circulation.By comparison, economical life in the Eastern world was far more advanced, just as it had been in the time of Charlemagne. To discover modern finance, Europe needed to import it. In this, a young mathematician called Leonardo of Pisa, or Fibonacci played a crucial role. Leonardo Fibonacci also known as Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo of Pisa,  was the greatest European mathematician of the middle ages. He was born in Pi sa in Italy circa 1170 and died sometime after 1240.Leonardo’s father, Gugliemo, was a customs official and engaged in commerce representing Pisa at Bougie on the north coast of Africa. Young Leonardo consequently received a Moorish education as well as the traditional European education and was introduced to Hindu-Arabic numbers. Later on, he traveled about the Mediterranean visiting Egypt, Syria, Greece, Sicily and Provence, meeting with scholars and becoming acquainted with the various arithmetical systems used by the merchants.In his book, the Liber abaci, which fills 459 printed pages, he explained the most perfect methods of calculating with whole numbers and with fractions, practice, extraction of the square and cube roots, proportion, chain rule, finding of proportional parts, averages, progressions, even compound interest, just as in the completest mercantile arithmetic of later days. They teach further the solution of problems leading to equations of the first and s econd degree, to determinate and indeterminate equations, not by single and double position only, but by real algebra, proved by means of geometric onstructions, and including the use of letters as symbols for known numbers, the unknown quantity being called res and its square census. The book is also largely responsible for introducing Arabic numerals to Europe. Leonardo of Pisa is also considered a Key Player in the Finance because of his introduction of Hindu-Arabic numerals. Finally, he not only gave Europe the decimal system, which makes all kinds of calculation far easier than with Roman numerals, he also showed how it could be applied to commercial bookkeeping, to currency conversions and crucially, to the calculation of interest.References 1) Ferguson, N (2008). Dreams of Avarice. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. (Pages 33-36). Penguin Books. 2) MM Del Rosario (no date). Retrieved June 12, 2012, from: http://mmdelrosario. hubpages. com/hub/leonardo-fibo nacci 3) NNDB Tracking the World (no date). Retrieved June 12, 2012, from: http://www. nndb. com/people/922/000095637/