Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Quotes From the Classic Novel Black Boy

Quotes From the Classic Novel Black Boy Black Boy  by Richard Wright was first published in 1945. This autobiographical novel was a bestseller, and it is an important 20th-century work of literature. Another famous novel by Richard Wright, Native Son, was published in 1940. Here are a few quotes from Black Boy. Black Boy Quotes The faint cool kiss of sensuality when dew came onto my cheeks and shins as I ran down the wet green garden paths in the early morning. Im hungry now, but I wont live with you. Im doing all I can, When you get through, kiss back there. White, red and black, but quickly tells him to hush, saying, Theyll call you a colored man when you grow up. Do you mind, Mr. Wright? You cant eat a dead dog, can you? If I kissed my elbow, I would turn into a girl. At the age of twelve, before I had had one full year of formal schooling, I had a conception of life that no experience would ever erase, a predilection for what was real that no argument could ever gainsay, a sense of the world that was mine and mine alone, a notion as to what life meant that no education could ever alter, a conviction that the meaning of living came only when one was struggling to wring a meaning out of meaningless suffering. I said to myself, that boy just doesnt know what hes doing... The naked will of power seemed always to walk in the wake of a hymn. You ought to know God through some church. Even if that isnt right, its not far wrong. I never saw a dog bite that could really hurt... the principals speech is the better speech. My ass is tough and quarters is scarce. This was the culture from which i sprang. This was the terror from which I fled. Color hate defined the place of black life as below that of white life... Having been thrust out of the world because of my race, I had accepted my destiny by not being curious about what shaped it. Trying to please everybody, I pleased nobody... We must have a purge. You lost people! I lived in the South and I never saw any chain gangs. Get out of our ranks! I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger of life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.

Monday, October 21, 2019

The Ancient History of Silk Making and Silkworms

The Ancient History of Silk Making and Silkworms Silkworms (incorrectly spelled silk worms) are the larval form of the domesticated silk moth, Bombyx mori. The silk moth was domesticated in its native habitat of northern China from its wild cousin Bombyx mandarina, a cousin which still survives today. Archaeological evidence suggests that occurred about 3500 BC. The fabric we call silk is made from the long thin fibers produced by the silkworm during its larval stage. The insects intent is to create a cocoon for its transformation into the moth form. Silkworm farmers simply unravel the cocoons, each cocoon producing between 100-300 meters (325-1,000 feet) of fine, very strong thread. People make fabrics from the fibers produced by at least 25 different species of wild and domesticated butterflies and moths in the order Lepidoptera. Two versions of wild silkworm are exploited by silk manufacturers today, one in China and far eastern Russia called Chinese B. mandarina; and one in Japan and southern Korea called Japanese B. mandarina. The largest silk industry today is in India, followed by China and Japan, and more than 1,000 inbred strains of silkworms are kept worldwide today. What is Silk? Silk fibers are water-insoluble filaments that animals (chiefly the larval version of moths and butterflies, but also spiders) secrete from specialized glands. Animals store the chemicals fibroin and sericinsilkworm cultivation is often called sericultureas gels in the insects glands. As the gels are excreted, they are converted into fibers. Spiders and at least 18 different orders of insects make silk. Some use them to construct nests and burrows, but butterflies and moths use the excretions to spin cocoons. That ability that began at least 250 million years ago. The silkworm caterpillar feeds exclusively on the leaves from several species of mulberry (Morus), which contain a latex with very high concentrations of alkaloid sugars. Those sugars are toxic to other caterpillars and herbivores; silkworms have evolved to tolerate those toxins. Domestication History Silkworms are today completely dependent on humans for survival, a direct result of artificial selection. Other characteristics bred into the domestic silkworm caterpillar are a tolerance for human proximity and handling as well as for excessive crowding. Archaeological evidence indicates that the use of cocoons of the silkworm species Bombyx to produce cloth began at least as early as the Longshan period (3500-2000 BC), and perhaps earlier. Evidence of silk from this period is known from a few remnant textile fragments recovered from well-preserved tombs. Chinese historical records such as the Shi Ji report silk production and depict garments. Archaeological Evidence The Western Zhou Dynasty (11th-8th centuries BC) saw the development of early silk brocades. Many silk textile examples have been recovered from archaeological excavations of Mashan and Baoshan sites, dated to the Chu Kingdom (7th century BC) of the later Warring States period. Silk products and silkworm-rearing technologies came to play a critical role in Chinese trade networks and in the interaction of cultures among different countries. By the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 9), silk production was so important to international trade that the camel trails used to connect ChangAn with Europe were named the Silk Road. Silkworm technology spread to Korea and Japan about 200 BC. Europe was introduced to silk products through the Silk Road network, but the secret of silk fiber production remained unknown outside of eastern Asia until the 3rd century AD. Legend has it that the bride of a king of the Khotan oasis in far western China on the Silk Road smuggled silkworms and mulberry seeds to her new home and husband. By the 6th century, Khotan had a thriving silk production business. Sequencing the Silkworm A draft genome sequence for silkworms was released in 2004, and at least three re-sequences have followed, discovering genetic evidence that the domestic silkworm has lost between 33-49% of its nucleotide diversity compared to the wild silkworm. The insect has 28 chromosomes, 18,510 genes, and over 1,000 genetic markers. Bombyx has an estimated 432 Mb genome size, much larger than fruit flies, making the silkworm an ideal study for geneticists, particularly those interested in the insect order Lepidoptera. Lepidoptera includes some of the most disruptive agricultural pests on our planet, and geneticists hope to learn about the order to understand and combat the impact of silkworms dangerous cousins. In 2009, an open access database of the silkworms genome biology called SilkDB was published (see Duan et al). Genetic Studies Chinese geneticists Shao-Yu Yang and colleagues (2014) have found DNA evidence suggesting that the silkworm domestication process may have begun 7,500 years ago, and continued to around 4,000 years ago. At that time, silkworms experienced a bottleneck, losing much of its nucleotide diversity. Archaeological evidence does not currently support such a long domestication history, but the bottleneck date is similar to dates proposed for initial domestication. Another group of Chinese geneticists (Hui Xiang and colleagues 2013) has identified an expansion of silkworm population about 1,000 years ago, during the Chinese Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). Researchers suggest that may have been associated with the Song Dynasty Green Revolution in agriculture, predating Norman Borlaugs experiments by 950 years. Sources Deng H, Zhang J, Li Y, Zheng S, Liu L, Huang L, Xu W-H, Palli SR, and Feng Q. 2012. POU and Abd-A proteins regulate the transcription of pupal genes during metamorphosis of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(31):12598-12603. Duan J, Li R, Cheng D, Fan W, Zha X, Cheng T, Wu Y, Wang J, Mita K, Xiang Z et al. 2010. SilkDB v2.0: a platform for silkworm (Bombyx mori) genome biology. Nucleic Acids Research  38 (Database Issue): D453-456. Russell E. 2017. Spinning their way into history: Silkworms, mulberries and manufacturing landscapes in China. Global Environment 10(1):21-53. Sun W, Yu H, Shen Y, Banno Y, Xiang Z, and Zhang Z. 2012. Phylogeny and evolutionary history of the silkworm. Science China Life Sciences 55(6):483-496.Xiang H, Li X, Dai F, Xu X, Tan A, Chen L, Zhang G, Ding Y, Li Q, Lian J et al. 2013. Comparative methylomics between domesticated and wild silkworms implies possible epigenetic influences on silkworm domestication. BMC G enomics 14(1):646. Xiong Z. 2014. The Hepu Han tombs and the maritime Silk Road of the Han Dynasty. Antiquity 88(342):1229-1243.Yang S-Y, Han M-J, Kang L-F, Li Z-W, Shen Y-H, and Zhang Z. 2014. Demographic history and gene flow during silkworm domestication. BMC Evolutionary Biology 14(1):185.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Made in the USA makes a comeback

Made in the USA makes a comeback When American companies started outsourcing manufacturing jobs overseas, there was a huge economic impact that many feared would drag the American economy down. According to MarketWatch, there were 150,000 American manufacturing jobs sent overseas in 2003, which brought the grand total of jobs lost to anywhere between three and four million. But in 2014, only 50,000 American jobs were sent overseas and that has given many American business analysts reason to think that American manufacturing is gaining momentum. But it isn’t just the drastic drop in outsourced manufacturing jobs that is getting Americans excited. In 2014, MarketWatch estimates that nearly 60,000 manufacturing jobs were brought back to the United States in a trend being called reshoring. The net gain of 10,000 jobs in 2014 is giving many American manufacturers reasons to believe that the â€Å"Made in the USA† label is going to start showing up on a lot more products.Why Is Reshoring Happening?When Ameri can companies started to outsource their manufacturing needs to countries such as China and India, the wages in those countries were extremely low. As the American companies pump more money into those growing economies, wages are going up and the increased costs involved with shipping and tariffs are combining to make it much cheaper to make products in the United States.Forbes Magazine also suggests that the instability in the economy over the past few years has made American companies hesitant to invest in the large amounts of inventory required to make outsourcing profitable. These days, American companies want to be able to buy only what they need and they also want to be able to make changes to their products to fit consumer trends. By making their products in the United States, these companies can cut down on the amount of inventory they need to invest in and make changes to their products in a cost-efficient manner.American Pride Is Kicking InThere has always been a large con tingency of the American public that prefers to buy products that are made in America and, according to Reshoring Initiative, the lure of profits tied to selling products made in America is becoming very strong with American and foreign companies. Even foreign manufacturers are building plants and hiring more workers to build products in the United States, which could mean a proliferation of â€Å"Made in the USA† around the world.What Does The Future Hold?One of the biggest proponents of the reshoring movement is Wal-Mart. Since Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world, it can often dictate the future of the manufacturing industry. According to the MarketWatch article, Wal-Mart plans to invest more than $250 billion additional dollars in products made in America. While most observers are not expecting all three to four million outsourced jobs to come back in the immediate future, then trends we are seeing indicate that manufacturing could be coming back to the United St ates in a very big way.When economics team up with patriotism, you get a resurgence in an American industry that many thought was dying. With reshoring creating a net increase in the number of manufacturing jobs being created in the United States each year, it is starting to look like American ingenuity and hard work are being rewarded.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Directing and managing project execution Assignment

Directing and managing project execution - Assignment Example In fact, project management has been termed as an â€Å"accidental profession by more than one writer† (Pinto and Kharbanda 1995). Based on the above review of literature and my experience, following is my advice to Julianne on key points in how to direct and manage her project team. Sanghera (2010) emphasis that a successful project meets all its objects of triple constraints i.e., project scope, time and cost. However, there is no fixed ratio between these constraints and their weights vary according to the changes to project requirements in meeting the objectives. Further, these aspects of triple constraints may have different relative importance for different stakeholders. Thus it is essential for project manager to know and understand the relative prioritization between the three aspects of triple constraints. Kor and Wijnen (2007) suggest that one method of prioritizing the triple constraint is to organize meeting with all project stakeholders and rank each aspect in terms of five management dimensions i.e., feasibility, flexibility, temp, efficiency and goal-orientation. The output of this process would be a ranking of prioritized aspects of triple constraints based on consensus that would help project manager in efficiently organizing people and resource s through project monitoring and control processes. Sanghera (2010) suggests that for each activity on the project, responsibility must be assigned to one single individual who takes charge of situation. PMBOK (2008) highlights use of RACI Chart for assigning roles and responsibilities to the project team for each project activity. In RACI Chart, names or roles are listed on horizontal axis while schedule activities are listed on vertical axis and a code is placed at the intersection box of each activity and role/name in the matrix table i.e. Responsible (R), Accountable (A), Consult (C), and Inform (I) (Mulcahy 2011). The only constant thing in world is

Friday, October 18, 2019

Environmental agency Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Environmental agency - Case Study Example Economic competition on a global scale brought about by the movement towards globalization has also contributed immense pressures on the environment. This is also argued in the context that sustainable development among poor nations had been a difficult task, given the tendency of these countries to undertake exploitive economic activities (mostly through extractive industries such as mining, forestry and agriculture). The depletion of their natural resources have only given these underdeveloped countries temporary economic activities which would disappear as soon as their resources have been depleted. It is often perceived that free trade and globalization only benefits those whio have the financial leverage, and at the expense of those who do not. Among the Third World countries facing such problems in terms of environmental degradation and growing economic pressures in the face of an ever-increasing population is the Philippines. A prime example of the high price the country has to face in its struggle for economic survival is the plight of the Pasig river. The Pasig River is the main river system in Metro Manila. Technically an estuary channel, its 25-kilometer stretch connects the large lake known as Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Laguna Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world had for centuries been a source of food, raw materials and the site of various economic activities. ... In the wet season when water elevation in the lake is higher than that of Manila Bay, the natural channel flow is from the lake emptying into the sea. The river is an invaluable ecosystem linking the lake and the sea. It is among the Philippines' numerous irreplaceable natural resources. Fish have spawned and their fries and fingerlings have been nurtured by the mineral-rich contents of this estuarine channel. Settlements have long occupied portions of the Pasig River even before the Spaniards colonized the Philippines. It served as the main highway among settlements located along its banks and functioned as the umbilical cord to other settlements within the interior locations both near and distant from Laguna de Bay. Like many rivers all over the world, the Pasig River has suffered from abuse and neglect. The Pasig River and its tributaries have long been pressed into service and these have taken their toll on the river. The once pristine and sparkling waters which provided clean drinking water to the elegant Spanish villas lining its banks has now been transformed into a virtual waste basin for an economically struggling industrial center that serves as the heart of a nation. More than 300 factories and 10,000 households have replaced the dainty native huts and romantic Spanish villas of old. The sweet and quenching waters have become a reeking soup of industrial and domestic wastes. The once abundant fish and plant life have been replace by only the toughest of scavengers, both animal and human alike. It is estimated that 330 tons of domestic and industrial wastes are discharged into the river every day. This

Child Prostitution in India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Child Prostitution in India - Essay Example This paper is a critical evaluation of child prostitution in India as well as ways through which the dilemma can be resolved. Child Prostitution in India India is categorized as one of the most highly populated countries in the world, with majority of its citizens suffering from abject poverty. Statistics indicate that more than 300 million out of the total population of approximately 944 580 000 people are living below poverty line, as per early 1990’s reports (Shephered 62). This ratio has definitely increased based on the fact that the total population has increased significantly to hit the 1 billion mark, making it the second most populous country after China. Out of this population, 25% is believed to be living in urban areas, which is a recipe for the establishment of informal residential areas that are unsafe and unhealthy for bringing up children. Due to these factors, families have been trying all methods to make ends meet and this has resulted to numerous cases of ch ild abuse, who are introduced to child labor and prostitution at a tender age (Sahni 12). Child prostitution may be defined as the involvement of children below the age of 18, depending on the legal definition of an adult in a country or society. It is prohibited in most of the countries around the world, even in those that legalize prostitution but there is a tendency in India whereby the locals are comfortable and in fact, some sources indicate that parents, who are supposed to offer protection to these children, are the main perpetrators of this heinous activity (Sahni 39). The girl child is given little significance in most of Indian societies who view them as sex tools such that they are even sexually abused by immediate members of the family such as the father, brothers among others. Some sources indicate that this habit begins in the marital bed, where couples incorporate their children in their sexual activities and sometimes, they are ‘loaned’ to neighbors for the same purposes. Mothers are said to use masturbation as a technique to send their female children to sleep and to enhance masculinity in boys, which is according to observers (DeMause 21). By the time they reach the age of 5 or 6, these children are already aware of their sexuality and thereby will go ahead to practice what they have been experiencing at the hands of their parents. On the other hand, child prostitution in India has been observed as being motivated by cultural and religious practices by the society rather than poverty as with other third world countries. An example is the tradition whereby young girls are offered as sacrifices to gods, in a practice known as Devdasi and which is widely accepted in majority of Indian cultures. Once these girls are relocated to the temples, they become what are widely referred to as religious prostitutes, who sleep around with different priests (Gathia 51). However, this kind of prostitution is different as it does not have the comm ercial aspect in it. This is to imply that these girls are not compensated for their services and as such, they are more of sex slaves as they are not allowed to make their own decisions on how to control their sexual activities especially choosing preferred clients. Despite the banning of this tradition in 1982, the society has continued to practice it, insisting that observing the restriction would amount to

The Significance of the Abrahamic Covenant for Israel and Its Impact Research Paper

The Significance of the Abrahamic Covenant for Israel and Its Impact on My Life - Research Paper Example Although the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional, one of its aspects is in fact conditional – the Land aspect (Leigh). Nevertheless, whether unconditional or not, all three aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant bear a great significance to the nation and people of Israel and to my life as well. The Abrahamic Covenant is in fact stated in five major passages in the Old Testament Bible (Raddish 42). The first is in Genesis 12:1-3, 7, where God first showed favor to Abraham. This is followed by Genesis 13:14-17, where God expanded his promises to Abraham concerning his descendants and the land they will own in the future. The third passage is Genesis 15:1-21, where there is a formal binding of the covenant between God and Abraham. In the fourth passage, Genesis 17:1-14, the covenant was reaffirmed. Finally, in Genesis 22:16-18, the covenant was restated by God with finality, after Abraham has proven himself worthy by attempting to sacrifice his own son Isaac for God at Mt. Moriah. (4 2) It is a fact that there are three elements in the Abrahamic Covenant – the seed of Abraham, the universal blessings of God, and the land that Abraham’s descendants will own. ... With Abraham, God promised, â€Å"But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year† (Gn. 17:21). This particular promise God fulfilled when He tells Isaac, â€Å"Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you [and] I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky† (Gn. 26:3-4). After Isaac has passed away, God renewed the covenant with Jacob when He tells the latter, â€Å"All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring [and] I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land† (Gn. 28:13-15). What Jacob may have perhaps did not anticipate or did not clearly understand was that when God said, â€Å"I will bring you back to this land,† He meant that the descendants of Jacob will first be enslaved in Egypt before they were to return to Israel. Nevertheless, with only his faith to guide him, Jacob repeated this to his son Joseph when he tells him, â€Å"God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers† (Gn. 48:3-4). The events that followed this included the famine in Israel which forced Joseph’s brothers to flee to Egypt, the slavery that the Israelites experienced under the Egyptian pharaoh, and their eventual deliverance through Moses. However, the ultimate success of the Seed aspect of the covenant comes before the exodus. This is stated in the Book of Exodus: â€Å"The Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land