Depictions of Death and Disease

The use of the word â€Å"plague† is reserved for only the most momentous and devastating diseases in history. This word has been specifically set aside for diseases that strike a certain type of fear into the masses as with the Bubonic Plague, also called the â€Å"Black Death†, and the AIDS epidemic. The word has an effect of biblical proportions and epidemics like AIDS and the Bubonic Plague both display the social reaction to these maladies in the religious connections or rejections made toward both.There is, also, evidence of the unraveling of complete societies due to these illnesses in the abandonment of the sufferers to their fates and the perpetuation of causation of these â€Å"plagues† to stories that confuse and confound communities into states of despair and disillusionment. The swiftness by which the â€Å"Black Death† struck victims to death is opposed to the lengthy period between the contraction of AIDS and a death that is not always certa in or imminent. The words and descriptions of these diseases, however, did spread quite quickly and served as a lens by which society at the respected times viewed the chaos in the world.The Bubonic Plague quickly sickened and killed its sufferers and this swiftness of the disease left little time for people to react, there was no predicting it‘s path, no preventions, and no remedies. People expected death and the â€Å"Black Death† struck the consciousnesses of the people before the illness ever did. â€Å"‘And no bells tolled’, wrote a chronicler of Siena ‘and nobody wept no matter what his loss because almost everyone expected death†¦. and people said and believed, This is the end of the world’† (Tuchman, 413).People also were cited as living joylessly, attending funerals with no tears and weddings with no cheer. With the feeling that this was indeed the end of the world, it was as if an ominous black cloud had accompanied this b lack plague, leaving much room for superstition and little for hysteria. There was little emotional and physical energy left for the afflicted communities to remain gripped in a hysterical frenzy for long periods when death became so commonplace. The feeling at the time was that an evil presence was surrounding the affected areas and this apocalyptic, creeping fear soon was replaced by emptiness.There was no sense in tending to religious ideas, as many people died without being given their rites of death. In this way, many of the positive ideas of God and heaven were abandoned, as the people’s sentiment was that God must have been responsible for attempting to exterminate the human race altogether. In the collective imaginations of religious persons all through the world, the â€Å"Black Death† was proof that the devil had won and God was no longer in support of the once devout.There was little mercy for the sick and parents were even found to abandon their own childre n to their fates. The callousness of the living was written about in such a way that existence during these times was made to seem like a hellish tribulation, those who did tend to their families and the sick however were made to seem like saints. There seemed to be these pious individuals, who were revered as the sober and saintly men at a time when â€Å"men and woman wandered around as if mad†¦.. because no one had any inclination to worry themselves about the future† (Tuchman, 417).The â€Å"Black Death† concept, then became a metaphor for the darkness, disorder, dementia, and despair that was part of the fear that the world was at it’s end and there was no future. The horror of both AIDS and the Bubonic Plague was fueled mostly by the uncertainty of each disease’s origin. Those in the â€Å"Black Death† era looked to astrology and employed adjectives that referred back to nature itself as the culprit. According to Tuchman, the plague was said to be spread by â€Å"sheets of fire†, â€Å"a vast rein of fire† and â€Å"foul blasts of wind†.The metaphors here were probably not so much intended to be metaphors, but instead were parts of folklore that spread just as the disease did. The uncertainty of it’s origin certainly led to wild imaginations and a need for storytelling to put the horror into words, however magnificent and impossible these Eastern stories were. With AIDS, just as with the Bubonic Plague, the idea was that this disease originated from somewhere else, it presented itself as both geographically transcending and personally transforming. In this sense both were socially viewed as an invasion of a community and of the bodies of the afflicted.The wording surrounding AIDS and the â€Å"Black Death† made these afflictions seem like a retribution, as well. With the Bubonic Plague, it was the poor that were looked upon as being the most at risk while AIDS had and continues to have it’s own risk groups. Though both diseases proved indiscriminate in it’s victims with the idea of disease as retribution, there must be scapegoats to cognitively connect this reality. Sontag believes that the way AIDS is portrayed â€Å"revives the archaic idea of a tainted community that illness has judged† (683).The scapegoats, however, are also the so-called â€Å"third world† countries of disease origin, such as AIDS. The same type of confusion and calamity surround the explanations of the origin of the disease. If it is not God’s wrath or some other supernatural event, then a more modern version of the â€Å"Black Death† stories can be found in the belief by some that AIDS was manufactured by man. This is truly the hallmark of AIDS as a modern â€Å"plague†, as the idea of the Bubonic Plague being manmade would not have been possible. This points to the collective imagination of those in fear of both disease and technology, a new phenomenon.Many Africans subscribe to the idea, according to Sontag, that AIDS was manufactured in the United States by the CIA proving their suspicion toward technology and the American government. Americans, conversely, look at the spread of AIDS as originating from a primitive place, where the spread of the disease cannot be stopped by American, conventional technology. In either sense, the fear is projected toward the disease from an origin of an already instilled cultural belief. For Americans it is that what is â€Å"foreign† that is dangerous and to Africans what is American and technological is alarming and suspicious.Sontag effectively explains the outcome of the plague metaphor in that no matter where a person resides geographically or what their beliefs may be as to the origin of what is deemed to be a plague, the malady becomes understood socially as inescapable. She does offer, however, the idea that Europeans tended to believe that they held some moral su periority over the origin of disease, condemning other countries for spreading disease, but failing to observe their own role in spreading disease to indigenous peoples during colonization.However, the diseases spread by Europeans were not viewed as plague-like or morally reprehensible. The idea that morality can be traced to disease and it’s afflictions is an interesting social phenomenon that equates â€Å"sick† with â€Å"dirty† or â€Å"immoral† and â€Å"healthy† with â€Å"moral†. â€Å"Health itself was eventually identified with these values, which were religious as well as mercantile, health being evidence or virtue as disease being evidence of depravity† (Sontag, 686).This is evidence of the cultural values of the early twentieth century, according to the author, in the fact that middle class values and religious observation was seen as a deterrent from disease. Those, who led a life of supposed depravity, however where view ed as not only more likely to become ill, but more deserving of their suffering. AIDS has been portrayed in such a moral sense, that homosexuality and it’s immorality to some is the blame for the â€Å"plague† and a deserved consequence.Sadly, the same callousness that was displayed in the abandonment of suffering children still occurs today in the social abandonment and outcasting of AIDS victims. According to Sontag, the disease metaphor is especially beneficial to anti-Liberals and those that which to address issues of supposed moral decay. Therefore, Conservative opportunists have laden the language associated with AIDS to further political aims. In conclusion both the Bubonic Plague and the AIDS epidemic illustrate the ability of communities and cultures to transmit feelings of fear and the value of many social institutions within the context of a disease spread.Religion, politics, and the accusations and scapegoating of disease origin and spread permeate the spec trum of the social scene when such a heavily laden word as â€Å"plague† is perpetuated. With the fast spread of the first â€Å"plague† the idea that the end of the world was near was common. With the slower spread of AIDS in the Western world, however, a fierce anti-foreign, pro-technology, and anti-Liberal stance has been taken. Just as these diseases can devastate, so can the words and the world as it can slip into disorder and darkness.

Chapter 2 The Scar

Harry lay flat on his back, breathing hard as though he had been running. He had awoken from a vivid dream with his hands pressed over his face. The old scar on his forehead, which was shaped like a bolt of lightning, was burning beneath his fingers as though someone had just pressed a white-hot wire to his skin. He sat up, one hand still on his scar, the other hand reaching out in the darkness for his glasses, which were on the bedside table. He put them on and his bedroom came into clearer focus, lit by a faint, misty orange light that was filtering through the curtains from the street lamp outside the window. Harry ran his fingers over the scar again. It was still painful. He turned on the lamp beside him, scrambled out of bed, crossed the room, opened his wardrobe, and peered into the mirror on the inside of the door. A skinny boy of fourteen looked back at him, his bright green eyes puzzled under his untidy black hair. He examined the lightning-bolt scar of his reflection more closely. It looked normal, but it was still stinging. Harry tried to recall what he had been dreaming about before he had awoken. It had seemed so real†¦There had been two people he knew and one he didn't†¦He concentrated hard, frowning, trying to remember†¦ The dim picture of a darkened room came to him†¦There had been a snake on a hearth rug†¦a small man called Peter, nicknamed Wormtail†¦and a cold, high voice†¦the voice of Lord Voldemort. Harry felt as though an ice cube had slipped down into his stomach at the very thought†¦ He closed his eyes tightly and tried to remember what Voldemort had looked like, but it was impossible†¦All Harry knew was that at the moment when Voldemort's chair had swung around, and he, Harry, had seen what was sitting in it, he had felt a spasm of horror, which had awoken him†¦or had that been the pain in his scar? And who had the old man been? For there had definitely been an old man; Harry had watched him fall to the ground. It was all becoming confused. Harry put his face into his hands, blocking out his bedroom, trying to hold on to the picture of that dimly lit room, but it was like trying to keep water in his cupped hands; the details were now trickling away as fast as he tried to hold on to them†¦Voldemort and Wormtail had been talking about someone they had killed, though Harry could not remember the name†¦and they had been plotting to kill someone else†¦him! Harry took his face out of his hands, opened his eyes, and stared around his bedroom as though expecting to see something unusual there. As it happened, there was an extraordinary number of unusual things in this room. A large wooden trunk stood open at the foot of his bed, revealing a cauldron, broomstick, black robes, and assorted spellbooks. Rolls of parchment littered that part of his desk that was not taken up by the large, empty cage in which his snowy owl, Hedwig, usually perched. On the floor beside his bed a book lay open; Harry had been reading it before he fell asleep last night. The pictures in this book were all moving. Men in bright orange robes were zooming in and out of sight on broomsticks, throwing a red ball to one another. Harry walked over to the book, picked it up, and watched one of the wizards score a spectacular goal by putting the ball through a fifty-foot-high hoop. Then he snapped the book shut. Even Quidditch – in Harry's opinion, the best sport in the world – couldn't distract him at the moment. He placed Flying with the Cannons on his bedside table, crossed to the window, and drew back the curtains to survey the street below. Privet Drive looked exactly as a respectable suburban street would be expected to look in the early hours of Saturday morning. All the curtains were closed. As far as Harry could see through the darkness, there wasn't a living creature in sight, not even a cat. And yet†¦and yet†¦Harry went restlessly back to the bed and sat down on it, running a finger over his scar again. It wasn't the pain that bothered him; Harry was no stranger to pain and injury. He had lost all the bones from his right arm once and had them painfully regrown in a night. The same arm had been pierced by a venomous foot-long fang not long afterward. Only last year Harry had fallen fifty feet from an airborne broomstick. He was used to bizarre accidents and injuries; they were unavoidable if you attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and had a knack for attracting a lot of trouble. No, the thing that was bothering Harry was the last time his scar had hurt him, it had been because Voldemort had been close by†¦But Voldemort couldn't be here, now†¦The idea of Voldemort lurking in Privet Drive was absurd, impossible†¦ Harry listened closely to the silence around him. Was he half expecting to hear the creak of a stair or the swish of a cloak? And then he jumped slightly as he heard his cousin Dudley give a tremendous grunting snore from the next room. Harry shook himself mentally; he was being stupid. There was no one in the house with him except Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley, and they were plainly still asleep, their dreams untroubled and painless. Asleep was the way Harry liked the Dursleys best; it wasn't as though they were ever any help to him awake. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were Harry's only living relatives. They were Muggles who hated and despised magic in any form, which meant that Harry was about as welcome in their house as dry rot. They had explained away Harry's long absences at Hogwarts over the last three years by telling everyone that he went to St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. They knew perfectly well that, as an underage wizard, Harry wasn't allowed to use magic outside Hogwarts, but they were still apt to blame him for anything that went wrong about the house. Harry had never been able to confide in them or tell them anything about his life in the wizarding world. The very idea of going to them when they awoke, and telling them about his scar hurting him, and about his worries about Voldemort, was laughable. And yet it was because of Voldemort that Harry had come to live with the Dursleys in the first place. If it hadn't been for Voldemort, Harry would not have had the lightning scar on his forehead. If it hadn't been for Voldemort, Harry would still have had parents†¦. Harry had been a year old the night that Voldemort – the most powerful Dark wizard for a century, a wizard who had been gaining power steadily for eleven years – arrived at his house and killed his father and mother. Voldemort had then turned his wand on Harry; he had performed the curse that had disposed of many full-grown witches and wizards in his steady rise to power – and, incredibly, it had not worked. Instead of killing the small boy, the curse had rebounded upon Voldemort. Harry had survived with nothing but a lightning-shaped cut on his forehead, and Voldemort had been reduced to something barely alive. His powers gone, his life almost extinguished, Voldemort had fled; the terror in which the secret community of witches and wizards had lived for so long had lifted, Voldemort's followers had disbanded, and Harry Potter had become famous. It had been enough of a shock for Harry to discover, on his eleventh birthday, that he was a wizard; it had been even more disconcerting to find out that everyone in the hidden wizarding world knew his name. Harry had arrived at Hogwarts to find that heads turned and whispers followed him wherever he went. But he was used to it now: At the end of this summer, he would be starting his fourth year at Hogwarts, and Harry was already counting the days until he would be back at the castle again. But there was still a fortnight to go before he went back to school. He looked hopelessly around his room again, and his eye paused on the birthday cards his two best friends had sent him at the end of July. What would they say if Harry wrote to them and told them about his scar hurting? At once, Hermione Granger's voice seemed to fill his head, shrill and panicky. â€Å"Your scar hurt? Harry, that's really serious†¦Write to Professor Dumbledore! nd I'll go and check Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions†¦Maybe there's something in there about curse scars†¦.† Yes, that would be Hermione's advice: Go straight to the headmaster of Hogwarts, and in the meantime, consult a book. Harry stared out of the window at the inky blue-black sky. He doubted very much whether a book could help him now. As far as he knew, he was the only living person to have survived a curse like Voldemort's; it was highly unlikely, therefore, that he would find his symptoms listed in Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions. As for informing the headmaster, Harry had no idea where Dumbledore went during the summer holidays. He amused himself for a moment, picturing Dumbledore, with his long silver beard, full length wizard's robes, and pointed hat, stretched out on a beach somewhere, rubbing suntan lotion onto his long crooked nose. Wherever Dumbledore was, though, Harry was sure that Hedwig would be able to find him; Harry's owl had never yet failed to deliver a letter to anyone, even without an address. But what would he write? Dear Professor Dumbledore, Sorry to bother you, but my scar hurt this morning. Yours sincerely, Harry Potter. Even inside his head the words sounded stupid. And so he tried to imagine his other best friend, Ron Weasley's, reaction, and in a moment, Ron's red hair and long-nosed, freckled face seemed to swim before Harry, wearing a bemused expression. â€Å"Your scar hurt? But†¦but You-Know-Who can't be near you now, can he? I mean†¦you'd know, wouldn't you? He'd be trying to do you in again, wouldn't be? I dunno, Harry, maybe curse scars always twinge a bit†¦I'll ask Dad†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mr. Weasley was a fully qualified wizard who worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, but he didn't have any particular expertise in the matter of curses, as far as Harry knew. In any case, Harry didn't like the idea of the whole Weasley family knowing that he, Harry, was getting jumpy about a few moments' pain. Mrs. Weasley would fuss worse than Hermione, and Fred and George, Ron's sixteen year old twin brothers, might think Harry was losing his nerve. The Weasleys were Harry's favorite family in the world; he was hoping that they might invite him to stay any time now (Ron had mentioned something about the Quidditch World Cup), and he somehow didn't want his visit punctuated with anxious inquiries about his scar. Harry kneaded his forehead with his knuckles. What he really wanted (and it felt almost shameful to admit it to himself) was someone like – someone like a parent: an adult wizard whose advice he could ask without feeling stupid, someone who cared about him, who had had experience with Dark Magic†¦. And then the solution came to him. It was so simple, and so obvious, that he couldn't believe it had taken so long – Sirius. Harry leapt up from the bed, hurried across the room, and sat down at his desk; he pulled a piece of parchment toward him, loaded his eagle-feather quill with ink, wrote Dear Sirius, then paused, wondering how best to phrase his problem, still marveling at the fact that he hadn't thought of Sirius straight away. But then, perhaps it wasn't so surprising – after all, he had only found out that Sirius was his godfather two months ago. There was a simple reason for Sirius's complete absence from Harry's life until then – Sirius had been in Azkaban, the terrifying wizard jail guarded by creatures called dementors, sightless, soul-sucking fiends who had come to search for Sirius at Hogwarts when he had escaped. Yet Sirius had been innocent – the murders for which he had been convicted had been committed by Wormtail, Voldemort's supporter, whom nearly everybody now believed dead. Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew otherwise, however; they had come face-to-face with Wormtail only the previous year, though only Professor Dumbledore had believed their story. For one glorious hour, Harry had believed that he was leaving the Dursleys at last, because Sirius had offered him a home once his name had been cleared. But the chance had been snatched away from him – Wormtail had escaped before they could take him to the Ministry of Magic, and Sirius had had to flee for his life. Harry had helped him escape on the back of a hippogriff called Buckbeak, and since then, Sirius had been on the run. The home Harry might have had if Wormtail had not escaped had been haunting him all summer. It had been doubly hard to return to the Dursleys knowing that he had so nearly escaped them forever. Nevertheless, Sirius had been of some help to Harry, even if he couldn't be with him. It was due to Sirius that Harry now had all his school things in his bedroom with him. The Dursleys had never allowed this before; their general wish of keeping Harry as miserable as possible, coupled with their fear of his powers, had led them to lock his school trunk in the cupboard under the stairs every summer prior to this. But their attitude had changed since they had found out that Harry had a dangerous murderer for a godfather – for Harry had conveniently forgotten to tell them that Sirius was innocent. Harry had received two letters from Sirius since he had been back at Privet Drive. Both had been delivered, not by owls (as was usual with wizards), but by large, brightly colored tropical birds. Hedwig had not approved of these flashy intruders; she had been most reluctant to allow them to drink from her water tray before flying off again. Harry, on the other hand, had liked them; they put him in mind of palm trees and white sand, and he hoped that, wherever Sirius was (Sirius never said, in case the letters were intercepted), he was enjoying himself. Somehow, Harry found it hard to imaging dementors surviving for long in bright sunlight, perhaps that was why Sirius had gone South. Sirius's letters, which were now hidden beneath the highly useful loose floorboards under Harry's bed, sounded cheerful, and in both of them he had reminded Harry to call on him if ever Harry needed to. Well, he needed to right now, all right†¦. Harry's lamp seemed to grow dimmer as the cold gray light that precedes sunrise slowly crept into the room. Finally, when the sun had risen, when his bedroom walls had turned gold, and when sounds of movement could be heard from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's room, Harry cleared his desk of crumpled pieces of parchment and reread his finished letter. Dear Sirius, Thanks for your last letter. That bird was enormous; it could hardly get through my window. Things are the same as usual here. Dudley's diet isn't going too well. My aunt found him smuggling doughnuts into his room yesterday. They told him they'd have to cut his pocket money if he keeps doing it, so he got really angry and chucked his PlayStation out of the window. That's a sort of computer thing you can play games on. Bit stupid really, now he hasn't even got Mega-Mutilation Part Three to take his mind off things. I'm okay, mainly because the Dursleys are terrified you might turn up and turn them all into bats if I ask you to. A weird thing happened this morning, though. My scar hurt again. Last time that happened it was because Voldemort was at Hogwarts. But I don't reckon he can be anywhere near me now, can he? Do you know if curse scars sometimes hurt years afterward? I'll send this with Hedwig when she gets back; she's off hunting at the moment. Say hello to Buckbea k for me. Harry Yes, thought Harry, that looked all right. There was no point putting in the dream; he didn't want it to look as though he was too worried. He folded up the parchment and laid it aside on his desk, ready for when Hedwig returned. Then he got to his feet, stretched, and opened his wardrobe once more. Without glancing at his reflection he started to get dressed before going down to breakfast.

Is the Ecological Crisis the Human Rights Concern of the Century Essay

The ecological crisis has now become an important topic throughout the years. Even so, toward the end of the last century, the issues of such crises became a focal talking point of governments, international organisations and scholars. This most likely is, as Leigh (2005) discusses, an increasing acceptance that such ecological disasters affecting mankind has been one of â€Å"the most critical turning points† that the world has ever encountered. Such crises are experienced when our environment is modified in ways which undermine our continued existence. As the environment and its ecosystems are in a constant state of being damaged, its quality is vastly ruined and this has major effects on the lives that are dependent on it. Magdoff and Foster (2011) suggest that for the ecological crisis to be understood, it must be looked at in the sense of the boundaries of the planet. They go on to indicate that ultimately the Earth has several thresholds which it must remain in in order to preserve the gentle conditions that the Earth has experienced in the past century. These thresholds include loss of biodiversity, climate change, a depleting ozone layer, world-wide freshwater and chemical pollution. Unfortunately, the planet has already passed two of these, including loss of biodiversity and climate change due to our damaging activities that cause environmental disparities. Until recently, the ecological crisis and its subsequent effects have been discussed mainly in the scientific disciplines as merely an environmental issue. It has also been made into an economic concern. However, it is now more than ever in the 21st century being debated and referred to as a subject for human rights. This essay seeks to examine the issue of the impact of the ecological crisis, its human rights implications, and how it has come to be considered the human rights concern of the century. The Ecological Crisis The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st has seen a remarkable increase in the number of environmental catastrophes that the Earth has experienced. These disasters have not been just limited to one eographic region but they have affected nearly every single part of the planet. Some have included climate change, which in turn has been affected by the greenhouse effect and gases ; the advent of peak oil; loss of biodiversity and therefore diminished quantities and quality of food supplies; plus deforestation, chemical pollution and oil spills. These in turn have had a knock-on effect on the way of living for man and caused such issues as rising sea levels, floods, reduced food resources, droughts, and polluted air and water supply. As mentioned, the Earth’s threshold for climate change and biodiversity loss has been passed and this has already been causing irreparable harm to the planet’s ecosystems and the environment. It is still possible, however, to stop such effects from permanent harm to the environment, which is why the ecological crisis has become such an important matter for discussion today. Climate Change â€Å"Of all the environmental issues that have emerged in the past decades, global climate change has been the most serious and most difficult to manage† (Dessler and Parson, 2006). Like with the above quote, it is thought by many scientists and scholars that climate change is and will be the biggest threat to the environment mainly because of its potential to bring about such brutal destruction. Oxfam International (2008) stated that some of the 23 richest countries in the world (comprising Canada, Australia and USA) where just fourteen percent of the entire world population inhabits, produced almost sixty percent of the planet’s carbon emissions since the 1800s. The Earth’s climate is changing. In fact, it has always been varying from time to time. However, the degree of change is now the big worry. The Great Warming (2006) defines climate change as an alteration in the â€Å"long-term climate† of a particular area. It is further stated that humans contribute to this climate change by discharging greenhouse gases and sprays up into the atmosphere while also modifying the land we live on. Dessler and Parson (2006) debate the forecasts for climate change in the 21st century are more or less unclear, nonetheless, this uncertainty can work either way in that the climate may increase or decrease. The prospect of such unknowns makes this question a lot graver. Many of the activities that individuals carry out on a daily basis has contributed significantly to the greenhouse effect, the depletion of the ozone layer, and therefore climate change. As The Great Warming (2006) put it, the inhabitants of the Earth are constantly burning fossil fuels for heating of houses, for production of electricity and to run machines and vehicles. All of these activities have been adding to the warming effect on the atmosphere. The UNDP (2007) report on fighting climate change established that since the start of the industrial age, the temperature of the Earth has risen by about 0. 7 degrees Celsius and this increase seems to be speeding up with time. The report went further in determining that if a threshold of 2oC is broken, we hazard the idea of greater irreparable damage to the environment. Magdoff and Foster (2011) quotes the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stating that by the end of the century in 2100, the most probable temperature increase worldwide will be in the 2. to 4. 6oC range. This, we can see, is far higher than the previously mentioned threshold of 2oC, and as the authors mention, is a major cause for concern and panic. Such drastic climate change can ultimately lead to ice caps melting, sea levels rising, droughts, forced migration of peoples, a reduction in food produce, and danger to coastal regions. This can lead to reduced health and welfare of the population while also causing serious issues with atmospheric pollution. Other forms of the Ecological Crisis Climate change has not been the only crisis the environment has faced. There has also been widespread degradation with other human-driven activities. Goodhart (2009) explains that the ecosystem has been affected by severe exhaustion of its resources. This includes deforestation which has led to erosion and land slippage and thus pushed people out of their habitat. Oils spills have been a major source of concern, according to Goodhart, which has threatened the survival of certain oceanic species that are a vital source of food for man. The ecological crisis will affect the entire world population if nothing is done to stop the effects of all these contributory factors. This has led international organisations such as the United Nations (UN) to establish various agencies and protocols that will guide international actors in dealing with the crisis. These include the IPCC, as well as the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The UN has also held several conferences over the years to tackle the problems including the Earth Summit in Brazil and the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) . As will be seen in the next section, some of these mechanisms have begun placing more emphasis on and framing the environmental issues as human rights concerns. Relationship between the Ecological Crisis and Human Rights â€Å"As the world marks the 60th anniversary of the UDHR, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay points out that a wide range of universally recognized rights including food, life, water and adequate housing are under a direct threat as a result of climate change† (OHCHR, 2008a). The destruction of the environment and its consequent effects on humans is leading to grave human rights concerns. In its resolution on climate change, the UN Human Rights Council stated their concern for climate change posing a direct danger to communities in the world, further suggesting that this ecological crisis has consequences for the â€Å"full enjoyment of human rights† (HRC, 2008) . Framing of the issues in human rights terms has been a very useful tool for creating greater awareness of its impacts and ensuring that the subject reaches new actors and activists, ultimately influencing the process for the better. Human rights are now frequently referred to as â€Å"universal and indivisible†. For this reason, Hawkins (2010) suggests that every human being is â€Å"entitled to every basic right by virtue of their humanity†. As climate change is possibly the biggest ecological concern of late, many scholars refer to it the most when focusing on the human rights implications. However, there are still very deep human rights concerns for the other contributors to the crisis. Depledge (2007) mentioned that there are, at present, no organisations such as the UN that blatantly suggests a right to a healthy environment. Nevertheless, he proposes that the human right to health covered under the UDHR directly implies a link to the environment. This is because the way in which the environment is kept can and does affect the security of people. Therefore, we see truth in Commissioner Navi Pillay’s words in mentioning these rights. Hunter (2009,p. 7) also suggests that climate change can have an impact on the right to self-determination. One example of the effect of the crisis on this right is that of the Inuit people of Alaska who in 2005 submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights suggesting that their â€Å"way of life† was being hindered by climate change which in turn influences their continued existence and culture. Climate change, if continued on its current path will increasingly raise the Earth’s temperature. This will further affect the water sources, our food, and cause major disease outbreaks. These activities are bound to result in significant human rights violations under the various charters and treaties. Firstly, the right to health will see a drastic rise of malnutrition in children. There will also be a threat of major increases in droughts and flooding around the world (Oxfam, 2008). Another right that needs to be preserved during this process is the all-important right to life and security. Article 3 of the UDHR asks for the â€Å"right to life, liberty and security of person†. These rights are in serious danger of being breached from the issues of the ecological crisis. Goodhart (2009) maintains that the depletion of environmental resources like clean water and oil has â€Å"been a cause of violent conflict in several areas around the world† and this is of extreme distress because of the occurrence of, say, peak oil. Climate change can greatly affect the security of people around the world. As a result of the rising sea levels, the increased temperature and therefore the damage to land, inhabitants of the Earth will experience more flooding, droughts and fires, heat waves and higher occurrence of storms. All of these can ultimately lead to death and an increase in numbers. Another important right affected by this crisis has been the right to food as stipulated in Article 11(1) of the ICESCR . Current trends are not a good sign for people’s right to food under this treaty. Oxfam (2008) suggests that any further warming of the planet is bound to expose fifty million more people to hunger by the year 2020. Within another 30 years in 2050, that number could vastly increase to 132 million. These are extremely high numbers that would be detrimental to the survival of many regions and populations. The Oxfam report cites the case of Africa, where land for cultivation is being reduced by climate change causing the season for growing crop to decrease thereby producing less crop for food. The International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP) categorically mentions that climate change creates violations of human rights due to the constant harm that we are inflicting on the environment (ICHRP, 2008). The most serious effects of the ecological crisis will usually and unfortunately be experienced by the people whose rights and protections are currently not being respected and so occurrences like climate change, tar sands, and pollution will have a greater impact on the more disregarded populations. This includes the poor and usually indigenous peoples around the world. As Havermann (2009) put it, the indigenous peoples around the world are some of those that are most susceptible to these crises while being the ones who have the smallest responsibility for them. For example, the oil and gas expansion by multinational corporations around the world is having severe effects on climate change and the environment, leading on to issues for human rights particularly with indigenous peoples. As Karliner (1991) noted, oil and its excavation has an overwhelmingly negative effect on the economic stability of these groups. Also a huge concern, as a result, is their health which tends to suffer from these activities. The problems faced by many countries with deforestation have also been exacerbating the situation for the realisation of human rights around the world. Many of the forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. The boomerang effect is thus a reduction in the all-important biodiversity that the forests contain and that is necessary for the continued livelihood and survival of those dependent on it. This includes, according to ICHRP (2008), the over fifty million tribal inhabitants of forests around the globe who are constantly affected with their food safety harshly curtailed. If the present rates at which such deforestation and the previously mentioned rises of climate change, oil spills and pollution continue, it is thought that a majority of the rainforests on the Earth will have vanished even before the 21st century has ended. Concern of the Century? Many environmentalists and human rights defenders have framed the ecological crisis as one with a human rights dimension. This is because most see it now as a serious inhibitor to development, to the daily living of man and to fulfilling the rights that have been laid out in the various international instruments. The ecological crisis has seen a large number of environmental problems over the years and its effects are now being debated fiercely on the world stage. Some world leaders, scientists and the general population are all trying to engage in finding solutions to the problem while others still question and underestimate the gravity of the phenomenon. The issue has become a major concern, not just for the planet physically, but also in a human rights context because the ecological crisis single-handedly affects a range of different human rights as seen above. In many instances, its effects can breach more rights than some of the other current rights violators. In addition, while most abuses of human rights can generally be halted voluntarily, if these environmental problems are allowed to linger untreated then at some point in time the destruction of the environment would have become irreversible. This in turn would result in more human rights violations. As Hawkins (2010) argues, the resources of the planet are limited and so to continue with the existing trend will place humanity in peril. Also, the atmosphere cannot distinguish between the greenhouse gases that affect climate change by the region it comes from (UNDP, 2007). Climate change, for example, is non-discriminatory and unlike other rights violations being perpetrated around the world, it can affect just about anyone. This is why such a huge international human rights advocacy process has now been implemented. In a statement in 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon referred to climate change as â€Å"the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time† which is â€Å"menacing the whole human family†. As the UNFCCC acknowledged in the framework, the universal reach of the effects of climate change requires the â€Å"widest possible co-operation from all countries† (UNFCCC, 1992). It is evident that the human rights implications of the ecological crisis is a great concern for many people especially in the recent efforts by NGOs to publicise the matter, while a number of measures have been put in place by international organisations such as the UN to tackle the problems – through summits, conferences and protocols like the Kyoto protocol. In 2008, a resolution was passed by the Organisation of American States (OAS) on human rights and climate change (ICHRP, 2008). The commitments set forth in the 1997 Kyoto protocol are soon to end in 2012. Neglecting to meet these obligations will cause us to reach even closer to further crisis. In December 2011, Canada officially pulled out of its commitments to the protocol (Carrington and Vaughan, 2011). The backlash and criticism from world leaders and actors was astounding and this showed the level that the ecological crisis and its implications for human life have reached in this century. Conclusion Going forward without confronting this global challenge that is the ecological crisis with the seriousness that it deserves will result in countless human rights violations around the globe. The climate change, deforestation, oil spills and rising sea levels will cause a massive increase in the destruction of habitats, reduced water supply, island and coastal regions vanishing, and greater health concerns. These in turn are destabilizing many peoples’ rights to food, health, security, life and livelihood. It is imperative that the principles and norms of human rights are continuously applied to these crises so as to halt the irreparable destruction of the environment and the future of humankind. As noted by the UNDP (2007), the 20th century saw leadership disasters resulting in two world wars in which masses of people suffered. In this the 21st century, the destructive nature of the ecological crisis has become the new and preventable disaster.

Cost benefit analysis report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Cost benefit analysis report - Coursework Example By free wifi services, it means that the public should be in a position to access internet service while travelling. Since a great percent of the nation is learned, the government should come up with measures to help them access internet services. This will act in a way to improve knowledge in various market centers for those in business, schools or those planning to do business. The main situation on ground, is that majority of people in the country begin their days early to work and use public service vehicles. Many are usually bored because they all meet as strangers and find it difficult to start a conversation so as to break monotony and end up silent till they alight from the vehicles. The introduction of wifi will make passengers enjoy their commutation to work. Most people who use internet services are in business or in school. They need to discover new ways of increasing productivity and try beating the upcoming competition especially for those in business. Free wifi will allow most people after closing their businesses at the end of the day, be able to get new tips of improving their productivity on their way home. Cost benefit refers to, a systematic analysis that shows an approach in estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives that make transactions, activities or functional requirements for business be considered to be of quality. Thus, David, Ngulube and Dude (2013), go ahead to explain that the technique is used to determine options that give the best approach for a business to be adopted and practiced. The benefits are looked in terms of lab our, time and saving costs. It will be practical to the free wifi that we are advocating for. In terms of time saving, the business persons will be able to get new tips on ways to improve attraction from customers without having to visit cyber cafes or areas where internet is available during their off days. It will be

Workplace motivation techniques Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Workplace motivation techniques - Research Paper Example Their review also indicated that social recognition improved performance by 17% while feedback improved task performance by only 10%. All three factors when combined improved performance by 45%. Perry and Mesch concluded that feedback combined with social recognition and monetary incentives produced the most desirable effect on performance (Perry and Mesch 505). Perry and Mesch investigated motivational interventions in service and manufacturing industries and found that performance improvements were larger in manufacturing than in service industries (Perry and Mesch 506). While financial, non-financial and social rewards produced the strongest effect in manufacturing organizations, financial reinforcement produced a stronger effect on task performance in service industries. Ventrice in his research on effects of motivational intervention on performance found that financial incentives significantly affected performance quantity but not quality (Ventrice 122). He, however, found that the type of task did not affect the relationship between financial incentives and performance quality. Other researchers found that goal setting and monetary incentives influence performance independently. Perry and Mesch in their work on incentives found that merit pay resulted in positive outcomes especially for individuals but different institutional arrangements affected the feasibility and effectiveness of merit pay (Perry and Mesch para10). They concluded that merit pay was at best moderately effective. Carroll, on the other hand, found that merit and pay-for-performance systems were ineffective in the public sector as they had little positive impact on employee motivation and organizational performance (Carroll 67). He attributed this result to insufficient fund allocation for merit pay and the lack of managerial and organizational characteristics necessary for an effective pay-for-performance

Hospitality industries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Hospitality industries - Essay Example Since the inception of the hotel, Travelodge had undergone a drastic expansion and growth. It has opened more than 500 hotels with over 37,000 rooms and thus had gradually moved from a roadside hotel chain to become one of the fastest, largest as well as the most famous brand of budget hotels in the United Kingdom. It has been ascertained that nearly 16.5 million people stayed in Travelodge in the previous year (2012). It is worth mentioning that about 90 per cent reservations are made through the website of Travelodge, thus attracting more than 1.1 million visitors per week (Travelodge, 2013). Travelodge is the smartest choice for leisure and business travels. It consistently offers the customers with great value of hotels depending on their choice to reside. It is interesting to highlight that nearly 80 per cent of the Travelodge hotels are located in famous holiday hot spots, towns and city centres. It has a range of hotel designs comprising of budget built hotels, office conversi ons, acquirement of the present hotels, grade II listed building and co-partnerships with leading super markets, pubs and retailers among others. Travelodge was set to build further 14 hotels with 1,742 rooms at an expense of 141.5 million pounds. With respect to the UK locations, four major hotels are London including Bethnal Green, Vauxhall, Hounslow and Walthamstow. The other hotels of Travelodge which are at the door of starting by 2013 will be located at the two major cities of Spain i.e. in Madrid and Barcelona. The inaugurations of hotels in these cities will double the room stock of Travelodge to 700 in Spain (Travelodge, 2013). A key part of the investment of Travelodge largely relies on the new room brands which had been created by taking into account the comfort and preferences of the customers of Travelodge. In January 2013, Travelodge made an announcement of investing 223 million pound that would further help the company to grow and expand its business. The cash investm ent of the hotel would enhance the sustainable growth of the company and would strengthen the company’s brand offerings. This will also ensure that the customers are delivered with the best value in the market place. It has also been ascertained that by the end of 2013, Travelodge will make considerable investment on the renovation of 50 per cent of all the rooms acquired by the company. Furthermore, the company intended to incorporate the new room designs in almost 90 per cent of the estates of Travel Lodge by the end of autumn, 2014. Thus for the next 18 months more than 50 rooms on an average would be refurnished (Travelodge, 2013). As per the latest Budget Hotel Reports of 2010 a total of 54 new budget hotels were inaugurated in the year 2012 with more than 5,446 new rooms. Travelodge is the fastest growing budget hotel chain in the UK for the ended year 2012 wherein more than 3,883 rooms were added to its portfolio. Regardless the tremendous growth rate, the company is e ncountered with intense competition from its major rival Premier Inn. Correspondingly, 27 per cent market share in

Women - are better listeners than men Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women - are better listeners than men - Essay Example Capital punishment is no deterrent to crime. Pros: 1) There is statistical evidence that capital punishment is by far not a panacea; 2) even if in one country it works, it does not automatically mean that in every society it will work in the same way; 3) there is a sentiment that a murder for the sake of deterrence is a crime by itself; 4) society may benefit more from life imprisonment and controlled employment of criminals. Cons: 5) Capital punishment in some cases reflects the dominant public opinion; 6) zero tolerance to some criminals may if not reduce crime, but at least keep it in check. "Hard" sciences such as math are more difficult than "soft" sciences such as sociology. Pros: 1) "Hard" sciences often require more extensive basic knowledge; 2) fewer people are good at "hard" sciences in comparison to "soft" sciences; 3) "hard" sciences are usually less intuitively understandable than "soft" sciences. Cons: 4) Many "soft" sciences like sociology are based on observations, wh ich, while making them seem simple, in reality makes the process of research quite difficult; 5) there is no objective ground for differentiation, only inclinations of different people.

The value and impact of information technology investments and the Thesis

The value and impact of information technology investments and the implications of those investements for effective management of the information systems organization - Thesis Example It has been concluded after performing this research that the technological resources are allocated by investing in the field of the information technology. Different firms which are existing and running business want to improve their operations and working systems of the business. Hence the impacts which are measured after the implementation of these technological advancements are known as the intangible benefits. These initiatives are increasing more in the developing countries which is discussed in detail in the report. This factor contributes in the overall economical performance of the organization as well as to the country. Moreover it is beneficial for the competition also. There are several reasons which are present in the thesis for which organization wants to improve the overall operations or few departments with the help of information technology investment. The value that is achieved by the use of IT is also described in paper for having a clear idea about the advantages and uses of these types of investments. The paper concludes with in-depth analysis of the framework discussed and provides some options which can be implemented in organizations looking for IT advancement. Technological advancements in every field are necessary and should be used by organizations striving for their development. Every organization whether big or small needs to be updated and want to invest more in the field of information technology. Every organization works specifically on improving their operations and processes with the help of latest information technology techniques and processes. Large companies focus more on these types of investments in order to get the maximum output from its operations and to earn more revenues.

Project Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Project Managment - Essay Example The activities follow a systematic order according to priority needs while coordination among them is profusely maintained. Distributing the tasks among the project staff is important as this will simplify the activities. Once it is done, collection of articles is conducted in order to proceed for sorting them out. Managing articles is more essential than photo collection as articles are undoubtedly the main focus of the magazine. The project manager (PM) should depend on the shortest time. This will make him organize and systematize activities for a successful and early completion of the project. Besides, coordination among the people in the project is important and the PM should motivate his team for it. Both CPA and WBS frameworks are important for a project. However, WBS as a top-down model can assess only from the top management point of view that may ignore activities happened at lower levels. But CPA is adequate in detailing the activities. Circle and arrow diagram also aptly shows the project details. Significance: WBS, OBS and CPA are essential frameworks that help the project manager to explain people involved in the project about the project details. It is the responsibility of the project management team under the PM to do a WBS or CPA. The University magazine project contains top-down and bottom-up approaches for identifying and organizing the project activities. CPA framework studied the critical issues of the project and prioritized the tasks accordingly. WBS and OBS frameworks are adopted in order to break the project down into smaller segments. The University magazine project adopts CPA, WBS and OBS tools for proper planning and scheduling. These tools divide the project into different smaller segments, which results in speedy development of the project. The new project is expected to update the standard of the university magazine to a

Principles Of Marketing Management Chocolate in the UK Essay

Principles Of Marketing Management Chocolate in the UK - Essay Example Thorntons' website is a strong source of sales and allows customers to pick and chose chocolates. Thorntors also promotes its new products readily. Unique season based product packages such as wedding favours are also highly demanded. The company provides chocolates of various ranges including Belgian, Winter, Viennese,etc. Chocolates of various types such as milk chocolate, dark chocolate, mint chocolate, etc., are also available for customers This research paper seeks to analyze the current market standing of the company via a comprehensive swot analysis. The findings of this analysis shall be used to frame the marketing and positioning strategies of the company. Thorntors chocolate has been in the UK market for over 100 years and possesses a turnover of 210 million pounds in the year 2008. Along with general retail outlets, Thorntons also sells its products through the internet, mail order and by using other commercial services. Analyzing Thontorns in depth:- Thorntors poses a challenging test to any marketer. The company boasts of its legacy, however, it faces increasing competition from newer entrants that threaten to torment its reign as a top chocolate company. A swot analysis of the company shall help understand aspects that it can rely on and things it needs to work on to cement its position as the top chocolate company.... 6) Premium brand positioning. Weaknesses 1)Retail Outlets’ failure to meet targets. 2)No customized products at retail stores. 3)History of problems with hand finished chocolates. 4)Weak performance by OWN Stores channel. Opportunities 1)Export market potential. 2)Product Innovation to counter economic downturn. 3)Discovery of new ranges such as biscuit desserts can help enhance brand equity. Threats 1)Fluctuating raw material and dairy prices. 2)Rising inflation and affordability issues. 3)Economic downturn and customer’s changing preferences. 4)Failure to address retail sales issue before competitors can gain advantage. Target Market and Seeking new opportunities:- Thorntons is a premium brand of chocolate that has established considerable brand equity over the 99 years of its existence. While the company welcomes and appreciates every walk in customer, there are specific people it targets with each of its innovative products. Kingston Upon Hull is the market that Tho rntons seeks to capure this Christmas. The city is located in the East Riding of Yorkshire and has a population of around a quarter of a million people. Hull is home to around 97% local residents while a small minority group of within 1000 people reside in the entire city. The city boasts a high percentage of people who use personal transport over public transport and the economic conditions of the people are relatively good. There is however, a 6.2% unemployment rate which acts as a threat to potential market. Hull is also home to several types of restaurants, including Chinese, English, French, Italian etc (Hull and East Reading, 2011).The city acts as a busy port and economy is built around trading and seafaring. Considering the company’s premium positioning, it will

Tradition from my father Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tradition from my father - Essay Example As far as what I have heard of him, he has always been very paternalistic. I once heard a story by my mother describing my father ´s character. This is as follows: A newly-married couple visited Yujoo, where my grandparents lived. The male was my father ´s cousin. At the time my father had not started his business and he only had five thousand Won (roughly $5.00US) in his pocket. He gave all of his money to his cousin saying, â€Å"Keep it for your taxi fare.† Later on my parents had to borrow their own taxi fare from someone else to get home. My family would go to the best restaurants no matter how the business was doing. I have never heard my father say, â€Å"Please tighten up your budget.† This has even been at moments when economically I have not been well. I think my mother has not heard it either. He has never talked about his business affairs at home, however, his mood changes to aggressiveness such as when â€Å"he is in trouble† according to his sister, just to alarm my mother rather than hearing it from him. Not so long ago, he told me that he never took buses or economy class flights, in a proud manner, while he was drinking with me. I did not feel him to be arrogant when he was saying it. I thought that it was cool of him. At that moment, I wished I could make more money than he. At the same time, I thought, â€Å"I am not going to stay like this forever†. He is the kind of person that would never express his feeling or his real thoughts, at least, not in front of my younger brother or me. He would rather say, whatever one has inside, one keeps it to ones self. I call it â€Å"the educational tone!† When I was a youngster, I did not know that he was trying to teach me something. As I grew up, I understood some of his sayings. Now, I think I do not only understand him, but I also know him, and he might even know how I approve the way he is. When my family got together during the years he would say less

Tax Treatments for Individual Returns Essay Example for Free

Tax Treatments for Individual Returns Essay A. Recommended Tax Filing Status The tax filing status that I would recommend is Married Filing Joint. The reason for this is that the IRS has various tax breaks for married persons that file together that are unavailable if you file married filing separate. It also affect the tax rate, they will pay a lower rate of taxes if they file together than they would if they filed separately. A2a. Taxable and Non-Taxable Income Taxable Income for the couple would include the following items: Spouse A’s income from the partnership, Spouse A’s income from the part time job, Spouse B’s income from the electronics firm, and the dividends that were received by Spouse A from Company E. Their Non-Taxable Income items would be: The child support that spouse B receives (child support is nontaxable because it was taxed as income on the parent that is paying it), the interest received on Municipal Bonds (municipal bonds are tax exempt), and the income on the sale of their personal residence is tax exempt because it was their primary residence and they lived there for the required amount of time for the exemption of 500,000 (since they are joint filers). A2b. Capital Gains and Losses The couple has 5,000 in short term capital losses from the day trading while spouse B was unemployed. These losses can be netted against any capital gains that may exist. For example if the sale of the rental property resulted in a long term capital gain, however the rental property is a passive activity so the short term loss can only be claimed for 3,000 and the remaining amount would be carried forward. A2c. Profit or Losses from Sale of Property The profit from sale of the couple’s personal residence would not be taxed. Their personal residence was lived in for at least 2 of the last 5 years and  was under the cut off of the exemption of 500,000 after their adjusted basis calculation was deducted from their sale price. The profit from the sale of the rental property would be taxed as mention in the paragraph above. Depending on how the adjusted basis came out it would either be an ordinary loss or a capital gain. A2d. Partnership Income and Losses Spouse A received a K-1 reporting the share of the partnership income as 142,000. This amount will be reported by the couple on their schedule 1040 as income. The cash withdrawal of 83,500 would most likely not be considered a gain (the determining factor for this is whether or not the amount of Spouse A’s interest in the partnership is higher or lower than the withdrawal amount.) A2e. / A3. Passive Activity Gains and Losses The couple has passive activity from the rental properties that they own but are managed by a local realty company, which means they are not actively participating. Their gross rents are 23,000 and their expenses/depreciation total 29,200. The result of this activity is a passive loss of $6,200.00 The couple also has the gain on the sale of the rental property that could be passive because again it is from their rental properties that they do not actively participate in. The maximum amount of loss they could claim from rental properties is 25,000 per the IRS regulations. A4. Adjustments to Income (on the 1040 form this area is called Adjusted Gross Income) There are multiple adjustments and deductions available to the couple in the 1040 AGI section. The alimony that Spouse A pays can be listed in this section as an adjustment, this will lower their income. Because alimony paid is a deduction to the payer. Alternatively the child support amount that they have listed will not affect anything; you do not need to include it in your income so it is not an adjustment to income. Spouse A’s health  insurance would qualify them for a self-employed health insurance deduction. The contributions to Spouse A’s Keogh plan are also an adjustment to income, this is because they can be deducted in the year they are contributed so that the contributions to the plan are â€Å"tax free†. However, I am unsure about the calculation of maximum because the IRS states that: â€Å"Retirement plans for self-employed people were formerly referred to as â€Å"Keogh plans† after the law that first allowed unincorporated businesses to sponsor retirement plans. Since the law no longer distinguishes between corporate and other plan sponsors, the term is seldom used.† (Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People, 2014) The moving expenses are not an adjustment to Income, the reason for this is that on form 3903 there is a distance test worksheet, when the calculation is done it shows the move was not a difference of 50 or more miles since the move was 52 miles minus the distance to her previous job of 3 miles it is only 49. This does not qualify them to deduct their expenses. A5. Deductions The itemized deductions that the couple would be allowed to take are a deduction for their medical expenses in the amount of expenses that exceeds 10% of their Adjusted Gross Income (line 38 on 1040). So they would take their 10% of their AGI and subtract that number from their total medical expenses and the remaining amount is the available deduction. I don’t believe this would result in much of a deduction if any in their situation. The 6,000 in charitable contributions would be an itemized deduction. However, the 2,600 in business suits is not a valid deduction because you can wear a business suit as everyday clothing. If the clothing were a uniform or something more specifically required by the job that she would not be able to wear in place of her everyday clothes then the amount would be deductible. Due to these calculations, I would recommend to the couple that they take the standard deduction of 12,200 because I believe this would be higher than  their total for itemized deductions. A6. Tax credits Because the couple has a dependent that is in college and living at home they may be eligible to take the American opportunity credit or the lifetime learning credit these credits are available to someone that pays college expenses for themselves or a dependent. They cannot take both however, only one education credit is allowed per year so they would want to calculate which is more beneficial. The couple has dependent children, so they might also be able to take a child tax credit of up to 1,000 per child however, their adjusted gross income may be too high which would phase the credit out to 0. Without doing all of the calculations I am not certain as to whether or not they would actually get this credit. It is also possible that they would qualify for a savers credit which is based upon contributions to a qualifying retirement plan, but again I am not sure if they would end up being over the adjusted gross income limit to receive this credit. References Partners Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (2013 ). (n.d.). Partners Instructions for Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (2013 ). Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1065sk1/ch02.html Publication 523 (2013), Selling Your Home. (n.d.). Publication 523 (2013), Selling Your Home. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/publications/p523/ar02.html Publication 544 (2013), Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets. (n.d.). Publication 544 (2013), Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/publications/p544/index.html Ten Facts about Capital Gains and Losses. (n.d.). Ten Facts about Capital Gains and Losses. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Ten-Facts-about-Capital-Gains-and-Losses1 1040 Central. (n.d.). 1040 Central. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/1040-Central Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People. (n.d.). Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Retirement-Plans-for-Self-Employed-People

Measurement Take Off Works Techniques

Measurement Take Off Works Techniques 1. A new trainee Quantity Surveyor has been provided for you by your Senior Quantity Surveyor and asks you to train him and get his assistant for your work. Now you are planning to give him measurement take off works. Before giving, instruct him by demonstrating the different ways of using measurement in your day to day work and explain how the technique differs according to situations on a construction project. (P1.1) BUDGET If we are going to start our work, first we need to know about the client’s budget. So the first step of a construction is client went to an architect and he/ she gives hoe much of land the client have and what type of building the client need and what are the functional going to happen in that building in future. So the architect will gathered the client’s information’s and the architect will produce some of the design in his mind. So this time is the budget will become a valuable thing. The architect needs to know about the client’s budget. So this times the client and architect coming to the QUANTITY SURVEYOR. This time the QS get the designs and he will calculate the estimated budget or cost to that designs. Than the client can check these designs and the costs of the project and he/she can decide which design will suitable for his/her budget. Like these situations we need to ask the client’s budget and we need to consider about the cost making process. COST CHECKING The next step is cost checking. Sometimes the budget of the client will higher than our estimated cost and sometimes lowers than our cost. So the cost checking will very useful in this situation. In this case if the budget of the project is higher than clients budget we can give some ideas to the client. For an example we can deduct one room or the size of the room. So the cost can change. Sometimes the budget of the client will higher than our cost. In these cases we can give some ideas about the additional works like we can put a roof top garden or add a bathroom for the visitors separately. BOQ (Bill of Quantity) Starting of an extend, foremans QS will need to plan BOQ with faultless estimation and assessing and afterward embed costs into the delicate archive which is given by private or open QS. There are two sorts of agreement record which are bump entirety contract and BOQ contract. Knot entirety contract is the agreement record involves a BOQ without amounts. Thus, the QS will need to do his own particular estimation focused around the drawings and afterward turn out with faultless amounts. BOQ contract implies the agreement archive involve BOQ with amounts. Along these lines, the QS simply need to do estimating for those archives. INTERIM VALUATION Interim valuation method is the like a installment system. We can give some installment paying methods to the client. For example we can ask little much of amount before the site clearance and after finishes of the we ask little much of amount for the foundation process. QS Will plan between time costing to customers QS so that the builder can learn of his money related position and make fitting move made when vital. Builders QS is in charge of caring for the money related enthusiasm of the foreman and work in conjunction with private practice on the planning of between time installments. FINAL ACCOUNT QS Will collecting information for the last record from the begin of the agreement to guarantee that it will be finished in all its perspectives and to give the foreman his legitimate qualification under the agreement. TASK 3 3. Since one of your colleagues is going on a sudden leave, you have to take over one of his urgent work. He has been preparing a Bill of Quantities (BOQ) for a hotel project and now it is half way done. Now, you are requested to go through the BOQ, proof read it, make necessary modification make it ready to issue for the tender invitation on day after tomorrow. Even though BOQ is prepared and priced by the Quantity Surveying professionals, it is referred in different stages of the project by several parties such as, design (Consultant), production (Contractor) Maintenance (Facilities Management). Therefore, you have to modify the final BOQ in a way of understandable by all the parties involved. Assess the relationship between measurement such parties. (P1.2) THE DESIGN TEAM At its easiest level, configuration is a situated of arrangements and the procedure by which those arrangements are accomplished. Mechanical configuration is a fundamental piece of the more extensive thought of designing that brings a set of aptitudes, information and understanding to the creation and generation of valuable workmanship effects. Designing configuration learning is regularly implanted in people and hierarchical forms. That outline might be ordered into two sorts: radical and incremental. Radical outline may be considered a completely new idea, outlined sans preparation, starting from the earliest stage . By differentiation, incremental, or ordinary configuration, which is much more regular, takes up a large portion of the configuration time of architects and designing divisions. Typical outline includes delivering new or adjusted relics through the synthesis of off-the-rack innovations, and also minor progressions to existing advances. Outline is a multi-level and various leveled movement. While a few components of the outline process may be performed simultaneously, in different cases specialized demands imply that one thing isnt possible before an alternate. In the outline of complex items, for example, real designing builds, there have a tendency to be expansive quantities of moderate designing configuration assignments. One of the inquiries creators always face is whether measured, discrete segments might be planned autonomously of one another or whether interface instability and unpredictability mean that sub-frameworks need to be planned simultaneously and in connection to one another. Seclusion infers that suppliers will have the capacity to impart normal data and concentrate on their specific regions, as in the machine business where framework integrators, for example, Dell Machines, require not plan or make any of the part parts. For this situation, item architectures are partitioned into semi-autonomous modules which can later be connected to to make the machine framework. In different cases the degree for seclusion is more obliged due to the many-sided quality and iterative nature of the interfaces between segments. At the point when compelling, configuration can achieve a coupling between specialized conceivable outcomes and business sector requests and opportunities. For sure, different advancement studies have demonstrated that outline is regularly a key segment in deciding intensity. In assembling, a significant part of the quality included is presently spotted in outline rather than on the manufacturing plant floor. Configuration is accordingly critical, yet there are few investigations of execution estimation in building situations, and configuration exercises are seldom and inadequately measured. The point of execution estimation is to evaluate the adequacy of designing configuration practices and outline administration inside firms, or systems of firms (counting suppliers and clients) with a perspective to change. Execution estimation is the m ethodology of evaluating the proficiency and adequacy of activity . It typically includes the gathering of individual measures of execution and their mix into an execution estimation framework. A late overview of execution estimation among UK firms demonstrated that few firms have deliberate methodologies to execution estimation, however that formal frameworks were more significant than the typical casual routines ordinarily depended upon. Execution appraisal in assembling has generally centered on account, assembling, and 7 hierarchical estimations. Generally few measures really include outline and planners PRODUCTION TEAM A planner, structural and mechanical architects, a development foreman and many subcontractors, they all look the development process from their own particular perspective. As opposed to transitory nature of task groups, the business has some long and settled in customs. While each one venture is diverse, each undertaking is approached conservatively in methodology terms. Actually, there is no procedure see in average development task, while the undertaking is seen at the same time as autonomous venture stages and diverse performing artists with no regular objective. Focused offering is additionally profoundly established in development custom. The most minimal bidder gets the contract. The builder creates the item which is then reviewed. The task is incrementally acknowledged or rejected focused around conformance to specialized speculation. Different measures of execution which identify with the methodology itself are disregarded or in any event doled out to a removed optional posi tion of significance. In this circumstance the industry cannot keep doing what they have continuously improved and expect results. It need to also new process arranged methodologies to progress their operations. The procedure administration ideal model, concurring to which organizations ought to concentrate on and be sorted out around various center business forms, has been perceive to give critical focal points as far as enhanced hierarchical execution . TASK 4 4. since there are not enough drawing details on Services, your Senior Quantity Surveyor directs you to allow a provisional sum of Rs. 4,500,000.00 for the installment of Services. Explain the terms Prime Cost (PC) and Provisional Sums (PS) and elaborate on their usage. (P3.4) Add a provisional sum for the services bill as mentioned above in the BOQ you have prepared. PROVISIONAL SUM Produced similarly as New Class items above but are for work which cannot be accurately measured at the time of preparing the BOQ.This situation can happen due to incomplete information about the proposed work or in case whereby the extent of work cannot be fully determined until the work is completed. Such work will be subjected to re measurement after the work has been carried out. A temporary entirety is a remittance, generally evaluated by the expense specialist that is embedded into delicate archives for a particular component of the works that is not yet characterized in enough detail at tenderness to cost. This, together with a short depiction, permits tenderness to apply stamp up and participation costs inside their general delicate value and make remittance for the work in the agreement program. An illustration of a circumstance where a temporary aggregate may be suitable is when work is needed underneath a current structure, where the ground conditions cant be dead set until the current structure is obliterated and the ground opened up. Temporary totals could be characterized or unclear: Characterized temporary totals are considered to have been represented inside the builders value and system. In actuality the builder is taking the hazard that their evaluation will be sufficient. Vague temporary totals are not represented in the foremans value and system. This implies that the customer is taking the danger for the works and the builder may be qualified for an expansion of time and extra installments. Temporary totals are accommodated in diverse routes in distinctive manifestations of agreement, and a few types of agreement might be a bit unclear about how temporary entireties ought to be taken care of, specifically in regards to conformity to the system. Temporary totals put either the foreman or the customer at danger of startling expenses or deferrals. Concurring the expense of such work or expansions of time that may be guaranteed can bring about pressure between the builder and customer. Hence, they ought to just be utilized if all else fails, they ought not be a simple fall-back position for experts (who are not bearing any of the danger) when outlines are inadequate or data is hard to get. EXAMPLE:- Weaknesses might be a typical temporary thing. In the event that the builder experiences weaknesses at the structuring level in the framing tray which need to be uncovered out and refilled with granular sub base material before the way is constructed, they can summon the temporary things without expecting to arrange an agreement variety. In the event that no weaknesses are experienced then you get charged nothing whatsoever. PRIME COST NOMINATED CONTRACTORS In the construction process of a project the contractor is the main responsible person in the site. Sometimes the contactor will fix some SUB-CONTRACTORS to do some kind of works. But the sub contractor also works under the contractor in the selected site. Sometimes the client will recommend some parties to do some works. Some times that person is well known person for the client. This type of the person called nominated contractor. EMAMPLE:- THE CLIENT WILL APPOINT A SUB CONTRACTOR FOR DOING THE DOOR AND WIDOWS. BECAUSE THE CLIENT KNOW THE SUB CONTRACTORS. BECAUSE THE SUB CONTRACTOR WORKED BEFORE THE CLIENT’S BROTHERS HOUSE FOR FIXXING THE DOORS AND WINDOWS. THEY ARE VERY GOOD WORKERS TOO. SO THE CLIENT WILL RECOMMEND THIS PERSON TO DO THE DOOR WORK IN HIS HOUSE ALSO†¦ THE MAIN CONTRACTOR ALSO AGREED WITH THAT.BUT THE SALLARY FOR THE SUB-CONTRACTOR WILL CONTROL BY THE MAIN CONTRACTOR. THAT MEANS THE SUB CONTRACTOR ALSO CONTROLLED BY THE MAIN CONTRACTOR IN THE SELECTED SITE. So the sub contractor nominated by the client. But the sub contractors need to work under the main contractor for this project. TASK 5 5. Several forms of Bills of Quantities Contract Documents are used in Construction Industry. a. Analyze the different forms of BOQ and Contract Documents (P4.1) b. Determine the correct form of contract documentation for this project (P4.2) There are different styles of bills of quantities as follows: Trade Bill of Quantities Elemental Bill of Quantities Provisional Bill of Quantities Non-Specified Bill of Quantities Specified Bill of Quantities Builder’s Bill Operational Bill of Quantities ELEMENT BOQ The most widely recognized organization for a BOQ is an essential bill. Components of measured works are organized into arrangement that is clear and straightforward and cost at a settled cost contract (protuberance whole). The BQ might be disconnected effortlessly and rapidly with estimation and descriptions effectively assembled in the natural configuration. Under every component, the request of works for the most part takes after development succession e.g. site readiness lives up to expectations, waste works, earthworks, arrangement layer works, base layer works, surface layer works, and arranging works. TRADE BOQ The customary bill of amounts is orchestrated in exchange request. The request of exchange is regularly in the same request as the detail. Separated from being masterminded in exchange request, each one exchange has the office for every portrayal to be evaluated and totaled to give the aggregate expense of each one exchange. The aggregate exchange expense is then exchanged to a general synopsis to get the aggregate task cost. To have the capacity to allude to any segment in the bill of amounts, every depiction is given a different and unique reference. It is additionally typical practice for each one page to be numbered and named with the venture name and exchange. Provisional Bill of Quantities A bill of amounts containing temporary amounts and issued to tenders on the premise that the charged amounts will be balanced amid development where they vary from the genuine amounts, it is regularly utilized where the drawings and determination cant be settled before calling tenders Non-Specified Bill of Quantities As the name intimates, this archive contains just the things of work and their amounts as a standalone report differentiated from the particulars reports of these works. Specified Bill of Quantities The details are consolidated with the bill of amounts as preface notes and the bill of amounts portrayal. The amounts dont ordinarily structure piece of the agreement yet introductions and depictions are a piece of the agreement. It is Similar to the customary BOQ yet has the expansion of a short kind of particular included with each of the separated materials and work for every particular exchange. Additionally at the start of the Specification Bill are statements blanketing such things as: Notice to tenders General states of agreement Builder’s Bill This technique is utilized by manufacturers to get a fast guide or plan cost. It is focused around the value for every square meter (m2) of comparable sorts of work finished by the developer and is utilized primarily as a part of the Domestic Housing field. A comparative system utilizing the solid shape premise that is the cubic meter (m3) substance of the building is utilized for the Commercial and Industrial field. It must be accentuated that this system for computing is utilized absolutely as an aide or plan cost by the manufacturer. Operational Bill of Quantities Are a tendering archive for evaluating expenses arranged by engineers that depicts a development extend as far as the operations (which incorporate work and plant) required fabricating it. ADVANTAGES Differentiates the expenses of work, materials and plant along these lines empowering expense control Builds the exactness of assessing. Expenses could be identified with elements that specifically focus them, for example, general plant use. Permits the reuse of data made in assessing for venture administration. Empowers better estimation of variety in works. DISADVANTAGES Cumbersome and immoderate to create so expanding the work of the builders estimators. Profoundly changes the assessing methodology. Does not fit in with current contracts as to work variety. It needs machines to permit quick control of the information: this did not exist when it was initially proposed. The configuration group in charge of making the operational bill requires not be extremely acquainted with the construct capability issues as they influence the development process.

Peptidylarginine Deiminase and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Peptidylarginine Deiminase and Neurodegenerative Diseases Abbreviations AD: Alzheimers disease CNS: Central nervous system GFAP: Glial fibrillary acidic protein NFT: Neurofibrillary tangles MAP2: Microtubule-associated protein 2 MBP: Myelin basic protein Nef3: Neurofilament 3 PAD: Peptidylarginine deiminase RT-PCR: Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction SP: Senile plaque Introduction Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimers disease and Multiple Sclerosis, are a group of progressive conditions, which affect a persons learning abilities and the day-to-day routine management. Citrullination/deiminasion is a process describing the enzymatic involvement in conversion of arginine residues into citrulline in target proteins. Here, is a review, entailing the main features of the peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) enzyme family, with a view on its history, presence and future in neurodegenerative disorders. Background The amino acid Citrulline was firstly mentioned in 1955 (Smith and Young), and the citrullination process of L-arginine conversion to L-citrulline was firstly described in 1958 (Rogers and Simmonds).Citrullination is a posttranslational process, and also results in a 1Da decrease in size, due to an hydrolytic reaction (Vossenaar et al., 2003; Gyorgy et al., 2006; van Venrooji and Pruijn, 2003). However, it was only in 1977 when peptidylarginine deiminases, the enzymes that are responsible to the citrulline modification, were firstly described (Rogers et al.). Alzheimers disease: GFAP, an astrocyte-specific marker protein, is involved in the progression of Alzheimers disease via PAD2 citrullination. The increase of PAD2 can be seen in the hippocampi of AD patients. GFAP and vimentin citrullination was also identified by using a 2D gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Activation of PAD occurs upon a mass influx of Ca2+, and therefore an increase in citrullinated proteins (Keller et al., 2000; Maccioni et al., 2001). The PAD family consists of five known members (1-4 6), each is present in a different area in the human body. PAD2 and PAD4 area of activity is the central nervous system (CNS), although PAD2 in larger amounts than PAD4 (Kubilus and Baden, 1983; Watanabe et al., 1988; Terakawa et al., 1991). Yet, the role of the different PADs is still largely understood. PAD3 was found in the root sheaths of hair follicles, as part of the citrullination process of keratinisation (Kanno et al., 2000). PAD4 was found in human myeloid leukemia HL-60 cells, and later in peripheral blood granulocytes (Nakashima et al., 1999; Asaga et al., 2001). PAD2 and PAD4 are also present in the myelin sheath. In fact, hyper-citrullination of myelin basic protein (MBP) is now known to result in myelin sheath loss in multiple sclerosis patients (Moscarello et al., 1994; Wood et al., 2008; Musse et al., 2008). Moreover, PAD4 is also involved in histone deimination in brain tissues of such patients (Mastronardi et al., 2006). Following immunocytochemical studies, PAD2 have been detected in glial cells and astrocytes (Asaga and Ishigami, 2000; Vincent et al., 1992; Asaga and Ishigami, 2001), microglial cells (Vincent et al., 1992; Asaga et al, 2002), oligodendrocytes (Akiyama et al., 1999), and Schwann cells (Keilhoff et al., 2008). Furthermore, during hypoxic insult (Asaga and Ishigami, 2000) and during kainic acid administration (Asaga and Ishigami, 2001; Asaga et al., 2002), neurodegenerative regions shown to have PAD2 activity and deimination of various proteins. These findings suggest that PAD2 plays an important role in protein citrullination in neurodegeneration.  Senile plaques (SPs) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are the two main forms of protein aggregation, and therefore responsible for neuronal death in AD (Katzman, 1986; Smith, 1998). They are mainly found in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, when levels of PAD2 were detected to be more than threefold higher in the hippocampus than in the cortex of rat brains (Asaga and Ishigami, 2000). A study by Ishigami et al. (2005) was set to evaluate the involvement of protein citrullination in AD patients brains, and identified two citrullinated proteins- GFAP and vimentin, by using a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. It went on to identify also a citrullinated MBP, again in the hippocampus region of the AD patients. Multiple sclerosis: Higher rates of citrullinated MBP were found in the CNS of MS patients than in the CNS of healthy adults (Mastronardi et al., 2006; Nicholas and Whitaker, 2002; Raijmakers et al., 2005). However, similar levels of citrullination have been observed in children under the age of 4. An indication that citrullination is involved in the development of mature myelin (Moscarello et al., 1994; Wood et al., 1996). Due to known increased citrullination, PAD2 and PAD4 rates in myelin from normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) of seven MS patients were examined, and were found to be significantly higher compared to NAWM from six control individuals, using immunoblots with PAD2 and PAD4-specific antibodies (Wood et al., 2008). The anti-citrulline antibody- F95, was also used in the same manner, resulting in the same outcome (Nicholas et al., 2004). The study by Wood et al. (2008) also discovered that PAD2 can citrullinate 18 out of 19 arginine residues, whereas PAD4 can only citrullinate 15 out of 19 arginine residues localised in MBP. It has been found and reported that MPB deimination increases its susceptibility to degradation by proteinases, which are elevated around active plaques and in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (Cuzner and Davison, 1973; Einstein et al., 1972; Richards and Cuzner, 1978). It has been also reported that macrophages and reactive astrocytes are able to produce the proteinase cathepsin D (Allen and McKeown, 1979; Prineas and Wright, 1978). Cathepsin D then produces peptides that contain the immuno-dominant epitopes of MBP, located in the CSF of MS patients (Whitaker, 1977; Whitaker and Granum, 1980). It was then discovered that different MBP strains, containing greater amounts of citrulline per mole of MBP than their counterparts were digested at a much faster rate by cathepsin D (Pritzker et al., 2000). An explanation for this discovery by Pritzker et al. can be explained by the three-dimensional atomic structure of the human MBP they created. The stru cture showed a clear correlation between the open conformation of the atomic structure and the higher rate of citrullination in-site, which allows cathepsin D a better access to Phe-Phe linkages in MBP, and so an increased digestion of citrullinated MBP. Current perspectives In addition to MBP, GFAP also have shown to be citrullinated in MS. In a study by Nicholas et al. (2004), GFAP citrullination rate in both the NAWM and lesions of patients with SPMS was compared with the white matter of control brain tissue, and was found to be in higher amounts. The findings were obtained using GFAP anti-citrulline antibodies (such as P95) and confocal microscopy. On an extended study by Nicholas et al. (2004), using dual staining wit GFAP anti-citrulline antibodies, it was found that lesions taken from nine MS patients were highly citrullinated compared to white matter taken from six healthy control individuals. Western blotting has also confirmed that the majority of the deimination occurred in GFAP. PAD4 is enable to translocate from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, due to its ability to carry a functional nuclear localisation signal (Nakashima et al., 2002). PAD4 modification can also affect nuclear proteins, histones H2A, H3 and H4, and nucleophosmin/B23 (Hagiwara et al. 2002).   Deimination of histones causes change in chromatin confirmation, and therefore gene transcription gets turned off (Shimoyama et al., 2010). In a study by Cuthbert et al. PAD4 was found to inhibit transcription of estrogen-responsive genes in MCF-7 cells. Levels of PAD4 in MCF-7 cells were shown to rise in response to estrogen, followed by deimination of the pS2 promoter by PAD4, which coincides with downregulation of this gene (Cuthbert et al. 2004). Wang et al. showed that incubation of purified substrates H3 and H4 with PAD4 in vitro generated citrullinated H3 and H4, which coincided with a dramatic reduction in H3 Arg 17 and H4 Arg 3 methylation (Wang et al. 2004). This effect was also mimicked when HL-60 granulocytes were incubated with PAD4 in vivo, in the presence of calcium ionophore. PAD4 was found to be elevated in NAWM from 17 patients with MS, compared to 9 control subjects (Mastronardi et al. 2006). This was shown by fractionation of these samples into membrane-containing, non-microsomal, and nuclear fractions, followed by quantitation of the amount of PAD 1-4 antibody binding. The nuclear fraction contained a 3.5-fold increase in the level of PAD4 in patients with MS compared to controls. Through western blot analysis using anti-PAD4 antibody, this was attributable to increased PAD4 in the MS NAWM. Using an antibody against citrullinated proteins, this increase in PAD4 was found to be accompanied by an increase in citrullinated proteins in brain tissue taken from patients with MS, whereby strong nuclear labeling in NAWM from MS patients was seen compared to controls (Mastronardi et al. 2006). This increase in PAD4 was also accompanied by an increase in nuclear histone H3 citrullination, as shown by immunostaining of MS and control tissue with an antibody against citrullinated protein, which revealed strong nuclear staining of cells in the MS white matter. These findings were confirmed by western blot analysis, which showed a gre at abundance of citrullinated H3 in MS NAWM, with only traces in white matter from controls. This citrullination of histones greatly affects the chromatin structure and function, as deimination of arginine residues of histones decreases their positive charge, which compromises its ability to interact with DNA and possibly resulting in apoptosis of affected cells (Moscarello et al. 2007; Wang et al. 2004). It is not known whether excess citrullination is a primary or a secondary event to the inflammatory process in MS or whether the regulation of PAD isoforms may be part of the genetic susceptibility to MS. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the PAD4 gene, also associated with the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis, increase mRNA stability, suggesting that this could result in greater PAD4 protein expression and hence increased citrullination of proteins (Suzuki et al. 2003). Increased PAD2 protein expression in human astrocytes in vitro has also been reported in response to inc reased intracellular calcium levels when cells were subjected to elevated pressure or in response to hypoxia (Bhattacharya et al. 2006a, b; Sambandam et al. 2004). A number of pathological processes, including excitotoxicity, occur in the CNS of patients with MS, which would lead to raised intracellular calcium ions in neurons and glia (Shideman et al. 2006; Smith 2007). Large numbers of activated macrophages are present in inflammatory demyelinating sites within MS lesions. Since these cells contain PAD enzymes and there is increased cell death due to raised intracellular calcium ions, this would lead to activation of PAD enzymes when released from dying cells (Bhattacharya et al. 2006a). Thus myelin proteins may be citrullinated both intracellularly, during myelin degradation following phagocytosis, as well as extracellularly, following release of PAD enzymes from dying cells. In addition, significant hypomethylation of the PAD2 promoter has also been found to occur in MS NAWM compared to controls, which may lead to increased PAD2 expression and subsequent increase in citrullination, as hypomethylation leads to increased gene transcription (M astronardi et al. 2007). Future perspectives Conclusion In the last 60 years since it was firstly mentioned, the research area of PADs have made a tremendous leap and came about with many important discoveries regarding the mechanisms and pathologies concerning PADs. However, it still seems to be largely unknown and have many possible routes of research. Especially when considering the wide localisation of the PADs throughout the human body. Such areas of research may ask after the origins of the calcium influx to the brain tissues, and the timing of that physiological event; how may the rate of calcium influx affect the rate of neurodegeneration; what would prove to be the most effective PAD-inhibitor treatment, etc. However, looking at the milestones along the research of PADs, it does seem that the right questions are being asked, and that the available/emerging technologies are suitable for this research. References Smith, D. G. and Young, E. G. J. Biol. Chem., 217, 845 (1955). Rogers GE, Simmonds DH. Content of citrulline and other amino acids in a protein of hair follicles. Nature. 1958; 182(4629):186-7. [PubMed: 13566234] Vossenaar ER, Zendman AJ, van Venrooij WJ, Pruijn GJ. PAD, a growing family of citrullinating enzymes: genes, features and involvement in disease. Bioessays. 2003; 25(11):1106-18. [PubMed: 14579251] Gyorgy B, Tà ³th E, Tarcsa E, Falus A, Buzà ¡s EI. Citrullination: a posttranslational modification in health and disease. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2006; 38(10):1662-77. [PubMed: 16730216] Van Venrooij WJ, Pruijn GJ. Citrullination: a small change for a protein with great consequences for rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Res. 2000; 2(4):249-51. [PubMed: 11094435] Rogers GE, Harding HW, Llewellyn-Smith IJ. The origin of citrulline-containing proteins in the hair follicle and the chemical nature of trichohyalin, an intracellular precursor. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1977; 495(1):159-75. [PubMed: 410454] Keller, J.N., Hanni, K.B., Markesbery, W.R. Impaired proteasome function in Alzheimers disease. J Neurochem. 2000; 75:436-439. Maccioni R. B., Muà ±oz J. P. Barbeito L. The molecular bases of Alzheimers disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Arch Med Res. 32, 367-381 (2001).   Ã‚