Red Blood Cells Cytoskeleton Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Red Blood Cells Cytoskeleton - Article Example The membrane of a red blood cell is a lipid bilayer with transmembrane proteins and a myriad of filamentous proteins along the whole membrane. In the membrane cytoskeleton, spectrin is the most commonly found protein, forming long and elastic heterodimers, that join head to head to form heterotetramers, the tails of which are composed of F-actin, protein 4.1, and actin-binding proteins called dematin, adducin, tropomyosin, and tropomodulin (Stokes). This whole meshwork of proteins is attached to the cytoskeleton at two places: â€Å"one mediated by ankyrin that couples spectrin to Band 3 and the other mediated by protein 4.1 that couples the junctional complex to Glycophorin C† (Stokes, para.2). So, we see that human red blood cells are deficient in actin–myosin–microtubule cytoskeleton, which is helpful in cell shape determination, according to a recent research (Acton 69). The proteins of the cytoskeleton plasma membrane interact to form a barrier for toxins, b ut help the ions and information signals to pass in and out of the cell membrane. Stokes, David. â€Å"Architecture of the Cytoskeleton in Red Blood Cells.† Laboratory of David Stokes. NYU School of Medicine, 2011. Web. 18 Nov 2012.

Prevention of Violence in American Society Assignment

Prevention of Violence in American Society - Assignment Example Chante seems to regret her decision. It is because she confessed to the jury that she tampered with the evidence and did not commit murder. It gets also seen that after she had pulled into her garage, she lowered the door and sat down and then began crying and apologizing to Biggs who was moaning. Therefore, even though she made a call to help herself, we see her crying and regretting her decisions and apologizing to Biggs. She also blabbed, â€Å"Lord, I’m sorry, what do I do?† (MSNBC 2). Thus, it is evident that she regretted her decisions. First, once she hit the man, she could call 911 and ask for help from the police or any ambulance in order to save. Biggs could have survived because as she drove into her garage he continued to lose some blood; hence, making it more difficult to save his life. Alternatively, she could have driven to a nearby fire station, hospital or police station instead of driving towards her garage where she could not find any help. Therefore, the only step that Chante could have taken in that situation involves the police or other parties like health officers and not involving her friends who have no idea on handling the case. In this case, she could have saved Biggs’s life and get pardon on the jury for trying to save the Biggs’s life that got lost due to excess bleeding. The today’s technology could have changed the situation. The presence of CCTV in town makes it easier to monitor what went on in a certain event. The police could have easily identified the incident and follow her before she could do anything to tamper the evidence. The CCTV will also show the footage and determine how she reacted all that time after she hit the man and determine her real intentions in the event. Thus, the jury would have heard more evidence and change the verdict in the case, and the jury could have taken less time to determine the truth of the case.

Enhancing Democracy Through Digital Communication Systems Media Essay

Enhancing Democracy Through Digital Communication Systems Media Essay In this essay, I aim to discuss whether the digital communication systems enhance democracy by offering greater access and participation to citizens as compared to traditional media. I will address this by defining the terms digital communication systems and democracy and exploring the differences in digital communication systems and traditional media and how these differences lead to enhancement of democracy on digital communication systems. Digital communication systems also known as network communication or new media simply refers to a constant reformulation of the relations between the media forms, interconnecting interpersonal communications established between different media in a network based on the interactions between users, mass media companies and, perhaps, regulators (Cardoso, 2011: 119). The digital communication system, as the name suggests, makes use of digital technology and devices and comprises of the Internet, mobile communications, and social media and so on. As compared to traditional media, such as the newspaper, radio and television, digital media offers more opportunities of democracy as it provides greater accessibility and allows for more participation by consumers. The arrival of social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others changed the Internet (Cardoso, 2011: 131). These social platforms have the most impact on how digital communication systems enhance democracy. ENHANCING DEMOCRACY THROUGH DIGITAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS Firstly, content flow is less controlled over the Internet as compared to traditional media. Traditional media is still largely regulated by the state and/or media owners. Depending on the country, the media institution may be governed by the state or by private media owners. The owners of the institution direct the type of news that is broadcasted. Simply put within a specific old medium, people do not have many choices (Wei and Hindman, 2011: 220) An example would be the direction taken by media in Singapore. The media organisation in Singapore, MediaCorp, is owned by the Government and therefore, media is heavily regulated and news published will either be neutral or in favour of the Government. Not just with news, the types of programmes aired by MediaCorp are more conservative and slanted towards the Government (Seow, 1998: 183 194). Only through the Web are citizens able to express their views on the Government and its policies and receive and collect more diverse opinions from fellow citizens and not just a one-sided direction by the traditional media. With digital media, content on the Internet is available to almost everyone and anyone. There are limitations and regulations on the Web when it comes to content sourcing, however, with the advancement of technology; it is easily possible to get round that limitation and regulation. (Jin, 2011: 42) According to Bonfadelli, Wei and Hindman states that in contrast to traditional mass media, the new media such as the Internet provide much more diverse content and an unprecedented level of user controllability. The content supply on the Internet is not structured by journalists and is, therefore, heterogeneous and potentially unlimited (Wei and Hindman, 2011: 220). Jin gives an example of the criminal conviction of Conrad Black. As one of the most influential controllers of the global commercial media system, the conviction of Black confirms that people should not place all their trust in the mainstream media (Jin, 2011: 43) He explains that there is a need for the audience to produce alternative information sources and platforms for expression of their opinions. Only then will society be able to expand the avenues within interactive social networking and communication (Jin, 2011: 43). All the audience needs is a click of the button on their laptops or mobile phones and news and information will be readily available for consumption. A citizen from Australia can find out about happenings in Africa and be able to obtain viewpoints from different sources, and not just the one perspective that traditional media provides, all while on-the-go or from the comfort of his house. Secondly, audience participation helps enhance democracy as it becomes more active with the development of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as well as with the growth of blogs and forums. Consumers interact on these sites and get almost instantaneous response. The popularity of these sites also gives rise to citizen journalism, whereby the consumers become the producers, putting their content whether its their view on an issue or an original work of theirs onto the Web. The intent of this citizen participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, widespread and appropriate information that is required to strengthen the democracy (Riaz and Pasha, 2011: 90) All these forms of audience participation give voice to the issues of the world. The digital communication systems can have political impact on a country as well. A countrys laws and policies can be shaped as the citizens use of digital communications system changes. For example, some individuals and parties have taken to the Web for their presidential elections, such as the Barrack Obamas presidential campaign. Obamas successful online strategy in 2008, with the use of social networking sites saw Obama winning the election to becoming the President of the United States. With the elections on-going in the states now, President Obama has taken to social media again Reddit in particular. This time, Mitt Romney followed suit, taking over Twitter to gain foothold. Social media makes it easier for candidates to interact with the citizens and vice versa. Global Voices Online is an example of how audience participation online encourages democracy. According to its website, Global Voice seeks to aggregate, curate and amplify the global conversation online shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We work to develop tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices, everywhere, to be heard (Global Voice, 2011). Global Voices Online acts as a platform for free, diverse and neutral voices (Riaz and Pasha, 2011: 90) and having more voices in the public arena can add to a more lively democracy (Riaz and Pasha, 2011: 93). These multimedia platforms have enabled new ways of bearing witness through technology and the ability to create media events; raise issues of aesthetics, cognitive distance or proximity as well as our ability to empathize and relate to human suffering (Jin, 2011: 124). This differs from traditional media where feedback and a consumers voice can only be heard if the media institution decides to broadcast it. Therefore, even traditional media institutions have jumped onto the Internet and social media bandwagon, inheriting the notion that it is important to keep abreast with of whats going on in the world so as to be not caught off-guard and be able to react accordingly (Cardoso, 2011: 120) Thirdly, the intercreative possibilities of social Web practices are leading to different kinds of representations and constructions of truth (Boler, 2008: 6). Boler explains the statement using the Persian Gulf War in 1991 as an example. She explains that one could not evidence the deceptions of television news spin easily as public archives could not be made, but now, information and sometimes, videos are easily accessible off the Internet that consumers now are able to easily determine what is factual and what is not. Consumers now demand and expect the truth. With the reach and accessibility of digital communications, political, education and the other institutions are pressured into doing the right thing and media institutions are pressured to report the truth. This is because citizen journalists have wrecked the stories about political corruption, police violence and other concerning issues to local and international communities (Riaz and Pasha, 2011: 92). It has become harder for the media, Government and any other corporations to get away when injustice has been done by them. An example would be China. After the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, China experienced an unprecedented openness in its media coverage (BBC News, 2008). Citizen journalism started flourishing as the Chinese media (were) instructed not to cover this kind of story, and a member of BBC and five other journalists were detained for a short time for approaching the parents (BBC News, 2008). This kind of story referring to articles on local corruption resulting in shoddy construction (BBC News, 2008). Unless a valid explanation was provided by the Chinese Government, talk on corruption causing the death of 87,000 citizens will not disappear. The Chinese Government then went to the extreme by sentencing activists who were investigating the cause of collapsing buildings to jail. The Chinese media might have avoided reporting on corruption and the cause of collapsed buildings, but it was not possible to stop citizen journalism from spreading like wildfire. DIGITAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AGAINST DEMOCRACY The Internet could also become a double-edged sword as the freedom on the Web leads to misuse of the freedom and of the technology. As content become increasingly available to the public, piracy and copyright has become a major concern. The public now has free access to information and entertainment that previously had to be paid for. Now that its free, would the consumers want to pay for it? They do not, which is what led to the drastic increase in consumers downloading songs, videos and even e-books online through sites like LimeWire. In situations like this, the Internet does not enhance democracy but instead, undermines the value of the work by the original owner. CONCLUSION The digital communication systems have greatly impacted not just the media industry, but also on education, politics, cultural and social aspects. The consumers rely on the media to separate facts and tangible realities from assumptions and spin, to provide a reliable account of what is really going on (Hettiarachchi, 2011). Only with an unbiased and factual report will the consumers be able to form their own viewpoint. With less regulated content flow, audience participation on social media and the constant demand for truth, digital communication systems are increasingly enhancing democracy as compared to traditional media.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay -- Robert Louis Stev

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde We see much of the story through Mr Utterson’s eyes. He leads the reader through the tale. But to begin with, he seems a surprising character for Stevenson to choose. Only when we know the book better do we realise how appropriate he is. The book ‘‘The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’’ is a horror story written by Robert Louis Stevenson and was publishes in 1886. The title which the author gave this book makes the book sound more like a mystery story than a horror. The title also makes it sound as if Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde are two separate people. The character ‘‘Mr Utterson’’ plays a big part in the story. He leads the reader through the story although he is not the narrator. In the opening words of the story it says that Mr Utterson is a lawyer. In the opening paragraph Mr Utterson is described as ‘‘a man of rugged countenance, that was never lightened by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backwards in sentiment; lean, long dusty, dreary, and yet somehow loveable. This shows that Mr Utterson has two sides to him just like Dr Jekyll has. On one hand it says he is boring and cold but on another hand it says that he is a good friend and he is loveable. Mr Utterson is completely described in one paragraph. I believe that the whole story is about having a good and a bad side to them. I think that Robert Louis Stevenson name’s Mr Utterson as he did because Utterson sounds like utmost meaning extreme depth. It says that when Mr Utterson is at ‘‘friendly meetings and the wine is to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye’’. This shows he has a taste for good wines yet in another sentence in the book it says ‘‘He was au... ... prostitute. This just shows what society was like back then. The book ‘‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’’ was one of the first ever real horror books to be published. When Robert Louis Stevenson was young his mother was often ill and his nanny used to tell him horror stories at a young age. This turned Stevenson bad and got him drinking and getting prostitutes. This is partly were his book came from. The book obviously had an affect on the people because after the book was published the Ripper murder’s started to appear. People said that ‘‘The book was coming to life’’. I feel I have shown that Mr Utterson is a main and important part of the story ‘‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’’ and that he is man of trust. I also think I have shown what society was like in Victorian times. I think that without Mr Utterson in the book it would not have worked as well as it did.

Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing Essay

1- Yes, government should perform a cost analysis before privatization, especially if the government will remain as a participant in the bidding process. The cost analysis will provide the government with cost information for accurately pricing the bid. In case the government is not going to be a participant in the bidding process, the cost estimate will provide the government with an estimate on how much to pay for a service. For example, if the government wants to engage in a firm fixed price contract, a cost analysis will provide an accurate estimate of the cost and government can adjust the estimate for labor contractor rates and profit to price the contract. 2- For pothole filling activity direct labor and materials are relatively easy to trace directly, but it is more difficult to allocate indirect costs to the service. In order to apply ABC in Department of Transportation, reconciling with controller’s records, the team correctly identified in phases 1 and 2 all the basic activities. There were 35 activities, one of them being â€Å"pothole patching†. The labor hours and direct materials assigned for this activity were easy to be traced so the direct labor and materials were precisely determined in the â€Å"Pothole Filling Cost† table. A few comments about the overhead costs: The model allocated costs for fixed assets and unused equipment, which is one of the strengths. The model also adjusted the current year capital purchases and added back the depreciation (the consumed portion of the purchase price). We think that was an appropriate decision in order to have a true cost for this activity. The city already had an accounting system to trace the depreciation, and that was an advantage. It is debatable the decision not to include the headquarters expenses. In fact those costs may vary up or down depending on who does the pothole filling – municipal workers or private contractors. Decision was that these expense to â€Å"remain in the city† but they don’t necessarily have to. A true  cost for the service would be to allocate them in the overhead costs. It is a bit unclear if the overhead costs captured in the â€Å"Pothole Filling Cost† table are strictly associated with pothole filling activity. We know that the team identified the indirect and support costs associated with the 35 primary activities. It is difficult however to allocate those costs to pothole filling activity only. For example how much would be Facility Expense slice for this service? We should assume that a reliable allocation method was utilized, since the other 34 activities should also have overhead costs traced for other potential bids. Regarding overhead costs allocation by region, a brief calculation reveals that some sort of allocation was utilized for costs, however it is not clear on what basis. Four fixed costs out of seven do follow the same allocation pattern, however that allocation does not follow the â€Å"tons filled† ratio. We should also notice that the model analyzed the cost occurred during winter months, in order to prepare a bid for spring. If pothole filling is a season specific activity, the actual costs could be slightly different and the bid should be adjusted accordingly. Maybe a better idea was to apply the ABC model considering actual costs incurred during the previous spring. 3- Yes, letting the municipal employees see the ABC estimates and giving them the opportunity to reduce their costs was a good practice as it provided several benefits. Due to several past factors, the city’s departments had been operating on a less than optimal level and had high overhead costs. For example the supervisor to worker ratio was too high, and the department of transportation carried excessive capital assets (vehicles). Sharing the ABC estimates and giving the opportunity to reduce costs allowed them to improve efficiency. The municipality was able to pinpoint the problem issues and fix them, such as half the supervisors were dismissed. This would allow the city to be competitive with the private sector in the bidding process. ABC estimate sharing provided an additional benefit as a buy-in from the  employees and the union. As the employees and the ABC estimators worked together to generate the estimates, they realized the data was showing the problems that they did not anticipate such has the high supervisor ratio. They recognized that ABC will be very essential for them to lower their costs and become competitive. The employees needed to be competitive with the private sector to keep their jobs. 4- We will assume that the â€Å"Indirect Cost Pool† includes supervisor’s expenses (which should be reduced by 50%) and overhead costs. In this case the bids for Northwest and Northeast quadrants are calculated in Exhibit B. Comparing with the actual pothole filing costs per ton in January-March, we could clearly see a dramatic decrease of indirect costs and rolling stock costs. Overall the bid for both quadrants is by far more competitive than it would have been without the ABC analysis and cost reduction. 5- If the administration continues to outsource city services through competitive bidding and assuming the private sector is able to aggressively under bid the city, the administration will have to dismiss the idle workforce, selloff unused fixed assets and update the ABC estimates accordingly. As the number of outsourced contracts grows in count and size, the administration will also need to enhance its contracting and performance management capabilities.

Nervous Wedding Day

As the bright yellow-red sun settled along the seashore, the tan soft sand blew on my red like tomato face. I wondered if this uncomfortable scenery was going to be the same as for my angelic wedding in just two days. In just two days, I was marrying the love of my life and I couldn't be more nervous than a shaking and terrified pig at a slaughter house. The day came and this terrible humid weather made me sick, but when I saw my handsome soon to be husband with his glimmering eyes stare at my silky embroider dress, I melted like a popsicle during summer.My experience of this day was memorable because of the horrible weather, my panic attacks, and the fascinating union of my husband and I. All I could think about was how my sparkling makeup looked after the sweat drops that rolled throughout my skin. I kept asking myself why I let my husband choose the venue! The blue water looked as brilliant as the sunshine hit on it, causing such a humid weather. I thought to myself, â€Å"Are my guests going through this too? † I prayed that they wouldn’t be able to notice the nasty drops roaming on their face.As I was getting walked through the isle, all I could see were tiny like ants sweating gallons of drops. It couldn’t be possible, my family and friends were not too pleased. For a minute I felt like running away because of the embarrassment I felt towards my guests and their discomfort. Time was going as slow as the rain clouds reaching the dessert. Finally, the ceremony was over; it seemed like an eternity. Now it was time to jump and party! The humidity was long gone, the beautiful moon shone over my guests. Everything was too good to be true.We greeted the invites with a wide smile from ear to ear and a hug as tight as a corset. Our friends and family started getting served, until a horrible torment of wind came in. â€Å"Oh no! †, I shouted, first the humidity and now sand. My wedding was supposed to be as amazing and magical as a Disne y movie. I started with my horrible panic attacks. I lacked breath like a fish out of the sea, gasping for air. I saw my husband running as fast as a flash towards me, holding me and blowing air to my face with a paper fan. Slowly I recuperated from this horrible attack.I was relieved when I heard the manager from the venue say he was prepared for unexpected weather with his indoor ballroom. I felt like back in high school when the professor cancels a test you didn’t study for. Now that we were inside, nothing could go wrong! After all the troubles, my husband and I enjoyed the juicy chicken bathed in a special sauce, the eight stair white cake and the non-stop dancing of our wedding. I had forgotten the true meaning of this day because the conflicts we encountered. I had not realized that this was the day I married my highs school sweetheart.This was the day my heart, my soul, and all of me were unified to my other half. With the simple thought that I was going to spend the rest of my life with my husband, it made my heart pound so strong that I could hear it rumble in my ears. I felt a warm tingly sensation inside of me seeing myself reflected in the mirror with my long-tailed dress. My feelings moment before my wedding were immensely beautiful, feelings I had never experienced before. So many things went wrong on this day but as long as I went through them with my husband, it should be as easy as the breeze that blew at my wedding.My wedding day experience can be described as memorable. It was such a memorable day because of the horrible weather, my panic attacks, and the wonderful union of my husband and me. The horrible weather made me worried that the guests were as uncomfortable as a fat lady with a dress that doesn’t fit. My panic attacks wore me out just like the feeling after a three hour workout at the gym. This day was hectic and made me nervous, but knowing I had my husband next to me, made everything worth it. I wouldn’t chan ge this memorable day for anything†¦maybe just a better venue!

Structures Of Resisitance Essays - Land Management, Feudalism

Structures Of Resisitance Essays - Land Management, Feudalism Structures Of Resisitance The nature of interaction between traditional agrarian society and the modern world has remained a controversial debate amongst anthropologists, sociologists and political theorists. It remains contentious as to whether the dominance of modern values over traditional is desirable; whether the arrival of the market and modern commerce betters or worsens the conditions of rural society and its relationship with the metropol; whether such change is received with apprehension or optimism by the members of rural society. Joel Migdal, for example, puts forth certain arguments proposing the concept of culture contactthat exposure and contact are the causes of change. Migdal identifies three reasons suggesting why such change would be likely to occur: (1) The benefits of the modern far outweigh the benefits of the traditional. (2) The individual is free from severe institutional restraints which would prevent him from making an unimpeded decision. (3) Those individuals who select the new are rational and are optimisers, and those individuals who do not accept the modern fail to do so because of wrong or nonrational values. Most theorists, however, tend to agree that modern society, for good or bad, is clearly encroaching on traditional agrarian society and gradually moulding its values, economic systems and sociopolitical institutions into variants of the modern equivalent. However, this consensus fails to account for one extremely significant fact: that despite the overwhelming economic, political and cultural dominance of the modern world, traditional agrarian structures continue to persist in various forms: the feudal estates of Third World countries, plantations and latifundismos in Southern Italy and much of Latin America, and so on. The questions thus arise: why do such traditional social relations persist in spite of the modern impulse? Why do customs and rituals and social codes play such an important part in determining rural society? Why do inefficient labour-intensive technology and archaic labour organisation systems continue to determine the process of economic production? And why do state attempts at modernising rural production continually face defeat and fail to effect conclusive change? This paper attempts to answer these and other questions through an analysis of two similar anachronistic structures that exist in the contemporary world: the Italian latifondo and the Latin American latifundismo. Both structures are organised in a very similar manner, and an analysis of both presents a holistic picture of their social and economic organisation. The paper begins by describing the administrative structure of the latifondo, and then goes on to suggest that the socioeconomic peculiarities of the enterprise may be at least partially explained by the rational voluntarist behaviour of the landlord, who allows old structures to persist in light of their cultural peculiarity. In The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, Anton Blok describes the Sicilian latifondo as being in its main features involutionary. Blok invokes this term while alluding to a complex process in which certain structures undergo internalisation and fixity, as suggested by Clifford Geertz in Agricultural Involution. Involution, according to Geertz, refers to the overdriving of an established form in such a way that it becomes rigid through an inward elaboration of detail. Bloks study of the latifondo leads him to conclude that this agrarian enterprise underwent such a process at both the social and the economic level. Before further exploring this process, however, it is necessary to first understand the power structure and organisation of the Sicilian latifondo. According to Blok, the latifondo was typically leased out to a gabelloto, who in turn hired a number of permanent employees to manage the enterprise. These administrators generally comprised an overseer (soprastante) and a number of field guards (campieri). The overseer was the gabellotos man of confidence he dealt with the peasants set to work on the estates and took care of the general protection of the enterprise. The campieri assisted the overseer in his work, and constituted a kind of private police force which, in the absence of an efficient formal control apparatus, claimed to maintain law and order in the countryside. This hierarchical structure is replicated in Latin American latifundios, as described by Ernest Feder in Latifundios and Agricultural Labour. Feder further describes the Latin American latifundismo as being characterised by absentee landlordism. He asserts that for the rural worker almost every estate

Jellyfish Facts

Jellyfish Facts Among the most extraordinary animals on earth, jellyfish (Cnidarians, scyphozoans, cubozoans, and hydrozoans) are also some of the most ancient, with an evolutionary history stretching back for hundreds of millions of years. Found in all oceans of the world, jellies are made up of 90 to 95 percent water, compared to 60 percent for humans. Fast Facts: Jellyfish Scientific Name: Cnidarian; scyphozoan, cubozoan, and hydrozoanCommon Name: Jellyfish, jelliesBasic Animal Group: InvertebrateSize: Bell diameter of two-tenths of an inch to over six and a half feetWeight: Under an ounce to 440 poundsLifespan: Vary between a few hours to a few yearsDiet:  Carnivore, HerbivoreHabitat: Oceans throughout the worldPopulation: UnknownConservation Status: Not Evaluated Description Named after the Greek word for sea nettle, cnidarians are marine animals characterized by their jelly-like bodies, their radial symmetry, and their cnidocytes- cells on their tentacles that literally explode when stimulated by prey. There are about 10,000 cnidarian species, roughly half of which are anthozoans (a family that includes corals and sea anemones); the other half are scyphozoans, cubozoans, and hydrozoans (what most people refer to when they use the word jellyfish). Cnidarians are among the oldest animals on earth: Their fossil record stretches back for almost 600 million years. Jellyfish come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. The largest is the lions mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), which can have a bell over six and a half feet in diameter and weigh up to 440 pounds; the smallest is the Irukandji jellyfish, several species of dangerous jellyfishes found in tropical waters, which measure only about two-tenths of an inch and weigh well under a tenth of an ounce. Jellyfish lack  a central nervous system, a circulatory system,  and a respiratory system. Compared to vertebrate animals, they are extremely simple organisms, characterized mainly by their undulating bells (which contain their stomachs) and their dangling, cnidocyte-spangled tentacles. Their nearly organless bodies consist of just three layers- the outer epidermis, the middle mesoglea, and the inner gastrodermis. Water makes up 95 to 98 percent of their total bulk, compared to about 60 percent for the average human being. Jellyfish are equipped with hydrostatic skeletons, which sound like they might have been invented by Iron Man, but are actually an innovation that evolution hit on hundreds of millions of years ago. Essentially, the bell of a jellyfish is a fluid-filled cavity surrounded by circular muscles; the jelly contracts its muscles, squirting water in the opposite direction from where it wishes to go. Jellyfish arent the only animals to possess hydrostatic skeletons; they can also be found in starfish, earthworms, and various other invertebrates. Jellies can also move along ocean currents, thus sparing themselves the effort of undulating their bells. Weirdly, box jellies, or cubozoans, are equipped with as many as two dozen eyes- not primitive, light-sensing patches of cells, as in some other marine invertebrates, but true eyeballs composed of lenses, retinas, and corneas. These eyes are paired around the circumference of their bells, one pointing upward,  one pointing downward- this gives some box jellies a 360-degree range of vision, the most sophisticated visual sensing apparatus in the animal kingdom. Of course, these eyes are used to detect prey and avoid predators, but their main function is to keep the box jelly properly oriented in the water. Wikimedia Commons Species Scyphozoans, or true jellies, and cubozoans, or box jellies, are the two classes of cnidarians comprising the classic jellyfish; the main difference between them is that cubozoans have boxier-looking bells than scyphozoans and are slightly faster. There are also hydrozoans (most species of which never got around to forming bells and instead remain in polyp form) and staurozoans, or stalked jellyfish, which are attached to the seafloor. (Scyphozoans, cubozoans, hydrozoans, and staurozoans are all classes of medusozoans, a clade of invertebrates directly under the cnidarian order.) Diet Most jellyfish eat fish eggs, plankton, and fish larvae, converting them to energy in an alarming pattern known as an energy-loss pathway. That kind of pathway consumes energy that would otherwise be used by forage fish who can be eaten by top-level consumers.  Instead, that energy is being communicated to animals which eat jellyfish, not part of the higher food chain. Other species, like upside-down jellies (Cassiopea species) and Australian Spotted Jellyfish (Phyllorhiza punctata), have symbiotic relationships with algae (zooxanthellae), and they obtain enough carbohydrates from them to not need additional food sources.   Lions mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) eating Sarsia tubulosa.   Cultura RF/Alexander Semenov/Getty Images Behavior Jellyfish practice what is called vertical migration, arising from the ocean depths to the surface in large aggregations known as blooms. In general, they bloom in the spring, reproduce in the summer, and die off in the fall. But different species have different patterns; some migrate once or twice a day, and some migrate horizontally following the sun. The jellies most injurious to humans, the Irukandji species, undergo seasonal migrations which bring them into contact with swimmers in the tropics. Jellyfish spend all of their time is seeking food, escaping predators, or finding a mate- some set a trap with their tentacles arranged in a spiral pattern, an impenetrable curtain for their prey, or array their tentacles in a big field around their bodies. Others simply drift or swim slowly, dragging their tentacles behind them like a trawler net.   Some species are pleustonic, meaning they live at the air/water interface year round. Those include the sailing jellies, like the Portuguese man-of-war, the Blue Bottle, and the By-the-Wind Sailor Jelly (Velella vellal), which has an oblong blue raft and a silvery vertical sail. Like most invertebrate animals, jellyfish have very short lifespans: Some small species live for only a few hours, while the largest varieties, like the lions mane jellyfish, may survive for a few years. Controversially, one Japanese scientist claims that the jellyfish species Turritopsis dornii is effectively immortal: Full-grown individuals have the ability to revert back to the polyp stage, and thus, theoretically, can cycle endlessly from adult to juvenile form. Unfortunately, this behavior has only been observed in the laboratory, and T. dornii can easily die in many other ways (such as being eaten by predators or washing up on the beach). Reproduction and Offspring Jellyfish hatch from eggs which are fertilized by males after females expel the eggs into the water. What emerges from the egg is a free-swimming planula, which looks a bit like a giant paramecium. The planula soon  attaches itself to a firm surface (the sea floor, a rock, even the side of a fish) and grows into a stalked polyp reminiscent of a scaled-down coral or anemone. Finally, after months or even years, the polyp launches itself off its perch and becomes an ephyra (for all intents and purposes, a juvenile jellyfish), and then grows to its full size as an adult jelly. Humans and Jellyfish People worry about black widow spiders and rattlesnakes, but pound for pound, the most dangerous animal on earth may be the sea wasp (Chironex fleckeri). The biggest of all box jellies- its bell is about the size of a basketball and its tentacles are up to 10 feet long- the sea wasp prowls the waters of Australia and southeast Asia, and its sting is known to have killed at least 60 people over the last century. Just grazing a sea wasps tentacles will produce excruciating pain, and if contact is widespread and prolonged, a human adult can die in as little as two to five minutes. Most poisonous animals deliver their venom by biting- but not jellyfish (and other cnidarians), which have evolved specialized structures called nematocysts. There are thousands of nematocysts in each of the thousands of cnidocytes on a jellyfishs tentacles; when stimulated, they build up an internal pressure of over 2,000 pounds per square inch and explode, piercing the skin of the unfortunate victim and delivering thousands of tiny doses of venom. So potent are nematocysts that they can  be activated even when a jellyfish is beached or dying, which accounts for incidents where dozens of people are stung by a single, seemingly expired jelly. Threats Jellyfish are prey for sea turtles, crabs, fish, dolphins, and terrestrial animals: There are some 124 fish species and 34 other species that are reported to feed either occasionally or mainly on jellyfish. Jellyfish often establish symbiotic or parasitic relationships with other species- the parasitic ones are almost always detrimental to the jellyfish. Many species- sea anemones, brittle stars, gooseneck barnacles, lobster larvae and fish- hitch rides on jellyfish, finding safety from predators in the folds. Octopuses are known to use jellyfish tentacle fragments on sucker arms as added defensive/offensive weaponry, and dolphins tend to treat some species like underwater frisbees. Jellyfish have been considered a delicacy for human diets since at least 300 CE in China. Today, fisheries raising jellyfish for food exist in 15 countries.   But jellyfish may have the last laugh. Far from being a threatened species, jellyfish are on the increase, moving into habitats that have been damaged or destroyed for other marine creatures. Increased blooms can have negative impacts on human economic activities, clogging cooling water intakes at coastal power plants, bursting fishing nets and contaminating catches, killing off fish farms, reducing commercial fish abundance through competition, and interfering with fisheries and tourism. The primary causes for habitat destruction are human over-fishing and climate change, so the reason for the uptick in jellyfish blooms can be assigned to human interference. Alastair Pollock Photography/Getty Images Sources Chiaverano, Luciano M., et al. Evaluating the Role of Large Jellyfish and Forage Fishes as Energy Pathways, and Their Interplay with Fisheries, in the Northern Humboldt Current System. Progress in Oceanography 164 (2018): 28–36. Print.Dong, Zhijun. Chapter 8 - Blooms of the Moon Jellyfish Aurelia: Causes, Consequences and Controls. World Seas: An Environmental Evaluation (Second Edition). Ed. Sheppard, Charles: Academic Press, 2019. 163–71. Print.Gershwin, Lisa-ann. Jellyfish: A Natural History.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.Hays, Graeme C., Thomas K. Doyle, and Jonathan D. R. Houghton. A Paradigm Shift in the Trophic Importance of Jellyfish? Trends in Ecology Evolution 33.11 (2018): 874–84. Print.Richardson, Anthony J., et al. The Jellyfish Joyride: Causes, Consequences and Management Responses to a More Gelatinous Future. Trends in Ecology Evolution 24.6 (2009): 312–22. Print.Shikina, Shinya, and Ching-Fong Chang. Cnidaria. Encyclopedia of Reproduction (Second Edition). Ed. Skinner, Michael K. Oxford: Academic Press, 2018. 491–97. Print.

Product Hunt Books A new opportunity for discoverability

Product Hunt Books A new opportunity for discoverability Product Hunt Books: A new opportunity for discoverability? We all know the importance of a book’s â€Å"launch.† That moment when you finally launch your characters into the outside world and put them at the mercy of your readers. That moment when, if you’re publishing digitally, it all becomes about making friends with Amazon’s little elves.Once you’ve let your mailing list, Twitter followers and Facebook fans know about your new book, it becomes time to look for new readers, places and audiences.Product Hunt Books might be one to strongly consider. While famous in the â€Å"tech† space, the Product Hunt website is much lesser-known among authors, and that is where the opportunity lies (as there is less competition!). To let Reedsy readers know more about it, we managed to interview Erik Torenberg, founding team member  of Product Hunt and Product Hunt Books, to tell us more about the platform and how you can use it. We've added our personal Reedsy opinion on the matter in italic right under  hi s answers.You can also check out Reedsy Discovery, our platform that helps indie authors gain reviews and exposure for their books!Interviewing Product Hunt founding team member Erik TorenbergHi Erik, it’s an honor to have you on the Reedsy Blog! For our non-techy readers, could you tell us quickly what Product Hunt is all about?Product Hunt is a place to discover new and undiscovered products - from apps and websites to games and books - and discuss them with other awesome people. It grew from a simple email list to talk about apps and websites into a website where people started â€Å"hunting† not only apps and sites but also books, games, movies, music, etc.More on Product Hunt: Erik’s actually being quite modest. Product Hunt is the leader in tech product discovery. Last time Reedsy was â€Å"hunted† there, we got a massive spike in traffic, and great feedback from early adopters: https://www.producthunt.com/tech/reedsy-2The way it works is: people â€Å"hunt† (submit) products, and the curators select a few that are featured on the landing page. Users can then â€Å"upvote† the products they like most after reading more about them on their product hunt page. The products that get to the top are then selected for Product Hunt’s daily and weekly newsletters.A few months ago, you launched Product Hunt Books. What was the thinking behind it? Why books?We launched books for a few reasons. First, people started hunting books on the main producthunt.com website: Peter Thiel’s Zero to One did very well, Ashlee Vance’s biography of Elon Musk did very well, Eric Ries’ new book did very well, etc.More importantly, I’m a big fan of books! I love to read, and I realized that we had a lot of readers on Product Hunt. I knew Eric Ries had started a book club and that it had gone really well, so I decided to create one as well and a few thousand people joined in just to start.A lot of publisher s and authors are convinced there is a huge â€Å"content discoverability† problem in the book publishing industry. Would you agree with that? Does Product Hunt Books aim at solving it?Yeah, I think there’s a content discoverability problem for books. There are so many books out there but I want to read stuff that has been curated for me by either people who I really respect and follow or by my close friends. So we’re really investing in â€Å"collections† to make that possible: we have a collection by Mark Cuban, Eric Ries, and many more.More on collections: Collections also exist on the general Product Hunt website and work really well. Here’s an example: https://www.producthunt.com/e/tools-for-writers: we get traffic coming from that one on a regular basis.For the future of Product Hunt Books, collections represent a huge opportunity for authors and readers. They offer every reader the opportunity to â€Å"curate† their own list of books, in a much more elegant way then Goodreads. Then, people can â€Å"follow† collections, the same way you would follow a book reviewer or blogger. As Product Hunt becomes less â€Å"tech-oriented† and gathers a more generalistic following, PHB collections could become one of the biggest players in book discoverability.How are the books featured on the Product Hunt Books page selected every day?We’ve got a team of curators who basically see the feed of submitted books and select which books to let through on the landing page every day. Those curators have been vetted by us and are people who’ve been familiar with Product Hunt for a while now.If I’m a reader, how does Product Hunt Books work? Are there any â€Å"perks† to using Product Hunt to find my next book? Do authors offer discounts on Product Hunt?Yes, some authors will do â€Å"exclusives† for Product Hunt: for Neil Strauss we did an exclusive of the first few chapters. Weâ€℠¢ll do other things like that where readers get the first few chapters for free, or exclusive pre-launches.If you’re an author, we’d love to do deals with you to offer something special to Product Hunt readers. Some publishing houses want us to do quizzes and surveys, and we’re keen on doing that. We’re also very open on working with people who are self-publishing and going outside of the traditional route.Some authors have huge followings. Aren’t you worried that they’ll just invite all their existing readers to vote for their book once it’s been â€Å"hunted†?Yes, that can always be a concern, when Ashton Kutcher or Snoop Dogg post something on Product Hunt for example - they have millions of followers. But the Product Hunt community is so big already that most of the time, it’s not going to be enough to move the needle. When Snoop posts something it sometimes goes to the top, but sometimes also doesn’t. Author s don’t have more followers than those guys do, so I’m not super worried about it!Testimonials from authors and publishersOf course, you don’t need to take Erik’s word for it. Here are two testimonials from people whose books have been featured on Product Hunt Books.Reedsy - The Fundraising Field GuideYou might remember we published a book at Reedsy a few months ago. As it was a â€Å"tech† book on fundraising, we thought that Product Hunt Books would be the perfect audience for it. And we were right, we got a nice spike on the day it was featured and over 100 upvotes on the book: producthunt.com/books/fundraising-field-guideWhat now for Product Hunt Books?To sum up, Product Books represents not only an awesome marketing channel for authors who write for a tech-savvy audience. It also presents major new opportunity for the whole book industry if it manages to establish itself as a major player in the â€Å"book discovery† game. We can defin itely see that happening: in terms of user experience and design, and through its â€Å"collections†, it is, in theory, a much better platform for readers than, say, Goodreads. The question is whether it will be able to break out of its â€Å"techy† reputation and go mainstream to touch a wider variety of readers, and genres.In the meantime, if you have a new release and want to see if Product Hunt can be good for you, submit your book here: https://www.producthunt.com/books/new and then trust the little PH elves to make it rise. They’re usually nicer than the Amazon ones.Check out today's hunted book on the Product Hunt Books page!Do you think Product Hunt Books can become a major player in book discovery? Have you had your book featured there? Please leave us your thoughts and experiences in the comments below and join the conversation!

Others Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Others - Essay Example Fortis healthcare Ltd. merged with Fortis healthcare international so as to consolidate both their local overseas operations, and in the end increase their combined revenue significantly. Milk has been differentiated to satisfy different market segments, for instance, milk is packaged in different sizes of packets e.g. 250 ml and 1litre packets. Those who cannot afford to purchase the 1litre packets can opt to purchase the 250 ml ones. Marketing mix incorporates price, place, promotion and product level (Nelson & Paul 93). The 250 ml packet can be promoted by posters around institutions where the target consumers include the students and some of the College staff. The price should be pocket-friendly since students may lack the purchasing power of the more expensive products. For Smartphone, one first identifies the need for him to purchase a Smartphone; secondly he gathers information about the Smartphone. Thirdly he evaluates the information he has gathered and finally makes a decision on whether to purchase or wait for some

Private security Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Private security - Coursework Example Additional options of where it is sourcing funds are from partnerships, client advance payments and vending. The firm also relies heavily on any of the funds that they have generated, second mortgages and credit cards (Krueger, 2002). The firm intends to use the start up funds to cover build out costs, purchase the necessary equipment and software and also to cover the facility. Initial costs of operating will also be covered by the funds, that is, taxes, payroll and utilities. The firm intends to spend forty five percent of the funds on assets so that the remaining fifty five percent could be spent on operations until it starts to make profits. The new business venture tends to accept government grants or guarantees as part of the capital structure because it will receive huge monetary rewards from it which will be in millions of dollars. The venture will also find it easier to raise more money from other government and private sectors once it receives government grants. It will therefore have high chances of being prestigious, getting instant credibility and also gaining public exposure as noted by Krueger (2002). Government grants do no have to be paid back and when the venture accepts them it means that the government will have already done research on the necessary activities that will ensure satisfaction of the public needs. This may mean that the venture will have ready customers because of the great demand for its services and products. Ratio of depth to equity measures the amount of money that a venture should borrow safely over a long time period. This is done by comparing the total debts of the venture and dividing it by the total amount of owner’s equity. The result is the total percent of what the firm is indebted. In the initial capital structure of the venture, equity consisted of both the common and preferred stock and also

Functional Analysis of Capsim Business Simulation Essay

Functional Analysis of Capsim Business Simulation - Essay Example In addition, the paper analyses how each of the functional unit integrates and interacts with other functional units. Finally, the paper provides my recommendations for a business leader in managing a $40 million manufacturing business. The simulation provides a rare chance in experiencing how managing a full business while utilizing the benefits of reports helps in showing the correlations existing between the outcomes in a business and the management decisions (Forgang, 2004). The units of the simulation include production, marketing, finance, research & development (R&D), Human resources and (TQM) total qualities management (Bossche, Gijselaer & Milter, 2011). Production involves the behaviors that firms exhibit at the market places in regards to the creation of goods along with services. This is mainly done for the purpose of satisfying their consumer wants (Dusseau & Wilson, 2010). The production managers involved in a business should engage in comprehending the relationships th at exist between the business inventory levels and their carrying costs along with their market shares (Dusseau & Wilson, 2010). They should also understand the relationship existing between their production capacities and the number of excess hours that their employees have to work to achieve their goals (Sitomer, 2010). This is because a business may end up incurring losses in their operations when their expenses in catering for the overtime hours worked and the cost of this labor exceeds their earnings (Clawson & Haskins, 2006). The production managers in a business will be responsible for producing beneficial results through their efforts of automating the production processes and increasing their manufacturing capacities (Forgang, 2004). Marketing, in a manufacturing environment, refers to the processes through which businesses indulge in creating value for their customers while at the same time building strong relationships with them (Wankel, Arthur & Stoner, 2009). It also in volves creating solutions along with relationships that will either be of long or short term benefit to the business (Dusseau & Wilson, 2010). The marketing manager in a business will be responsible for comprehending the relationship that exists between their margins on prices along with contributions and prices along with demand (Forgang, 2004). They will also be responsible for understanding the relationships existing between the promotions of their budget along with increasing awareness for the business products. The marketing manager and his team should be charged with the task of establishing the business sales budget and accessibility to these funds (Sitomer, 2010). The marketing department in a business may be affected by the new products that are being launched by the research & development departments since they had not been accounted for in their operations and are unknown in the market (Wankel, Arthur & Stoner, 2009). The activities of these departments can also be affect ed by a business’s production capacity along with the costs it incurs in its operations (Dusseau & Wilson, 2010). Finances in a business are used as measures for ascertaining whether a business is making profits on its investments or not. Finances in a business are mainly affected by their time values since they change on a day to day basis (Sitomer, 2010). Businesses allocate their money and assets to certain uses but under conditions of uncertainty or certainty (Bossche, Gijselaer

Life Styles and Food Habits Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Life Styles and Food Habits - Research Proposal Example Thus, in the modern day Canada, obesity has become a serious threat to the health of the citizens due to their changing lifestyles and food habits. In the backdrop of the prevalence of obesity as a public health problem in Canada for the last three decades, there is an emerging need to devise appropriate intervention strategies â€Å"aimed at reducing† the problem across communities (Twells et al, 2014, p.E18). Currently, the issue has acquired alarming proportions as data reveals that 55.4% of Canadians are either â€Å"overweight (34.2%) or obese (21.2%)† (p.E22). Many studies identify sedentary lifestyle and food habits of the modern humans as the major causative element for a rampant prevalence of obesity and the researchers propose the promotion of â€Å"healthy lifestyles† and improvement of â€Å"healthy eating† as the main intervention strategies for containing the menace of obesity (p.E25). In this scenario, this study gains validity as it will enable a proper understanding of how the lifestyles and eating habits of Canadians are causing the spread of obesity in the country. The scope of this research envisages the exploration of the role of sedentary lifestyles and eating habits of the Canadian people in contributing to the development of the problem of obesity in them. Some of the evidence evaluated during the course of this research has revealed that there is a dearth of investigations that explore the role of physical activity in causing obesity and the available data that connects â€Å"economic instruments† to physical activity is very â€Å"limited and indirect† (Faulkner et al, 2010, p.21). Therefore, it appears that there is much scope for the review of economic measures to encourage physical activities as an intervention strategy for the prevention of the onslaught of obesity. Similarly, food habits of the Canadians have  been seen as another major contributing factor in the development of obesity and evidence suggests that the tax policies on unhealthy food items have only a â€Å"limited impact† on the level of obesity (p.19).  

CourseWork 2hii Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

CourseWork 2hii - Essay Example It is described at different occasions to be an expression of integration of history and experiences of the past, which led to a unified meaning of its political existence. It is also defined as the set of rules put down to the public, legally distributing the power laid to them, which is acceptable to the people belonging to different organizations of the government1. Hence it is a flexible unified set of ruling principles of the British Constitution that can easily be amended so as to meet the political and legal requirements. The rule of law is one of the main principles operating the British Constitution. One of the simplest definitions given to the rule of law is the sovereignty or supremacy of law over man. With that said, Parliament sovereignty too, is not compromised at any cost, which is also one of the fundamental principles of the British Constitution with the rule of law. Human rights are a crucial aspect in accordance with which the parliament and judges amend their rule s making sure there are no compromises made, thus, the human Rights Act 1998 plays a fundamental role in the functioning of courts. However, the main object and definition of the rule of law in a wider sense also includes the upholding of basic human rights and values that are associated with justice and fairness towards its people. The preeminent function of the courts is to uphold the rule of law and human rights together. Generally, it was the parliamentary sovereignty that had been deemed the ultimate ruling principle of the British Constitution, which has recently been challenged due to the preceding constitutional changes brought about. Mainly because of the reason that Britain has an unwritten constitution, it can evolve, molding itself to the changes that take place over time in the political and legal circumstances.2 We will have to discuss the mechanism that endorses the rule of law in order to see how the constitution is based upon Human Rights Act 1998. 15 The 98 Act had magnified and enhanced the rule of law’s constitutional role since it had increased the courts ability to further scrutinize, question and reform the parliament’s legislative powers. It ensured that the rights mentioned in the 98 Act are not violated, while at the same time, the courts are bound to interpret legislation, as far as possible, to be compatible with the rules set out by the European Convention on Human Rights 1950, hereafter referred to as ECHR. This is a treaty contracted by the U.K when it became a member of the council of Europe. The rules of the 98 Act uphold the courts compliance with the rights of people as the main legislative principle in the English law and the legal system.3 Domestic courts have supported the substantive rule of law by understanding their powers under the 98 Act, making their legislation compatible with the ECHR. Declaring a directive to be incompatible with the ECHR signals that a right has been violated which is then directed to the European Court of Human Rights setup in Strasbourg. The treaty signed by the U.K, and being a member of the European council, binds them to initially follow the rules of the 98 Act and then to make a compatible legislation reconcilable with the legislation and rules of the ECHR.

Compose a paper which compares and contrast the positions of Essay

Compose a paper which compares and contrast the positions of chritsianity, Judaism, and Islam can use hinduism as well concerning Suicide f - Essay Example The distinction of suicide from another different sins is that conducted suicide permits no time for repentance. Early church gatherings denied Christian entombment to those liable of suicide. Southern Baptists have passed resolutions communicating worry about suicide in 1972, 83, 92, 96, and 2001; yet, these announcements are tangentially identified with suicide, centering upon things, for example, medication and alcohol utilize, euthanasia and assisted suicide. Suicide is sinful but it is not unpardonable sin (cf. Matt. 12:31–32; Mark 3:28–29). Suicide is a sin against God as the inventor of life. It rejects Gods power and usurps his right with respect to life and passing. Suicide is an infringement of the 6th commandment. Suicide slights the picture of God and the sacredness of human life. Suicide means poor stewardship of someones body. Suicide exhibits misled love and is harmful to others Suicide neglects the estimation of human enduring. Suicide neglects to percei ve the unnatural way of death. Jesus declined to commit a suicide (Black 2003). The individuals who take their own particular lives are actually not qualified for Jewish entombment and grieving rites–but suicide as an unreservedly picked act (with the above results) has been about characterized out of presence by psychological wellness contemplations in the advancement of Jewish law, and much of the time passings by suicide are dealt with like every other passings The individuals who take their own particular lives are actually not qualified for Jewish entombment and grieving rites–but suicide as an unreservedly picked act (with the above results) has been about characterized out of presence by psychological wellness contemplations in the advancement of Jewish law, and much of the time passings by suicide are dealt with like every other passings (Jacobs 1995). Jewish law does not, notwithstanding, place all suicides in the

CourseWork 2hii Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

CourseWork 2hii - Essay Example It is described at different occasions to be an expression of integration of history and experiences of the past, which led to a unified meaning of its political existence. It is also defined as the set of rules put down to the public, legally distributing the power laid to them, which is acceptable to the people belonging to different organizations of the government1. Hence it is a flexible unified set of ruling principles of the British Constitution that can easily be amended so as to meet the political and legal requirements. The rule of law is one of the main principles operating the British Constitution. One of the simplest definitions given to the rule of law is the sovereignty or supremacy of law over man. With that said, Parliament sovereignty too, is not compromised at any cost, which is also one of the fundamental principles of the British Constitution with the rule of law. Human rights are a crucial aspect in accordance with which the parliament and judges amend their rule s making sure there are no compromises made, thus, the human Rights Act 1998 plays a fundamental role in the functioning of courts. However, the main object and definition of the rule of law in a wider sense also includes the upholding of basic human rights and values that are associated with justice and fairness towards its people. The preeminent function of the courts is to uphold the rule of law and human rights together. Generally, it was the parliamentary sovereignty that had been deemed the ultimate ruling principle of the British Constitution, which has recently been challenged due to the preceding constitutional changes brought about. Mainly because of the reason that Britain has an unwritten constitution, it can evolve, molding itself to the changes that take place over time in the political and legal circumstances.2 We will have to discuss the mechanism that endorses the rule of law in order to see how the constitution is based upon Human Rights Act 1998. 15 The 98 Act had magnified and enhanced the rule of law’s constitutional role since it had increased the courts ability to further scrutinize, question and reform the parliament’s legislative powers. It ensured that the rights mentioned in the 98 Act are not violated, while at the same time, the courts are bound to interpret legislation, as far as possible, to be compatible with the rules set out by the European Convention on Human Rights 1950, hereafter referred to as ECHR. This is a treaty contracted by the U.K when it became a member of the council of Europe. The rules of the 98 Act uphold the courts compliance with the rights of people as the main legislative principle in the English law and the legal system.3 Domestic courts have supported the substantive rule of law by understanding their powers under the 98 Act, making their legislation compatible with the ECHR. Declaring a directive to be incompatible with the ECHR signals that a right has been violated which is then directed to the European Court of Human Rights setup in Strasbourg. The treaty signed by the U.K, and being a member of the European council, binds them to initially follow the rules of the 98 Act and then to make a compatible legislation reconcilable with the legislation and rules of the ECHR.

Audit Consultant Essay Example for Free

Audit Consultant Essay The Science of Scientific Writing If the reader is to grasp what the writer means, the writer must understand what the reader needs George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan* *George D. Gopen is associate professor of English and Director of Writing Programs at Duke University. He holds a Ph. D. in English from Harvard University and a J. D. from Harvard Law School. Judith A. Swan teaches scientific writing at Princeton University. Her Ph. D. , which is in biochemistry, was earned at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Address for Gopen: 307 Allen Building, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706 Science is often hard to read. Most people assume that its difficulties are born out of necessity, out of the extreme complexity of scientific concepts, data and analysis. We argue here that complexity of thought need not lead to impenetrability of expression; we demonstrate a number of rhetorical principles that can produce clarity in communication without oversimplifying scientific issues. The results are substantive, not merely cosmetic: Improving the quality of writing actually improves the quality of thought. The fundamental purpose of scientific discourse is not the mere presentation of information and thought, but rather its actual communication. It does not matter how pleased an author might be to have converted all the right data into sentences and paragraphs; it matters only whether a large majority of the reading audience accurately perceives what the author had in mind. Therefore, in order to understand how best to improve writing, we would do well to understand better how readers go about reading. Such an understanding has recently become available through work done in the fields of rhetoric, linguistics and cognitive psychology. It has helped to produce a methodology based on the concept of reader expectations. Writing with the Reader in Mind: Expectation and Context Readers do not simply read; they interpret. Any piece of prose, no matter how short, may mean in 10 (or more) different ways to 10 different readers. This methodology of reader expectations is founded on the recognition that readers make many of their most important interpretive decisions about the substance of prose based on clues they receive from its structure. This interplay between substance and structure can be demonstrated by something as basic as a simple table. Let us say that in tracking the temperature of a liquid over a period of time, an investigator takes measurements every three minutes and records a list of temperatures. Those data could be presented by a number of written structures. Here are two possibilities: t(time)=15’, T(temperature)=32? , t=0’, T=25? ; t=6’, T=29? ; t=3’, T=27? ; t=12’, T=32? ; t=9’; T=31? time (min) 0 3 6 9 12 15 temperature(? C) 25 27 29 31 32 32 Precisely the same information appears in both formats, yet most readers find the second easier to interpret. It may be that the very familiarity of the tabular structure makes it easier to use. But, more significantly, the structure of the second table provides the reader with an easily perceived context (time) in which the significant piece of information (temperature) can be interpreted. The contextual material appears on the left in a pattern that produces an expectation of regularity; the interesting results appear on the right in a less obvious pattern, the discovery of which is the point of the table. If the two sides of this simple table are reversed, it becomes much harder to read. temperature(? C) 25 27 29 31 32 32 time(min) 0 3 6 9 12 15. Since we read from left to right, we prefer the context on the left, where it can more effectively familiarize the reader. We prefer the new, important information on the right, since its job is to intrigue the reader. Information is interpreted more easily and more uniformly if it is placed where most readers expect to find it. These needs and expectations of readers affect the interpretation not only of tables and illustrations but also of prose itself. Readers have relatively fixed expectations about where in the structure of prose they will encounter particular items of its substance. If writers can become consciously aware of these locations, they can better control the degrees of recognition and emphasis a reader will give to the various pieces of information being presented. Good writers are intuitively aware of these expectations; that is why their prose has what we call shape. This underlying concept of reader expectation is perhaps most immediately evident at the level of the largest units of discourse. (A unit of discourse is defined as anything with a beginning and an end: a clause, a sentence, a section, an article, etc. ) A research article, for example, is generally divided into recognizable sections, sometimes labeled Introduction, Experimental Methods, Results and Discussion. When the sections are confusedwhen too much experimental detail is found in the Results section, or when discussion and results interminglereaders are often equally confused. In smaller units of discourse the functional divisions are not so explicitly labeled, but readers have definite expectations all the same, and they search for certain information in particular places. If these structural expectations are continually violated, readers are forced to divert energy from understanding the content of a passage to unraveling its structure. As the complexity of the context increases moderately, the possibility of misinterpretation or noninterpretation increases dramatically. We present here some results of applying this methodology to research reports in the scientific literature. We have taken several passages from research articles (either published or accepted for publication) and have suggested ways of rewriting them by applying principles derived from the study of reader expectations. We have not sought to transform the passages into plain English for the use of the general public; we have neither decreased the jargon nor diluted the science. We have striven not for simplification but for clarification. Reader Expectations for the Structure of Prose Here is our first example of scientific prose, in its original form: The smallest of the URF’s (URFA6L), a 207-nucleotide (nt) reading frame overlapping out of phase the NH2-terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit 6 gene has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit 8 gene. The functional significance of the other URF’s has been, on the contrary, elusive. Recently, however, immunoprecipitation experiments with antibodies to purified, rotenone-sensitive NADH-ubiquinone oxido-reductase [hereafter referred to as respiratory chain NADH dehydrogenase or complex I] from bovine heart, as well as enzyme fractionation studies, have indicated that six human URF’s (that is, URF1, URF2, URF3, URF4, URF4L, and URF5, hereafter referred to as ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND4L, and ND5) encode subunits of complex I. This is a large complex that also contains many subunits synthesized in the cytoplasm. * [*The full paragraph includes one more sentence: Support for such functional identification of the URF products has come from the finding that the purified rotenone-sensitive NADH dehydrogenase from Neurospora crassa contains several subunits synthesized within the mitochondria, and from the observation that the stopper mutant of Neurospora crassa, whose mtDNA lacks two genes homologous to URF2 and URF3, has no functional complex I. We have omitted this sentence both because the passage is long enough as is and because it raises no additional structural issues. ] Ask any ten people why this paragraph is hard to read, and nine are sure to mention the technical vocabulary; several will also suggest that it requires specialized background knowledge. Those problems turn out to be only a small part of the difficulty. Here is the passage again, with the difficult words temporarily lifted: The smallest of the URF’s, and [A], has been identified as a [B] subunit 8 gene. The functional significance of the other URF’s has been, on the contrary, elusive. Recently, however, [C] experiments, as well as [D] studies, have indicated that six human URF’s [1-6] encode subunits of Complex I. This is a large complex that also contains many subunits synthesized in the cytoplasm. It may now be easier to survive the journey through the prose, but the passage is still difficult. Any number of questions present themselves: What has the first sentence of the passage to do with the last sentence? Does the third sentence contradict what we have been told in the second sentence? Is the functional significance of URF’s still elusive? Will this passage lead us to further discussion about URF’s, or about Complex I, or both? Information is interpreted more easily and more  uniformly if it is placed where most readers expect to find it. Knowing a little about the subject matter does not clear up all the confusion. The intended audience of this passage would probably possess at least two items of essential technical information: first, URF stands for Uninterrupted Reading Frame, which describes a segment of DNA organized in such a way that it could encode a protein, although no such protein product has yet been identified; second, both APTase and NADH oxido-reductase are enzyme complexes central to energy metabolism. Although this information may provide some sense of comfort, it does little to answer the interpretive questions that need answering. It seems the reader is hindered by more than just the scientific jargon. To get at the problem, we need to articulate something about how readers go about reading. We proceed to the first of several reader expectations. Subject-Verb Separation Look again at the first sentence of the passage cited above. It is relatively long, 42 words; but that turns out not to be the main cause of its burdensome complexity. Long sentences need not be difficult to read; they are only difficult to write. We have seen sentences of over 100 words that flow easily and persuasively toward their clearly demarcated destination. Those well-wrought serpents all had something in common: Their structure presented information to readers in the order the readers needed and expected it. Beginning with the exciting material and ending with a lack of luster often leaves us disappointed and destroys our sense of momentum. The first sentence of our example passage does just the opposite: it burdens and obstructs the reader, because of an all-too-common structural defect. Note that the grammatical subject (the smallest) is separated from its verb (has been identified) by 23 words, more than half the sentence. Readers expect a grammatical subject to be followed immediately by the verb. Anything of length that intervenes between subject and verb is read as an interruption, and therefore as something of lesser importance. The reader’s expectation stems from a pressing need for syntactic resolution, fulfilled only by the arrival of the verb. Without the verb, we do not know what the subject is doing, or what the sentence is all about. As a result, the reader focuses attention on the arrival of the verb and resists recognizing anything in the interrupting material as being of primary importance. The longer the interruption lasts, the more likely it becomes that the interruptive material actually contains important information; but its structural location will continue to brand it as merely interruptive. Unfortunately, the reader will not discover its true value until too late-until the sentence has ended without having produced anything of much value outside of that subject-verb interruption. In this first sentence of the paragraph, the relative importance of the intervening material is difficult to evaluate. The material might conceivably be quite significant, in which case the writer should have positioned it to reveal that importance. Here is one way to incorporate it into the sentence structure: The smallest of the URF’s is URFA6L, a 207-nucleotide (nt) reading frame overlapping out of phase the NH2-terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit 6 gene; it has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit 8 gene. On the other hand, the intervening material might be a mere aside that diverts attention from more important ideas; in that case the writer should have deleted it, allowing the prose to drive more directly toward its significant point: The smallest of the URF’s (URFA6L) has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit 8 gene. Only the author could tell us which of these revisions more accurately reflects his intentions. These revisions lead us to a second set of reader expectations. Each unit of discourse, no matter what the size, is expected to serve a single function, to make a single point. In the case of a sentence, the point is expected to appear in a specific place reserved for emphasis. The Stress Position It is a linguistic commonplace that readers naturally emphasize the material that arrives at the end of a sentence. We refer to that location as a stress position. If a writer is consciously aware of this tendency, she can arrange for the emphatic information to appear at the moment the reader is naturally exerting the greatest reading emphasis. As a result, the chances greatly increase that reader and writer will perceive the same material as being worthy of primary emphasis. The very structure of the sentence thus helps persuade the reader of the relative values of the sentence’s contents. The inclination to direct more energy to that which arrives last in a sentence seems to correspond to the way we work at tasks through time. We tend to take something like a mental breath as we begin to read each new sentence, thereby summoning the tension with which we pay attention to the unfolding of the syntax. As we recognize that the sentence is drawing toward its conclusion, we begin to exhale that mental breath. The exhalation produces a sense of emphasis. Moreover, we delight in being rewarded at the end of a labor with something that makes the ongoing effort worthwhile. Beginning with the exciting material and ending with a lack of luster often leaves us disappointed and destroys our sense of momentum. We do not start with the strawberry shortcake and work our way up to the broccoli. When the writer puts the emphatic material of a sentence in any place other than the stress position, one of two things can happen; both are bad. First, the reader might find the stress position occupied by material that clearly is not worthy of emphasis. In this case, the reader must discern, without any additional structural clue, what else in the sentence may be the most likely candidate for emphasis. There are no secondary structural indications to fall back upon. In sentences that are long, dense or sophisticated, chances soar that the reader will not interpret the prose precisely as the writer intended. The second possibility is even worse: The reader may find the stress position occupied by something that does appear capable of receiving emphasis, even though the writer did not intend to give it any stress. In that case, the reader is highly likely to emphasize this imposter material, and the writer will have lost an important opportunity to influence the reader’s interpretive process. The stress position can change in size from sentence to sentence. Sometimes it consists of a single word; sometimes it extends to several lines. The definitive factor is this: The stress position coincides with the moment of syntactic closure. A reader has reached the beginning of the stress position when she knows there is nothing left in the clause or sentence but the material presently being read. Thus a whole list, numbered and indented, can occupy the stress position of a sentence if it has been clearly announced as being all that remains of that sentence. Each member of that list, in turn, may have its own internal stress position, since each member may produce its own syntactic closure. Within a sentence, secondary stress positions can be formed by the appearance of a properly used colon or semicolon; by grammatical convention, the material preceding these punctuation marks must be able to stand by itself as a complete sentence. Thus, sentences can be extended effortlessly to dozens of words, as long as there is a medial syntactic closure for every piece of new, stress-worthy information along the way. One of our revisions of the initial sentence can serve as an example: The smallest of the URF’s is URFA6L, a 207-nucleotide (nt) reading frame overlapping out of phase the NH2-terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit 6 gene; it has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit 8 gene. By using a semicolon, we created a second stress position to accommodate a second piece of information that seemed to require emphasis. We now have three rhetorical principles based on reader expectations: First, grammatical subjects should be followed as soon as possible by their verbs; second, every unit of discourse, no matter the size, should serve a single function or make a single point; and, third, information intended to be emphasized should appear at points of syntactic closure. Using these principles, we can begin to unravel the problems of our example prose. Note the subject-verb separation in the 62-word third sentence of the original passage: Recently, however, immunoprecipitation experiments with antibodies to purified, rotenone-sensitive NADH-ubiquinone oxido-reductase [hereafter referred to as respiratory chain NADH dehydrogenase or complex I] from bovine heart, as well as enzyme fractionation studies, have indicated that six human URF’s (that is, URF1, URF2, URF3, URF4, URF4L, and URF5,  hereafter referred to as ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND4L and ND5) encode subunits of complex I. After encountering the subject (experiments), the reader must wade through 27 words (including three hyphenated compound words, a parenthetical interruption and an as well as phrase) before alighting on the highly uninformative and disappointingly anticlimactic verb (have indicated). Without a moment to recover, the reader is handed a that clause in which the new subject (six human URF’s) is separated from its verb (encode) by yet another 20 words. If we applied the three principles we have developed to the rest of the sentences of the example, we could generate a great many revised versions of each. These revisions might differ significantly from one another in the way their structures indicate to the reader the various weights and balances to be given to the information. Had the author placed all stress-worthy material in stress positions, we as a reading community would have been far more likely to interpret these sentences uniformly. We couch this discussion in terms of likelihood  because we believe that meaning is not inherent in discourse by itself; meaning requires the combined participation of text and reader. All sentences are infinitely interpretable, given an infinite number of interpreters. As communities of readers, however, we tend to work out tacit agreements as to what kinds of meaning are most likely to be extracted from certain articulations. We cannot succeed in making even a single sentence mean one and only one thing; we can only increase the odds that a large majority of readers will tend to interpret our discourse according to our intentions. Such success will follow from authors becoming more consciously aware of the various reader expectations presented here. W e cannot succeed in making even a single sentence mean one and only one thing; we can only increase the odds that a large majority of readers will tend to interpret our discourse according to our intentions. Here is one set of revisionary decisions we made for the example: The smallest of the URF’s, URFA6L, has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit 8 gene; but the functional significance of other URF’s has been more elusive. Recently, however, several human URF’s have been shown to encode subunits of rotenone-sensitive NADH-ubiquinone oxido-reductase. This is a large complex that also contains many subunits synthesized in the cytoplasm; it will be referred to hereafter as respiratory chain NADH dehydrogenase or complex I. Six subunits of Complex I were shown by enzyme fractionation studies and immunoprecipitation experiments to be encoded by six human URF’s (URF1, URF2, URF3, URF4, URF4L, and URF5); these URF’s will be referred to subsequently as ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND4L and ND5. Sheer length was neither the problem nor the solution. The revised version is not noticeably shorter than the original; nevertheless, it is significantly easier to interpret. We have indeed deleted certain words, but not on the basis of wordiness or excess length. (See especially the last sentence of our revision. ) When is a sentence too long? The creators of readability formulas would have us believe there exists some fixed number of words (the favorite is 29) past which a sentence is too hard to read. We disagree. We have seen 10-word sentences that are virtually impenetrable  and, as we mentioned above, 100-word sentences that flow effortlessly to their points of resolution. In place of the word-limit concept, we offer the following definition: A sentence is too long when it has more viable candidates for stress positions than there are stress positions available. Without the stress position’s locational clue that its material is intended to be emphasized, readers are left too much to their own devices in deciding just what else in a sentence might be considered important. In revising the example passage, we made certain decisions about what to omit and what to emphasize. We put subjects and verbs together to lessen the reader’s syntactic burdens; we put the material we believed worthy of emphasis in stress positions; and we discarded material for which we could not discern significant connections. In doing so, we have produced a clearer passagebut not one that necessarily reflects the author’s intentions; it reflects only our interpretation of the author’s intentions. The more problematic the structure, the less likely it becomes that a grand majority of readers will perceive the discourse in exactly the way the author intended. T he information that begins a sentence establishes  for the reader a perspective for viewing the sentence as a unit. It is probable that many of our readersand perhaps even the authorswill disagree with some of our choices. If so, that disagreement underscores our point: The original failed to communicate its ideas and their connections clearly. If we happened to have interpreted the passage as you did, then we can make a different point: No one should have to work as hard as we did to unearth the content of a single passage of this length. The Topic Position To summarize the principles connected with the stress position, we have the proverbial wisdom, Save the best for last. To summarize the principles connected with the other end of the sentence, which we will call the topic position, we have its proverbial contradiction, First things first. In the stress position the reader needs and expects closure and fulfillment; in the topic position the reader needs and expects perspective and context. With so much of reading comprehension affected by what shows up in the topic position, it behooves a writer to control what appears at the beginning of sentences with great care. The information that begins a sentence  establishes for the reader a perspective for viewing the sentence as a unit: Readers expect a unit of discourse to be a story about whoever shows up first. Bees disperse pollen and Pollen is dispersed by bees are two different but equally respectable sentences about the same facts. The first tells us something about bees; the second tells us something about pollen. The passivity of the second sentence does not by itself impair its quality; in fact, Pollen is dispersed by bees is the superior sentence if it appears in a paragraph that intends to tell us a continuing story about pollen. Pollen’s story at that moment is a passive one. Readers also expect the material occupying the topic position to provide them with linkage (looking backward) and context (looking forward). The information in the topic position prepares the reader for upcoming material by connecting it backward to the previous discussion. Although linkage and context can derive from several sources, they stem primarily from material that the reader has already encountered within this particular piece of discourse. We refer to this familiar, previously introduced material as old information. Conversely, material making its first appearance in a discourse is new information. When new information is important enough to receive emphasis, it functions best in the stress position. When old information consistently arrives in the topic position, it helps readers to construct the logical flow of the argument: It focuses attention on one particular strand of the discussion, both harkening backward and leaning forward. In contrast, if the topic position is constantly occupied by material that fails to establish linkage and context, readers will have difficulty perceiving both the connection to the previous sentence and the projected role of the new sentence in the development of the paragraph as a whole. Here is a second example of scientific prose that we shall attempt to improve in subsequent discussion: Large earthquakes along a given fault segment do not occur at random intervals because it takes time to accumulate the strain energy for the rupture. The rates at which tectonic plates move and accumulate strain at their boundaries are approximately uniform. Therefore, in first approximation, one may expect that large ruptures of the same fault segment will occur at approximately constant time intervals. If subsequent main shocks have different amounts of slip across the fault, then the recurrence time may vary, and the basic idea of periodic mainshocks must be modified. For great plate boundary ruptures the length and slip often vary by a factor of 2. Along the southern segment of the San Andreas fault the recurrence interval is 145 years with variations of several decades. The smaller the standard deviation of the average recurrence interval, the more specific could be the long term prediction of a future mainshock. This is the kind of passage that in subtle ways can make readers feel badly about themselves. The individual sentences give the impression of being intelligently fashioned: They are not especially long or convoluted; their vocabulary is appropriately professional but not beyond the ken of educated general readers; and they are free of grammatical and dictional errors. On first reading, however, many of us arrive at the paragraph’s end without a clear sense of where we have been or where we are going. When that happens, we tend to berate ourselves for not having paid close enough attention. In reality, the fault lies not with us, but with the author. We can distill the problem by looking closely at the information in each sentence’s topic position: Large earthquakes The rates Therefore one subsequent mainshocks great plate boundary ruptures the southern segment of the San Andreas fault the smaller the standard deviation Much of this information is making its first appearance in this paragraphin precisely the spot where the reader looks for old, familiar information. As a result, the focus of the story constantly shifts. Given just the material in the topic positions, no two readers would be likely to construct exactly the same story for the paragraph as a whole. If we try to piece together the relationship of each sentence to its neighbors, we notice that certain bits of old information keep reappearing. We hear a good deal about the recurrence time between earthquakes: The first sentence introduces the concept of nonrandom intervals between earthquakes; the second sentence tells us that recurrence rates due to the movement of tectonic plates are more or less uniform; the third sentence adds that the recurrence rates of major earthquakes should also be somewhat predictable; the fourth sentence adds that recurrence rates vary with some conditions; the fifth sentence adds information about one particular variation; the sixth sentence adds a recurrence-rate example from California; and the last sentence tells us  something about how recurrence rates can be described statistically. This refrain of recurrence intervals constitutes the major string of old information in the paragraph. Unfortunately, it rarely appears at the beginning of sentences, where it would help us maintain our focus on its continuing story. In reading, as in most experiences, we appreciate the opportunity to become familiar with a new environment before having to function in it. Writing that continually begins sentences with new information and ends with old information forbids both the sense of comfort and orientation at the start and the sense of fulfilling arrival at the end. It misleads the reader as to whose story is being told; it burdens the reader with new information that must be carried further into the sentence before it can be connected to the discussion; and it creates ambiguity as to which material the writer intended the reader to emphasize. All of these distractions require that readers expend a disproportionate amount of energy to unravel the structure of the prose, leaving less energy available for perceiving content. We can begin to revise the example by ensuring the following for each sentence: 1. The backward-linking old information appears in the topic position. 2. The person, thing or concept whose story it is appears in the topic position. 3. The new, emphasis-worthy information appears in the stress position. Once again, if our decisions concerning the relative values of specific information differ from yours, we can all blame the author, who failed to make his intentions apparent. Here first is a list of what we perceived to be the new, emphatic material in each sentence: time to accumulate strain energy along a fault approximately uniform large ruptures of the same fault different amounts of slip vary by a factor of 2 variations of several decades predictions of future mainshock Now, based on these assumptions about what deserves stress, here is our proposed revision: Large earthquakes along a given fault segment do not occur at random intervals because it takes time to accumulate the strain energy for the rupture. The rates at which tectonic plates move and accumulate strain at their boundaries are roughly uniform. Therefore, nearly constant time intervals (at first approximation) would be expected between large ruptures of the same fault segment. [However? ], the recurrence time may vary; the basic idea of periodic mainshocks may need to be modified if subsequent mainshocks have different amounts of slip across the fault. [Indeed? ], the length and slip of great plate boundary ruptures often vary by a factor of 2. [For example? ], the recurrence intervals along the southern segment of the San Andreas fault is 145 years with variations of several decades. The smaller the standard deviation of the average recurrence interval, the more specific could be the long term prediction of a future mainshock. Many problems that had existed in the original have now surfaced for the first time. Is the reason earthquakes do not occur at random intervals stated in the first sentence or in the second? Are the suggested choices of however, indeed, and for example the right ones to express the connections at those points? (All these connections were left unarticulated in the original paragraph. ) If for example is an inaccurate transitional phrase, then exactly how does the San Andreas fault example connect to ruptures that vary by a factor of 2? Is the author arguing that recurrence rates must vary because fault movements often vary? Or is the author preparing us for a discussion of how in spite of such variance we might still be able to predict earthquakes? This last question remains unanswered because the final sentence.