3 works of art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

3 works of art - Essay Example The gown looks like the nun uniform and she is lazily enveloped into the reverie or dream about the angel. This is an epitome of the spiritualism that an image can depict. Moreover, the environment that hooks up the angel and St.Teresa looks dreamy, implying the supernatural feeling that the paint is showing. In this paint, Caravaggio is showing a pretty realistic image of St.peter being crucified. He is keen on the posture of the people and the wood used to make the crucifix. It is a paint that shows the crucifixion of St.Peter as he asked people to do. He is crucified upside down as a symbol of not imitating his Lord Jesus Christ. The painting is so real that it shows the cloth that is wrapped around him to conceal his loins, the people lifting the cross and the obscurity of their faces in the shadows. The picture arouses feelings of sadness by looking at the way St.Peter has left his mouth open with his long beard and dully eyes, showing so much pain. The people lifting the crucifix are also showing fatigue since it is clear that they are straining to life the crucifix to its intended right position. This paint is a fascinating image that describes the evolution of the Catholic Church by Peter Paul Rubens. He is so artistic in the painting of women and men in their full physical features laying on each other in various postures. There is also the presence of leopards in shady trying to roar at the infants on the ground. This is a description of the spread of Catholic Churches across the world and the numerous challenges it has faced, behind the leopards, the adults and the infants is a dark blue sky that is not fully clear. It shows the beautiful sky, symbolizing the hope and feasibility of the Catholic Church

“The Iliad” by Homer Essay Example for Free

â€Å"The Iliad† by Homer Essay â€Å"The Iliad† is known to be the most famous Greek poems written by a blind poet Homer. The Iliad is dated circa 8th century BC, although now some scholars such as Martin West and Richard Seaford prefer to date it in the 6th-7th century BC. The Iliad† tells about events taking place during the last year of Lion siege (about 10th century BC) or Trojan War. The Iliad belongs to a tradition of Greek oral poetry – epic poem. It is a long poem telling readers about historical events involving ancient gods, heroic deeds and ancient heroes. Since the Iliad is too lengthy, it is loosely organized. What is more interesting is that not every event or episode of the poem is absolutely connected with the main story line. It means that digressions are rather common in the poem. It is possible to notice the difference between epic genre and dramatic genre where all episodes tend to be closely connected with the plot and all digressions are uncommon. It is a distinguishing feature of The Iliad. Actually, the poem promotes the ideal sod war-like society. The main theme of the â€Å"The Iliad† is glorification of the war. There is an idea that the novel even celebrates war, because all the characters are judged by their competence, bravery and courage in the battles. It seems that the poem supports the war, because such judging extends even to the gods.   Iliad proclaims that to fight means to prove honor and bravery. Furthermore, the poem proclaims that war is predominant over the family life and has to be always on the first place for all men. For example, Achilles is the greatest warrior in the Greek army. Achilles wins eternal glory because he always rejected long, uneventful, calm and comfortable home life. Paris preferred not to fight and therefore he was scorned by his family and beloved woman. Paris is shown to be more subjected to women’s tenderness i.e. love and other feelings being inherent to humans. According to Homer, such qualities aren’t attributes of real hero. Summing up Homer’s hero is strong, courage, brave and always ready to fight and to die. Achilles is an ideal of Greek hero for Homer. References Fitzgerald, Robert (translt.). (1991). The Iliad of Homer. New York, USA: Penguin

Topic Shifting In A Dinner Conversation English Language Essay

Topic Shifting In A Dinner Conversation English Language Essay Conversation is a very important thing in peoples life, and cannot be separated from it. People communicate with others by using their language in order to share information, to get acquainted with each other and mostly to maintain a social relationship. In the conversation, not everyone is dealt the same hand, in terms of opportunities to speak and be addressed, and in terms of what each can hope to say as speaker and to hear as addressee. Turn taking is an intrinsic feature of conversation (Wilson, Wiemann Zimmerman 1984), it also is a basic form of organization in conversation, and a fundamental organization of social interaction. People use turn taking every day when they carry on conversations in every social context; when they talk, they take turns, wait for turns, compete for turns to share their feeling and their knowledge, to give information, to open them and also get the feedback from the other participants. Humans take turns in many different ways: self-election, alternating with another speaker, back channeling, and taking another turn if there is a pause or an interruption in the conversation. In any conversation, it is impossible for the participants talking about one topic only from beginning to the end. They will change or shift the topic from one to another which may be similar or different. Topic shifts in conversation often happen when speaker transitions break down (after a silence, e.g.), or after a story, the next speaker shift the topic, sometimes they shift back to the previous one, refocus on something (inappropriately) in the previous speakers talk, or disagree with the previous speaker, sometimes they do not, either of which can elicit a topic shift. (Maynard, Douglas W, 1980) Statement of the Problem In no matter what situation, formal or informal, when people talk naturally, their conversation is goal-oriented, and face-to-face dialogue. They use words, prosody, body language, manual gesture, gaze, facial expressions, and spatial attention via head and eye movements to take their turns, and wait for the turns. However, some people do not pay attention to how the conversation works, and how the conversation is organized, they will talk out of the turn, and cannot get a turn in edgewise. If people do not take the turn properly, or take the wrong turn, it will intrrupte the poeple who is in turn, and also the conversation can not go smoothly. People also will not talk about one topic but would rather relate it to other topics which can be subtopics or new topics, sometimes the other participants do not realize it and as a result they do not produce coherent utterances. The participants think that others still talk about the first topic while actually the topic has already shifted to a new one, which is different from the first one. Therefore, it is important for the participants to notice that shift of the topic in a conversation to keep the conversation flowing well. Objective of the Study This study is attempt to provide a description of what happens when more than one persons talk at once in conversation; how the simultaneous talk are organized in the practices; how the turn-taking and topic shifting relate to each other in the conversation. It also tries to explain how people take the turn in the conversation, why they shift the topic from one to a different one. Section 2: Literature Review 2.1 Conversation Analysis Schiffrin Deborah (1989) defined conversation analysis as a subfield of discourse analysis that considers spoken dialogue. Considers what the structure of the conversation might be; how meaning and actions are negotiated in conversation; role of context and social interaction in understanding conversation. According to Lee (1987), people have a variety of implicit and explicit goals when they engage in conversation, the conversation analysis are capable of reflecting them, discerning the distinctions of them, and some other details, such as the number of people present, their personalities and interests, the presence or absence of preexisting relations, and details of the physical surroundings, at least to some extent. Drew Heritage (1992) argued that how people use and modify conversational resources to get things done in organizational settings, which frequently involve problematic exchanges. Especially when the interactions of people occupy different institutional roles, the issue of conversational differentiation takes center stage. The interesting theoretical question is then seen to be how these roles get translated into differences, or asymmetries, in conversational entitlements and obligations, but if the people are in the same institutional role, it is vice verse. Local (1986) argued that conversation participants appear to exploit variable spoken language elements at all linguistic levels (prosodic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic in order to signal contextual presuppositions; and also to utilize resources at the nonverbal level (gestural, kinesic, and proxemic ). In fact, their chief function is to signal participants orientation to one another. Sometimes they are used primarily to contextualize the imminent completion of a turn at talk or a topic shift, but at other times they have the capacity to signal the social identities and attitudes of participants. 2.2 Turn Taking Sacks Schegloff (1974) devoted much of their effort to the analysis of turn taking in conversation. Turn taking is part of what they call members procedures of achieving orderly and meaningful communication. The ways in which conversation participants design and modify their utterances are naturally occurring statements made by themselves, and how they make sense of each others contributions. This tacit, organized reasoning procedure is critical for our understanding of how social relationships are developed and higher-level social orders achieved. The acquired this knowledge of conversational organization can then be applied to institutional organization in order to show how these institutions were talked into being. According to Duncan (1972), people attempt to get the turn by self-selection at a transition relevance place by using methods that are usually successful in face-to-face conversations, such as intake of breath, leaning forward and starting to speak. He suggested several cues that the speaker employs to indicate the end of a turn or invite the hearer to take a turn. These cues include falling pitch at the end of a sentence, the drawl of a syllable at the end of sentence, the termination of a gesture, specific phrases at the end of syntactic units, and changes in gaze direction, such as the speakers looking away from the hearer as an utterance begins and toward the hearer as the utterance ends. Goodwin (1981) elaborated on the role of gaze in turn-taking by considering the gaze of the hearer, and the coordination of the gaze of conversational participants. He claimed that the speakers look away at the beginning of turns occurs to avoid overloading information in the planning of an utterance. Gaze behavior has been used in the design of embodied conversational agents, but it may not occur on every occasion. The absence of turn taking organization would subvert the possibility of stable trajectories of action and responsive action through which goal-oriented projects can be launched and pursued through talk in interaction, whether to success or failure (Schegloff 1988). 2.3 Topic Shifting Wardhaugh (1971) argued that a conversation usually covers a number of topics and involved shifts from one topic to another, and sometimes also a mix of topic. It means that in a conversation, the speakers do not only talk about one topic from the beginning to the end, but they tend to shift the topic to another one, which can be considered as the sub-topic of the previous topic or a new topic, it is different from the previous one. Similarly, Brown and Yule (1983) agreed that topic shift is the change of topic in a conversation, the speakers add another subject of discussion to the conversation to make the conversation more interesting and effective. McCarthy (1991) indicated that the topic shifting is very important in keeping the conversation going on and avoiding silence. Therefore, speakers tend to talk not only one topic but also relate to another topic which sometimes has relation with the previous and sometimes dose not, in order to make the conversation going on run smoothly. In addition, Stenstrom (1994) identified five kinds of topic shift which are differentiated in terms of their relation with the previous topic. They are topic shift, topic drift, topic digresses, and topic resume. And also she stated that pauses mark the topic shift. Section 3: Methodology and Data Collection 3.1 Participants The participants of this study consisted of seven persons, six females and one male, five are Chinese from China, two are Chinese in local, aged from 24 to 33. One is a reporter of a local Chinese newspaper, six of them are Master students, three of them are studying in the Faculty of Computor Science, while other three are studying in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, UM. They are from different religious backgroud, one is Christain, one is half Christain, one is Buddhism, one is free thinker, three are Muslin. All of them are singles. They knew each other long time ago, and are quite close friends. Dong was going to China, so Chun orgenized the simple dinner at her house, others were invited to the dinner as well as me. 3.2 Tools and Procedure In this study, the data was collected by tape-recording and obvervation during an informal and natural setting dinner conversation in the friends house, which lasted for one and a half hour. The conversation were transcribed into 18 short segments in terms of the pauses in the conversation. Each of the segments is between at least two persons from the beginning to the end of the dinner. The tape-recordings were conducted by a hidden mp3 in the natural occurred dinner conversation; the tape-recorder turned on mp3 and joined their conversation, and tried to get talking from every participant, and also observed the participants facial expressions, gestures, body language, gaze, nod and eye movements in the whole process, which the tape-recording cannot get. This made it possible to record the entire verbal interaction from start to finish. Signed consent was obtained from all the subjects. The tape-recording was transcribed based on the pauses, 18 segments of the turns in this study. Turns were assigned on the transcript when another may or did speak. Based on the definition of a turn the possibility for a single speaker to take several consecutive turns, in a series, or a row, exist. The transcript revealed that speakers took turns not only alternately but consecutively. Section 4: Data Analysis and Findings The data was analyzed in this chapter according to the research questions, and the time consequence. From the data we can see that people have different ways to take their turns and have different attentions to shift the topics. 4.1 People in the conversation took their turns in the different ways. 4.1.1 The current speaker always took their turns by self-selection. They selected the turn by looking at that person, or by asking that person a question.   Actually, if the current-speaker wishes to select the next-speaker, he or she will do so prior to the next transition-place, Dong: Li yan, I read an articleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Dong: Ma pin is very lust, my words are too bad. Dong: It is delicious. Dong: You are very sexy today. Dong: We have a new housemate, I: Everybody looks at me? Dong: I met the man today. Ma: This one is very delicious, Chun cui. Dong: Chun cui, I want wireless internet, how to equip do you know? Dong: Nobody spend more than 50 pounds on telephone in UK. Because.. Zhao: When will you give me the past year exam papers? Zhao: Arabian are very stupid, Dong: Enà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦my friendà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.one of my friends said he . Dong: There is a very handsome guy in UM, Chun: She is the friend of my housemates, named Wan Jun, they are my friends. Dong: You guys should marry the local high class Dong: We are the transient guests of Malaysia. Wan: I knew from internet that Zhang xueyou will. From the data above, we can see all of the speakers took turns by addressing the person within the group, praising the clothes and food, telling the experience, introducing the newcomer, and asking the questions and so forth, to open a new turn. Because it is a special farewell dinner for Dong, who was going back to China, and also she is a more experienced person in this group, so she took the majority of the turns in order to keep the conversation smoothly and avoid the silence. 4.1.2 Several cues that the current speaker employs to indicate the end of a turn or invite the hearer to take a turn. The second speaker acquires their turns: First, a person takes the turn after being address, or face to face talking with current speaker, the second speakers receive the turns by being addressed or answering the questions. Dong: Ma pin is very lust, my words are too bad, ah? Ma: It is OK that is the fact. Dong: Why? I: Nothing, just hate him. Dong: You are more beautiful recently, yes, definitely. Li: Really? It is good. Zhao: Chun cui, can I take some away? Chun: Sure. Chun: Who? Dong: Our new housemate. Li: En, it is so delicious, how did you cook? Chun: It was Li Yan did. I: What did you say just now? What is higher that what? Dong: Salary is AD6000 (Australia Dollar), allowance is higher than salary. Dong: Chun cui, I want wireless internet, how to equip it, do you know ? Chun: I think you should go to the service center. Zhao: Who told you that? Dong: I am studying it, how come I dont know, who told me. Zhao: Where did you go yesterday? I: I taught Mandarin to Korean. Zhao: How many students do you teach? I: 6 now. Zhao: When will you give me the past year exam papers? Chun: I am going to give you on Thursday. Zhao: How about next Monday? In the evening? Chun: Ok, maybe I will go to main library to do my assignments, I will give you. Chun: Can you do it? Dong: Definitely, big business there, I should work for one year Chun: Do you have one year to do that? Dong: If I do PHD, I can do. The first three months will be difficult, but it will make money since the fifth month. Chun: But, is the location really very good? Second, a person speaks after someone else is addressed. That is to say, the current speaker does not select next speaker, the second speaker is self-selected. The second speakers seize the turns to show their agreement, their knowledge, to avoid the embarrassed and to indicate their curiosity. Third, a person speaks after someone speaks to the group, then he/ she takes the turn immediately. The second speakers claim the turn to comfort someone, to answer the questions, to show the humble, to express the agreements and disagreements, and to catch the information. Fourth, a person is already in possession and continues, no other participant selects him or herself as next speaker, current speaker continue speaking. The second speakers continue the turns to keep the conversation flowing and avoid the silence by shifting to a new topic. 4.2 People in the conversation shifted many topics. The topics of the conversation shifted based on the pauses, that also is our definition of the turn. Sometimes one topic was in one turn, sometimes more that one topic in one turn. As a whole. The topic shifted from an article to girlfriend and boyfriend, nice clothes, new housemate, study and emigrant, weight losing, wireless internet, telephone bill, population, exam, assignment doing, business doing, handsome guy, life and study in Malaysia, the job of reporter, violence, marridge, religions, money making, study, famous singer and actresses and so forth. Since this was a dinner conversation, the food was inserted in the conversation from time to time.There are 18 pauses in the conversation, but the topics are 21. 4.2.1 Showing the knowledge Dong: Li yan, I read an article which was named The same gender group but not gay from the newspaper, it said the some girls rather drink, chat or read with girls than with some boys that they dont like. A girl said if you want to extricate yourself from this special group, you must pay more attention to whom you love than friends. Zhao: It is too many Chinese now, the treatment is not very good after emigration. Dong: Salary is AD6000 (Australia Dollar), allowance is higher that salary. Chun: Last time we used the wireless internet, why can not it be reached now? Dong: No signal, I think it is failed for trying. It starts from Block 5, and covers 500 meters. Sometimes it is strong, and sometimes it is very weak. Dong: Nobody spend more than 50 pounds on telephone in UK. Because.. Li: Because of that, Chinese tourists reduced from 500 thousand to 300 thousand. At the beginning, they said she was not from China, she was a local, but they said she was from China. I: No, I think no matter in which country, what race, religion just belong to ordinary people, people who has power or privilege in politics are so-so on religion. I: It happens in china, so does in Malaysia. This is human beings natural, religion is about after dying, but people prefer the present lives. Wan: No scholarship in mainland China, and no part time job is allowed. I: It is said that Malaysia Government did the investigation that the education system in mainland China and Russia are similar, they are too strict, but the students have more freedom in Taiwan and Hong Kong, that is why many people prefer to study in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The participants are from different ages, different education backgrounds, diferent religious backgrouds, so they have different living experience, different woking experience, different knowledge and differnt intereasting, they told something that they knew to others, while others did not know. 4.2.2 Sharing the knowledge and interesting Dong: A few days ago, I heard a little boy from China was killed here, but the police couldnt find the murder. His father was worried a lot, and has come here for four times. Wan: Yes, it was homicide, it was not commit suicide. But, the victim was there, the body was there, only no murder. So our report evaded serious matter and took up trifles. Wan: I knew from internet that Zhang xueyou will hold a music concert in Malaysia, I like him very much. Dong: Me too, his voice is really unique, I didnt watch his music concert in Shenyang (her hometown). He held just after I had come to Malaysia. I collected all his songs. He is my forever favorite. I am his faith fan. I: One of my friends is Zhao weis fan, Zhao weis pictures are in her study room, kitchen, and headphone. She also changes the pictures. Ma: Zhao wei is Ok, I hate Zhang ziyi. Li: Me too, I hate Zhang ziyi, I like Gong li. Since Zhang ziyi became famous, I like Gong li. All of the participants are Chinese, five are from mainland China, and two are local, they speak the same language, Mandarin Chinese, so their interestings are somehow the same. They joined in the conversation and shared their knowledge and interesting. Exchanging their experience Dong: Enà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦my friendà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.one of my friends said he will open a computer shop to me at the gate of a shopping center. Dong: It is behind the shopping mall, four computer shops there, he has the braches in China, he wants to cooperate with me, the capital is from him, I do service and selling. Wan: It is hard to be a reporter, we rest one day in one week. If we dont have readers for our newspapers and magazines, we must be in trouble, and our works should be ratified by some leaders. Such as the case of the Chinese lady from China (the policemen forced her to take off the clothes), some reporter were punished, which give us a warning. Among this group of people, some are working now (full time or part time), some worked before, some did not work at all, and each job has its own characteristic. So they introduced their experience and job features. Indicating curent concerns Zhao: When will you give me the past year exam papers? Chun: I am going to give you on Thursday, Zhao: On Thursday? I will start memorizing. Chun: Why do you memorize them? They are useless. Zhao: I want to have a look. Chun: I will copy one set to you. I will bring them to office to copy. Zhao: How about next Monday? In the evening? Chun: Ok, maybe I will go to main library to do my assignments, I will give you. Zhao: Arabian are very stupid, my group members are Arabian, our project got a very low mark. I: Yes? Why dont you change? Dong: You guys should marry the local high class; otherwise you dont have happy life. Generally speaking, Chinese marry Malay is not only because of love, but the good policy from government as well. If you marry high class, you will have more chances. Six of participants were Master students, and the exam was coming, so they worried a lot about the exams. Especially Zhaolei, who is in his first semester, asked something about the exam that interrupted conversation vey often. Section 5: Conclusion and Implications This study primarily concentrates on issues of turn taking and topic shifting in the casual conversation. It demonstrates that conversations are organized by turn taking when more than one persons talk at once in conversation, and the verbal turns are token by shifting the topics in conversation.   The turn taking distributes turns among conversations, especially face-to-face communication, usually individuals have a unique pattern of turn taking that identifies them in the same way a fingerprint does. The current speakers always take their turns by self-selection and select the next speaker by looking at that person, or by asking that person a question. On the contrary, the second speakers acquire their turns by the current speakers indicating the end of a turn or inviting the hearer to take turn. They may address, or talk face to face with the speakers who are going to receive the turn. If the current speaker does not select next speaker, the second speakers self-select and seize the turns to show their agreement, their knowledge, and to indicate their curiosity. Moreover, the second speakers claim their turn after the current speaker speak to the group, not to him/herself. Besides, the current speakers will continue speaking if no other participant selects him or herself as the next speaker. In the conversation, topic shifting marks the meta-knowledge of speakers or hearers shared knowledge. The topics selected are interested for all participants, whose experiences also develop interest. Every participant contributed their special knowledge, ideas, information and interest at hand. They shift the topics with different motivations, sometimes once in a turn, sometimes more that once within a turn. They are all Chinese, even they are from two countries, they speak Mandarin Chinese, and they are all singles, they have many interests in common. They shared their knowledge and interests. And also among this group, people are from different ages, different education backgrounds, and diferent religious backgrouds, some are working now (full time or part time), some worked before, some did not work at all, so they have different living experience, different woking experience, different knowledge. So they indicated their current concerns, exchanged their experience and job feature s. Last but not least, when the pause came, and nothing was important, they just picked up the topic at hand to continue the conversation, such as weight losing or money making. The findings that truly reflect the data and the motivations of the participants, which is a more nature phenomena and the aims of the investigation. They not only provided an understanding of the conversation, but also demonstrated the degree to which the topics were interrelated. They gives some indication of the coherence of the conversation, which can be linked to other data sources in the study, and can provide a pathway from process to outcomes and outputs in the future studies. The finding of this study also would be valuable in giving a clear understanding on the characteristics of the turn taking and topic shiting, especially the topic continuing shift seemed to be a factor in the motivations to improve communication, and inspiring other researchers to make further research on this field

Political Corruption in the United States Essay example -- ethics, mor

â€Å"Corruption, improper and usually unlawful conduct intended to secure a benefit for oneself or another its forms include bribery, extortion, and the misuse of inside information. It exists where there is community indifference or a lack of enforcement policies.†(Encyclopedia Britannica). Today political Corruption in all forms exists in every country in the world. In some countries it is more prominent then in others, but no matter where you go it still occurs. Recently in mid 2013 some political corruption was brought to light in New York. â€Å"Since 2007, state senators have been more likely to be arrested then to lose their seats in a general election,† (New York Public Interest Research group). In April of 2013 New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was charged with corruption. Stevenson had been discovered to have taken more then twenty- thousand dollars in bribes in exchange for official acts. These bribes were mainly from four business men trying to use legislature to create a monopoly on their adult day care business. Stevenson had agreed to try to pass a bill that would prevent other centers like theirs from opening in New York. Earlier in that week a New York Senator was arrested and charged for trying to buy his way into the mayoral election. Also around that time five other New York politicians were arrested for accepting more then one hundred thousand dollars in bribes. While that was very recent, political corruption has been around since 1795 and before. One famous case of political corruption, and one of the worst to ever happen in Georgia, happened in 1795, it was called the Yazoo Land Fraud. At that time Georgia's boundary went all the way to the Mississippi River, many of the state's political lead... ... Lyell, Nick. â€Å"U.S. Corporations, Politics Getting More Corrupt, Surprising Nobody.† Nation of Change. N.p., 12 July. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. Milo, Federica. â€Å"Italy: the state of corruption.† Risk Advisory. The Risk Advisory Group, 5 Mar, 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. â€Å"North Korea.† Heritage. The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2015. â€Å"The 10 Most Corrupt and Least Corrupt Countries in the World.† Reuters. U.S. Reuters. 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. â€Å"Corruption.† Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc, 4/30/2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2015. Transparency International. Transparency International,2013.Web. 20 Nov. 2015. â€Å"Watergate Scandal.† U-S-History. N.p. n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. â€Å"Yazoo Land Fraud.† Georgia Info. Digital Library of Georgia. n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Bioethics and gene patents

Among the most controversial issues in biotechnology over the last ten years has been the patenting of human DNA sequences as well as human genes. The medical, pharmaceutical along with economic interests at stake are huge, making investments in biotechnology firms involved in gene patenting highly volatile. Gene patenting is a relatively broad term and refers to the patenting of individual processes that involves the isolation of DNA or other associated material and also to any chemical substance that is related to DNA. The idea of gene patents has played a key role in the rapid growth of the biotech industry over the last two decades.The earliest of the gene patents were obtained back in 1978. One of the biggest issues involving biotechnology and the law is the patenting of human genes. Because of advances in technology, it is relatively routine a procedure to isolate genes and determine their genetic sequence (Birren & Rommens 1999). With the recent completion of the Human Genome Project, we now know the entire genetic sequence of the human genome. All that remains is for science to determine which portions of the sequenced genome correspond to actual genes (Eisen & Laderman 2007).For these reasons, the United States Patent and Trademark Office witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of patent applications for human genes. The number of applications more than doubled in the last ten years, from approximately 16,000 applications in 1990 to 33,000 applications in 2000, and in the last twenty years, â€Å"the [PTO] has granted patents on about 1,000 human genes or gene fragments† (Willing 2000). USPTO has issued a large number of patents for gene fragments. Full sequence as well as function is in many cases not known for the gene fragments being issued patents on.Many questions have arisen over when, from the discovery to development into viable products, the exclusive right to genes may be claimed. This is important as a patent lasts for 20 years. Congress exercised its powers under the Constitution to pass the Patent Act. Under the Patent Act, a patent gives one the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the patented invention in the United States â€Å"beginning on the date on which the patent issues and ending 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed. â€Å"The 300- to 500-base gene fragments which are better known as expressed sequence tags (ESTs), make up about 10 to 30% of the mean cDNA, while the genomic genes typically happen to be 10 to 20 times bigger than the cDNA. A cDNA molecule is made in the laboratory and is a version of the gene which only contains the information-rich (exon) regions; these molecules offer a way to researchers to fast-forward through the genome get to more biologically significant areas. The initial chromosomal locations as well as biological functions of the while genes identified by ESTs happen to be unknown in the majority of ca ses.The patenting of genes has been a controversial area to say the least. The argument is that patenting such discoveries is not justifiable because the effort to find a certain EST is meager when compared with the work of isolating and characterizing a gene and gene product, finding out what it does, and developing a commercial product. They feel that allowing holders of such â€Å"gatekeeper† patents to exercise undue control over the commercial fruits of genome research would be unfair.Similarly, allowing multiple patents on different parts of the same genome sequence –say on a gene fragment, the gene, and the protein– adds undue costs to the researcher who wants to examine the sequence. Not only does the researcher have to pay each patent holder via licensing for the opportunity to study the sequence, he also has to pay his own staff to research the different patents and determine which are applicable to the area of the genome he wants to study. Some physic ians believe that if a lot of genes receive patents, the genetic testing of patients could end up being prohibitively costly.Even though the technological knowledge is there to develop such tests, a lot of work remains to produce them. And if the license fee that is associated with the use of each test is charged via multiple companies and entities, each owning multiple genes, then this technology may never be exploited effectively in order to help patients. On the other hand, if protection is not offered to the industry, then R & D expenses may not be recouped, therefore reducing incentive for investment in the industry. The implications of gene patenting on R & D have been the subject of considerable debate.Advocates say that gene patents like normal patents encourage the disclosure as well as dissemination of ideas by opening critical uses of gene sequences to the publicly domain. Patents also offer more incentives to investors who may otherwise be reluctant to invest in ideas th at may simply be copied by competitors if not allowed patent protection. Many argue that genes are not â€Å"inventions,† but rather they are â€Å"discoveries† which do not require an inventive effort. Because the discovery of genes does not require an inventive effort, the PTO should not issue patents for genes (Hettinger 1995).In the same regard, because genes are â€Å"discoveries† and not new â€Å"compositions,† genes should not be patented because they are not â€Å"novel,† as required by section 102. For example, human genes have existed as long as the existence of humanity; therefore, an inventor can never discover a gene and claim that it is â€Å"novel† (Hettinger 1995). Finally, carrying patent law to its extreme, some argue that anyone containing patented genes within his or her body could be considered an infringer, because he or she is â€Å"using† a patented gene merely by being alive.Some argue that because of recent advances in the isolation, purification, and sequencing of genes, (Birren & Rommens 1999) it may take only a few days to determine the sequence of a particular gene. Therefore, the relative ease of determining the sequence of a particular gene should preclude patenting of the gene because obtaining the sequence is obvious. There is a difference between patents on compositions and patents on processes. Patents on compositions are considered broader than patents on processes because patents on compositions can cover all processes that use the composition.In order to limit the number of patents for genes, some argue that the PTO should limit patents on genes to processes that utilize the genes, and not the composition of the genes themselves, ESTs a case in point (Auth 1997). In the US patent system, an inventor's reward for an invention is the receipt of a patent, which permits the inventor to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the invention. The inventor can use this â€Å"right to exclude† to commercialize the invention or to license the invention and receive royalties.The â€Å"reward† of a patent thereby encourages invention and discovery, and the PTO takes the opinion that â€Å"the incentive to make discoveries and inventions is generally spurred †¦ by patents. † Some may argue that research and discovery satisfies an intellectual curiosity, and as such, hardly qualifies as labor. Therefore, intellectual endeavors, such as research and discovery, do not require rewards. Nevertheless, Congress designed our patent system with the underlying premise that reward is required, and it is difficult to envision why the law should distinguish the discovery of genes from other discoveries in this regard.Another argument is that the patenting of genes discourages others from performing research and discovery (Hoffert 1998). Under our patent system, after a researcher discovers and patents a gene, the researcher, as an in ventor, may exclude others from using the gene (Sturges 1997). When a second researcher studies a particular disease and the patented gene's role in that disease, it may be difficult to design an experiment that does not require the gene. In order to use the gene, the second researcher must seek a license from the patentee, undoubtedly requiring a fee in the form of a royalty.Some argue that this is a waste of valuable resources that could be used for research, rather than royalties, and therefore all human genes should be in the public domain (Bruce 2000). This is a compelling argument because it is difficult for a molecular biologist studying a particular gene or protein to conceive of experiments that do not require use of the gene itself. In this regard, perhaps it is better to view this perceived problem not as creating a disincentive to invent, but rather as impeding scientific progress. However, this argument is not unique to the patenting of genes.In fact, one could argue th at a patent on any invention might similarly impede scientific progress. Ethical arguments is the most difficult to marshal and address. As such, this author will briefly address only the two most common arguments against the patenting of genes. One of the most common ethical arguments is that the government should not issue patents on human genes because genes belong to all humankind, and therefore no single group should have the exclusive property right to exclude others from their use (Doll 2001).However, gene patents are not owned in the same sense as property is owned. A patent is intangible property (Haseltine 2000), and therefore, granting a patent on a human gene does not deprive humankind of â€Å"property† in the traditional or tangible sense. A gene patent only deprives other researchers, often attempting to realize a financial gain, from its use. The second most common argument against the patenting of human genes is that researchers derive a human gene from a hum an being, which violates our society's 150-year prohibition on humans having property rights in another human being.However, should a human gene qualify as a human being or a living entity? The U. S. Supreme Court has offered a potential framework for analyzing whether a gene should qualify as a living entity. In Roe v. Wade, the Court held that the State did not have a â€Å"compelling† interest in proscribing abortion where a fetus was not viable (Nature 2003). While we cannot equate a woman's right to seek an abortion with an inventor's right to patent a biological product, the viability test may have applicability in determining whether a human gene qualifies as a living entity.The viability test established by Roe v. Wade was whether the fetus could have a meaningful life outside the mother's womb. Human genes fail this test for viability because human genes are inanimate compositions of matter. Even with all the recent scientific advances, creation of a human being in v itro from the entire human genome is scientific fantasy (Mappes & DeGrazia 2001). However, even if human genes are not viable, some may argue that patents should not be issued for genes for the same reason that it is illegal to market other human products such as organs (Justine & Harris 2002).Clearly, society believes that some human products should not be for sale, although, society somewhat relaxes this policy by allowing one to â€Å"donate† certain bodily fluids, such as plasma, for money. The underlying concern for this ban on the sale of organs may be to protect those that are impoverished from sacrificing vital organs for financial gain, but this policy is not particularly applicable to the patenting of human genes. First, one can argue that patenting of genes is distinguishable in that there is not a market for genes similar to the market for human organs.Second, one may be able to isolate, amplify, and sequence a gene from a single cell (Overwalle 2007). Thus, a pat entee that patents his or her own genes is not deprived of a vital organ in the same way as an organ donor. Undoubtedly, there are additional ethical arguments against the patenting of genes. Ultimately, however, society determines what is ethical, and consequently whether the patenting of genes meets our ethical standard. The impact on the economy if gene patenting was banned is still a measure of debate. Most advocates in the biotech lobby are of the view that it may discourage investment in genetic research.Even so it is important to realize that the expense of identifying the function of a particular gene is only a small fraction of the total cost of turning it into something viable such as a drug. There is also an argument which says that the pharmaceutical industry would perform better if scientists and companies could work freely with any genes and rather focus their energies on patenting drugs. Since 1953, when Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helical structure of DNA in chromosomes, scientists have known that the sequence of compounds called nucleotides along the DNA strands was the key to their information content.These gene sequences encoded instructions on manufacturing and controlling protein products that build, manage and organize everything in the cell. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with high stakes in patenting genetically engineered products and their sequences have registered multiple patents over the last two decades to exploit that discovery for commercial use to make new products. List of References â€Å"Battle Over Gene Patents: The Legal, Economic, and Social Implications of Licensing the Core of Life Could Alter the Current Patent System.† (1996). Business Week -New York, NY. 3484: 56-59. â€Å"Gene Patents and the Public Good. † Nature. 423. 6937 (2003). Auth, D. R. (1997). â€Å"Are ESTs Patentable? † Nature Biotechnology. 15. 9 911-912 Birren, B. , & Rommens, J. M. (1999). Resource â €“ BOOK AND JOURNAl REVIEWS – Genome Analysis: A Laboratory Manual (Vol 1) Analyzing DNA; (Vol 2) Detecting Genes. Trends in Genetics. 15, 41. Bruce D. (2000). Ethical concerns about patenting in relation to living organisms. Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics. 6, 10-4. Doll, JJ. (2001). â€Å"Talking Gene Patents.â€Å"Scientific American. 285. 2 Eisen, A. , & Laderman, G. (2007). Science, religion, and society an encyclopedia of history, culture, and controversy. Armonk, N. Y. , M. E. Sharpe. Haseltine, W. A. (2000). The Case for Gene Patents. Technology Review -Manchester NH: 103, 59. Hettinger N. (1995). Patenting life: biotechnology, intellectual property, and environmental ethics. Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review. Boston College. Law School. 22, 267-305. Hoffert, S. P. (1998), PTO Issues Biotech Patent Guidelines, The Scientist, July 6.Justine B. & Harris J. (2002). A Companion to Genethics. Blackwell companions to philosophy, 21. Malden, MA: Bla ckwell Publishers, 2002. Mappes, T. A. & DeGrazia D. (2001). Biomedical Ethics. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Overwalle, G. V. (2007). Gene patents and public health. Brussel, Bruylant. Sturges, M. L. (1997). Who Should Hold Property Rights to the Human Genome? An Application of the Common Heritage of Humankind. American University International Law Review. 13, 219-261. Willing, R. (2000). Gene Patent Gets Tougher, USA Today, Nov. 15, at 14A.

Buffalo Wild Wings Essays

Buffalo Wild Wings Essays Buffalo Wild Wings Essay Buffalo Wild Wings Essay Essay Topic: Call of the Wild Wild The restaurant creates an atmosphere that includes many televisions which appeals to sports fans and families. There menu offers great variety including anything from wings, flatbeds, salads, burgers and much more. The main reason I chose Buffalo Wild Wings is because really love their wings. My favorite flavor is mild. I would love to try some of the hotter sauces, but I think the mild is hot enough. Another favorite of mine is the deep fried pickles. They are a very good appetizer. A second reason I am interested in learning more about Buffalo Wild Wings is because it is based out of Minnesota. When we were assigned this paper, I did a Google search Of Minnesota companies that are biblically traded. Had no idea Buffalo Wild Wings was based out of Minnesota. That intrigued me a little bit. The last reason that interests me is how Buffalo Wild Wings has such a good business going in Minnesota. You hear of many corporations leaving Minnesota for better tax breaks. Why is Buffalo Wild Wings staying in Minnesota? Am interested to learn more about the business side of Buffalo Wild Wings. In class, we will be comparing it with another similar company. I think a major competitor to compare Buffalo Wild Wings with could be Rooters. They offer similar food and their atmosphere is very similar as well.