Tonight I Can Write Essay Example for Free

Tonight I Can Write Essay The theme of distance is introduced in the opening line. When the speaker informs the reader, â€Å"Tonight I can write the saddest lines,† he suggests that he could not previously. We later learn that his overwhelming sorrow over a lost lover has prevented him from writing about their relationship and its demise. The speaker’s constant juxtaposition of past and present illustrate his inability to come to terms with his present isolated state. Neruda’s language here, as in the rest of the poem, is simple and to the point, suggesting the sincerity of the speaker’s emotions. The sense of distance is again addressed in the second and third lines as he notes the stars shivering â€Å"in the distance. † These lines also contain images of nature, which will become a central link to his memories and to his present state. The speaker contemplates the natural world, focusing on those aspects of it that remind him of his lost love and the cosmic nature of their relationship. He begins writing at night, a time when darkness will match his mood. The night sky filled with stars offers him no comfort since they â€Å"are blue and shiver. Their distance from him reinforces the fact that he is alone. However, he can appreciate the night wind that â€Å"sings† as his verses will, describing the woman he loved. Lines 5–10: Neruda repeats the first line in the fifth and follows it with a declaration of the speaker’s love for an unnamed woman. The staggered repetitions Neruda employs throughout the poem provide thematic unity. The speaker intr oduces the first detail of their relationship and points to a possible reason for its demise when he admits â€Å"sometimes she loved me too. He then reminisces about being with her in â€Å"nights like this one. † The juxtaposition of nights from the past with this night reveals Lines 11–14: In line eleven Neruda again repeats his opening line, which becomes a plaintive refrain. The repetition of that line shows how the speaker is struggling to maintain distance, to convince himself that enough time has passed for him to have the strength to think about his lost love. But these lines are â€Å"the saddest. † He cannot yet escape the pain of remembering. It becomes almost unbearable â€Å"to think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her. † His loneliness is reinforced by â€Å"the immense night, still more immense without her. † Yet the poetry that he creates helps replenish his soul, â€Å"like dew to the pasture. † Lines 15–18: In line fifteen the speaker refuses to analyze their relationship. What is important to him is that â€Å"the night is starry and she is not with me† as she used to be on similar starry nights. â€Å"This is all† that is now central to him. When the speaker hears someone singing in the distance and repeats â€Å"in the distance,† he reinforces the fact that he is alone. No one is singing to him. As a result, he admits â€Å"my soul is not satisfied. † Lines 19–26: In these lines the speaker expresses his longing to reunite with his love. His sight and his heart try to find her, but he notes, â€Å"she is not with me. † He again remembers that this night is so similar to the ones they shared together. Yet he understands that they â€Å"are no longer the same. † He declares that he no longer loves her, â€Å"that’s certain,† in an effort to relieve his pain, and admits he loved her greatly in the past. Again linking their relationship to nature, he explains that he had â€Å"tried to find the wind to touch her hearing† but failed. Now he must face the fact that â€Å"she will be another’s. † He remembers her â€Å"bright† body that he knows will be touched by another and her â€Å"infinite eyes† that will look upon a new lover. Lines 27–32: The speaker reiterates, â€Å"I no longer love her, that’s certain,† but immediately contradicts himself, uncovering his efforts at self deception when he admits, â€Å"but maybe I love her. With a worldweary tone of resignation, he concludes, â€Å"love is so short, forgetting is so long. † His poem has become a painful exercise in forgetting. In line twenty-nine he explains that because this night is so similar to the nights in his memory when he held her in his arms, he cannot forget. Thus he repeats, â€Å"my soul is not satisfied. † In the final two lines, however, the s peaker is determined to erase the memory of her and so ease his pain, insisting that his verses (this poem) will be â€Å"the last verses that I write for her. †

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Status in Menstrual Cycle

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Status in Menstrual Cycle Evaluation of oxidative stress and antioxidant status during  normal menstrual cycle Abstract: Background Objectives: Oxidative stress has been investigated to explain various physiological as well as pathological basis of many medical conditions. But very few data concerning the oxidative stress during normal menstrual cycle of eumenorrheic women are available. Thus, the purpose of study was to examine the physiological role of oxidative stress during normal menstrual cycle. Methods: 120 young healthy female subjects of reproductive age group (17-27 yrs), having regular menstrual cycle, were examined. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA), an oxidative stress biomarker and serum ascorbic acid (vitamin-C), an antioxidant vitamin were assessed in the follicular phase (on 7th day) and in the luteal phase (on 21st day) of normal menstrual cycle. Results: In the present study, significant higher (p0.05) levels of ascorbic acid were observed in the luteal phase when compared to the follicular phase. Non-significant negative correlations were also observed between MDA and ascorbic acid in both the phases of normal menstrual cycle. Significant increase in serum MDA level coincided with the increased progesterone and estrogen levels during the luteal phase. High levels of estrogen may be the initiator of lipid peroxidation process which eventually ends up with cellular injury during the luteal phase. Interpretation Conclusion: Oxidative stress has an important role to play in physiological phenomenon of the menstruation. Keywords: Antioxidants, ascorbic acid, malondialdehyde (MDA), menstrual cycle, oxidative stress. Abbreviations: MDA, malondialdehyde. Introduction Menstrual cycle is the result of complex interacting processes involving interaction of the hypothalamus, pituitary, ovaries, uterus, prostaglandins and neuroendocrine factors1. The normal menstrual cycle is a twenty eight day period which is divided into two phases i.e. follicular phase and luteal phase. The follicular phase is characterised by a low level of estrogen and progesterone which is followed by rise in estradiol, lutenizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone at the time of ovulation, while the luteal phase is associated with increased levels of progesterone and estrogen. These phases are associated with various changes in blood parameters along with variations in the sex hormones. Several powerful reactive oxygen species or free radicals or oxidants are produced during the course of metabolism in blood cells and most other cells of the body. These oxidants are very reactive molecules that can react with proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and other molecules which changes physicochemical status of the cell to alter their structure and cause tissue damage. Lipid peroxidation is a well established mechanism of cellular injury in human and is used as an indicator of oxidative stress in cells and tissues. Malondialdehyde (MDA) is one of the important byproduct of lipid peroxidation process which is widely used as an indicator of lipid peroxidation2. These free radicals are the target for the enzymatic and non-enzymatic scavenging systems3, which includes the antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, vitamin-A, vitamin-C, vitamin-E etc. that scavenge the free radicals and protect the tissues from oxidative stress. Oxidative stress has been implicated in various physiological as well as pathological bases of many medical conditions including reproductive system. Evidences have shown the dual effects of oxygen radicals in the physiological reproductive processes such as oocyte maturation, ovulation, menstruation, luteolysis, luteal maintenance in pregnancy, implantation and blastocyst development4,5,6, as well as in the pathological conditions like spontaneous abortions and infertility in females7. The imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants resulting from either an overproduction of free radicals or a deficit in antioxidant protection leads to oxidative stress8. Although, reports regarding variations of oxidative stress across the normal menstrual cycle in eumenorrheic women have been published, specially in reference to MDA (a marker of oxidative stress and an important byproduct of lipid peroxidation), but these are sparse and have conflicting trend. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of oxidative stress during the different phases of normal menstrual cycle by measuring the MDA which is served as an oxidative stress biomarker and ascorbic acid (vitamin-C), served as an antioxidant. Materials and Methods The present study was carried out on 120 normal healthy and regular menstruating female subjects aged between 17 and 27 years (mean age 20.53 + 2.9 years) selected from thexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Study was carried out in the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxPermission was also obtained from institutional ethical committee for carrying out the research work. After seeking an informed written consent and recording the detailed menstrual history (i.e. age at menarche, date of last menstruation, cycle length and days of bleeding), the subjects were then subjected to sample collection. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and serum ascorbic acid (vitamin-C) levels were assayed during their monthly menstrual cycle. All subjects were neither obese nor on any medication of any known pathologies. 5 ml of fasting blood samples were drawn from antecubital vein from each subject during the follicular phase (on 7th day of the cycle) and luteal phase (on 21st day of the cycle) after taking full antiseptic precautions. The MDA levels were measured by thiobarbituric acid assay method9. The principle of the method was based on the spectrophotometric measurement of the colour developed during the reaction of thiobarbituric acid with MDA. The concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances was calculated by the absorbance coefficient of malondialdehyde-thiobarbituric acid complex. Serum ascorbic acid was estimated spectrophotometrically, by using 2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazine10. The underlying principle was based on the oxidation of ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbic acid followed by coupling with 2,4- dinitrophenyl hydrazine under controlled conditions, in the presence of Thiourea as a mild reducing agent which gives red coloured osazones. The data thus obtained was subjected to statistical analysis using the PRIMER OF BIOSTATISTICS software. The comparison of variables was done using the Student paired ‘t’ test and correlation between variables was estimated by using Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The significance level was considered at p Results The mean serum MDA and serum ascorbic acid levels during the follicular and luteal phases of menstrual cycle are presented as in Table 1. In the present study, the mean serum MDA (nmol/ml) level was greater during the luteal phase (4.294+1.60 nmol/ml) as compared to follicular phase (2.119+0.83 nmol/ml). The difference between MDA levels in the luteal phase was highly significant (p Lower values of serum ascorbic acid were found in luteal phase when compared to follicular phase. The mean values observed were 0.9399+0.40 mg/dl 0.8963+0.37 mg/dl in follicular phase and luteal phase, respectively. But, the changes were not significant statistically (p>0.05). In this study, a negative correlation was also observed between serum ascorbic acid (mg/dl) and serum MDA (nmol/ml) levels in both follicular and luteal phases but the correlation was found to be non-significant in both follicular phase (r value=-0.026, p>0.05) as well as in luteal phase (r value=-0.010, p>0.05). Table 1: Mean+SD levels of serum Malondialdehyde (MDA) and serum Ascorbic acid during follicular and luteal phases of menstrual cycle. Data expressed as mean and SD, * Highly significant, ** Non-significant. Discussion Present study has revealed the role of oxidative stress in the physiology of menstruation. We observed a significant higher levels of MDA while a non-significant lower levels of ascorbic acid in the luteal phase when compared with the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Previous studies also have correlated increased serum MDA levels during the luteal phase with the physiological phenomenon of menstruation in the healthy normal menstruating females which support our study results6,11. While, no significant differences in MDA levels throughout the normal menstrual cycle also have been reported12,13,14. Unlike our study results, a progressive significant rise in plasma ascorbic acid levels has been reported from menstrual to ovulation15. Similarly, â€Å"a sharp increase in the fasting level of plasma Vitamin C† also has been showed in some women during the middle of the menstrual cycle16. Whereas, some other researchers found no evidences of unusual variability of plasma ascorbic acid values throughout the menstrual cycle, which supports our study17. The significant rise of MDA and depletion of ascorbic acid levels during the luteal phase of menstrual cycle coincides with the increased levels of estrogen and progesterone, which is a characteristic feature of this phase18. Increased levels of estrogen and progesterone cause the proliferation of uterus while the initiation of sloughing of the endometrium is mainly due to the rise in the estrogen levels18,19,20. Thus, the high estrogen level from developing follicles may be the initiator of lipid peroxidation process21, which eventually causes the cellular injury followed by release of cytokines especially tumour necrosis factor-alpha, which generates reactive oxygen species from the tissues which in turn causes lipid peroxidation22. The generated free radicals may play an important role in spasm of the highly vascularised vessels leading to vascular necrosis and menstrual flow, when hormonal support for the endometrium is diminished. High levels of oxidative stress have been coincided with high levels of female sex hormone such as estradiol in previous studies also6,21,23. While, in other studies a significant negative correlation between these parameters in regularly menstruating females also have been established24. Whereas, some evidences show no significant correlation between ovarian hormones and oxidative stress during the follicular and luteal phases of menstrual cycle25. Present study perhaps therefore suggests that the high MDA level in the luteal phase may play an important role in the initiation of menstruation which is a well established cellular injury based phenomenon. Conclusion In conclusion, these results suggest that increase of serum MDA levels may play an important role in the physiological phenomenon of menstruation. References 1. Joseph L. Mayo. A healthy menstrual cycle. Clinical Nutrition Insights 1997; 5(9): 1-8. 2. Raharjo S, Sofos JN and Schmitt GR. Solid-phase acid extraction improves thiobarbituric acid methods to determine lipid oxidation. J Food Sci 1993; 58: 921-932. 3. Grunert RR and Phillips PH. A modification of nitroprusside method of analysis for glutathione. Arch Biochem 1951; 30(2): 217-225. 4. Sawada M and Carlson J. Superoxide radical production in plasma membrane samples from regressing corpora lutea. Can J Physiol Pharmacol 1989; 67(5): 465-471. 5. Harvey AJ, Kind KL and Thompson JG. REDOX regulation of early embryo development. Reproduction 2002; 123: 479-486. 6. Akande AA and Akinyinka AO. Serum malondialdehyde levels during menstrual cycle. Afr J Biotechnol 2005; 4(11): 1297-1299. 7. Agarwal A, Aponte-Mellado A, Premkumar BJ, Shaman A, Gupta S. The effects of oxidative stress on female reproduction: a review. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2012; 10: 49. 8. Terada LS. Specificity in reactive oxidant signaling : Think globally, act locally. J Cell Biol 2006; 174: 615-623. 9. Satoh K. Serum lipid peroxide in cerebrovascular disorders determined by a new colorimetric method. Clin Chim Acta 1978; 90(1): 37-43. 10. Natelson S. Determination of ascorbic acid by using 2,4 – dinitrophenyl hydrazine. Techniques of Clinical Chemistry. 3rd ed. Springfield, USA: Charles C. Thomas. 1971: 165-166. 11. Karowicz-Bilinska A, Plodzidym M, Krol J, Lewinska A, Bartosz G. Changes of markers of oxidative stress during menstrual cycle.Redox Rep 2008; 13(5): 237-240. 12. Serviddio G, Loverro G, Vicino M, et al. Modulation of endometrial redox balance during the menstrual cycle: relation with sex hormones. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2002; 87(6): 2843-2848. 13. Elhadd TA, Neary R, Abdu TA, et al. Influence of the hormonal changes during the normal menstrual cycle in healthy young women on soluble adhesion molecules, plasma homocysteine, free radical markers and lipoprotein fractions. Int Angiol 2003; 22(3): 222-228. 14. Browne RW, Bloom MS, Schisterman EF, et al. Analytical and biological variation of biomarkers of oxidative stress during the menstrual cycle. Biomarkers 2008; 11: 160-183. 15. Michos C, Kiortsis DN, Evangelou A, Karkabounas S. Antioxidant protection during the menstrual cycle : The effects of estradiol on ascorbic – dehydroascorbic acid plasma levels and total antioxidant plasma status in eumenorrhoic women during the menstrual cycle. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2006; 85(8): 960-965. 16. Mickelson O, Dippel AL and Todd RL. Plasma Vitamin C levels in women during the menstrual cycle. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1943; 3(11): 600-602. 17. Hauck HM. Plasma levels and urinary excretion of ascorbic acid in women during the menstrual cycle. J Nutr 1947; 33(5): 511-514. 18. Ganong. William F. Gonads: Development and function of the reproductive system. In: Review of Medical Physiology. 13th ed. USA: Prentice-Hall Int. Inc. 1987: 364-369. 19. Llewellyn-Jones D. Everywomen A gynaecological guide for life. 4th ed. The Chancer press. Great Britain: 1986: p-48. 20. Whitley RJ, Wayne M and Nelson BW. Endocrinology. In: Teitz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry. Carl Burtis and Edward Ashwood (editors). Philadephia: Saundera company. 1992: p-1879. 21. Schisterman EF, Gaskins AJ, Mumford SL, et al. Influence of Endogenous Reproductive Hormones on F2-Isoprostane Levels in Premenopausal Women. Am J Epidemiol 2010; 172(4): 430-439. 22. Romero FJ, Bosch-Morell F, Romero MJ, Jareno EJ, Romero B, Roma MN. Lipid peroxidation products and antioxidants in human diseases. Environ Health Perspect 1998; 106: 1229-1234. 23. Sowers M, McConnell D, Jannausch ML, et al. Oestrogen metabolites in relation to isoprostanes as a measure of oxidative stress. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 2008; 68(5): 806-813. 24. Bednarek–Tupikowska G, Bohdanowicz–Pawlak A, Bidzinska B, Milewicz A, Antonowicz–Juchniewicz J, Andrzejak R. Serum lipid peroxide and superoxide dismutase activity in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Gynecol Endocrinol 2001; 15(4): 298-303. 25. Lutoslawska G, Tkaczyk J, panczenco-– kresowska B, Hubner – Wozniak E, Skierska E, Gajewski AK. Plasma TBARS, blood GSH concentrations, and erythrocyte antioxidant enzyme activities in regularly menstruating women with ovulatory and anovulatory menstrual cycles. Clin Chim Acta 2003; 331(1-2): 159-163.

Marketing Plan for the Apple iPod :: Apple iPod Case Study

Assessment task Marketing Plan Apple Ipod Contents Executive Summary____________________________________________3 Situation Analysis -Market Analysis_______________________________________________3 -Product Analysis_______________________________________________4 -SWOT Analysis_______________________________________________ 4 -Competitor Analysis ___________________________________________ 6 Marketing Objectives__________________________________________ 7 Identifying Target Market -Selecting Target Market______________________________________7 -Target Market_________________________________________________7 Developing Marketing Strategies Marketing Mix: -Product____________________________________________________8 -Price______________________________________________________8 -Promotion___________________________________________________9 -Place_______________________________________________________9 Implementing the Marketing Plan__________________________________10 Monitoring and Controlling -Developing a Financial Forecast____________________________________10 -Comparing actual and planned results________________________________11 -Revising the marketing strategies____________________________________11 Appendix ______________________________________________________12 Appendix A_____________________________________________________13 Appendix B_____________________________________________________14 Appendix C_____________________________________________________15 Executive Summary The focus of this report is on new Apple Ipod product that has created increasing demands in various outlets. This product allows consumers to download not only their favourite music but also books and other literature which can be read and listened to. Additionally this Ipod can be used in your car and in other mobile settings. This report is for Apple to give a brief description of this product. Within this marketing report there is an insight of the situation analysis of this product, marketing objectives, the target market, marketing strategies that have been used and the forecasted strategies, monitoring and controlling. Situation Analysis Market Analysis Internal Influences -Management: Effective management is required for the training and development of employees for the continue innovation of Apple Ipod and for retraining sufficient funds during competitor introducing new product. -Capital Availability: Competition may cause mishap in the cash flow. Sufficient funds must be available when competitors unpredictably put forward their product in the market. -Technological Adoption: Technology must be adopted to improve overall efficiency. It must be integrated directly into operations (to increase productivity), as well stay on date with the amounts of IpodæŠ ¯ ordered, made and delivered. External Influences: -Competitors: Competitors will regulate what, when, how and why strategies will be adopted. The introduction of new products will greatly influence Apple Ipod. -Overseas Influences: The breaking down of barriers between countries can increase the sales of the new Apple Ipod, as more people are made aware of the product. -Demographic Patterns: Males and females from the age of 12years and over will be in favour of this product because of its new innovation to be able to not only play music but also books and other literature which would in fact appeal to them. Product Analysis Product Lifecycle X- The stage that Apple Ipod is currently in. Apple Ipod is currently in the growth stage, where more and more people are aware and purchasing the product, increasing product demand.

Black Panthers :: essays research papers

Black Panther Party for Self Defense The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October 1966, in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Armed with sincerity, the words of revolutionaries such as Mao Tse-Tung and Malcolm X, law books, and rifles, the Black Panther Party fed the hungry, protected the weak from racist police, and presented a Ten Point Platform and Program of Black political and social activism. Its "survival programs"-such as food giveaways, free health clinics and free breakfast programs for children-were popular fixtures in Black neighborhoods in the early 1970s, but for the white power structure and the vast majority of the white public, the Panthers represented only anti-government militancy; a view which engendered the wrath of the police and FBI and led to the murder of several Party members by law enforcement. In time, the Black Panthers dropped the "Self-Defense" label from their name. The organization became more of a Marxist-Communist group that favored violent revolution, if necessary, to bring about changes in society. During the mid-1960's, the Black Panthers called for neighborhood control of such services as education and the police. The Panthers supported the use of guns--both for self-defense and to retaliate against people believed to be oppressing the poor. Hostility between the Panthers and the police led to several shoot-outs. During the late 1960's, the Black Panthers began to work with white radical and revolutionary groups that shared their goals. This policy brought the Panthers into disagreement with some African American groups that regarded the struggle of blacks as chiefly racial. According to the Panthers, the basic problem was economic exploitation of both blacks and whites by profit-seeking capitalists. The Panthers called for a fairer distribution of job s and other economic resources. In October of 1967, Huey Newton was shot, arrested and charged with the murder of a white Oakland cop, after a gun battle on the streets of West Oakland that resulted in the death of police officer John Frey. Newton was charges with First Degree murder. Young whites, angry and disillusioned with America over the Vietnam War, raised their voices with young, urban blacks, to cry in unison: "Free Huey!" Newton was convicted of manslaughter but the verdict was later overturned. Fred Hampton was a high school student and a promising leader when he joined the Black Panther Party at the age of 19. His status as a leader grew very quickly.

Why Hitler Was Invited to Become Chancellor :: Papers

Why Hitler Was Invited to Become Chancellor In 1932 the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution were clear to all. Due to its careful balance of power and proportional representation, no political leader was strong enough to rule. During this period Germany was effectively being run by 84 year old President Hindenburg. Policy was being set by a tiny group of rich, conservative industrialists and army leaders. The Reichstag offered very little leadership. The heart of the problem was that the Nazis were the largest party. Normally the leader of such a party would become Chancellor, but the other parties in the Reichstag would not work with Hitler. The constitution gave President Hindenburg the right to appoint Chancellor and he did not want Hitler as Chancellor. So month after month there were arguments and back-room deals as different politicians struggled to assemble a workable government. The weakness of the Reichstag would have been a problem even if things had been going well in Germany. But when faced with the chronic problems of the Depression it was disastrous. In the July elections of 1932 the Nazis got their best ever result with 37.3% of the vote (230 seats.) They were now by far the largest party. Hitler demanded to be appointed Chancellor. Hindenburg despised Hitler, but he could see the value of trying to use the Nazis for his own ends. Hindenburg appointed Franz von Papen as his Chancellor. Von Papen had no support in the Reichstag but he hoped he could create a right-wing coalition government with the support of the Nazis and the other right-wing parties in the Reichstag. Hitler refused to co-operate, so Hindenburg called another election. This was a bad election for the Nazis. Apathy was settling in. In Northeim the Nazis were in financial trouble and made a public appeal for party funds. In an attempt to regain support, the SA and leading Nazis went to church en masse and got a Protestant minister to speak for them. They placed advertisements in the local papers and

Steel Toed Stilettos

Man is the subject; woman is the object. This is the major premise of the gender binary hierarchy. Man is dominant and the woman submissive, active and passive, rational and emotional, strong and weak. Hegemonic masculinity is the ‘maintenance of practices that institutionalize men's dominance over women' (Connell, 1997, p. 24). Emphasized femininity is compliance and the overall subordination of women to men (Connell). This will be an analysis of female strippers and those people in their environment, with special concern regarding the objectification of women, and the misleading emphasized femininity ascribed to dancers. Men are the customers thought of when designing a strip club; there are scantily clad women, sports or pornography on television sets, even pool tables and arcade games. He is the subject. The women are objectified, the use of a pseudonym, or stage name, distances the customers, and the dancers, from the strippers' lives outside the club. However, there are more parties involved than the customer and the dancer. The parties involved extend from the dancers to their agents, the club owners/managers, the municipal government as well as club support staff, photographers, promotional people, and others not discussed here. The agents, rarely female, must find a new club for the woman to work in every week and for this, they receive a fifteen percent commission. Agents have contracts with the dancers as well as the clubs. When and if any dancers complain about dirty working conditions and unfair labour practices, the agents quickly attempt to stop the denouncing. If a dancer wanted to sue a club for breach of contract, for instance, and the agents did not persuade her to stop, the treatment upon her return would be a sign that she was done in the strip clubs. The agent would blackball her from all clubs represented by his agency; in Alberta, ninety-eight percent of the clubs are under contract to one agency effectively ensuring the women's compliance and increasing the unlikelihood that someone might speak up. In addition to the club and dancer contracts they hold, they advocate breast implants and bleached blonde hair and pole dancing. If women do receive implants, show prices increase and instead of being a dancer, she can be a ‘walker'. Many feature performers simply walk around the stage and do not dance, an opportunity provided for them by their physical attributes. A classmate remarked in a discussion, â€Å"obviously the girls know how to dance, it's a basic job requirement. † The reality is breast implants can take centre stage and relegate a lack of rhythm to a dark corner backstage. The mainstream and the sex industry reward women who have breast implants. Those dancers with large breasts will receive more money per show than her colleague with the smaller cup size will receive if all other factors are equal. The municipal governments, specifically the City of Edmonton and the City of Calgary, require that all exotic dancers pass a security clearance to control for any drug or prostitution charges also, dancers must pay an annual fee of one hundred fifty dollars for a license. The city has increased their scrutiny in regards to one's security clearance in the past two years resulting in fewer women able to work in the city and others fearing that their past transgressions exposed to everyone making them ineligible for employment. A near rejection of one Edmonton dancer's license renewal illustrates the unintended effects of the security clearance; she was required to meet the police vice and discuss a charge on her record. There was a real possibility that she would not pass if she were unable to explain her charges. It was shoplifting, no conviction, just a charge, and occurred seven years prior. Why is it necessary for a stripper to gain security clearance? Are strippers inherently more dangerous? What kinds of threats do naked women pose? Fear of the criminality possessed by these women must not be the reason for these seemingly unnecessary procedures. If it was a predominately male profession, it is highly doubtful that the same processes would be in place. The fee of one hundred fifty dollars is significantly higher than bars or restaurants, but fortunately far below the annual three thousand dollars paid by escorts. Does the city equate strippers and escorts? The singling out of these two professions may suggest an equivocation. Why are retail workers not forced to have a license? One answer is that the government wants a share of the money these women work hard to receive. The documenting of the tips dancers receive and the money escorts receive is not necessarily reliable. These people may not fully declare their income on their taxes and the government is unable to verify the amounts. These licensing fees are in place to regulate the dancers but there is little regulation. This is another instance of the domination attempts on these females. The club owner/manager is male for the vast majority. These men tell the agents what kind of dancers they are seeking. The owner's preferences can result in the agents offering only certain women work; he may want only Caucasian women, waifs, or pop music blondes. The club owner holds absolutely the power to hire and fire. After first meeting a dancer or after her first show of the week, or at any time during the week, the manager can fire her, sometimes without pay. A woman's weight, breast size, muscle tone (be it too muscular or not enough), attractiveness, attitude, behaviour, past, are all reasons for dismissal. The fact that a woman could work an entire week, and be expecting a paycheque of eight hundred dollars only to be fired hours before she is to be paid seems unfair, oppressive, exploitive, etc. There is also the possibility that instead of receiving a paycheque, one could receive a bill. The attached hotel may be the only option in the town, deducted from the cheque, as well as telephone calls, bar tabs, restaurant bills, these alone could dramatically reduce a cheque and then there are fines. There are no fine regulations and can vary widely between clubs. Fines are also absolute, there is no appeal process, no possibility that the Stripper Protection Agency will raid the club and arrest the fine-happy manager. If a manager hates a dancer, he could allow her to dance the week only to surprise her with a page of fines for infractions she did not commit. Fines are in place to ensure job effectiveness, productivity and presence; they also lessen payrolls. Sanctions imposed for tardiness are generally one hundred dollars for every minute late for a show, no excuses. Missed shows range from two hundred fifty dollars to five hundred dollars plus the cost of the show. It is wholly within the manager's power to decide to double a dancer's fines. For example, during an interview with a dancer named Octavia, she told of when she was late for a show because her suitcase would not open, after a lengthy struggle the manager opened it by ripping the suitcase and then proceeded to fine her three hundred dollars for being late. She told the other dancers what had happened and they were outraged and informed the manager of such. He then doubled her fine because she had a ‘big mouth' and the other dancers were approaching him and scolding him for fining Octavia. It is a system that favors the club, adversarial to the dancer and easy to identify situations in which women could work a week for nothing, maybe less. Fired without pay and an excessive fine system are only two of the way women are overpowered, another is the unwillingness and the refusal to accept any reason to miss a show. These claims, legitimate or not, are for the vast majority of the time never taken seriously. The managers have ‘seen & heard it all before' and suspect a late night of alcohol and drugs are the cause of this day's ailment. The male aspects of the strip trade include the agents who have a monopoly on clubs and workers, almost all control over a dancer's placement, much say in the hiring of a dancer, and the power to ostracize a dancer. Spotlighting the municipal government and it is hard to miss its attempts to exploit working women. The club owners have the power, and exercise it, to fire without pay, fine exorbitant amounts of money over minutes, and refuse to believe any ailments that a woman is suffering from is anything more than a hangover. After that lengthy inspection of the males of the strip club culture, the attention focuses on the females, the dancers. In her article, Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State: An Agenda for Theory, Catharine A. MacKinnon (1982) states, â€Å"Socially, femaleness means femininity, which means attractiveness to men, which means sexual attractiveness, which means sexual availability on male terms†. If femaleness means femininity and dancers are female, if the factors of femininity as met it is true. Dancers are attractive to men, sexually attractive in fact. Interpreting sexual availability as a willing participant in sexual activity is valid; however, women can be available in general and not for a specific person. If this is correct then dancers exude femininity. They seem rather feminine, wearing form-fitting dresses, short skirts, and stiletto heels. Their make-up and hair are amazing emphasizing their attractiveness, and being naked is a sufficient condition for sexually attractive. It is appropriate to consider dancers feminine in relation to MacKinnon's article. The men think we do it because we love sex so much, we're sex-driven throbbing mattress kittens. But when we're on stage we're all virgins, and then we lock eyes with that one special guy and he might be the one to change all that . . . and then we lock eyes with the next guy and he might be the one to change all that. Men are so stupid. † Octavia's quote is an example of the have/hold discourse (Hollway, 1984). Wife or mistress, virgin or whore (or sex-driven throbbing mattress kittens) the dichotomy is the same and impossible to achieve. Expected to be the provocative, seductive, pure, inginue and obviously unable to fill the role, the dancer adopts a role not unlike that of a trucker. Rude, crude and crass, these women are tough. They have experienced volumes either in person, a close friend, or another dancer's recollection. Assertive, aggressive, controlled, rational are usually male-specific traits but dancers are often described as such. A power shift has occurred, any previous conceptions about women's subservience to men have vanished. On stage, strippers can make men do anything, falling over themselves to throw money to her, reduced to the basest of urges. After having seen one's oppressor with his pants around his ankles and his clown boxers showing, the power is not as apparent as it had been. If subsequently, the repeat viewing of the oppressor is in compromising, powerless situations, the oppressor ceases to exist, and it is simply another person. In the situation the power shifted to the dancers and the agent, the manager, the city government may exert some power over her; regardless the men at the strip club are waiting for her. Exotic dancers appear to be an ultimately sexual, feminine being. However, it is not always the case; they adopt attitudes perhaps better suited to their trucker or rig-working customers. The misconception that the dancers are waiting for that guy at the club is in light of the fact that many dancers have an utter hatred for males and they despise them while they smile and listen to his stories. The objectification that is present in the strip club may not be the dancers at all it may be the customer who is nothing other than a source for money. The personality traits, usually coded as masculine, embodied by these women, must aid them as they ‘hustle' to sell table dances, and convince the men to play loonie games. The transference of power, as experienced in the strip club, would be an empowering experience for all women. The possibility of it occurring is not absurd. The emphasized femininity some women adhere to is not going to increase the likelihood of this fundamental shift. However, if any change is to occur, solidarity must first be present.

Critically Analyse How the Government Debt Problems Essay

Introduction Since the Greece’s debt crisis happened, the Euro zone has to confront with a huge sovereign debt crisis, like governments’ debt increased, bond yield spreads widened, Euro exchange rate fell as well, which caused that the whole international financial markets gradually lost the confidence. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the impact of this crisis both on foreign exchange and derivative markets. And the rest words is to analyse several possible reasons why this small economy could trigger such a wide impact on global financial markets, in which contagion can be considered as the fundamental and identifiable cause during the whole spread of crisis. The Impacts of European sovereign debt crisis Foreign exchange Foreign exchange market, as the largest and the most liquid financial market, with an average daily trading volume of nearly $1.5 trillion changing hands where statistically it is superior to all US equity and Treasure markets combined (Michelle Chan, 2011), was expectedly deteriorated as well as fluctuated by the ongoing European debt sovereign crisis since 2008. On one hand, the foreign exchange market reflected considerable stress under the lingering European debt crisis. On the basis of the Financial markets Stability Map(Graph1), apparently, financial markets, particularly the foreign exchange market continued to be weaker and experienced the heightened volatility. This weakness is shown in the graph1 that risks successively increase as the movement gradually moves away from the map center. Dissimilarly, risks in the rest of three components of the financial markets stability map, banking sector funding, debt and equity markets remained largely stable as well as unchanged, compared with the foreign exchange market. Generally to say, as indicated by the trends in the Financial Stability Map, the overall stability of the financial system kept in a robust development. Graph1 Financial Stability Map [pic] Source: Bloomberg On another hand, the foreign exchange rate was deeply influenced as well, particularly the depreciation of the Euro was more prominent against non-European currencies, such as yen, the USD and the GBP, as non-European currencies was coinstantaneously affected by spillover effects from the euro-zone. According to the graph2, the euro has depreciated against the USD and Japanese yen by around 25 percent since the late 2011, but by approximately 4 to 8 percent against the UK pound. Overall, the euro has depreciated by 8 percent on a trade-weighted basis (TWI) since the mid 2011, fluctuating around its average index. Graph 2 Euro against Selected Currencies [pic] Source: Bloomberg; RBA On the contrary, according to the Graph3, the Japanese yen had been depreciated slightly and modestly against the USD from its nearest highest rate in late November 2011. Generally to say, the yen was smoothly unchanged against the US dollar during the time period of six mouths. Nevertheless, the yen has appreciated by 7 percent against the euro since late 2011, reaching a highest level during past 11 years at the beginning of 2012. Reflecting this in the graph2, Japan’s nominal trade-weighted index (TWI) has recovered to historically high levels, though it remains only above its long-run average in real term (Reserve Bank of Australia, 2012). Graph 3 Japanese Effective Exchange Rates [pic] Sourceï ¼Å¡ BIS; RBA As for the USD, it was appreciated extremely strongly against the euro since late November 2011, seen in the Graph4, but depreciated against other foreign currencies. Concerning the trade-weighted index (TWI), the USD was mostly unchanged since 2011. Graph 4 US Dollar against Selected Currencies [pic] Source: Bloomberg Oppositely, after fluctuational depreciating during the past few months, several emerging market currencies have appreciated since the beginning of 2012(Graph5). However, as the continuous concerns about spillover effects from the euro area debt crisis, emerging European currencies remained relatively weak nowadays. Graph5 Emerging Market Currencies [pic] Sources: Bloomberg; IMF; RBA Derivative Market In 2001, in order to enter European Union, Greece referred the U.S. Goldman Sachs to design the currency swaps, which facilitated Greece join the European union. Nevertheless after predicting the prospects of the Greek economy, Goldman bought German CDS credit default swap insurance and gambled that Greek could not afford such a large sum of payment of insurance that purchased the cheap CDS. When Greece debt broke out, distribute the bad news of the Greece’s pay ability to increase the price of CDS and earn the price differences. With the emergence of European debt crisis, the credit rating of some countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain had been downgraded in term of there sovereign credit, which means the international markets would no longer trust these economical situation and credit rating levels. As a result,most of potential buyers and sellers of bonds in the sovereign debt market began to suspect the governments’ ability to repay its debt, and then they will require a higher bond discount rate in the potential risk of default about sovereign bond as the part of the compensation of risk premium. When the discount rate significantly exceeds the risk-free rate, the national debt will be in a rather high discount rate. In addition, the CDS price of the European countries increased rapidly. As we saw from the graph6, the Greece five years CDS price had reached to almost 1500, which reflects the buyer of the CDS have to cost a relatively higher fix rate to buy the Greece’s credit ri sk call option. Graph 6 5 years’ Sovereign CDS risk premium and Sovereign credit rating in different countries. [pic] Source: Bloomberg Another impact on derivation market is the Futures and Options. Traders and hedge funds had bet nearly $8bn ( £5.1bn) to against the euro, amassing the biggest ever short position in the single currency on fears of a euro-zone debt crisis. Figures from CME(Chicago Mercantile Exchange) illustrates that investors had enhanced their positions against the euro to record levels. This phenomena demonstrates that investors were losing confidence in the single currency’s ability to withstand any contagion from Greece’s budget problems affecting other European countries(Financial Time, 2010). Additionally, European debt crisis aggravated as the Moody turn 17 German banks rating outlook to negative on the 25th of July. The bear have the advantage in the Futures and Options market. How does the European debt crisis transmission Since the Greece was downgraded by credit rating companies, European sovereign debt crisis broke out and then intensified across the euro-zone. Other European countries like Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Germany and other primary euro-zone countries had begun to be impacted by such an unavoidable crisis(Graph 7), simultaneously the euro fell sharply. With European stock markets at rock bottom, the euro area was experiencing the most severe difficulty since its inauguration. Whist the debt crisis was unexpected expanded. As to how and why this small economies could trigger such a wide impact in financial markets, it must be the financial contagion. Graph 7 How sovereign debit crisis could spread through the Euro-zone [pic] The inter-contagion within a country could be considered as an essential cause that triggered such a wide impact in financial markets. The interconnectedness means that a crisis in one can cripple the other (Daniel and Harold, 2012). As European banks are much more deeply connected to their individual governments, euro-zone banks naturally hold large shares of their governments’ debt, like in Greece and Germany, domestic banks hold nearly 20 percent of domestic government debt, and Spanish banks hold around 30 percent (Silvia and John, 2012). So look, other financial domestic institutions may hold much domestic debt as well, such as insurance companies. Government. Spain exemplifies contagion spreading from banks to government. Spain’s banks were loaded with mortgages that went bad when the country’s housing bubble popped. Despite modest debt and budget surpluses in six of the seven years preceding the crisis (World Bank, 2007), the band crisis caused the governm ent to lose control of its financing. Generally to say, government risk could affect banks, otherwise, if banks fail, the government’s bond market customers are bankrupt (The Heritage Foundation, 2012). And moreover, with the momentum of the globalization, the world economy is becoming tightly linked, like non-euro countries’ governments or banks hold the European bonds. It means that problems in one part of the world can reverberate almost everywhere else-risking a cascade of default contagion, contracting credit and collapsing economic activity. For example, in October 2011, Italian borrowers owed French banks $366 billion (net). Should Italy be unable to finance itself, the French banking system and economy could come under significant pressure, which in turn would affect France’s creditors(Seth et al., 2011). Greece, for instance, its debt is held by a host of other EU members. Once it defaults, the ripple effect for the economy as a whole would be devastating across the region, probably the world. The statistics from the IMF illustrated that the German banks held Greek government bonds up to totaling $ 14.1 billion and $ 13.4 billion was held by French banking ind ustry. And also the China holds nearly 600 billion Euros of the European bonds. So if the debtor countries cannot pay the money on time ,not only itself but also these creditor will under a huge financial pressure. This is simply showed by the MF Global who is the biggest victims in the European debt crisis that Global voted to file for bankruptcy. The main reason why MF Global got into financial trouble is because it bought over 6 billion U.S. dollars in European sovereign debt, mainly related to the national debt of countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium. Finally, European debt crisis have the first victims outside the region of the Europe. Thus,the connection each economic system makes the risk contagious simply. Apart from those mentioned above, an alternative way for this crisis transmission is the relation among correlation coefficients in the conditional correlation model (DCC),which may be related to herding behaviour, specially the rating agency continually reduced euro-zone counties’ grades and as well as influences formed the short-selling speculators.Some studies estimated a dynamic conditional correlation model (DCC) in order to analyse the correlation structure of Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Belgian and Austrian bond yield spreads over the German yield to study contagion in the Euro Area. In particular, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Belgian yield spreads do increase along with their Greek counterpart. Thus it seems that Greek financial problems could spread via contagion to other Euro Area countries. As European counties are related, if it is more likely for similarly bad rated countries to sustain a rating cut once Greek was downgraded, then for such countries the control variable should have a positive impact on the correlation coefficients(Sebastian and Sebastian, 2011). Therefore in terms of European debt crisis, contagion occurs when investors believe that other countries, in addition to the original country facing economic crisis, pose a risk of finance loss and act accordingly(Lia Menà ©nde, 2012). And according to the Herd Instinctï ¼Å'other European countries, to some extend, would be influenced,particularly for those counties who had been facing such problems. Due to the European sovereign debt crisis not only impacted the bond market, the equity market, money market and foreign exchange market, even the whole world was also affected. As all the country has International Reserves, Gold Reserves and Foreign Exchange Reserves, it can be evidently reflected that a bigger concern would be jitters over if sovereign debt become less focused on euro-zone and more global. As the stock price declined, and the euro devaluated, Europe’s crisis will no longer be Europe’ s along. It would affect the global trade balances even. Conclusion Since the early 2010, the Euro Area faced a severe sovereign debt crisis, resulting from government deficits and debt levels which triggered rating agencies subsequently to downgrade the credit ratings of nine euro area sovereigns, thereby creating a loss of confidence in financial markets. Learning from this crisis, bank should increase their capital to counteract the loss and passive influences of the crisis. And meanwhile, governments need to broaden revenue and strengthen the budget management, as well as control the government debt reasonably, particularly, investors’ confidence should be reactuated urgently. Reference [1] Chan, M. (2011) Robin Hood Meets Wall Street (online). Poole: Friends of the Earth. Available from: http://www.foe.org/news/archives/2011-02-robin-hood-meets-wall-street (Accessed 22 Feb 2011). [2] Reserve Bank Of Australia(2012). Statement on Monetary Police (online). Available from: http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2012/feb/html/intl-fx-mkts.html (Assessed 9 August 2012). [3] Financial Time,2010:’raders in record bet against the euro’ (online)Available from:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9203f08c-151a-11df-ad58-00144feab49a.html#axzz2BOITU3eG [4] Daniel, W. and Harold, H. (2012). Spain’s Banks, Government Co-Dependent on Debt . Associated Press. June 25, 2012. Available from:http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Spain-s-banks-government-co-dependent-on-debt-3660227.php (Accessed June 26, 2012) [5] Silvia Merler and John Pisani-Ferry (2012), Who’s Afraid of Sovereign Bonds?†Bruegel Policy Contribution. No. 2012/02, February 2012. Available from: http://docs.jean-jaures.net/NL470/21.pdf (Accessed June 26, 2012). [6] World Bank, World Development Indicators. Cash Surplus/Deficit as % of GDP 2001–2007. [7] Furth, S. and Ligon, J. L. (2012) How Contagious Is Europe’s Economic Crisis? Backgrounder (online), No.2726. Available from: http://report.heritage.org/bg2726 (Accessed 18 Sep. 2012). [8] Seth W. Feaster; Nelson D. Schwartz; Tom Kuntz (2011-10-22). â€Å"NYT-It’s All Connected-A Spectators Guide to the Euro Crisis†. New York Times Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/10/22/opinion/20111023_DATAPOINTS.html?ref=sunday-review. Retrieved 2012-05-14. [9] Sebastian Missio;Sebastian Watzka,(2011-08-31).†Financial Contagion and the European Debt Crisis†Journal of Economic Literature, E43, E44, E63. p2. [10] Menà ©ndez, L.(2012). The spread of the European Sovereign Debt Crisis(online). Available from: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:IaD0olBUZ2kJ:ebook.law.uiowa.edu/ebook/sites/default/files/Spread%2520of%2520the%2520European%2520Sovereign%2520Debt%2520Crisis.pdf+The+spread+of+the+European+Sovereign+Debt+Crisis&hl=zh-CN&