Critisism on Curleys Wife Essay Example for Free

Critisism on Curleys Wife Essay For Of Mice and Men is a Tragedy, a tragedy not in the narrow modern sense of a mere sad story (though it certainly is that), but a tragedy in the classic Aristotelian/Shakespearean sense of showing humanitys achievement of greatness through and in spite of defeat. Some people seem to believe that the function of literature is to provide vicarious happy endings, to provide in words a sugary sweetness we would like to have but cannot always get in real life. To such people, true literary tragedy is distasteful. But the greatest writers and the best readers know that literature is not always only mere sugar candy; it can sometimes be a strong medicine: sour perhaps — at least to the untrained taste — but necessary for continued health[.] Some readers may object to the books presentation of low class characters, vulgar language, scenes suggestive of improper sexual conduct, and an implied criticism of the social system. But none of this is presented indecently, or beyond the ordinary norms of contemporary literature. Compared to many modern works, (or to movies and TV) this book is tame indeed. Furthermore, these features are necessary in this book in two ways. First, they are part of the accurate precise reporting of the reality of a particular time and place and environment. Part of Steinbecks literary point is that this is true to life. As such, the dirty details are part of Steinbecks enlargement of the realm of Tragedy, the democratization of the tragic world. Traditionally, the subjects of Tragedies have been Kings and other Great Ones: Job, Oedipus, Lear. But Steinbecks point — a truly American point — is that all men are created equal: Tragedy exists even among the lowly of the earth; even the least of us — even a Lennie or a George — has the human potential for tragic nobility. Of Mice and Men is a tragedy in the modern tradition of The Hairy Ape and Death of a Salesman. Second, the grossness is a way of presenting briefly the complex turmoil of life. This book is not stereotype melodrama. It is not a simpleminded book. There are no purely bad people in it. Conversely, there are no purely good people in it either. All the characters are complex mixtures of good and bad, or rather of bad results from good intentions. They are all — in their ability and in their outlook — limited. And they live in a gross and dirty world. Given their position in that world, they are not able to achieve much. But they are trying to do the best they can; they are trying to be good people and to have good lives. They have good intentions. They have noble aims. The tragedy is that, limited as the characters are, the world they live in is even more limited; it is a world in which the simplest dream of the simplest man — poor dumb big Lennie — cannot come true. The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft a-glae [go oft a-stray], wrote Robert Burns in the poem which provides the books title and its theme. And Steinbecks story shows why: The best laid plans go oft astray because they come in confl ict with one another. The simplest good intention — simply to stay alive — of a simple mouse, a simple pup, a simple young woman, is thwarted by Lennies urge to pet something soft and beautiful. Lennies drive to touch beauty kills the things he loves. But his problem is the same problem that bothers Curley, the Bosss son, the closest thing to a villain in the book. Like Lennie, Curley doesnt know how to hold on to what he finds important: his young wife, his status as the Bosss son, his reputation as a man. He loses each by trying to hold on too tightly. Curleys aim to be a respected husband/boss/man is foiled by his own limited abilities. The similar but simpler aim of Lennie and George to have a small place of their own where they can live offa the fatta the lan is doomed to frustration also by their own limitations and the tragic chain of circumstance and coincidence that ends with Lennie dead by Georges hand. The point, of course, is that they all — we all — live in a too limited world, a world in which not all our dreams can come true, a world in which we — all of us some of the time and some of us all the time — are doomed to disappointment. The tragic dilemma is that for our basic humanity, for the goodness of our aims, we all deserve better than we get. But because of our human limitations, by our weaknesses of character, none of us is ever good enough to earn what we deserve. Some philosophers, seeing this dilemma, pronounce profound pessimism for humanity. Some religions promise for this worlds disappointments supernatural intercession and other-worldly compensations. The tragic viewpoint (the view of Shakespeare, the Greek tragedians, the Old Testament Job, and John Steinbeck) finds in it the chance for nobility of soul: even in the blackest of disappointments, a human can achieve individual greatness. One may be defeated physically — but one need not be crushed spiritually. One can remain true to ones dream and true to ones friend. We humans may die, but we can love one another. Friendship. Love. That too is what Of Mice and Men is all about. Lennie and George, disparate types, are, against all good reason, friends. They share a good dream. They love one another. They are too limited, too inarticulate, to know how to say it, but they do show it — or rather Steinbeck shows it to us readers. So the book treats the great themes of Dreams and Death and Love with simple powerful clarity. It does so with a classically elegant structure — another reason for using the book as a teaching tool: it allows a reader — especially an untrained or beginning reader of literature — to see (or be shown) how structure supports and presents content. Of Mice and Men has the classic situation/complication/twist/and/resolution plot structure uncluttered by diversions, distractions, or subplots. There is inevitableness, a starkness that makes the poi nt of the story unavoidable. The story has the classic unities of time and place and action. It begins in a small spot of beautiful nature, a secluded camp in the woods by a stream; it moves to the buildings of a California ranch, and ends back in the woods by the stream. The style is simple: clear, direct sentences of description and action, direct quotation of the speech of simple people. Few long words, no hard words. The action is simple: two poor and vagrant workers, big, dumb Lennie and small, clever George, take jobs at a large ranch. Lennie has trouble with the Bosss son, Curley. Lennie accidentally — more or less — kills Curleys wife. George kills Lennie to save him from the horrors of a lynch mob led by Curley, bent on revenge. The settings are simple in detail, and simply powerfully symbolic. The secluded spot in the woods by the stream is the uncomplicated world of Nature; the bunkhouse is the bleak home of hired working men trying to make sense of their lives and gain comfort in a limited environment; the barn is the place of working life, of seed and harvest, birth and death; the harness room with Crooks bunk symbolizes social constraints; the little place of our own about which George and Lennie dream and all too vaguely plan is the Paradise on earth we all hope for. The characters, too, are simple yet significant. Begin with an individual, and before you know it you find you have created a type, wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald; begin with a type, and you find that you have created — nothing. Steinbeck begins with individuals: clearly and sharply crafted characters, a whole set of individuals who are so clearly realized that each — without surrendering individuality — becomes a type, an archetype, a universal character: There is Candy, the old, one-arme d worker with no place to go, as useless as his toothless dog; there is Carlson, gruffly and deliberately unfeeling, who can coolly kill old Candys ancient dog simply because he stinks and he aint no good to you; and there is Crooks, the dignified proud and aloof but helpless and lonely victim of racial discrimination. There is Slim, calm, reasonable, compassionate, the real leader of men. And there is Curley, the arrogant but inept Bosss son. The man who could lead well does not have the position; the one who has the position and the authority is not a true leader. Curley hides his insecurities behind a mask of macho toughness. His competitive bravado makes him push too far and Lennie, after enduring much, is given permission by George to get him. Lennie in self-protection crushes Curleys fist in his own big hand, crippling Curley somewhat as Candy and Crooks have been crippled by the punitive harshness of life. Curley is also the one man who has a woman. But clearly he does not — does not know how to — relate to her as a person. She is to him a thing, a possession, a sex-object and a status symbol. For the men, in braggadocio, he flaunts the sexuality of the relationship; and yet, out of his own self-doubts he is intensely jealous of the mens awareness of her. The young woman has no name — she is merely Curleys wife. She knows she wants — and somehow deserves — something better than this. I dont like Curley, she says of her husband. She has grandiose ambitions of being a Hollywood star in the pitchers. She is a lost little girl in a world of men whose knowledge of women is largely limited to memories of kind old ladies and rumors of casual prostitution. All these men are afraid of Curleys wife, afraid and aware that her innocent animal appeal may lead them into temptation and trouble. In self-protection they avoid her. Only Lennie, in naive goodness, actually relates to her as a person to a person. She talks to him. For a little time they share in their aesthetic sense; they both admire beauty. Unfortunately, she is too naive, and Lennie is too strong and c lumsy. In trying — at her invitation — to pet her lovely hair he is panicked by her quick resistance, and ends by killing her. Just as he had earlier killed a puppy and a mouse. Curleys wife, a naive Romantic, wants love and tenderness in a harsh crude Naturalistic world; Lennie, big and ignorant, tries to give love. But he is too weak in the mind, too strong in the body. His tenderness is too powerful for weaker, unsuspecting creatures. We readers can identify with Lennie. We sympathize; we empathize. We care. We have — most of us — been in his position; not quite able to cope with the complexities of the world around us, wanting only security, peace, comfort, and something soft and beautiful to pet and love. Perhaps one reason that this book has evoked controversy and censorious action is that it is so simple and clear and easy to understand — and so painful! It hurts to read this book. And some people dont like their books to hurt them; they want soothi ng. But great Tragedy is meant to hurt. One neednt subscribe wholly to the Aristotelian doctrine of catharsis by Art to see that one function of literature is to help us deal with the pain of real life by practicing with the vicarious pains of tragic art. Of course Of Mice and Men contains unpleasant attitudes; there is brutality, racism, sexism, economic exploitation. But the book does not advocate them; rather it shows that these too-narrow conceptions of human life are part of the cause of human tragedy. They are forces which frustrate human aspiration. Lennie and George have a noble dream. They are personally too limited to make it come true, but they do try. They try to help each other, and they even enlarge their dream to include old one-handed Candy and crippled black Crooks. Theirs is the American Dream: that there is somehow, somewhere, sometime, the possibility that we can make our Paradise on earth, that we can have our own self-sufficient little place where we can live off the fat of the land as peaceful friends. What is sad, what is tragic, what is horrible, is that the Dream may not come true because we are — each and all of us — too limited, too selfish, too much in conflict with one another. Maybe ever-body in the whole damn world is scared of each other, says Slim. And George expresses the effects of loneliness, Guys that go around alone dont have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin to fight all the time. What is ennobling in this tragedy of mice and men is the Revelation of a way beyond that loneliness and meanness and fighting, a way to rise above our human limitations: Two men — Lennie and George — who have nothing else, do have each other. We kinda look after each other. says George. And they do have their Dream. And the Dream is there even in the final defeat. For in the end the one thing George can do for Lennie is to make sure hes happy as he dies. He has Lennie look acrost the river you can almost see [the place]. And as Lennie says, Lets get that place now, George kills him mercifully. Its a horrible thing to do, and George knows that. And we know that. But in this limited world in this limited way it is all that George can do for his friend. And he does it. That is the horror and the nobility which together make up Tragedy. The Tragic pattern closes. There is a sense of completeness, of both defeat and satisfaction. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck has shown us something about the pain of living in a complex human world and created something beautiful from it. In true great literature the pain of Life is transmuted into the beauty of Art. The book is worth reading for a glimpse of that beauty — and worth teaching as a way to show others how such beauty works.

Apoptosis And Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins Family: A

Apoptosis And Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins Family: A   Background Apoptosis is an orchestrated biological cellular process that occurs in physiological and pathological conditions(1). It is essential for regulating development, homeostasis, and immune-system function in organisms(2). In mammalian cells, apoptosis is mediated by a family of cysteine proteases named caspases which are initially expressed in cells as inactive procaspase precursors and are activated by two pathways, the extrinsic ( or death receptor) and intrinsic (or mitochondrial) apoptotic pathways(1). The extrinsic pathway is activated by the binding of ligands such as Fas ligand (FasL) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF) to death receptors on the cell surface, FAS and the TNF receptor (TNFR), respectively, which leads to the formation of the death-induced signalling complex (DISC)(3)(4). DISC recruits caspase-8 and promotes the cascade of procaspase activation that follows(5). The intrinsic pathway is triggered by extracellular and intracellular stresses, such as high cytosolic [ca+2 ], hypoxia, severe oxidative stress, DNA damage(5), which results in the permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane, the release of pro-apoptotic molecules such as cytochrome C and others into the cytoplasm(6), the formation of the apoptosome- a large protein complex that is made up of cytochrome C, apoptotic protease activating factor 1 (APAF1) and caspase-9 and caspase activation(7). On the other hand, cell death is also modified by other mitochondrial proteins such as apoptosis-inducing factor(AIF), second mitochondria- derived activator of caspase (Smac), direct IAP Binding protein with low PI (DIABLO)   and Omi/high temperature requirement protein A (Htr A2)(7). Smac/ DIABLO or Omi/HtrA2 induces cell death independently of caspase activation by counteracting inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP)- mediated caspase inhibition(7)(8)( Fig. 1). The upstream caspase for the intrinsic pathway is caspase 9, while that of the extrinsic pathway is caspase 8. The intrinsic and extrinsic pathways cleave the precursor forms of effector caspases, such ascaspase-3, caspase-6 and caspase-7(9). Activated effector caspases cleave many vital cellular proteins such as protein kinases, cytoskeletal proteins, DNA repair proteins and inhibitory subunits of endonucleases family and break up the nuclear scaffold and cytoskeleton(9). They also activate DNAase, that further degrade nuclear DNA(10), which together contribute to the typical morphological changes in apoptosis. Dysregulation of apoptosis has been implicated in numerous pathological conditions, including cancer(1). Besides, targeting the apoptotic pathways for cancer treatment is supported by several findings emphasizing the role of aberrant apoptosis in tumorigenesis and also resistance to anticancer treatment. Evasion from apoptosis is critical for tumor growth and a hallmark of cancer(11). One of the mechanisms by which evasion of apoptosis occurs is   disrupted balance of pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins(1). A delicate balance between pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic mechanisms determines whether a cell death signal can activate the apoptotic program. It is not the absolute quantity but rather the ratio of these pro-and anti-apoptotic proteins that controls the regulation of cell death. In this balance, pro-apoptotic proteins activate apoptosis and anti-apoptotic proteins inhibit apoptosis(12)(13). Inhibitors of apoptosis protein (IAPs)   are important members of the anti-ap optotic family of proteins that can inhibit   caspase activation and play a key role in regulating of apoptosis in many species(1). Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs): The inhibitor of apoptosis proteins are a group of structurally and functionally similar proteins that regulate programmed cell death, cytokinesis and signal transduction(14). The   IAP gene is 1.6 kb in size encoding a 31 kDa protein with a zinc finger-like motif. Many IAP family members have been identified in almost all species from viruses to mammals(15). They are characterized by the baculovirus IAP repeats (BIR) domain at the N- terminus, the name of which derives from the original discovery of these apoptosis suppressors in the genome of baculoviruses(16). The BIR domain contains approximately 70 amino acids. Although the number of BIR domains varies among IAP members, each BIR domain is made up of cysteine and histidine residues in a well-defined pattern (CX2CX16HX6C)(15). IAP acts as endogenous inhibitor of caspases by binding of their conserved BIR domains to the active sites of caspases in vitro and   vivo. IAPs inhibit caspases by promoting the degradation of active caspases, or by sequestering the caspases away from their substrates(17). When IAP family members are overexpressed, cancer cells no longer proceed to apoptosis and become increasingly resistant to standard chemo- and radiation therapies(18)(19). Many studies have established a circumstantial association between IAPs and cancer. Pathological overexpression of several IAP family members has been detected in several classes of human cancers(20)(21)(22). The eight IAPs identified in humans are cIAP1, cIAP2, NAIP, Survivin, XIAP, apollon, ILP-2 and livin(23). Interestingly, many data have shown that c-IAP1, c-IAP2 and XIAP are   broadly expressed in normal cells(24)(22). In normal tissues, IAPs could have some potential physiological roles, such as the regulation of the immune system(25), the response to cell damage(25), cell survival and differentiation(26). On the other hand, it has been proven in many studies that survivin, unlike other IAPs, is prominently expressed in vast majority of neoplasms but not in differentiated normal tissues(27). Survivin has been reported to be overexpressed in various cancers including breast and lung cancer, prostate, gastric, colon, bladder and esophageal carcinomas, osteosarcomas and lymphomas(28)(29). Overexpression of survivin was also found to be significantly associated with poor prognosis and decreased survivial rates in many cancers(30)(31). Survivin: Survivin (also Called IAP 4) is a protein with a crucial role in regulating both cell division and apoptosis. It is the smallest member of the IAP family(29). Survivin, a 16.5 kDa intracellular   protein of 142 amino acid, was discovered in 1997 by Ambrosini and colleagues(32). Structurally, survivin contains a single BIR domain. This domain is essential for its anti-apoptotic activity(33). However, instead of a ring finger domain (RING) near the C-terminus shared by others members of the IAPs, survivin contains a C-terminus alpha-helical coiled-coil (CC) domain which is thought to be important for its interaction with microtubules, hence its roles in cell cycle(34)(35) In normal tissues, survivin shows cell -cycle dependent expression during cell division. Its expression increases in G2/M phase and decreases rapidly in G1(29). The regulation of survivn expression and function is complex and can occur at various levels, including transcriptional regulation, post-translational modification, and protein stability regulation(27). it is regulated by a number of factors such as: NF-nB(36), insulin-like growth factor I/mTOR(37), Ras oncogene family(38), E2F, Sp1, TCF, and heat shock protein (Hsp) 90(39)(40).   Survivin is also regulated by p53 wild type. Additionally, post-transcriptional phosphorylation has been proven to play a   regulatory role in survivin activation(41). Biologic function of survivin Survivin as an inhibitor of apoptosis The mechanism by which survivin inhibits apoptosis is still controversial. Initially, survivin and other IAPs were postulated to inhibit apoptosis directly by interfering with the function of caspase-3, caspase- 7, and caspase-9(42).   In support of this model, it was shown that survivin can interact with Smac/DIABLO physically, thus placing survivin in a central position in the dynamic balance of proapoptotic and antiapoptotic factors(43). However, Structural analyses of survivin indicated later that any effect on caspase should be indirect, as it lacks the amino acid sequence that is essential in other IAPs for caspase binding. Also, the survivin gene is highly conserved in a wide range of organisms, and all of its orthologues are involved in mitotic regulation but not in cytoprotection(44).   Studies of cells from survivin-knockout mice have cast further doubt on the existence of a direct link between survivin and apoptosis(45). Later experiments indicated that Survivin inhibits active caspase-9 but not active caspase-3 and caspase-7. And, survivin mediated inhibition of caspase-9 requires interaction and cooperation with other molecules such as   HBXIP (hepatitis B X-interacting protein)(46) and   XIAP (X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein) which also known as inhibitor of apoptosis protein 3 (IAP3)(47) (Fig. 3). Survivin also provides cytoprotection to cells through the inhibition of the AIF pathway, which is known to induce caspase-independent DNA fragmentation(48). Survivin as a promotor of mitosis The cell- cycle dependent expression of survivin in normal tissues   supports strongly its role in cell division. During mitosis, survivin acts in a narrow time window at metaphase and anaphase. It is acting as an interphase between the centromere/central spindle and the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC)(49). CPC is a hetero-tetrameric complex which localizes to different sites at different times during mitosis, and   is composed of four components:   Aurora-B Kinase (enzymatic component), Borealin/Dasra, Survivin and inner centromere protein (INCENP)(50)(51). CPC is essential for proper chromosome segregation and cytokinesis(52). Inactivation of mammalian survivin -or its orthologues in lower organisms results in cytokinesis abnormalities, particularly spindle defects(53)(54) (Fig. 3)(55). Survivin facilitating angiogenesis In addition to its roles in apoptosis and mitosis, survivin   promotes angiogenesis. it is strongly expressed in endothelial cells (EC) during   the proliferative phase of angiogenesis(56)(57) and the antisense-mediated suppression of survivin   during angiogenesis stimulates vascular regression in vitro(58). Besides, exposure of cultured vascular EC to angiogenic factors such as VEGF and bFGF result in increasing survivin expression (both mRNA and protein)(59)(60). Survivin expression In normal physiological conditions, survivin is usually expressed in   embryonic lung and fetal organs in the developmental Stages(61). The protein is also detected in mature tissues with high proliferation potential such as thymus, placenta, CD34+ stem cells and basal colonic epithelial cells(61)(62)(63). However survivin seems to be selectively expressed in transformed cells and in most human cancers. Many studies have shown that survivin, unlike other IAPs, is prominently expressed in the vast majority of neoplasms but not in the differentiated normal tissue(27). Based on detection of protein by immunohistochemistry and mRNA by polymerase chain reaction techniques, overexpression of survivin has been reported in various human malignancies including lung cancer(64), breast cancer(65)(66); stomach(67)(68), esophagus(69), liver(70)(71), ovary cancers(72), brain(73) and hematological cancers(74). Additionally, the immunological responses which detected against survivin supports its specific up-regulation in malignant cells(75)(76). Survivin protein has also been shown to induce cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) response in   breast cancer, melanoma and chronic lymphatic leukemia patients(76). Survivin expression can be deregulated in cancer by several mechanisms, including amplification of the survivin locus on chromosome 17q25 (77), demethylation of survivin exons(78), increased promoter activity(79), and increased upstream signaling in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase or mitogen activated protein kinase pathways(80). Overall, increased survivin expression in several malignancies is associated with cancer survival or disease recurrence, and resistance to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. In a study of 275 patients with breast cancer demonstrated that survivin was a significant prognostic factor and predicted the outcome independent of patients age, tumor size and histologic grade(81). In the case of ovarian cancers, survivin expression was correlated with poor prognostic factors such as: high histologic  grade, mutant p53, and poor histologic type(81)(82). Also, previous studies demonstrated that survivin was expressed in benign brain and pituitary tumors. Although survivin   was also present in normal pituitary tissue,   the level of the gene expression was 6-fold higher in tumors than in normal pituitary tissue(83). In a study of 222   patients who underwent radical cystectomy, survivin was expressed in 64% of bladder tumors and 94% of malignant lymph nodes, but not in normal bladder specime ns and its expression correlated with disease recurrence and disease-specific mortality(84).   Also, increased survivin expression has been associated with an unfavorable survival or disease recurrence in colorectal cancer(85), particularly in stage II disease in esophageal cancer(86), hepatocellular carcinoma(87), lung cancer(88), glioma(89), leukemia(90), and other cancer types. A   study in oral cancer demonstrated that the extent of survivin expression was negatively correlated with the degree of differentiation(91). Additionally, survivin overexpression may be a predictive factor to determine response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in patients with bladder cancer(92), breast cancer(93), multiple myeloma(94), lung cancer(95) and lymphoma(96)(97). On other hand, patients with lower survivin expression were more responsive to preoperative chemotherapy with 5-flourouracil and cisplatin in esophageal cancer(98). It is also reported that patients with lower survivin expression in pretreatment biopsies were more responsive to radiotherapies in rectal cancer(99). While Overexpression of survivin was associated with   resistance to a taxol-based   therapy for ovarian carcinomas(100). In addition to full-length transcript (survivin (wild type)), five splice variants, which result from splicing of survivin BIRC5 gene pre-messenger RNA (mRNA), have been described: survivin-ΔEx3, survivin-3B, survivin-2ß, survivin2ÃŽ ± and survivin 3ÃŽ ± with different structure and function(101)(102)(103). Previous studies showed that an imbalance in the alternative transcript ratios may affect the cell to be resistant or sensitive to apoptosis(104). This alternative splicing of Survivin has been shown to have correlation with disease activity in various patient studies. For example, studies showed that Survivin-ΔEx3 and survivin-3B were found to be highest in tumors with advanced histological grade and were associated with poor prognosis(105)(106). On other hand, the expression of survivin-2ß was significantly higher in small tumor size and was inversely associated with axillary node positive carcinomas(106). Besides different splicing forms, immunohistochemical studies have demonstrated that survivin also localized   in distinct nuclear and cytoplasmic subcellular pools. Cytosolic Survivin is believed to act as apoptotic suppressor while nuclear Survivin is postulated to regulate cell division(29). There are conflicting data of pathological significance of nuclear Survivin.   Some Splicing studies showed that nuclear staining of survivin is associated with favorable prognosis(107), while others showed Its expression in the nuclei of tumor cells appears to be associated with unfavorable clinical outcomes(108)(109). Also, the cellular localization of Survivin isoforms   differs. while survivin-2ß   and Survivin 2a are localized in both nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments, survivin-ΔEx3 is localized in both mitochondria and nucleus(110). Additionally, Methylation and Phosphorylation are critical requirements for survivin function. Several observations show that survivin is unmethylated in cancer but may be selectively methylate  d in normal tissues with individual variations(111)(112). Methylation may play an important role in the p53 mediated suppression of survivin(113). Another critical requirement for survivin function is the phosphorylation on Thr34(114) Treatment approaches: Due to important role of Survivin in tumor cell division, apoptosis, chemo resistance and survival, survivin represents a unique target for biologic therapy in many human malignancies. Several novel experimental therapeutic strategies have been developed to block the expression or function of Survivin in tumour cells. These include immunotherapeutic approaches to induce immune response against Survivin, small molecule inhibitors/antagonists of   survivin function, and nucleic acid based approaches which interfere with Survivin gene expression(115)   such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), ribozymes and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs)(116). Also, Vaccine approaches such as dendritic cell based (DC) vaccines, DNA vaccines(117), peptide vaccines for Survivin have also been evaluated in preclinical or clinical studies. Survivin ASOs were first used against malignant melanoma cell lines. Transfection with the ASOs triggered spontaneous apoptosis linked to decreased endogenous survivin expression(118) . Treatment with LY2181308, a specific inhibitor of Survivin mRNA which has already entered the phase 1 trial(119). YM-155 is a novel small-molecule survivin suppressant which inhibits survivin mRNA transcription and protein expression in p53-deficient cancer cells in vitro(120). YM155 has also shown to be effective in vivo models of prostate, pancreatic, and lung cancer(120)(121). Ribozyme mediated approaches have also been evaluated for inhibition of Survivin expression. Down-regulation of human Survivin gene expression and increased apoptosis was achieved by using two hammerhead ribozymes (RZ-1, RZ-2) targeting human Survivin mRNA (122) PIQL: Success-Tolerant Query Processing in the Cloud PIQL: Success-Tolerant Query Processing in the Cloud Advanced Topics in Foundations of Databases PIQL: Success-Tolerant Query Processing in the Cloud Stavros Anastasios Iakovou Introduction In our days it is widely know that modern web applications are directly linked with databases. In addition, the number of the users is highly increas- ing through the time and as result the related databases start overloading. Furthermore, despite the fact that data indepence would be ideal for im- plemeting lithe applications developers abandoned this idea in order to avoid expensive queries. Hence, Michael Armbrust et al.[1] implemented a new declarative language called PIQL, a scale independent language. A large number of frameworks have already appeared in order to assist developers to create modern web applications. However, this plethora of websites with millions of users led to database failures due to lack of request managing. As a result, there was a demand on implementation of a new system that will control all these requests and provide efficient results to users. A few methods have introduced and one of the most popular is NoSQL. Despite the fact that NoSQL provided a high level interface, data indepen- dence created scalability problems since a large number of queries took a lot of time. This led to to several issues like performance failing and user disatisfaction as well. In order to avoid this bad situation scientists hand coded key/value implementations. On the one hand, this provided the de- sirable scalability but, on the other hand is was not easy enough for the developers to write that kind of code to parallelize their queries so as to fi achieve high scalability. Another significant issue is time consuming functions rewrites. Now, once we talked about several problems occured by queries in the next section we will discuss about PIQL. More specifically, we will present this method and give a brief summary of the implementation. In the rest of the document we will discuss about the performance of the previous imple- mentation. What is PIQL? In this section we will discuss and analyze the PIQL (PerformanceInsightful Query Language) model. One important advantage of PIQL is that intro- duced the notion of scale independency. More specifically, the model pre- serves the logical data independence. The most significant about data this technique is that performace maintains not only on small datasets but also in large as well. For this reason this is called success-tolerant since the success is for every large dataset. But why PIQL is successful? The answer is on the limitation on key/value store operations. As we previously mentioned, one goal of PIQL is to avoid issues when the database gets larger. PIQL uses static analysis in order to fi the correct number of operation in every step of the execution. Before we move to the next step of the analysis of the methodology we should mention the four queries classes. The fi one is called constant since the processing time is constant. The second one is the bounded class. More specifically this class refers to bounded data when the site becomes more popular. For instance, in case of Facebook every user has a limit of 5000 friends. The third class is called sub-linear or linear and is referring to queries that become more successfull when the data increase linearly. The last one is Super-linear where intermediate calculations are necessary for the queries. Now, once we mentioned all the necessary theoritical parts of PIQL we will discuss on its structure. Every server is directly connected with a Distributed Key/Value Store. Hence, this methodology maintains the scalability and the response time is now predictable. A significant drawback of this technique is that a specific key/value store is required so as to maintain data locality. On the other hand, this method is non-blocking and according to Chen et al.[2] can reduce memory latency. Another important benefit of PIQL is that extends the cardinality con- straint of regular direction to diff ent directions as well. More specifi , these cardinalities provide several information on its relationships. For in- stance, a Facebook user should have no more than 5000 friends. This is a very significant information since selecting the wrong number for limita- tions can lead back to the previous problems. Thinking again the Facebook limitations for the maximum number of friends on Facebook, according to Brandtzg et al.[3] a significant issue that occurs is the lack of privacy. Hence, the limitations are not only important for the performance but also for the user protection as well. In addition, the same person can create a new profit for free and add his new friends there. As a result, 5000 friends is not actually a limitation for a user and is provided in terms of privacy and performance. According to Michael Armbrust et al.[1] their algorithm for scale inde- pendent optim ization contains two phases. The fi one is reffering to stop operator insertion. In order to maintain scalability, the algorithm starts by fi a linear join ordering on the query parser. Depsite the fact that stop operator is already contained due to LIMIT which in contained in the reg- ular query, scientists have introduced data-stop operators which are pushed in lower levels in order to preserve the initial rules without the demand of  restart the whole system. Next, after fiphase 1 the second step which is called remote op- erator matching. As we previously mentioned we should ensure scalabiliy. Hence, the intermediate results are bounded. But how all these logical op- erators are mapped on remote operators? For Index Scan, that means that maximum one attribute can be affected by predicates. As for Index Foreign Key join the number of tuples after the join is less than or than the tuples of the initial plan. References [1] Armbrust, Michael, et al. PIQL: Success-tolerant query processing in the cloud. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment 5.3 (2011): 181-192. [2] Chen, Tien-Fu, and Jean-Loup Baer. Reducing memory latency via non- blocking and prefetching caches. Vol. 27. No. 9. ACM, 1992. [3] Brandtzg, Petter Bae, Marika Lders, and Jan Hvard Skjetne. Too many Facebook friends? Content sharing and sociability versus the need for pri- vacy in social network sites. Intl. Journal of HumanComputer Interaction 26.11-12 (2010): 1006-1030.

Sex and Violence on Television Essay -- Television Media TV Essays

Sex and Violence on Television   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since its inception, television has been the center of controversy. Often it has been viewed as being extremely detrimental to society, and because of this, it is often referred to as the "Boob-tube" or the "Idiot-box". So what makes television so detrimental? - The content (or in the opinion of many) the lack thereof. It is said that television has caused the rotting of our minds, that it depreciates the imagination and contributes to laziness. But the most important accusation against what comes over the airwaves, is that it influences some people into committing antisocial and often immoral behavior. Narrowing down the search of the most important problems reveals an excess of sexual and violent material on Television, most of which is readily available to young and extremely impressionable viewers. This material is often said to be the cause for the increase of violent crimes and open promiscuity, which has become more apparent over the past few d ecades. However, many would disagree with this standpoint. They believe that the amount of sex and violence seen each day on television is not the cause of societal woes, but has been caused by the problems that are witnessed in the real world every day. Perhaps it is just another case of which came first, the chicken or the egg? Also, the television industry is one of the most profitable of all industries, especially in this country, for, "Sex sells," as the saying goes. As for the violence that we see, only violence packed movies make as much money as they do and they are more likely to receive a lot of attention when first viewed on network television than non-violent blockbusters. As a movie executive once put it, "Violence is going ... ... Cancels Crime Show That Fails to Get Any Ads."The New York Times3 May 1989:D1. "Celebrate the Freedom to Read: Read 1996's Most Challenged Books." American Library Association. 1996. Go To Constitution of the United States of America.Amendment I. Eysenck, H. J. "Sex Violence and the Media." New York: St. Martin's Press1978. Godwin, Mike. "Why We'll Win: When Uncle Sam gets out of line, Good Lawyers Are The Best Revenge" HotWired. 1996. Go To Guyton, Kady. "Censored Literature Draws Attention." Student Publications Inc. 1995. Go To Haithman, Diane."Housewife Critic of TV Finds Less to Protest."Los Angeles Times 22 July 1989:V1. Wyatt, Robert O., David Neft, David P. Badger."Free Expression and the American Public: A Survey Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the First Amendment." Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 1991. Sex and Violence on Television Essay -- Television Media TV Essays Sex and Violence on Television   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since its inception, television has been the center of controversy. Often it has been viewed as being extremely detrimental to society, and because of this, it is often referred to as the "Boob-tube" or the "Idiot-box". So what makes television so detrimental? - The content (or in the opinion of many) the lack thereof. It is said that television has caused the rotting of our minds, that it depreciates the imagination and contributes to laziness. But the most important accusation against what comes over the airwaves, is that it influences some people into committing antisocial and often immoral behavior. Narrowing down the search of the most important problems reveals an excess of sexual and violent material on Television, most of which is readily available to young and extremely impressionable viewers. This material is often said to be the cause for the increase of violent crimes and open promiscuity, which has become more apparent over the past few d ecades. However, many would disagree with this standpoint. They believe that the amount of sex and violence seen each day on television is not the cause of societal woes, but has been caused by the problems that are witnessed in the real world every day. Perhaps it is just another case of which came first, the chicken or the egg? Also, the television industry is one of the most profitable of all industries, especially in this country, for, "Sex sells," as the saying goes. As for the violence that we see, only violence packed movies make as much money as they do and they are more likely to receive a lot of attention when first viewed on network television than non-violent blockbusters. As a movie executive once put it, "Violence is going ... ... Cancels Crime Show That Fails to Get Any Ads."The New York Times3 May 1989:D1. "Celebrate the Freedom to Read: Read 1996's Most Challenged Books." American Library Association. 1996. Go To Constitution of the United States of America.Amendment I. Eysenck, H. J. "Sex Violence and the Media." New York: St. Martin's Press1978. Godwin, Mike. "Why We'll Win: When Uncle Sam gets out of line, Good Lawyers Are The Best Revenge" HotWired. 1996. Go To Guyton, Kady. "Censored Literature Draws Attention." Student Publications Inc. 1995. Go To Haithman, Diane."Housewife Critic of TV Finds Less to Protest."Los Angeles Times 22 July 1989:V1. Wyatt, Robert O., David Neft, David P. Badger."Free Expression and the American Public: A Survey Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the First Amendment." Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 1991.

Linguistic :: essays papers

Linguistic As the name suggests, linguistic learners most easily acquire information through words. They love to read, write, and tell stories. Memorizing names, places, dates, and trivia come naturally to these learners (Mantle, 2002). People with a linguistic preference have an awareness of the sounds, rhythms, and meaning of words. These students learn best by saying, hearing, and seeing words. When teaching to these students try having them write down information because that will help them remember it. Obviously they should be encouraged to read both for school and pleasure, but they should also be encouraged to participate in spelling bees or to take a creative writing course. Some games to introduce these children to are scrabble, boggle, and yahtzee. Logical Logical learners are very mathematically inclined. They enjoy solving problems, particularly if they are math related. They welcome the challenge of number games, problem solving, pattern games and like to experiment. They are very logical and straightforward. Logical learners are curious by nature and may incessantly ask you questions about how things work, relationships between things, and where things come from (Mantle, 2002). They do well if they have a sense of order and are given step-by-step instruction (Reiff, 1996). Lesson plans for these students should include charts, diagrams, and tables when possible since this type of student learns best through categorizing, classifying, and working with abstract patterns or relationships. Let them do experiments and show them how to use a calculator. Some games these learners might like to play include Uno, checkers, and chess. Spatial Spatial learners are able to visualizing things very easily. They work well with colors and pictures, and using their imagination. These learners are very artistic, but they sometimes find it hard to express themselves. For example, asking them to draw a picture will get their feelings across better than simply asking them what is wrong (Reiff, 1996). It is important to encourage any sort of creative attempt that these learners make. It might seem as though they are wasting time when in actuality they are thinking hard about something that they have not put on paper yet (Mantle, 2002). Make sure to have a variety or art materials such as paint, markers, crayons, glitter, and fabric ready for these learners to use.

In Todays Society :: essays research papers

In today’s society the public branding of the Gap name can be found everywhere. Go to any big city in North America and there will be public branding of the Gap name. Almost any major company will participate in public branding of their name. Gap keeps on public branding their name more and more effectively. Sides of buses, large billboards downtown, benches and subway stations will have the Gap name branded all over them. These are examples of public branding. Public branding is good for marketing . This is clearly illustrated by Gap because one of the main reasons for their successful marketing is their use of public branding. The goal of publicly branding is to get your company’s name known and for it to become popular . If your company becomes known and popular then your advertising program will be successful. Public branding keeps on getting more visible in today’s society. Names of a new brand that convey easily understood product attributes in short snappy wa ys are the best. Gap sales this year were the best in company’s history , largely due to the public branding of their name. It is evident that public branding is a big and important part of Gap’s marketing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The other aspect of branding is personal branding. Personal branding clothes are articles of clothing that you wear that brand the company’s name on the clothes. Personal branding has is a relatively new concept. Up until 30 years ago personal branding was unheard of . The concept of personal branding is very popular among teenagers . Some of the reasons for this are: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today’s society it is considered in style to wear personal branding clothes. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  You let people know that you bought this article of clothing from that company. If they consider that company to be prestigious then you will want people to know that they bought your article of clothing from that company. This is the case with Gap. Most people consider Gap to be a prestigious store so they will wear personal branding clothes from the Gap. This is evident because the top three selling articles of clothes from Gap are personal branding clothes. Some reasons for this are because personal branding clothes provide free advertising. These types of clothes are in style today. At the Gap this is especially true. It is important to keep on selling these type of clothes because most people (especially teenagers) feel that if a product is marketed well, there is a better chance they will buy it.

John Adams †Harmonielehre Essay

By inventing the serial system of twelve tone music and atonalism, Schoenberg had created â€Å"the agony of modern music†. The minimalists had rebelled against the systematic, â€Å"aurally ugly† music of Schoenberg and the avant-garde beliefs of atonality being the â€Å"Promised Land†, choosing instead to return to traditional tonality. Adams partially agreed with the rebellion against Schoenbergian music, his works containing distinctly minimalist elements. Thus when he spoke about â€Å"freeing [him]self from the model Schoenberg represented†, he meant to reject serialism and atonality, as well as the process of composing which â€Å"demands rigorous systemization of structure†. However, Adams has also expressed his respect for Schoenberg. Kirchner, with whom Adams studied while at Harvard, had himself been a student of Schoenberg. Though the minimalists had already paved the way for departure from the Schoenbergian model, it was perhaps still a difficult decision for Adams to divert from such an influential figure. After all, Schoenberg pioneered serialism and atonality. In addition, having grown up listening to the popular music of his time, Adams was constantly struggling to find a balance between what he listened to (notably American jazz, popular music, gospel music and rock ‘n’ roll) and the music that he studied in university. Adams had upset two camps of thought with Harmonielehre’s 1985 premiere: â€Å"Minimalists thought it was a tribute to their No. 1 bogeyman while modernists saw it as a reactionary piece that took their hero’s name in  vain.† This essay thus seeks to discuss the main characteristics of Adams’s compositional style in particular reference to Harmonielehre, and hence attempt to determine if, as a result of Adams’s internal conflicts, the said work is more of a refreshing new departure or a return to tried and tested orchestral gestures. Adams’s derivation from atonality may be considered a return to tried and tested orchestral gestures. He was particularly taken with the expressiveness of tonality, appreciating its potential to affect emotions in the hands of masters like Wagner, whom he greatly admired. In contrast, he found atonality â€Å"severely limiting in both its expressive range as well as in its ability to maintain large formal structures.† Adams has re-embraced tonality in much of his music including Harmonielehre, containing long passages employing a single set of pitch classes usually encompassed by one diatonic set. His earlier pieces generally remain diatonic throughout. The first movement of Harmonielehre begins and ends with pounding E minor chords repeated in a typical minimalistic style, and the piece culminates with a tidal wave of brass and percussion over an E-flat major pedal point. However, Adams is not a complete traditionalist as his harmonic vocabulary does not remain limited to purely diatonic chords. Non-diatonic pcs are frequently introduced in his later pieces beginning with Harmonielehre. Pcs outside E minor are first introduced in b.19 of the first movement, in this case D, making the chord an Em7. Example 1. John Adams, Harmonielehre, mm. 17-21, orchestral reduction D reappears in b.31 and henceforth gains prominence. Here, it is featured in the piano, blurring the E minor centre. Example 2. John Adams, Harmonielehre, harmonic sketch The end of the last movement (Meister Eckhardt and Quackie), features more  chromatic harmonies, with a ‘vast harmonic struggle that breaks through into an emphatic release on E-flat major’. Unlike a traditional tonal piece with systematically planned harmonies and a conclusive modulatory sequence, Adams simply â€Å"place[s] the keys together, as if in a mixer, and let them battle it out†. Nevertheless, the chromaticism is built on a diatonic basis, evident from their association with diatonic passages and the secondary role of the non-diatonic pcs. Harmonielehre is thus largely a tonal work and parodies the book by the same title written by Schoenberg, in which he discusses the functions of tonal harmony only to completely renounce it. By the title of Harmonielere, Adams explores aspects of harmony within his own language. Adams’s subscription to minimalism may also be considered a return to tried and tested orchestral gestures since minimalism had been going on for some time before he came on scene. The principal minimalist features include â€Å"a continuous formal structure, an even rhythmic texture and bright tone, a simple harmonic palette, a lack of extended melodic lines, and repetitive patterns.† Some of Adams’s early piano works, notably Common tones in Simple Time (1979-80, rev. 1986), Light Over Water (1983), and Phrygian Gates (1978) fit the aforementioned criteria. This is also observed in the opening of Harmonielehre (Example 3). The minimalistic repetitions of the E minor chords result in the creation of a repetitive pulse. Example 3. John Adams, Harmonielehre, mm. 1-10, orchestral reduction A simple harmonic palette (as discussed earlier) is a feature of both the Minimalist and Tonal traditions. Slow harmonic changes are evident in the opening (Example 3) – the E minor chord lasts till b.19 when D is introduced in the flutes and oboes and only 26 bars later (b.45) is a C added. The harmony finally changes again at b.59.These simple harmonies and gradual harmonic movement further imply the influence of minimalism. Example 4. John Adams, Harmonielehre, harmonic sketch However, Adams expands these minimalist techniques rather than using the aesthetic and style common in Reich’s or Riley’s music. While most minimalists (with the notable exception of La Monte Young) shunned the minimalist label, Adams embraces it and feels that he has exceeded the label: â€Å"Minimalism really can be a bore – you get those Great Prairies of non-event – but that highly polished, perfectly resonant sound is wonderful.† His later works, while still bearing some minimalist characteristics, depart from the common aesthetic, and no attempt is made to achieve systematic purity. Adams formulates his melodies using an additive technique, which is common to Glass. However, unlike Glass, there is no obvious pattern as to where or when Adams chooses to add or subtract notes, and the resultant melody is unpredictable. This is seen in the second violins in the first movement (Example 5): Example 5. Adams, Harmonielehre, mm. 180-84, second violins Another example can be drawn from the opening, featuring the Minimalist repetition of E minor chords which do not recur in any regular rhythmic pattern. The sense of pulse is unclear and somewhat unpredictable as the chords move closer by increments and create a syncopated effect, compromising the Minimalist technique of even and continuous pulsation. Adams’s deviation from Minimalism is also evidenced by his remarks in relation to Harmonielehre: â€Å"I’m not the kind of composer who†¦ previsages the entire structure of a piece in advance†¦ in a certain sense, I feel the structure as I’m creating it.† Adams is not a â€Å"pure† Minimalist – while he utilizes Minimalist techniques, his simultaneous fondness of expressivity is unique. The combination of both traits is a refreshing departure from both extremities. In Adams’ words, â€Å"I don’t have the kind of refined, systematic language that [the minimalists]  have†¦ I rely a lot more on my intuitive sense of balance†¦ as far as I can tell, most nineteenth-century composers wrote on intuitive levels.† He found that the Minimalist aesthetic of non-teleology resulted in a ‘confined emotional bandwidth’ and threatened to limit Minimalist music. Thus in most of his works, he employs Minimalist techniques to explore its â€Å"expressive emotional potential – something the first generation [of Minimalists] generally eschewed.† Adams’ fondness for expressiveness is not only evidenced by his embracement of tonality, but also by other signature Romantic traits found in his works. This is especially true in Harmonielehre, which â€Å"verges on Minimalism, but touches almost as much on a melodic Romanticism†. The combination of minimalist techniques with Romantic expressivity is evidenced in the opening of the last movement. The flutes take the accompanying line, with repetitive patterns first on E and G, then on an E minor triad. A melody characterised by expressive leaps (taken by the strings) is heard over the shimmering waves of repetition. Such timbre further creates a warm, emotive sound. The same movement contains a passage beginning with pounding E minor chords. The harmony here is relatively simple, gradually shifting from one chord to the next through the addition or alteration of a note (a rather Minimalist characteristic). Minimalist harmony combines with the Romantic textures to culminate in the climax (Example 6), with the texture and sound continuously thickening and broadening. Example 6, Harmonic sketch, Meister Eckhardt and Quackie Another example can be seen in the first movement (mm. 254-300), which contains a broad singing melody first carried by the solo horn then cellos, and later the upper strings. The accompanying triple arpeggios (first harp and woodwinds) weld the section with the preceding passage of repetitive patterns and pulses. Along with the sustained brass chords, the music reaches a climax with the amalgamation of the two different styles, reminiscent of Romanticism with the broadening texture and warm sound. Example 7. Harmonielehre I (bar 257 – 267) Thus although these passages clearly exceed the Minimalist style in their melodic and harmonic construction, the Minimalist technique dominates the accompaniment in rhythm and texture, a distinct example of how the music is a ‘refreshing new departure’. â€Å"The shades of Mahler, Sibelius, Debussy, and the young Schoenberg are everywhere in this strange piece.† The second movement of Harmonielehre (The Anfortas Wound) alludes to Sibelius’ Fourth Symphony (1910 – 11), which Adams claims as the ‘primary generating model’ , evidenced by the long, melancholic melody played by muted cellos. This movement also bears a programmatic reference to Wagner’s Parsifal (1857 – 1882) featuring Anfortas , represented by the long, elegiac trumpet solo. Wrenching harmonies, constantly descending chords and regular meters contribute to ‘†¦the imagery of sickness and confinement, one day after another, just rolling on.’ The ending of the movement contains two giant climaxes, the second one a tribute to Mahler’s unfinished Ninth Symphony (1909 – 1919). The first movement bears a tribute to the late Romantics, including allusions to, ironically, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder (1900 – 1911). The shimmering effect in the opening of the third movement even alludes to early Impressionism. These Romantic traits, along with the Minimalistic slow harmonic rhythms, again show the eclectic treatment of both styles. In conclusion, Harmonielehre is a combination of â€Å"the harmonic economy of Minimalism with the picturesque extravagance of late-Romantic orchestration.† Adams does not revolutionize music in the way that Schoenberg or the minimalists did by completely rejecting the previous popular approach to composition. His music could thus be considered a return to tried and tested orchestral gestures. However, by combining both romantic expressiveness and minimalist techniques, he has created a new level of balance between the two which is indubitably a refreshing departure from both styles. In his own words, Adams says that â€Å"[Many composers] want to rewrite history or something. I don’t.† Bibliography Books J. Adams, Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life (London, 2008) A. Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony (London, 1983) O. Karolyi, Modern American Music: from Charles Ives to minimalists (United States, 1996), 304 D. A. Lee, Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the Symphony Orchestra (New York, August 2002), 1-7 Watkins, 572. / 576-77 Articles J. Adams, Introductory Notes for Harmonielehre John Adams, quoted in Michael Steinberg, â€Å"Harmonium, by John Adams,† program notes for the San Francisco Symphony, Stagebill, 4, 6-7 Jan. 1987, 20B. Philip Clark, Programme Notes for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, 28 Jan 2011 The discussion between Jonathan Cott and Adams concerning Harmonielehre in liner notes to Harmonielehre (Nonesuch 79115, 1985) T. A. Johnson, ‘Minimalism: Aesthetic, Style or Technique?’, The Music Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), 747-773 T. A. Johnson, ‘Harmonic Vocabulary in the Music of John Adams: A Hierarchical Approach’, Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Spring, 1993), 117-156 T. May, ‘Interview: John Adams reflects on his career’, The John Adams Reader, ed. Thomas May (USA, 2006), 2-28 C. Pellegrino, ‘Aspects of Closure in the Music of John Adams’, Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Winter, 2002), 147-175 A. Ross, ‘The Harmonist’, The John Adams Read er, ed. Thomas May (USA, 2006), 29-44 K. R. Schwarz, â€Å"Young Composers: John Adams,† Music and Musicians, Mar. 1985, 10. K. R. Schwarz, ‘Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams’, American Music, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Autumn, 1990), 245-273 M. Steinberg, ‘Harmonielehre’, The John Adams Reader, ed. Thomas May (USA, 2006), 101-105 John Adams, quoted in Michael Steinberg, â€Å"Harmonium, by John Adams,† program notes for the San Francisco Symphony, Stagebill, 4, 6-7 Jan. 1987, 20B David Sterritt, â€Å"John Adams and His Nixon in China’: Could This Be Another ‘Porgy and Bess’?† Christian Science Monitor, 19 Oct. 1987, 21-22 John Adams, â€Å"From Nixon in China to Walt Whitman: An Interview with John Adams† interview by Edward Strickland, Fanfare, Jan-Feb. 1990, 46. Websites P. Gutmann, ‘John Adams – Popularity without Pondering’, Classical Notes (accessed 15 November 2011), http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/adams.html#harmonielehre J. Kosman, ‘Harmonielehre, John Adams’, Chester Novello (accessed 15 November 2011), http://www.chesternovello.com/default.aspx?TabId=2432&State_3041=2&workId_3041=23704 D. Robertson, ‘Transcript of David Robertson: Conductor and music scholar discusses the importance of John Adams’ orchestral work â€Å"Harmonielehre† in helping us understand the way music can look back yet anticipate the new in musical sounds’, The Music Show (accessed 20 November 2011), http://www.abc.net.au/rn/music/mshow/s924166.htm C. Zeichner, ‘Minimalism maximized – John Adams’, Ariama (accessed 21 November 2011), http://www.ariama.com/features/minimalism-maximized-john-adams Discography J. Adams, Harmonielehre, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle (EMI Classics), 1994, CD B000002RU2 General Comments An excellent response to the question. You have used an admirable range of sources and, most importantly, identified critical material arising from the premiere of the piece. You have not only used music examples effectively, but made your own harmonic analyses where none others were available. Your writing style is clear and concise and citation accurate. Countermarker’s comment: agreed. An outstanding essay, well-done! ——————————————– [ 1 ]. J. Adams, Introductory Notes for Harmonielehre [ 2 ]. Loc. cit. [ 3 ]. J. Adams, Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life (London, 2008), p.107 [ 4 ]. K. R. Schwarz, ‘Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams’, American Music, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Autumn, 1990), p.245-273 [ 5 ]. Philip Clark, Programme Notes for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, 28 Jan 2011 [ 6 ]. Adams, Op. cit., 104 (Hallelujah Junction) [ 7 ]. Henceforth abbreviated as â€Å"pcs† [ 8 ]. T. A. Johnson, ‘Harmonic Vocabulary in the Music of John Adams: A Hierarchical Approach’, Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Spring, 1993), 117-156 [ 9 ]. Examples: Harmonium (1980), Common Tones in Simple Tone (1979) and Shaker Loops (1978) [ 10 ]. T. A. Johnson, ‘Minimalism: Aesthetic, Style or Technique?’, The Music Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), 747-773 [ 11 ]. Johnson, Op. cit, 136 (Journal of Music Theory) [ 12 ]. Adams, Op. cit., 130 (Hallelujah Junction) [ 13 ]. M. Steinberg, ‘Harmonielehre’, The John Adams Reader, ed. Thomas May (USA, 2006), 101-105 [ 14 ]. T. A. Johnson, Op. cit, (Journal of Music Theory), 117-156 [ 15 ]. T. A. Johnson, Op. cit. (The Music Quarterly), 747-773 [ 16 ]. T. A. Johnson, Op. cit. (The Music Quarterly), 747-773 [ 17 ]. David Sterritt, â€Å"John Adams and His ‘Nixon in China’: Could This Be Another ‘Porgy and Bess’?† Christian Science Monitor, 19 Oct. 1987, 21-22 [ 18 ]. John Adams, quoted in Michael Steinberg, â€Å"Harmonium, by John Adams,† program notes for the San Francisco Symphony, Stagebill, 4, 6-7 Jan. 1987, 20B [ 19 ]. K. R. Schwarz, Op. Cit. (American Music) 245-273 [ 20 ]. T.A. Johnson, Op. Cit. (Journal of Music Theory), 117-156 [ 21 ]. From the discussion between Jonathan Cott and Adams concerning Harmonielehre in liner notes to Harmonielehre (Nonesuch 79115, 1985) [ 22 ]. John Adams, in an interview held in 1986 [ 23 ]. T. May, ‘Interview: John Adams reflects on his career’, The John Adams Reader, (USA, 2006), 2-28 [ 24 ]. K. Robert Schwarz, â€Å"Young American Composers: John Adams,† Music and Musicians, Mar. 1985, 10. [ 25 ]. Joseph Pehrson, New music Connoisseur, review for Harmonielehre [ 26 ]. T. A. Johnson, Op. Cit. (Journal of Music Theory),754 [ 27 ]. Adams, Op. Cit., Notes for Harmonielehre [ 28 ]. Steinberg, Op. Cit., 103 [ 29 ]. Based on C.G. Jung’s discussion of Anfortas, the king whose wounds could never be healed [ 30 ]. Steinberg, Op. Cit., 105

The Rise of Nazism in Germany

The rise of Nazism in Germany during the 1930's was not an inconceivable happening, considering the causes and effects in play at the time. Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the popular acceptance of what was later to be Nazism was overwhelming. Nazism's evolution was methodically planned, and boldly executed. The word Nazism is defined by The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia as â€Å"the ideology and policies of Adolf Hitler and the National-Socialist German Workers' party from 1920-1945. † Subsequently, a Nazi is defined as a member of the National-Socialist German Workers' party led by Adolf Hitler. Nazism had its earliest roots in another â€Å"ism†. This is Nationalism, the sharing of a common pride, belief and loyalty by a singular group of people of a nation. However, it was this sincere form of Nationalism that was later warped, and used against the majority of the German people by Adolf Hitler for their apparent good. Hitler deceived them and they deceived themselves, all due to the ideal timing and chain of events. Prior to and during World War One, Germany was a powerful nation with colonial interests in Africa and Alsace-Lorraine. Germany was a centre of learning, culture, medicine and industry. The German government was a Parliamentary form, called the Reichstag. This system was efficient and yielded positive results for the people. Germany fielded a large and well-equipped army, led for decades by Generals of the Aristocracy. This all changed after Germany lost World War One, and especially after that fact was repeatedly emphasized. Due to the army's defeat, there was a loss of more than 3 million soldiers and unaccountable civilians. This meant the passing of most of an entire generation of workers, fathers, husbands and sons. Consequently, there came a loss of faith in the country's leadership. When the Treaty of Versailles' terms were being discussed, Germany was not welcomed, the country's leaders were needed only for their signature. They were expected to agree to the terms without question, which they ultimately did. The Germans referred to the treaty as a Diktat, which meant dictated peace. This reflects the feeling of the German people about being disregarded by other countries. Field Marshall Hindenburg said the following: â€Å"In the event of resumption of hostilities we can†¦ efend our frontiers in the east. In the west, however, we can scarcely count on being able to withstand a serious offensive†¦ The success of the operation as a whole is very doubtful, but as a soldier I cannot help feeling that it is better to die honourably than accept a disgraceful peace. † This was the general public opinion; nobody approved of the treaty, but if they did not accept it, they could no longer survive the combined powers of The United States, Great Britain and France, along with Belgium and other relatively small European countries. Even if the thought was there to not sign the treaty, the country had no choice because the consequences were too debilitating. This implied to the German people that Germany, in its present state, was a worthless country that can be pushed around by the others, and was unable to defend itself. The psyche of the people further worsened beginning in 1922 due to the French, who had invaded Germany because the country failed to make its second reparation payment. The French took over the most industrialized area, the Ruhr Valley, where they assumed possession of coalmines, railways and factories. To add to the fact that the German country was losing their largest source of wealth to another country that stole the area, prices were quickly rising as an effect. The price of a loaf of bread rose from half a mark in 1918 to 201,000 million marks in 1923. The Germans were unable to feed themselves and their families because of this hyperinflation. This caused more deaths and suffering among the people and further disappointed them. In 1923, Hitler made his first attempt to overthrow the German government. He was supported by many and began a Putsch, an attempt to seize power by force, in Munich. The government had Hitler arrested for treason and sentenced to five years in prison. Although he served only nine months of his sentence, he had enough time to gather his thoughts and organize the plan he would need in order to rise to power over German people. During this time he wrote Mein Kampf, which was the beginning of his explanation of his hopes and dreams for Germany. His time away from society was just what he needed and without it, would probably not have become the dictator he later became. When Hitler came out of prison, he began offering the people what seemed to be an attractive alternative to their suffering. Some of his alleged goals were to ensure the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles, cease non-German immigration, the abolition of income unless it was earned through work, increase profit sharing and to allow only members of the German nation to work as newspaper owners, editors, and journalists and radio broadcasters. Hitler's ten goals had a goal of themselves, to make German people feel appreciated, important, and superior. This certainly appealed to a population of desperate individuals who would have accepted just about anybody as a leader. Not only were the people gaining hope because they saw a new face, but this face was willing to change Germany in their favour, he wanted Germany to be a better place for them. Hitler's exaggerations certainly improved his odds of becoming a dictator. The economy played an important role in Hitler's rise. As the economy became more unstable, the Nazis won more seats in the Reichstag. In 1924, as the economy was unstable due to the French invasion, the Nazis had 32 seats. The number dropped in 1924 to 14 seats, as the economy slowly recovered and then again in 1928 to 12 seats, as the recovery process sped up. However, in 1930, as the world was suffering due to 1929's stock market crash, the party owned 107 seats. Then, in 1932, the number rose once again to 230 seats as massive unemployment became a harsh reality. In January 1933, Hitler came to power legally. The most important move he made was the passing of The Enabling Laws. This allowed Hitler to make laws without having them approved by the Reichstag. This is when Hitler truly became a dictator. Hitler's rise to power can be accounted for by his luck of appearing at a time when the people of his country were discouraged and desperate, and his twisted, determined drive. Hitler took advantage of the times and without them being what they were, he would have never became a dictator. He united the German people by assigning to them a common foe, and a goal, to rid themselves of this foe. He allowed for his people somebody to blame and resent, which took the hatred away from its original destination, the German government. The death of a generation of men, the loss of a war, the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles, mounting inflation, the worldwide economic crisis, the lack of faith in the past government and Hitler's deceiving promises are the causes of his rise to power. He was a frightfully determined man who managed to leave Germany in a state worse than it was when he promised to improve it, without ever losing the faith of his followers. The Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler had dreams of a thousand year Reich. Thankfully, Nazism lasted only twenty-five years. At the end of World War 2, the Nazi party was outlawed.