High School Preparation Tips for Business Majors

High School Preparation Tips for Business Majors Admission requirements at schools all over the nation are getting more and more difficult to meet. Many schools have minimum GPA requirements, prerequisites that need to be completed in preparation for college classes, and other requirements that are more stringent than ever before. The application process is also more competitive nowadays. A single school can reject more than 10,000 students during every round of applications. Business schools - even at the undergraduate level - have an application process that is even more competitive than some of the other common college majors. The best way to increase your chances of acceptance is to plan ahead. If you are still in high school and are thinking about majoring in business, there are several ways in which you can prepare. Take the Right Classes The classes you will need to take as an active business major will depend on the school and the program that you choose to attend. However, there are certain classes that are required for every business major. Preparing for these classes while you are still in high school will make everything a lot easier. It will also give you an edge over other applicants when you are trying to get admitted into a quality business program. Some of the classes you will want to take while you are in high school include: EnglishSpeech/CommunicationsMath and Accounting If your high school offers computer classes, business law classes, or any other classes that directly relate to business, you will want to take these too. Develop Leadership Skills Developing leadership skills while you are still in high school will be very beneficial when it comes time to apply to different schools. Admissions committees value business applicants who can demonstrate leadership potential. You can acquire leadership experience in school clubs, volunteer programs, and through an internship or summer job. Many business schools also value an entrepreneurial spirit. Dont be afraid to start your own business while you are still in high school.   Research Your Options If you want to be a business major, it is never too early to begin researching careers, scholarships, and schools. You will find numerous resources on this site and in other places around the web. You can also speak to your guidance counselor. Most counselors have information on hand and can help you develop a plan of action. Sometimes the best way to get accepted to college is to find a school that is the right fit for your style of learning, academic capabilities, and career aspirations. Remember, not every school is equal. They all offer a different curriculum, different opportunities, and different learning environments. Take time to find the one that works for you.

Article Critique 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Article Critique 2 - Essay Example After reading the article, one realizes how important it is to avoid drugs in the first place as according to the article, the effect of the drugs on the brain chemistry is so fast and strong, that people don’t even realize how and when the drugs take control over them and make them addicts. Hence, the best way to reduce addiction is to keep away from drugs and never to fall in the trap of ‘just one time’. Summary The article â€Å"Stress, Habits, and Drug Addiction: A Psychoneuroendocrinological Perspective†, is written with an intention of understanding how stress leads to substance abuse and addiction by affecting the brain chemistry in human beings. Psychological stress helps the human beings to face the imminent threat and adapt to the surrounding. However, excessive stress response can lead to pathological disorders as it can enhance addictive behavior in people. The authors argue that stress not only stimulates the motivation in reward system and cre ates the possibility of addiction, but also develops a risk of relapse by developing a habit of certain actions and cravings that lead to addiction and relapse. Brain imaging has shown that goal directed actions in human beings are controlled by prefrontal cortex and habitual actions are directed by dorsolateral striatum. The choice (and the action) of taking drug for the first time is in control of human beings, but once the action becomes habitual, he loses control over it and becomes an addict. That is, the action becomes involuntary and gets into the category of habitual actions. Hence, addiction is called as maladaptive form of habit process as a voluntary action of taking drugs gets transformed into an addiction. According to the authors, the first important factor of addictive behavior is the function of dopamine. A study by Packard and McGaugh (1996) has revealed that dopamine is instrumental in development of habitual behavior and strengthening the different aspects of habi t formation in human beings. This leads to second factor which is the habitual behavior in human beings. Habits can be defined as the behavior pattern in which the actions of human being persist even when the reward or goal value of that action reduces to a great extent. It takes regular and persistence efforts for a particular action to become a habit. However, a study by Miles, Everitt and Dickingson (2003) has revealed that in case of drug use, people become addicted (habitual) to drugs in very short time and the transition from controlled dosage to addiction is unusually rapid and fast. The third factor of addiction is the substance itself as it acts as strong stimuli for cause of relapse in people suffering from addiction. The fourth factor in the development of addiction is a problem or injury to the goal directed system, which is located in the prefrontal cortex. Chronic drug administration leads to the damage of prefrontal cortex. This shows that use of drugs harm the human beings in two ways. Firstly, the drug use leads to damage of prefrontal cortex and secondly, the damage, in turn, strengthens the addiction to drugs. This shows how the brain chemistry influences the addiction in behavior pattern. However, the authors have found that even stress plays a

California advocacy paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

California advocacy - Research Paper Example Legalizing marijuana would free up law-enforcement funds and manpower so they are free to tackle more urgent social issues such as gangs and violent criminals. There is precedent in other countries such as the Netherlands where, although not fully legal, use of marijuana is openly tolerated. It can be legally purchased and consumed in Amsterdam at specially licensed ‘coffee houses’ without undue risk to the general public. This fact proves that opponents claims of rampant anarchy should the drug be made legal are baseless. Available evidence in California and elsewhere proves that legalizing marijuana within the state would be beneficial to society, contribute to the welfare of the state and improve quality of life for many. A movement to make the drug legal was voted down last November in the form of Proposition 19 but was revived last month in the form of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform 2012. Proposition 19 "would have allowed adults to grow and possess mariju ana and authorized cities and counties to legalize and tax sales" (Hoeffel, 2011). Proposition 19 failed by a vote of 46-54 percent last November, but may win in 2012 with larger voter turn-out due to the Presidential election and with some adjustments to the bill. Because Cannabis Policy Reform is based on the same arguments brought forward in Proposition 19, it is appropriate to examine some of the issues that were addressed by Prop 19 in examining the topic. It is important to remember in this discussion that possession of marijuana in quantities of less than an ounce is merely a civil infraction within the state rather than a criminal misdemeanor as it is in many other states after the enactment of SB 1449, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October of 2010. In addition, medical marijuana use and growers are also legal under state, but not federal law, following enactment of Proposition 215 in 1996 (Gieringer, 2011). This is because marijuana has proven more effective in re lieving numerous health issues than prescription drugs as is attested to by a cancer patient and former police commissioner. In addition to relieving his nausea, Jo Daly said he was â€Å"able to drastically reduce my dependence on more powerful prescription drugs that I was prescribed for pain and nausea. With the help of medical marijuana, which I ingest only occasionally and in small amounts, I no longer need the Compazine, Lorazepam, Ativan and Halcion. No combination of these medications provided adequate relief. They also caused serious side effects that I never experienced with marijuana† (1997). Proposition 19 was designed to extend the benefits of marijuana to the state and the average citizen without the need to go through the farce of obtaining a medical prescription. The provisions given under Proposition 19 would have changed things very little from where they already are today on an individual level but could have given the state numerous benefits. Individuals o ver the age of 21 would be allowed to possess and consume the drug in quantities of less than one ounce at a time in non-public places and could grow marijuana plants in a private residence with at least 25 square feet of personal space (Legislative Analyst's Office, 2009). The only difference here would be that those growing and using the drug already wouldn't need to fear being caught and

Critical Legal Thinking Case Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical Legal Thinking Case - Article Example This means that a corporation cannot be criminally liable for acts committed by a representative outside the scope of his employment. In law, the representative would be said to have on a frolic of their own. b) When the crime committed is crime that cannot be punished through fines. This is due to the principle that a company cannot be jailed or even punished by corporal punishment. The only punishment available will be a fine. The most common criminal penalty imposed against the corporation is a fine. For this purpose a corporation would be fined a certain amount of money depending on the capital nature of the crime so committed. A corporation would be fined if it commits certain acts which are punishable by fine or if the corporation tolerates the actions of its representatives. Consequently, punishment can be imposed to the perpetrator of the crime but shared amongst other innocent parties. This will be in form of a reduction of wages/salary available to all employees. It also results in reduction of profits hence dividends payable to the shareholders. The corporation can also be punished by way of a forced winding up.

Gramsci and Hegemony Essay Example for Free

Gramsci and Hegemony Essay Antonio Gramsci is an important figure in the history of Marxist theory. While Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels provided a rigorous analysis of capital at the social and economic levels – particularly showing how capital antagonises the working class and gives rise to crisis – Gramsci supplemented this with a sophisticated theory of the political realm and how it is organically/dialectically related to social and economic conditions. He provides us with a theory of how the proletariat must organise politically if it is to effectively respond to capital’s crises and failures, and bring about revolutionary change. Incidentally, this innovation has proven to be of interest not only to Marxists, but also to those involved in other forms of progressive politics, from the civil rights movement, to gender politics, to contemporary ecological struggles. The reason why his approach has proven so popular and generally adaptable is because Gramsci was himself a man of action and his fundamental concern was with progressive strategy. Thus while in this article I plan to give a give a general outline of Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and the reasons behind its formulation, it’s important that we build on this by thinking about how we can use these concepts strategically in our own struggles. What is hegemony? It would seem appropriate to begin this discussion by asking What is hegemony?’’ It turns out to be a difficult question to answer when we are talking about Gramsci, because, at least within The Prison Notebooks, he never gives a precise definition of the term. This is probably the main reason why there is so much inconsistency in the literature on hegemony – people tend to form their own definition, based on their own reading of Gramsci and other sources. The problem with this is that if people’s reading of Gramsci is partial then so too is their definition. For example, Martin Clark (1977, p. 2) has defined hegemony as how the ruling classes control the media and education’’. While this definition is probably more narrow than usual, it does reflect a common misreading of the concept, namely that hegemony is the way the ruling class controls the institutions that control or influence our thought. Most of the academic and activist literature on hegemony, however, takes a slightly broader view than this, acknowledging more institutions than these being involved in the exercise of hegemony – at least including also the military and the political system. The problem is that even when these institutions are taken into account, the focus tends to be exclusively on the ruling class, and methods of control. Hegemony is frequently used to describe the way the capitalist classes infiltrate people’s minds and exert their domination. What this definition misses is the fact that Gramsci not only used the term hegemony’’ to describe the activities of the ruling class, he also used it to describe the influence exerted by progressive forces. Keeping this in mind, we can see that hegemony should be defined not only as something the ruling class does, it is in fact the process by which social groups – be they progressive, regressive, reformist, etc. – come to gain the power to lead, how they expand their power and maintain it. To understand what Gramsci was trying to achieve through developing his theory of hegemony, it is useful to look at the historical context that he was responding to as well as the debates in the movement at the time. The term hegemony’’ had been in general use in socialist circles since the early 20th century. Its use suggests that if a group was described as hegemonic’’ then it occupied a leadership position within a particular political sphere (Boothman, 2008). Lenin’s use of the term gegemoniya (the Russian equivalent of hegemony, often translated as vanguard’’), however, seemed to imply a process more akin to what Gramsci would describe. During his attempts to catalyse the Russian Revolution Lenin (1902/1963) made the observation that when left to their own devices, workers tended to reach only a trade union consciousness, fighting for better conditions within the existing system. To bring about revolutionary change, he argued that the Bolsheviks needed to come to occupy a hegemonic position within the struggle against the tsarist regime. This meant not only empowering the various unions by bringing them together, but also involving all of society’s opposition strata’’ in the movement, drawing out the connections between all forms of political oppression and autocratic arbitrariness’’ (Lenin, 1963, pp. 86-87). In the post-revolutionary period, however, the implication changed. Lenin argued that it was crucial to the establishment of the hegemony of the proletariat’’ that (a) the urban proletariat retain an ongoing alliance with the rural peasants (who made up the majority of Russia’s population) in order to retain national leadership and (b) that the expertise of the former capitalists be utilised, by forcing them to effectively manage state industries. These dual processes of leadership via consent and the command of force in the development of hegemony would play a crucial role in Gramsci’s theory. Gramsci had been in Russia from 1922-23 while these debates were raging and it was after this time that we see hegemony begin to take a central role in his writings. Italy As much as he was influenced by what was going on in Russia, Gramsci was also influenced by his own political experiences. Gramsci had been heavily involved in the struggle against capitalism and fascism in Italy and for a while served as the leader of the Communist Party of Italy. In the period following the World War I, there had been a lot of optimism in Europe, and Italy in particular, that now that people had seen the atrocities that the ruling classes could unleash and the alternative that was developing in Russia, some kind of workers’ revolution in Europe was imminent. Gramsci certainly shared this optimism. Events that took place in the early 1920s seemed to confirm this. Tensions at all strata of society were high, there were mass agitations and people were forming factory councils and workers co-operatives. But despite the intensity of the mobilisations, it fizzled out remarkably quickly. Unions were co-opted, workers’ co-ops became marginal and uncompetitive. Common people were intimidated by elites or otherwise captivated by the allure of fascist rhetoric. Gramsci and others formed the Italian Communist Party to try to reinvigorate the movement, but it was evident that people were too disillusioned by the failures of the previous years to really become involved. Votes for the Communist Party were disappointingly low. When Gramsci was arrested in 1926 as a part of Mussolini’s emergency measures, he found himself in prison with a lot of time to reflect on what had happened and where things went wrong. How was it that the ruling class had been able to so effectively stifle the potential of the movement, and what would be required for the progressive forces to mobilise the masses in a way that would enable them to bring about a fundamental change in society? These questions would of course be central to Gramsci’s theory of hegemony. Stages As suggested above, in The Prison Notebooks Gramsci refers to hegemony to describe activities of both currently dominant groups as well as the progressive forces. For Gramsci, whatever the social group is, we can see that there are certain common stages of development that they must go through before they can become hegemonic. Drawing on Marx, the first requirement is economic: that the material forces be sufficiently developed that people are capableof solving the most pressing social problems. Gramsci then goes on to state that there are three levels of political development that a social group must pass through in order to develop the movement that will allow change to be initiated. The first of these stages is referred to as economic-corporate’’. The corporatist is what we might understand as the self-interested individual. People become affiliated at the economic-corporate stage as a function of this self-interest, recognising that they need the support of others to retain their own security. Trade unionism is probably the clearest example of this, at least in the case of people joining a union for fear of pay cuts, retrenchment etc. One can also speak of short-term co-operation between otherwise competing capitalists in these terms. The point to emphasise is that at this stage of a group’s historical development there is no real sense of solidarity between members. In the second stage, group members become aware that there is a wider field of interests and that there are others who share certain interests with them and will continue to share those interests into the foreseeable future. It is at this stage that a sense of solidarity develops, but this solidarity is still only on the basis of shared economic interests. There is no common worldview or anything of that nature. This kind of solidarity can lead to attempts to promote legal reform to improve the group’s position within the current system, but consciousness of how they, and others, might benefit through the creation of a new system is lacking. It is only by passing through the third stage that hegemony really becomes possible. In this stage, the social group members becomes aware that their interests need to be extended beyond what they can do within the context of their own particular class. What is required is that their interests are taken up by other subordinate groups as their own. This was what Lenin and the Bolsheviks were thinking in forming an alliance with the peasants – that it was only through making the Bolshevik revolution also a peasants’ revolution, which peasants could see as being their own, that the urban proletariat could maintain its leading position. Gramsci reckoned that in the historical context that he was working in, the passage of a social group from self-interested reformism to national hegemony could occur most effectively via the political party. In this complex formulation, the different ideologies of allied groups come together. There will inevitably be conflict between these ideologies, and through a process of debate and struggle, one ideology, or a unified combination thereof, will emerge representing the allied classes. This ideology can be said to be hegemonic, the group that it represents has acquired a hegemonic position over the subordinate groups. At this stage, the party has reached maturity, having a unity of both economic and political goals as well as a moral and intellectual unity – one might say a shared worldview. With this unity behind it, the party sets about transforming society in order to lay the conditions for the expansion of the hegemonic group. The state becomes the mechanism by which this is done: policies are enacted and enforced that allow the hegemonic group to more effectively achieve its goals and to create symmetry between its goals and those of other groups. Although these goals are formulated with the interests of a single group in mind, they need to be experienced by the populace as being in the interests of everybody. In order for this to be effective, the hegemonic group must have some form of engagement with the interests of the subordinate classes. The dominant interests cannot be simplistically imposed upon them. Progressive hegemony While Gramsci considers these pragmatic moves as being requirements for any group to come to power, he also has a very deep ethical concern for the way in which the process occurs. In this sense, we can detect in Gramsci’s work a qualitative difference between the operations of hegemony by regressive, authoritarian groups on the one hand, and progressive social groups on the other. At an ethical level, Gramsci was above all else an anti-dogmatist believing that truth could not be imposed from the top down, but only made real through concrete and sympathetic dialogue with people. Where a regressive hegemony involves imposing a set of non-negotiable values upon the people, chiefly through use of coercion and deceit, a progressive hegemony will develop by way of democratically acquired consent in society. To give some flesh to these differences, the remainder of this article will elaborate on the different ways in which Gramsci talks about hegemonies of currently and previously ruling classes and how these contrast with the progressive hegemony that he hoped to see in the future. It is evident that if we look through history, the capitalist class has retained its hegemony primarily through various forms of coercion, ranging from the direct deployment of the military through to more subtle forms, for example, using economic power to marginalise political opponents. It would, however, be a great mistake to think that capitalism does not also rely heavily upon building consent. Indeed, it could be argued that it is capitalism’s consent-building that we, from a strategic point of view, need to pay more attention to, as it is on this level that we compete with them. The nature and strength of this consent varies. There are ways in which capitalism succeeds in actively selling its vision to subordinate classes. This means not only selling the distorted vision of a society of liberty, freedom, innovation, etc., but also deploying the ideas of bourgeois economics to convince working people, for example, that although capitalist policy is in the ultimate interests of the capitalist class, they too gain some of the benefits via trickle-down effects. Capitalism can also win consent among those who perhaps don’t buy the idea that the system is in their interests, but who have been convinced that there is no alternative or that the alternatives would be worse – in other words, through the promotion of the belief that the system is a necessary evil. The 20th century saw capitalism massively expand this form of consensus, largely through the corporate control of the media and advertising. In the United States in particular, the promotion of the American dream’’, and all of the useless commodities required to attain it, served not only to massively boost consumption and thereby the economic interests of the capitalists, it also sold a way of life which only capitalism could deliver. This was of course aided throughout the Cold War with simultaneous attempts to smear any alternative to capitalism as slavery. The capitalist class, in opposing any policy attempts to close in on corporately owned media, used its hegemonic political power to create the conditions for the building of further consent, in turn expanding their interests. The hegemonic group will continually struggle in this fashion to reach greater levels of consent – in this case by locking people into rigid mindsets and overcoming any optimism. We can look at former Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s attempts to expand privately owned schools, and to change high school history syllabi to make them more favourable to bourgeois perspectives as a part of this ongoing hegemonic process. The ruling class will constantly try to expand its field of interests and win further consent in response to changes in context and challenges to legitimacy. `Syndicalism’ Certain forms of trade unionism can also be seen as examples of capitalist hegemony. What Gramsci calls syndicalism’’ the view that the conditions of the workers can be maximally uplifted via the increasing power of the trade unions reflects a social group (the workers) left in the economic-corporate stage of development due to the hegemonic influence of capitalists, specifically free trade advocates, in the realm of ideology. The free trade advocates argue that the state and civil society should be kept separate, that the state should keep out of the economic sphere, which functions autonomously – leave it to the invisible hand of the market’’ and so on. The syndicalists had adopted this assumption of an arbitrary separation of the social and economic realms on the one hand and the political realm on the other, and assume that they could bring about radical change without political representation. The concrete result of this is that they are left to negotiate for narrowly defined improvements in the economic sphere, with no policy changes that would allow these wins to take on a more permanent basis. Meanwhile, the free trade advocates are themselves actively involved in policy, despite their claims, setting up conditions that will be favourable to the capitalist class! When the interests of the capitalist class are directly threatened, however, the hegemonic forces will inevitably resort to coercion. There is no room to negotiate on this, within the current hegemonic order. On a simple level this can mean legislating to allow police to crack down on workers taking industrial action, who threaten profits in an immediate sense. But a far bigger threat to the capitalists is the development of a hegemonic alternative within civil society. The threat is that people will move from the economic-corporate phase, and recognise that their interests overlap with all of those whom capitalism marginalises and holds back, that they will come to recognise their power and demand radical change. This being the greatest threat to capital, the most effective way for it to use coercion is to break apart emerging progressive alliances between subordinate groups. When confronted with force and economic bullying, the people are less able to relate to the group. Concerns for survival mean that people have to defend their own interests as individuals. The movement of the progressive hegemony is slowed, as people are forced to behave in a corporatist manner. The ruling class can also try to violently break apart movements by stirring up ideological differences, appealing to religion, for example. Democracy and consensus Gramsci saw the development of a progressive hegemony involving a far greater degree of openness, democracy and consensus, rather than coercion. In so far as there is coercion, it should only exist to hold back those reactionary forces that would thwart society’s development. This would allow the masses the space in which to reach their potential. A large part of The Prison Notebooks is devoted to figuring out what would be required for this kind of hegemony to develop, and a lot of Gramscian thinkers since have devoted themselves to this puzzle. As a starting point, we can say that while the existing hegemony tries to keep all the disaffected and subordinate social groups divided, the emergent progressive hegemony must bring them together. Gramsci certainly recognised the challenge involved in this. In his own historical situation (and as is undoubtedly still the case in ours), there were considerable barriers between the marginalised groups in terms of experiences, language and worldview. What all of these groups had in common, however, was that none of them had adequate political representation within the current system. Gramsci calls these groups that lack political representation subaltern’’. The challenge of the hegemonic group is to provide a critique of the system such that subaltern groups are made aware of their commonality and then raised up’’ into the political life of the party. In order to facilitate this incorporation of others, Gramsci stressed the need for the hegemonic group to move beyond its economic-corporatist understanding of its own interests, sacrificing some of its immediate economic goals in the interest of deeper moral and intellectual unity. It would need to overcome its traditional prejudices and dogmas and take on a broader view if was to lead while maintaining trust and consensus (both necessary to overcome existing power). If these aligned forces are to have any historical significance, they need to be enduring and organically related to conditions on the ground, not merely a temporary convergence. To develop mass momentum they would need to demonstrate, both in people’s imagination and in action, that they were capable of coming to power and achieving the tasks they had set for themselves. These tasks must effectively be everyone’s tasks – they must come to represent every aspiration, and be the fulfilment of the failed movements of the previous generations. Such a demonstration of power and historical significance could not be achieved through a passive action, of which Gramsci provides the example of the general strike. If the movement simply represents the rejection of the existing system or non-participation in it, then it would quickly fragment into everyone’s unique ideas of what should replace the system precisely at the moment when unity is most called for. It must be an active embodiment of the collective will, crystallised in a constructive and concrete agenda for change. Clearly this is no small ask, and Gramsci is certainly not of the view that one can just implement these strategies as though reading from a manual. What is called for is for rigorous work on the ground laying the moral and intellectual terrain upon which these historical developments can occur. One develops the unity, self-awareness and maturity of the movement, making it a powerful and cohesive force, and then patiently, with careful attention to the contextual conditions, waits for the opportune moment for this force to be exerted. Moment of crisis This moment is the moment of crisis within the existing, dominant hegemony: the moment at which it becomes clear to the populace that the ruling class can no longer solve the most pressing issues of humanity. Provided that the progressive forces adequately assert the alternative at this moment and the ruling group is unable to rapidly rebuild consent, it becomes visible that the conditions under which the ruling group became hegemonic are now passing away and society can collectively say We don’t need you anymore.’’. Gramsci calls this process of historical purging catharsis’’ in which structure ceases to be an external force which crushes man, assimilates him to itself and makes him passive; and is transformed into a means of freedom, an instrument to create a new ethico-political form and a source of new initiatives.’’ (Gramsci, 1971, p. 367.) For Gramsci the need for this transition from the world as it is to the freedom to create the world anew should be the starting point for all Marxist strategy. So, what does Gramsci have to offer us? His insistence that the socialist political form should be one of openness, democracy and the building of consensus certainly provides us with greater vision and focus and really ought to inform the activities of all progressive political groups – if not for ethical reasons, then at least because in the present environment, without a willingness to genuinely work on building consensus with others, one’s chances of success are very much diminished. (We’re not the ruling class – we don’t have the means to coerce). More than this, however, Gramsci provides us with a way of thinking; he gives us the conceptual tools to dissect the political situation we find ourselves in, to view it in historical context and to understand where we can find the conditions for the further development of our power. †¢ [Trent Brown is a doctoral student at the University of Wollongong and a member of Friends of the Earth Illawarra.] Bibliography Boothman, D. (2008). Hegemony: Political and Linguistic Sources for Gramsci’s Concept of Hegemony’’. In R. Howson and K. Smith (Eds.), Hegemony: Studies in Consensus and Coercion. London: Routledge. Clark, M. (1977). Antonio Gramsci and the Revolution that Failed. New Haven: Yale University Press. Gramsci, A. (1926). Some aspects of the southern question’’ (V. Cox, Trans.). In R. Bellamby (Ed.), Pre-Prison Writings (pp. 313-337). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, Q. Hoare G. N. Smith, eds. trans. London: Lawrence and Wishart. Howson, R. (2006). Challenging Hegemonic Masculinity. London: Routledge. Howson, R. Smith, K. (2008). Hegemony: Studies in Consensus and Coercion. London: Routledge. Lenin, V. I. (1963). What is to be Done? S.V. Utechin P. Utechin, trans. Oxford: Oxford University Press. From: http://links.org.au/node/1260

Investigation of Tetracycline Antibacterial Activities

Investigation of Tetracycline Antibacterial Activities NOR FAEZAH BINTI ROSMIDI   Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative bacteria, which discovered and named after Theodor Escherichia and belong to Enterobacteriaceae family. E. coli is classified as same group as other bacterial such as Bordetella pertussis, Borrelia burgdoferi, Chlamydia trachomatis, Helicobacter pylori and many more species that are well known in medical world. E. coli infection can be found all over the world and more common in tropical country. This infection especially can be transmitted through diet because the infections are mainly due to contaminated food. Thus, this infection can be called as food-borned disease. An individual can get infected when consumed foods that are contaminated with dirt. However, not every individual that consumed contaminated food can get the infection. This is because, there are certain criteria to be fulfilled. Firstly, there must be source of infection, which means, E. coli must present in the food. Then, the individual is eating food contaminated with pathogen, as the main route of infection is through orofecal. Lastly, the bodys immune system cannot get rid of the pathogen, which eventually causing disease. This study is conducted to isolate, characterize and evaluate antimicrobial activities of E. coli in media and milk. A total of 3 sample is collected from the stock culture and labelled as EY1, E27 and E31. Isolation is made on the eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar and identified by using gram staining under microscope. To check for the antimicrobial activities, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and time kill assay are done. Results reveals that the MIC value for E. coli is 128 and MBC value is 1024. Time-kill assay curve disclose that the reaction of tetracycline to the bacteria in media and milk slightly different but yet, able to achieve bactericidal effect of the drug. 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction Mastitis, or inflammation of the mammary gland, is predominantly due to the effects of infection by bacterial pathogens, although mycotic or algal microbes play a role in some cases (Ronald J. Erskine, 2016b). There are many factors that influence the development of mastitis including microbial, host and environmental (Contreras Rodrà ­guez, 2011). Any opportunistic microbes that can invade tissue and causing infection can lead to mastitis. The pathogen that use this transmission mode are Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae and Corynebacterium bovis. They may spread from cattle to another cattle through aerosol transmission and invade the udder causing bacteremia. There is other route of infection, which is through the environment of the cattle. The pathogens that associated with environmental reservoirs are Escherichia coli and Trueperella pyogenes (Ronald J. Erskine, 2016a)       Post-milking teat dipping, dry cow therapy, well-maintained milking equipment, and culling of cows with chronic mastitis have successfully controlled contagious mastitis bacteria such as Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus (Makovec Ruegg, 2003). Milk samples collected from cows on Wisconsin dairy farms clearly demonstrated that environmental bacteria are the most common causes of clinical mastitis. (Pamela L. Ruegg, 2015) Once inside the udder, E. coli multiply rapidly, causing influx of the inflammatory cells. As neutrophils ingest and kill bacteria, endotoxin is released and along with other inflammatory mediators causes severe local inflammation. This inflammatory response is characterized by increased vascular permeability, changes in milk composition and damage to the mammary epithelial cells, which may result in the characteristic watery or serous milk secretion. The treatment for mastitis include administration of antimicrobial via the intramammary route or parentally (Gruet, Maincent, Berthelot, Kaltsatos, 2001). Unfortunately, despite the best possible antimicrobial treatments, failures of bacteriological cure are common, especially for S. aureus mastitis, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered one of the reasons for low cure rates (Candrasekaran et al., 2014). There are other reasons, which are the management and iatrogenic factors, drug factors, mastitis-causing organism factors and also mammary gland factor. However, the major reason is the insufficient contact of the antimicrobial with the mastitis-causing organisms at the site of infection is a major cause of mastitis treatment failure (Kiro R. Petrovski, 2007). Some bacteria such as S. aureus can localize inside host cells thus restrict the concentration of drug in the cells. E. coli can form biofilms, a condition where the microorganisms structured within an array of exopolysaccharides (EPS) and adhering to a living or inert surface with the function of protecting the microorganisms in stress environments (Costa, Espeschit, Pieri, Benjamin, Moreira, 2014). The sessile cells arranged in biofilms tend to be more resistant to antimicrobial therapy compared with plantonic free cells, due to the slow diffusion of the antimicrobial in the inner layers of the biofilm (Costa et al., 2014). Also, to be effective, drugs need to be free and not inhibited by other components. Some drug may have high affinity binding towards protein. Thus, some component in the milk, for example, casein, may bind to the antibiotic and reduce the free the drugs in the udder. In the case of S. aureus infections during lactation, it has been estimated that the bacteriological cure rate is only within 25% to 50% only (Kiro R. Petrovski, 2015). 1.2 Problem Statement Escherichia coli is one of the major cause of mastitis development. Based on the research done in Wisconsin dairy farm, 21% of the mastitis case result from the E. coli infection. Despite of all the treatment given, the therapy has not been successful. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate the antibacterial activities of Tetracycline against E. coli from clinical mastitis in growth media and milk. 1.3 Research Questions This study is designed to answer either tetracycline can demonstrate equivalent antimicrobial efficacy against E.coli in growth medium and in milk? 1.4 Research Hypotheses This study is constructed to answer the hypothesis, either tetracycline demonstrates equivalent antimicrobial efficacy against E. coli in growth medium and milk. 1.5 Research Objectives This study is conducted to achieve a set of following objectives :- To determine minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of Enrofloxacin and against the pathogenic E. coli To determine minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) of Enrofloxacin and against the pathogenic E. coli To perform time kill assay of Enrofloxacin against E. coli 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of mastitis Mastitis is swelling of the mammary gland that frequently caused by bacteria ingoing the teat canal and moving up to the udder and there are two types of mastitis, which are contagious mastitis and also environmental mastitis (Dairy Australia, 2007). Contagious or cow-associated mastitis generally related to the bacterial infection that causing disease, which are Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae (Dairy Australia, 2007). The bacteria present in the udders or on teat skin and spread either by splashes of disease-ridden milk or sprays during stripping on milkers hands or teatcup liners and by cross flow of milk between teatcups (Dairy Australia, 2007). Meanwhile environmental mastitis occur when the bedding which used to house the cattle is contaminated (Ronald J. Erskine, 2016a). It is not only concern on the bedding of the cattle, the infected soil, manure, calving pads and water host bacteria can also causing this disease to developed (Dairy Australia, 2007). Mastitis come in two forms, which are subclinical and clinical, however, subclinical form is rare to be find (Ronald J. Erskine, 2016a). 2.1  Escherichia coli Escherichia coli is no longer bizarre in our communities. This Enterobacteriaceae is a Gram-negative bacteria. It cannot sporulate and can be found commonly in the intestine. This bacteria have a characteristic of glucose fermenting, acid producing, nitrate reducing and oxidase negative. It also have facultative anaerobic characteristic which can grow easily at 37 °C. Physically, E. coli is small in size, approximately 1-2  µ x 30-30  µ, with flagella. It has no capsule and also no mucus layer. There are several antigen structures that play an important role for the identification of this bacteria, which are K antigen, H antigens and O antigen. K antigen can be found in the capsules, a compound in the group of polysaccharide. H antigen can be found in flagella and O antigen can be found in the cells or the body as it is a substance in the group of lipopolysaccharide and polysaccharide (Wiwanitkit, 2011). Despite the fact that most of E. coli are harmless and beneficial, there are species that have the ability to cause disease, and they are divided into groups according to the mechanism of pathogenesis. The groups are enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC). EHEC is a group that can cause haemorrhagic colitis and can end up with a specific complication called uremia haemolytic syndrome. EIEC or also known as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) causes diarrhea. ETEC is a major cause of travelers diarrhea and diarrhea in group of infants in developing countries. E. coli toxic products from the gut causes problems to the patients body. EPEC is a major cause of diarrhea in infants and EAEC is a new pathogen (Wiwanitkit, 2011). 2.2 Mastitis Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland and udder tissue, and is a major endemic disease of dairy cattle. It commonly occurs as an immune response to bacterial invasion of the teat canal by variety of bacterial sources present on the farm, and can also occur as a result of chemical, mechanical or thermal injury to the cows udder (AHDB Dairy, 2017). 3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS 3.1 Samples collection This study is conducted in laboratory of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in University Malaysia Kelantan. The bacteria sample, which is Escherichia coli is isolated from the stock samples of the laboratory. There are three samples, which are EY1, E27 and E31. 3.2 Samples preparation The samples are cultured on the nutrient agar for 18 to 24 hours at 37 °C. 3.3 Isolation and identification of Escherichia coli The bacterial colony on the nutrient agar is then cultured on the eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar and gram staining is done. 3.4 Minimum Inhibitory Concentration Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) are determined using the broth micro dilution method. A range concentrations of antimicrobial is prepared in a 96 well microplate, followed by inoculation of bacteria culture to yield approximately 5105 cfu/ml in a 250ÃŽÂ ¼ final volume. The plate is then incubated in 37 °C for 18 hours. The lowest concentration of antimicrobial that inhibit bacterial growth is taken as MIC value. 3.5 Minimum Bactericidal Concentration The dilution representing the MIC are aliquot volume of the broth and spot onto Nutrient agar. The agar is then incubated 18 hours with 37 °C. No growth indicate that antibiotic is bactericidal at that concentration. If there is present growth indicative that antibiotic work as antibiotic only particularly on the dilution. 3.6 Time Kill Assay Tube containing designated concentration of antimicrobial will be inoculated with 105 cfu/ml of bacteria in Nutrient agar, followed by incubation at 37 °C, in an incubator shaker at 200 rpm. At 0, 1, 4, 24 hour post inoculation, 50 µ aliquots will be taken out, serially diluted in saline and plated on Nutrient agar. Plates will be incubated for 18 hours at 37 °C followed by colony counting. An antimicrobial is considered bactericidal if there is †°Ã‚ ¥3-log decrease in cfu/ml of bacteria counts, as compared to the growth control.      Ã‚   4.0 RESULTS 4.1 Isolation and identification of Escherichia coli Colony of E. coli on EMB agar is small to medium circle in size and shape, with dark green and glossy, raised and polish appearance. 4.4 Time Kill Assay SAMPLE EY1 (x103) T0 T1 T4 T24 MEDIA CONTROL 110 120 135 150 1X MIC 42 11 21 110 2X MIC 26 42 26 0 5X MIC 20 12 11 0 15X MIC 13 13 1 0 MILK CONTROL 123 135 141 156 1X MIC 46 35 173 110 2X MIC 46 26 11 100 5X MIC 32 14 8 0 15X MIC 37 13 4 0 Table 1 : Time kill Assay Results for Sample EY1 in x103 SAMPLE EY1 (x106) T0 T1 T4 T24 MEDIA CONTROL 5.5 6.0 6.75 7.5 1X MIC 2.1 0.55 1.05 5.5 2X MIC 1.3 2.1 1.3 0 5X MIC 1.0 0.6 0.55 0 15X MIC 0.65 0.65 0.05 0 MILK CONTROL 6.15 6.75 7.05 7.8 1X MIC 2.3 1.75 8.65 5.5 2X MIC 2.3 1.3 0.55 5.0 5X MIC 1.6 0.7 0.4 0 15X MIC 1.85 0.65 0.2 0 Table 2 : Time kill Assay Results for Sample EY1 in x106 Figure 3 : Time-kill curve for E. coli (EY1) against Tetracycline on media and milk SAMPLE E27 (x103) T0 T1 T4 T24 MEDIA CONTROL 113 126 141 154 1X MIC 64 29 49 111 2X MIC 58 35 18 10 5X MIC 42 22 2 0 15X MIC 30 11 1 0 MILK CONTROL 127 139 145 161 1X MIC 48 36 180 100 2X MIC 58 52 30 111 5X MIC 41 22 18 5 15X MIC 47 22 20 5 Table 3 : Time kill Assay Results for Sample E27 in x103 SAMPLE E27 (x106) T0 T1 T4 T24 MEDIA CONTROL 5.65 6.3 7.05 7.7 1X MIC 3.2 1.45 2.45 5.55 2X MIC 2.9 1.75 0.9 0.5 5X MIC 2.1 1.1 0.1 0 15X MIC 1.5 0.55 0.05 0 MILK CONTROL 6.35 6.95 7.25 8.05 1X MIC 2.4 1.8 9.0 5.0 2X MIC 2.9 2.6 1.5 5.55 5X MIC 2.05 1.1 0.9 0.25 15X MIC 2.35 1.1 1.0 0.25 Table 4 : Time kill Assay Results for Sample E27 in x106 Figure 4 : Time-kill curve for E. coli (E27) against Tetracycline on media and milk SAMPLE E31 (x103) T0 T1 T4 T24 MEDIA CONTROL 115 121 137 145 1X MIC 59 41 39 114 2X MIC 57 37 27 43 5X MIC 55 39 23 0 15X MIC 24 33 7 0 MILK CONTROL 121 140 149 165 1X MIC 56 40 180 108 2X MIC 71 50 45 116 5X MIC 51 26 12 102 15X MIC 58 25 13 0 Table 5 : Time kill Assay Results for Sample E31 in x103   SAMPLE E31 (x106) T0 T1 T4 T24 MEDIA CONTROL 5.75 6.05 6.85 7.25 1X MIC 2.95 2.05 1.95 5.7 2X MIC 2.85 1.85 1.35 2.15 5X MIC 2.75 1.95 1.15 0 15X MIC 1.2 1.65 0.35 0 MILK CONTROL 6.05 7.0 7.45 8.25 1X MIC 2.8 2.0 9.0 5.4 2X MIC 3.55 2.5 2.25 5.8 5X MIC 2.55 1.3 0.6 5.1 15X MIC 2.9 1.25 0.65 0 Table 6 : Time kill Assay Results for Sample E31 in x106       Figure 5 : Time-kill curve for E. coli (E31) against Tetracycline on media and milk

U.S. Constitution :: essays research papers

The document I chose to write about is the United States Constitution. When the thirteen British colonies in North America declared their independence in 1776, they laid down that â€Å"governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.† The â€Å"colonies† had to establish a government, which would be the framework for the United States. The purpose of a written constitution is to define and therefore more specifically limit government powers. After the Articles of Confederation failed to work in the 13 colonies, the U.S. Constitution was created in 1787. The Constitution is important because it was expressly designed to limit powers into three co-ordinate branches, the legislative, executive, and judiciary branch; none of which was to have supremacy over the others. This separation of powers with the checks and balances which each branch was given over the others was designed to prevent any branch, from infringing individual liberties safeguarded by the Constitution. I think the U.S. Constitution was a way for the U.S. to establish government which was a negotiation between the two former governments, a monarchy and total state power. I think by creating the checks and balances, people’s rights would be safer and they would feel more secure not having one branch of government with absolute power. What I found most interesting about the Constitution was how complex and detailed the framers made it, to effectively explain and limit the individual branches of power in government. In the words of Thomas Paine, "a governm ent without a constitution is power without right". Meaning that for power to be granted, it is necessary to establish a constitution. The Federalist Papers 10 & 51 were essays which helped persuade the citizens of the United States to vote for the federal Constitution. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay used pseudonyms as their names to convince the public. Those who were skeptical of voting for a government, which had many different major powers, were reassured by the founding fathers in their speeches and conventions throughout the U.S. The importance of Constitution, both in its content and its status, is little appreciated by the general public.