Asbestos Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Asbestos - Essay Example An estimated 1.3 million employees in the construction and general industry are at risk. No doubt, we are exposed to a certain level of asbestos material all the time. Asbestos, in the finished form, does not pose any health hazard. Remodelling, repair, maintenance, demolition, sale and transport combined with rough handling all can release these deadly fibres into water or air2. Inhalation of these fibres for a continuous period could be extremely dangerous. . Chrysotile, a fibrous mineral which neither burns nor rots, flexible with maximum tensile strength, extremely useful, lightweight, can create a formidable surface mixed with cementing materials, could be used as high temperature seals and gaskets, known over 2000 years, first mined in Russia, Italy and Canada. Old products, unlike today's improved technological ones, crumbled easily under pressure and released more harmful fibres. All these fibres are non-inflammable Asbestos is a highly emotive topic with two shrill schools of thought, one saying that asbestos should be banned; another arguing that asbestos of today would not be a killer. European Union (EU)3 and the United Kingdom (UK)4 both argue that asbestos is carcinogenic and targets multiple organs of the dust inhaler. According to their rules all types of asbestos are harmful and there is no safe level of exposure and the weight of evidence to support this is incontrovertible and historical. It is impossible to control the exposure to asbestos in workplace and hence, alternative products must be used. Asbestos should be discarded as a harmful object and should be banned, to protect public health. This risk-based approach depends on the fact that there is no identified lower exposure limit to which workers can be safely exposed.5 In spite of the overwhelming medical reports, there is little scientific research evidence to back this viewpoint and the entire exercise seems to be more of a public emotional grandstand. Asbestos is heat resistant and is used in a wide variety of industrial and domestic appliances and this makes it particularly difficult to avoid it completely. It is a mineral fibre used in a variety of building construction materials for insulation and it is also a fire-retardant. The necessity of completely stopping the usage too is questioned by many scientists. The Canadian Chrysotile Institute

The course of Civil War Essay Example for Free

The course of Civil War Essay To what extent did the military strategies and tactics of the armies of North and South change during the course of Civil War? Strategies and tactics did not change drastically in the South. The Strategies used by South were constant. At the beginning of the war, both side had the impression that the war would be short but this was not the case the war lasted for 4 years. During the war, the North was more offensive to the South. On the other hand, the South was always on the defensive side, they were trying to gain more sympathy. The evolution of weapons and communication improved a lot and changed the nature of the warfare. Furthermore, both sides reduced the amount of cavalry that they used in the civil war. Both sides also limited the amount of artillery that they used. In fact, the rifles were more useful than the artillery. The South also used the Guerrilla warfare against the North during the Civil War. Additionally, the influence of the naval war increased as the war went on. Overall, both sides did change their military strategies during the Civil War. But it was hard to argue that both sides had an enormous change in their military strategies and tactics. At the beginning of the war, 1861, both sides were not prepared for the war. At the beginning of the Civil War, the Union had only 16,000 men in the army, and only 90 of them were in the War Department. The Union was not ready for the war was due to the leadership problem. General Winfield Scott, the Union general had no idea about any strategic plan and no programme for mobilisation. Moreover, the President of the Union, Abraham Lincoln had no military experience at all. On the other hand, the Confederate had a little advantage of its military organization. The President of the Confederate, Jefferson Davis at least had some military experience. Under Davis control, there were 300 officers resigned from the Union and who joined the Confederate. Moreover, there were also state militias in the South that prepared for the war. In the early of 1852, both sides suffered number of men in the army, there were not enough soldiers for both sides. In March 1862, Davis introduced conscription that every white man, age between 18-35 had to server in the military service due to the end of the war. Davis believed the conscription act would help to increase the number of men in the army. On the other hand, the North also had the Carrot and stick approach to try to increase the number of men in their army. The stick approach was a Militia Law which was similar to a conscription act which forced people to serve in the military service. By 1865, both sides raised enormous armies, and there were 900,000 men in the Confederate and there were 2. 1 million men in the Union side. The North increased its number of men in army from 16,000 in 1861 men to 2. 1 million in 1865. On the other hand, the south increased its number of men in the army from 160,000 in 1861 to 900,000 men in 1865. Statistically, both sides had increased their number of men 10 times or even 20 times more in 5 years. Both sides have also changed their tactics on offensive and defensive. Once the rifle-musket was used by both sides, the defending force always had a great advantage. This was because most of the soldiers were in trenches when they were defending. However, the attacking force had to move forward to be able to captured enemy’s flank. The Consequence was that casualties would be heavier on the attacking side. It was hard for the attacking side to win the battle. In large scale battle, attacking force formed 2 lines. First line was working forward to try to kill as many enemies as they could. Second line would be fed in to restore the attacks momentum. Each line had about 1000 men. Again, casualties would be heavier on the attacking side because while they were attacking, they were in open ground without any protection. In May 1864, 19 millions bullets were fired in a single week in North Virginia. As the number of bullets that were fired in a week, it is easy to imagine the amount of soldiers who died on the battle field. Moreover, the Confederate used Guerrilla warfare during the war. There were guerrilla dimension in Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee. The guerrilla warfare helped the confederate but this help was very limited, because guerrilla warfare was not popular at that time. Overall, the new tactics on offensive and defensive leads to huge amount of casualties on the battle field, and there was a significant change in the tactics of offensive and defensive during the Civil War. The evolution of weapons and communications has changed the nature of the warfare. In previous wars, both sides were still using the smoothbore musket which only had about 100 yards range. But in 1855, both sides were using rifled weapons instead of smoothbore musket. Those rifled weapon with the adoption of the minie ball have the shooting range up to 600 yards. In fact, it was more accurate. These improvements of the weapons made a huge impact on the battle field. Of course, the consequence was more casualties in both sides. The communication in both sides has also improved a great deal. Both sides had developed more railway tracks, so men and resource could travel around and supplied more efficiently. There were also steamboats in both sides that played an important supply role on the Mississippi and its tributaries. Moreover, there was telegraph that enabled the commanders to communicate with his units even if there were far away from each other. Both North and South strategy and tactics were affected by improvements in communication. The use of cavalry and artillery did not play an important role in the Civil War. The cavalry was not involved in any direct attack in the civil war. The cavalry was used to guard an army’s flanks, obtain supplies and cover retreats. The accuracy of rifle-fire meant that cavalry were no longer a major force on the battlefield. About 20 per cent of the confederate and 15 per cent of the Union troops were cavalry. At the beginning of the Civil War, the confederate cavalry was better than Union. This was because the good morale and good leaders like Jeb Stuart. However, by 1863, the Union cavalry was just as good as the confederate cavalry. Even though, there were not a lot of cavalry troops in both sides, it still gave out certain help like giving out supply. Moreover, the use of artillery did not play an important part in the Civil war as well. This was because the use of artillery could not be well used in the areas that took place in the Civil War. Moreover, riled-musket was more useful compare to the cannon. Furthermore, the north had better potential to produce more and better guns because of their strong industrial support. Moreover, the confederate manufactured some of its own gun, but it was not as good as the Unions. Overall, the use of cavalry and artillery did not have a significant role in the Civil War, but in fact it did affect both sides in some aspects. Both sides show a significant change on their naval warfare. In April 1861, the Union only had 8800 men in the navy. They only had 90 ships and only few of them were in action. However, the confederate was even worst. They did not have any navy at all in 1861. As soon as the war started, the North sent the merchant marine to blockade the South. And the amount of the ships in December 1861 increased to 260 warships on duty and 100 more were under construction. Blockading the South gave huge advantages to the North. This was because the Confederate could sell cotton in Europe in order to manufacture more new technology. However, with the blockade, they could not trade with any other countries. So the South would not be able to get money and manufacture any goods. The number of ship that increased by North between April 1861 to December 1861 was enormous. The result was that the South could not rely on its trade with other countries and lead to poor economic. The Union had an enormous change on their naval warfare but the Confederate did not. The military strategies and tactics of the armies of North and South did in fact have changed during the Civil War. Both sides did have changed on their offensive and defensive tactics, new weapons and communication. But on the other hand, both sides did not change on their cavalry and artillery. So it was hard to argue that both sides have enormous change in all aspects.

Factors Increasing Extinction Rates in Giant Panda Populations

Factors Increasing Extinction Rates in Giant Panda Populations Ailuropoda melanoleuca otherwise known as the Giant Panda is categorised as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2007a). This means that this is an animal which is at a very high risk of facing extinction, i.e. the species will die off. This has been a main concern for conservation since the 1950s, as at present there are approximately one thousand and six hundred giant pandas living on earth today (Yiming et. al, 2002). There are many reasons which have caused a such decline in populations of Giant panda such as their reliance on mainly bamboo, low reproduction rates, hunting and most importantly habitat destruction. All of these factors have played a key part in pushing our much loved animals to smaller and smaller numbers. WWF, (2011a) states that 30,000 sq km of forest in China is solely protected for pandas. This means that 80% of wild panda are highly protected by the Chinese government (WWF, 2011a), but why are numbers still decreasing? This essay will discuss what these factors are and how they are affecting the populations and communities of A. melanoleuca. Currently there are programmes being carried out to help conserve this species and increase numbers but are these really working? Why are there still so many few Giant pandas living on earth today? And can our conservation efforts help prevent this species from going in to extinction? To answer these questions we must look at each factor and how these are being dealt with. The Giant Panda inhabits South Central China and ranges from six isolated mountains in the Gansu, Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces (IUCN, 2007b). Currently, this species is on the Appendix 1 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) List (CITES, 2011a). This means that giant pandas cannot be traded internationally except in circumstances in which the reason for trading is for scientific research (CITES, 2011b). This is because this species is critically endangered and is at a high risk of extinction. The prohibition of trade will prevent giant pandas being removed from their natural habitats and reduce extinction rates in this species. Despite being biologically carnivorous, A. melanoleuca has an herbivorous diet consisting primarily of bamboo (Dierenfield et. al, 1982). In fact it is estimated that 99% of the Giant Pandas diet comprises of this food source (Schaller et. al, 1985, cited in Carter et. al, 1999). Therefore, habitat locations are very dependent on the distribution and availability of bamboo (Xuezhi et. al, 2008). There is a wide variety of bamboo which is consumed by the giant panda which consists of sixty different types with thirty-five of those containing their primary food sources (Hu, Wei, 2004, cited in IUCN, 2007b). By limiting their diet to mainly bamboo, the giant panda is at risk of eventual starvation. This is because in every fifteen to one hundred and twenty years, there is a bamboo die-off cycle which naturally occurs (Calhoun, 2005). Once this die-off occurs in the bamboo (depending on which species), the time it takes to grow to a level which can feed a full population of giant panda can be up to twenty years, thus many pandas are starved and may die due to this (Calhoun, 2005). Examples of this would be two of the main species of bamboo which are eaten by the giant panda; Arrow and Umbrella. It takes on average between forty and fifty years for Arrow bamboo to flower and for Umbrella bamboo this process takes approximately one hundred years (Franzen, 2003). Once these species and others eventually die off, giant pandas will need to search for a replacement and if unsuccessful, will starve to death and may face extinction. In the event of certain types of bamboo species dying off, conservation plans must be in place. In recent years, conservationists have been putting in place corridors between panda populations and areas which have bamboo which is not being fed on which can be suitable for feeding (Carter et. al, 1999). This type of programme is also being done to create corridors between different populations of panda also (Carter et. al, 1999). It was also suggested by Carter et. al, 1999, that these corridors should be a long term solution as the carrying capacity (the maximum population size a species can reach) of the giant panda can take up to two hundred years! Another factor which has had a negative impact on the population sizes of pandas is their vulnerability to poaching. This is when they are hunted (by humans) in the wild for their skins and skulls (Yiming et. al, 2002). To assess what effect poaching is having on the giant panda; population viability analysis (PVA) is required. PVA takes into account a range of ecological and environmental factors to evaluate the risks and threats to particular species. This allows planning for conservation and allows us to identify levels of threats to a given species (Yiming, et. al, 2002). By using PVA, Yiming et. al, 2002, found that even without the effects of poaching to giant pandas, population numbers were still very low. This is quite worrying as this means that although poaching is highly threatening, other factors are still pushing the species towards extinction. Results from Yiming et. al, 2002, experiments found that with the increase of poaching of the giant panda, a large decrease in p opulation size and a higher extinction rate was the result. Their experiments also compared poaching between the two sexes. They found that poaching in females was found to have a more negative impact on the extinction rate as they would appear to have a higher extinction rate than males, despite the intensity of poaching being the exact same. This comparison was mirrored in the analysis comparing adult and young pandas (i.e. Adults had a higher extinction rate). Therefore, Yiming et. al, 2002, highlighted that although the giant panda is naturally facing extinction due to many factors, poaching can significantly increase the extinction rate in populations. However, in recent years, the market for panda skins and incidents of poaching has began to decrease and is now no longer a key threat to the population of the giant panda (IUCN, 2007b). Reducing illegal capture and killing of the giant panda has been very successful due to training conservationists to patrol areas in which pandas are at risk (WWF, 2011b). The WWF began this training in 1996 and had more than three hundred people trained within four years. Above this, cameras have been installed on sites in which the giant panda inhabits. This allows trained staff to see how the pandas live naturally and can plan ahead on useful conservation programmes to prevent extinction occurring (WWF, 2011b). A. melanoleuca have a k-strategy approach when it comes to reproduction (Linderman et. al, 2004). This is because females do not begin to mate until they are approximately four or five years old and will only give birth to a small number of cubs (this can be as little as one or two young) (WWF China, 2011). If food is scarce (i.e. due to bamboo die-off) then the chance of the survival of cubs is very slim. Another factor which affects the reproductivity in the giant panda population is pandas in captivity. It has been found that giant pandas in captivity are not breeding well and it has been suggested that they find it difficult to mate in the presence of humans. This is because they are not in their natural environment (WWF China, 2011). The major threat to giant panda communities which is increasing extinction rates is habitat loss. Habitat loss is due to human impacts in which the giant pandas habitats have been destroyed by logging, agriculture and the development of hydropower amongst many other things (WWF, 2011c). Research published in 2008 by Xeuzhi et. al stated that agriculture was the most threatening human impact on reducing habitat sizes in panda populations. This is because farmland is usually located near human settlements which affect pandas directly. Also, as pandas are required to consume clean drinking water every day to survive, they tend to avoid large rivers. This is because large rivers are usually nearby to human settlements, in which the water will be highly polluted (Xuezhi et. al, 2008). Therefore, human impacts are limiting where panda communities can live. Fragmentation of the giant pandas habitat is also a factor contributing towards increasing the extinction rate. This has been due to ag ain, human impact as the Chinese economy has being growing exponentially (WWF China, 2009). As habitat destruction and fragmentation are the major issues impacting the giant panda population it is highly important that we try to reverse these effects as human activity is responsible for this. An example of an area which has been badly affected is Jiuzhai ring road in the Minshan Reserve Region (Xuezhi et. al, 2008). This has a high number of traffic daily and has caused the nearby community of pandas to become remote (Xuezhi et. al, 2008). It was suggested by Xuezhi et. al, 2008 that in order to prevent further damage to panda communities, the amount of human activity had to be reduced. This same idea was suggested for the Jiuzhai ring road by reducing traffic daily. In conclusion, it is clear to see that the future of giant panda populations and communities is critical and will remain so unless great changes are made. This is mainly down to human impacts which have negatively affected population numbers by destroying habitats, removing this species from its natural environment (captive breeding) and poaching. However, the giant pandas specialised diet is also pushing this species towards extinction as they are at risk of starvation. Despite this, programmes are in place to help restore habitats by creating corridors to new sources of bamboo and monitoring to prevent poaching. However, at the moment it is very difficult to determine whether or not the extinction of A. melanoleuca will be sooner rather than later. In short, the future of the giant panda is uncertain.

Torture Throughout The Ages :: World History

Torture Throughout The Ages Whoever's listening, Do you know what an Iron Maiden, a Garrote, or maybe Water Torture are used for? No? Well here's the answer; they were all forms of torture a long time ago. Iron Maiden's were female effigies constructed of wood or iron with the inside hollowed out and filled with sharp iron spikes. The iron maiden would be opened up and the offender placed inside. The person would then be embraced by the iron maiden, being impaled by all the spikes. A Garrote was anything that was tied around someone's neck that would tighten and eventually they would suffocate. Water Torture was when water was poured on top of the prisoner's head and a large bucket of water was also placed under their chin to simulate the feeling of drowning. Torture started because people thought the legal codes should be tougher. Reasons for this was simply that people thought that criminals, traitors, or just "wrong-doers" should be tortured instead of killed because they will die sometime anyway so they didn't consider it much of a punishment. Because of this they began torture. As time went on and civilizations grew, the need for a code of laws came. Because of this code of laws, people could now perform torture only on enemy tribes and animals. In many cultures, religious sacrifices were the start of torture practices. The early European codes were usually based on the principle of Lex Talionis, who gave the idea of an eye for an eye in the Bible. "Punishment for crimes should be similar to the offense" is the Law of Hammurabi, written around 2000 BC. This civil code would soon be expanded to include other crimes in the Mosaic Code 1000 years later. This code formed into the basis of Hebrew, Greek and Roman legal systems. The Greeks and others were still operating under the Law of Lex Talionis and at the time, torture was mainly used as a means of extracting retaliation for real or imagined (accused) crimes or wrongs. Public displays such as stoning (throwing stones at a person) or crucifixion were used mainly to discourage other criminals from committing crimes. The savagery of torture had not yet entered into the European culture yet. All this, however, would soon change. Early Roman rulers were actually quite humane; it was only Julius Caesar that tortured his conquered enemies as an example for other likely adversaries.

Union Carbide Disaster: Bhopal, India

Union Carbide Disaster: Bhopal, India On December 3, 1984 just three miles from the City of Bhopal.. An American owned Union Carbide Pesticide Plant leaked Toxic gas in to the air killing over Hundreds of people right away. Mr. Y P Gokhale, managing director of Union Carbide in India said, â€Å"That a Methyl isocyanate gas (MIC) had escaped when a valve in the plant’s underground storage tank broke under pressure. The leak was caused by a series of mechanical and human errors in the pesticide producing plant.For a full hour the plant’s personnel and safety equipment failed to detect the massive leak, and when the alarm was sound most of the harm was already done. What was worse was that local health officials had not been educated on the toxicity of the chemicals used at the Union Carbide plant therefore there were no emergency procedures in place to protect the people of Bhopal. Panic broke out in the city of Bhopal and the areas surrounding more then tens of thousan ds of people attempted to escape. More then 20,000 people required hospital symptoms including swollen eyes, frothing at the mouth and breathing difficulties.There we thousands of dead animals just covering the streets of Bhopal. The Indian government sued Union Carbide in a civil case and settled in 1989 for 470 million dollars. The Union Carbide which shut down its Bhopal plant after the disaster has yet to clean up the site completely. More then thousands of people died instantly and over 2,000 people died during the aftermath. In 1999 a voluntary group in Bhopal which believed not enough had been done to help the victims, filed a lawsuite in the United States claiming that Union Carbide violated international law and human rights.In November of 2000 Warren Anderson was charged of â€Å"Culpable homicide† for cost cutting at the plant which is alleged to have compromised safety Standards. In 2004 the Indian Supreme Court approved a compensation plan drawn up to help more t he 570,000 Victims of the disaster. The welfare commission paid well over 350 million dollars. The Bhopal disaster in 1984 was one of the worst industrial accidents in history. However after 3 decades later toxic waste is still being stored on the site under poor conditions.Today the people in Bhopal still live with the consequences of the gas cloud and are still fighting for compensation. Almost 28 years after the accident, a group of cabinet ministers in New Delhi decided to sign over the disposal of the toxic waste from Bhopal to the German technicians. The old factory in Bhopal with its rusty tanks and dilapidated clusters of buildings, is like a ghost factory. People in the area of Bhopal are still dying from the toxic gas leak more then 300,000 have died from it over the years and more are expected to die as well.This was one of the deadliest Toxic gas leaks in the world I can’t believe that this happen. And what hurts the most is that it took them over 28 years to fina lly take care of the matter and I doubt its all just quiet yet as they are hitting the 29th year since the gas leak. Germany was nice to move in and help them out by taking this stuff and getting rid of it for them. I on the other hand think something should have been done about it many of years ago. On the 20th anniversary of the Mascara a man claim to have said that the Company Dow was going to pick up the waste and get rid of it.When the news people called to ask the man question there was no one by that name that had worked for them and that the guy was an imposter that they had no intention to pick up the waste. Work Cited 1. http://www. spiegel. de/international/world/germany-plans-to-dispose-of-bhopal-toxic-waste-a-840791. html 2. http://topics. nytimes. com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/india/bhopal/index. html 3. http://www. history. com/this-day-in-history/the-bhopal-union-carbide-disaster 4. http://news. bbc. co. uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/n ewsid_2698000/2698709. stm

Oedipus Rex Essays (487 words) - Oedipus The King, Operas, Sophocles

Oedipus Rex Essays (487 words) - Oedipus The King, Operas, Sophocles Oedipus Rex Oedipus Rex a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in the early days of antiquity is based upon an even more ancient story in Greek mythology. Sophocles, however, knowing that his audience is aware of the outcome of the play utilizes that foreknowledge to create various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles. However, citing all of the irony in Oedipus Rex would require the writing of quite a hefty book, for time and convenience only a few examples will be cited. Through his use of irony Sophocles manages to avoid simply retelling an old tale, though the audience is cognizant of the storys end they are intrigued by the irony present in the story. For instance when Oedipus pronounces his curse upon the head of King Laiuss murderer in the opening scenes of the play : So will I fight on the gods side, And on the side of the slain man! But my curse be on the one who did this, whether he is alone Or conceals his share in it with others. Let him be free of no misery if he share my house Or sit at my hearth and I have knowledge of it. On myself may it fall, as I have called it down! -Oedipus from Oedipus Rex When Oedipus pronounces this sentence he has already unwittingly judged himself, and to the excitement of the crowd foreshadowed later events to come. This statement, is a classic example of verbal irony. In it Oedipus thinking that he is directing his pronouncement upon some bandit, or conspirator, in all actuality he is truly condemning himself. Further examples of irony include his speech when he first answers the chorus Because of all these things I will fight for him as I would my own murdered father. The irony inherent in this speech that Oedipus makes to the chorus lies for the most part in this single line, since the murdered King Laius is his father. Sophocles does not reserve his use of irony to verbal irony, but he also ranges into areas of irony dramatic in nature. The entire play could be said to be an example of this, after all throughout the entire play Oedipus is unaware of the fate that awaits him, even though the viewer is intensely aware that Oedipus the King will become Oedipus the Beggar. Sophocles was a pioneer in his field. The plays that he penned, that survived through the eons are revered as much now as they were during his day. He often wrote scripts for events in mythology that had already occurred and were common knowledge to the populace that viewed his productions. In order to keep these audiences returning for more, Sophocles made liberal use of irony. By doing this he tantalized the viewer into wanting to see how the events that occurred later would mentally affect the main character, in this case Oedipus.

The History of the Taj Mahal

The History of the Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal is a beautiful white marble mausoleum in the city of Agra, India. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest architectural masterpieces in the world  and is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Every year, the Taj Mahal receives visits from between four and six million tourists from all over the world.   Interestingly, less than 500,000 of those visitors are from overseas; the vast majority are from India itself. UNESCO has designated the building and its grounds as an official World Heritage Site, and there is much concern that the sheer volume of foot traffic may have a negative impact on this wonder of the world. Still, it is hard to blame people in India for wanting to see the Taj, since the growing middle class there finally has the time and leisure to visit their countrys great treasure. Why the Taj Mahal Was Built The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan  (r. 1628 - 1658) in honor of the Persian princess Mumtaz Mahal, his beloved third wife. She died in 1632 while bearing their fourteenth child, and Shah Jahan never really recovered from the loss. He poured his energy into designing and building the most beautiful tomb ever known for her, on the southern banks of the Yamuna River. It took some 20,000 artisans more than a decade to build the Taj Mahal complex. The white marble stone is inlaid with floral details carved from precious gems. In places, the stone is carved into delicate vined screens called pierce work so that visitors can see into the next chamber. All of the floors are inlaid with patterned stone, and incised painting in abstract designs adorns the walls. The artisans who did this incredible work were supervised by an entire committee of architects, headed by Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The cost in modern values was about 53 billion rupees ($827 million US).  Construction of the mausoleum was completed around 1648. The Taj Mahal Today The Taj Mahal is one of the loveliest buildings in the world, combining architectural elements from across the Muslim lands. Among the other works that inspired its design are the Gur-e Amir, or the Tomb of Timur, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan; Humayuns Tomb in Delhi; and the Tomb of Itmad-Ud-Daulah in Agra. However, the Taj outshines all of these earlier mausoleums in its beauty and grace. Its name literally translates as Crown of Palaces. Shah Jahan was a member of the Mughal Dynasty, descended from Timur (Tamerlane) and from Genghis Khan.  His family ruled India from 1526 to 1857.  Unfortunately for Shah Jahan, and for India, the loss of Mumtaz Mahal and the construction of her amazing tomb utterly distracted Shah Jahan from the business of governing India.  He ended up being deposed and imprisoned by his own third son, the ruthless and intolerant Emperor Aurangzeb.  Shah Jahan ended his days under house arrest, lying in bed, gazing out at the white dome of the Taj Mahal.  His body was interred in the glorious building he had made, beside that of his beloved Mumtaz.

A Raisin in the Sun Analysis Responses Essay

A Raisin in the Sun Analysis Responses Essay A Raisin in the Sun Analysis Responses Essay Ryan Pagois A Raisin in the Sun Literary Analysis Questions Question #1: Beneatha’s two suitors, Asagai and George, both contribute very opposing viewpoints of American life and propose entirely different things as Beneatha’s suitors. Asagai reflects on his African heritage with honor and hopes to save Beneatha from becoming an â€Å"assimilationist† in this American society and instead wants her to embrace her ancestral past, and even invites her to move back to Nigeria with him. He teases her with questions about her hair, asking her why she â€Å"mutilate[s] it every week† and refuses to wear it naturally (62). As he presents Beneatha with Nigerian robes, she begins to see her heritage as a beautiful and more majestic idea, and not so much as something to move past or forget about. She later takes Asagai’s words to heart and cuts her hair, which shows the amount of influence that he had on Beneatha’s views on both her past and her present. Along with this, Asaigai sees Beneatha as a very beautiful woman, and a valuable partner, and someone to stand by his side. He views the idea of education as invaluable, and necessary in order to fully understand the ways of the world. George, on the other hand, resents his connection to Africa and focuses more on the present and moving on into the future. He is quite rude and outspoken against Beneatha’s views on assimilationism and her African heritage. When she bri ngs up the subject, he mocks her with sarcastic comments toward the â€Å"great Ashanti empiresÍ ¾ the great Songhay civilizationsÍ ¾ and the great sculpture of B à © nin† and the â€Å"poetry of the Bantu† (81). Along with being a total assimilationist, George views women as someone to support a man and obey him rather than be his partner. He holds education in a high regard, yet he believes more in money than in knowledge. These beliefs enrage Beneatha, and in the end, she rejects George, calling him a â€Å"fool† and resenting both him and his beliefs. Question #2: When Mr. Linder appears at the Youngers’ home, he is initially able to disguise his intentions and hide his racist and offensive proposal to make his idea of having a neighborhood â€Å"a certain kind of way† seem much more reasonable. At first, Mr. Linder pleases the Younger family with his seemingly kind intentions as he talks about how people misunderstand each other much too often and it is simply because â€Å"people just don’t sit down and talk to each other† (116). This peaks the interest of the Youngers as they continue to listen intently to Mr. Linder’s presentation. Soon, however, the Younger family sees through Linder’s careful word choice and come to realize the true purpose of his visit. Linder begins to speak of the people of Clybourne Park having a â€Å"common background† and wanting their neighborhood a specific way. Linder then lets his true intentions shine through as he tells the Younger family that the citizens of Clybourne Park, â€Å"rightly or wrongly†, believe that â€Å"Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities† (118). The Youngers react defensively by expelling him from their home. Despite the negative atmosphere around Linder’s visit, it results in the furthered and strengthened desire to defy society’s expectations and carry out their plan to move into their house in Clybourne Park, and it also helped bring the family closer together as they continue to bond over their experiences as they have been throughout the play. As for Linder and his desire for a perfect neighborhood, his intentions are not completely astray. The inhabitants of a neighborhood have the right to control aspects of their community to an extent. The line is drawn, however, at the point where a person’s way of life is threatened or challenged. Physical features of the neighborhood can be altered, but the inhab itants themselves should not feel pressured into changing their lifestyle to match that of the neighborhood. Question #3:

Filing Jointly Financing phase 5 IP Final Essay

Filing Jointly Financing phase 5 IP Final - Essay Example It is only applicable for first and second home, not for afterwards. The tax benefit from this deduction is that if one is paying interest on loans which are secured by their residence as principal, then the person can deduct this expense from the taxable income. 3. Student Loan Interest Deduction: student loan deduction covers the interest expense of the loans that have been taking to be only used for attainment of education. If your income and interest payments meet the conditions set in the deduction form, then you are able to deduct the expense form your income, thus saving a certain amount of taxes. 1. Child Credit: child credit reduces the tax liability of a person if he/she is supporting a child, and the person's income and other requirements as given in the child credit form are fulfilled. The child credit can make the tax liability zero or can even result in payment if the income tax is less than the child credit refund (known as additional child tax credit). The tax advantage for this system is that it works to increase your net income through refund gained. 2. Earned Income Credit: earned income credit is for those families who have low gross incomes (lower than a certain limit), and with a high number of dependents. If a family meets the requirements of this credit, than its tax liability can be reduced to zero, or can even result in a payment to the family if the tax refund s larger than the income tax (known as advanced earned income tax credit). This system also increases your net income. 3. Hope Scholarship Credit: hope credit can be claimed by an individual for the first two years of college education. The requirements that the person or any other person (for which the taxpayer is responsible) is at least a half time student at an eligible educational institution. This credit is taken on only tuition fees and any other college requirement fees (registration fees, lab fees etc.). Books and supplies are not included. This tax credit also increases the net income of the person who is paying for the education (tax information for individuals, 2009). Difference between a Tax Credit and a Tax Deduction A tax deduction has the primary purpose of reducing a taxpayer's income tax. For certain itemized item, a taxpayer is allowed to deduct the expenses from its gross income. This can only be done if the requirements of deductions as stated by the Internal Revenue Service of USA are met. The effect of deducting the expenses from the gross income is that the net income is calculated to be mush smaller than it actually is. This allows for smaller amount of income tax to be paid by the taxpayer. Thus the amount of taxes is reduced. Some examples of tax deduction are medical deduction, home interest deduction, dental deduction etc. As opposed to tax deduction, a tax credit does not reduce the net income. Rather, it works in two ways. One, it reduces the tax liability on certain items by recognizing a part of the payment already made as tax payment due. Two, it recognizes certain items as such on which the taxpayer is refunded, if the requirement of tax credit are met by the taxpayer. If the income tax is greater than the tax

Nottingham City of Booze Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Nottingham City of Booze - Essay Example The various aspects of Nottingham as one of the major cities in UK are reviewed in this paper. Emphasis is given on the city’s culture and heritage as they affect the city’s image as an important tourist destination. It is proved that Nottingham, as a city, has many potentials for the further growth, especially due to its council’s efforts to control important social problems, such as binge drinking, but also due to the efforts of the British government to support the growth of all cities across Britain so that they will be able to respond to the demands of the 2012 Olympics. Exploring culture and the city The performance of cities in terms of culture is judged using various criteria; usually, the range and the variety of cultural events organized across a city are used for evaluating the cultural growth of the city since its establishment (Ashworth and Tunbridge 2000). In Nottingham, culture has a key role in social life. In this context, an Institute of Cultura l Analysis has been established in the Nottingham Trent University. The above institute aims to highlight that in the current century, the daily life of people is influenced by new trends, such as ‘globalization, the conflict between cultural identities and the interaction between media and economy’ (Nottingham Trent University 2012). ... Residents and visitors can visit the ‘Museum of Nottingham Life at Brewhouse Yard’ (Nottingham City 2012, Figure 1), which offers valuable information on the daily life of the city’s residents in the 17th century. In fact, museums and galleries are highly promoted in Nottingham, aiming to show the development of the city’s culture and ethics through the centuries. The city council also emphasizes on the importance of information for understanding not only the city’s history or its prospects in the future but also the role of sciences in the development of daily human activities. For this reason, a wide network of libraries, about 17, has been developed across Nottingham for supporting the research needs of citizens, professionals or academics. Open spaces in Nottingham are also highly valued; these spaces are offered for walk or for outdoor sport activities, which are supported by the city’s council (Nottingham City 2012). The most important c haracteristic of Nottingham as a centre of culture seems to be its emphasis on festival and other cultural events; these events, which are indicatively presented in the section that follow, have highly contributed in the improvement of the city’s image as a popular tourist destination. Festivals and tourism Festivals are often used for improving the position of a city or a region as a tourist destination (Seal 2011). In Nottingham, a series of cultural events has been arranged for celebrating the 2012 Olympics; these events cover the period from March to December 2012 and incorporate a wide range of activities, such as displays in the city’s Central Library for highlighting the

Read an article and respond to a prompt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Read an article and respond to a prompt - Essay Example These imaginary situations may not meet up with the real world stories every time. Still the use of these fantasy stories is good to teach the student about the real life problems. In other words, we can say that always a happy ending does not make a real sense but the hardships and the strengths of the fictional characters is the true symbol for the children to be idealized in their lives. The use of fairy tales may give a sense to the child that how he can face the problems coming in the life. There are some stories who give some moral lessons to the children. This moral and ethical personality development is very much necessary for the children because their behavior is shaped accordingly. The way of teaching the moral lesson should be impressive so that a child may not get bored or feel uninterested. Usually these fairy tales always make the main characters of the story a very positive, ethical and strong individual who can face any challenge coming in his/her life honestly. There are some stories which includes a step father or a step mother because of the parents death or some other stories in which the parents become old and want to hand over all the property to the most competent child. All of these story themes actually motivate the children to work harder in their lives in order to get success in their lives. The child may learn how the prince of the story achieves the success in the desired task and thus become the King of the state in place of his father. Child may also learn that he can get success in his life if he also work devotedly to achieve the goal of his life. These goals can be small or long term depending upon the situations. Here the important thing is the learning of the child to achieve the goal by hard work and devotion. Another aspect of these fairy tales is that they always end up with the imagination ‘and they lived happily ever after’. The

Retirement Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Retirement Planning - Essay Example While there are many courses of action one can take to retire, some have greater risk while others offer security. For those of us wanting to retire in the next fifteen to twenty years, risk should be tempered through proper management, diverse investing, and proper estate planning that includes a will, estate plan, and life insurance if one is not self insured through a high net worth in personal property (FINRA, 2011). How Much Does one Need to Retire? Retirement goals most often deal with time and money. In order to retire by a certain time, one must have a certain amount of money. This amount can be in a stock account, coming in as passive income, or cash flow, or be a combination of both. In order for me to maintain my current lifestyle in retirement, I will need to have an income of $4,500 with a margin of growth that meets or exceeds inflation. While many people’s expenses go down in retirement, I do not want to take any chances when it comes to matters such as healthca re, which is the reason that many senior citizens end up broke and living off of social security and, in some cases, the equity in their home through a reverse mortgage. So, while some of my current expenses, such as paying for my mortgage, will not be an issue when I retire, I want to maintain the same level of income to allow for a lifestyle that goes beyond living, and allows me to have a life so that I can travel, give money to organizations I feel are important, while having more to leave behind to loved ones. This will be accomplished through proper asset allocation in a diversified portfolio that will come to approximately three-million dollars. Asset Allocation My current asset allocation is split between individual stocks that I manage through Scottrade, a company matched 401(k), and real estate. My equity is split evenly between the stock market and residential properties, but over the next fifteen to twenty years I expect my real estate holdings to be approximately two-th irds of my portfolio. The reason for this forecast is the properties’ appreciation and growing equity. In addition to the properties’ gains, I will also acquire more properties when good deals are available along with the cash to purchase. Owning property is extremely attractive because the investment can grow while paying at least partially for itself if not in full by way of payments made from tenants. In addition to this, owning property allows investors to receive tax breaks from losses even in years when money has been made. This is done after mortgage interest and depreciation is taken into account. For example, if a piece of property is worth $124,000 with mortgage payments of $1,000 per month, and a tenant occupying the home is paying $1,150 in rent for the whole year, then the profit at the end of the year is $1,800. However, the mortgage interest amounted to $9,000, and depreciation on a piece of investment property is incurred over thirty-one years. In the c ase of this property, the depreciation is $4,000 a year. Rather than paying taxes on $1,800, a loss is shown in the amount of $11,200, resulting in a larger tax return, or lower tax burden, at the end of the year (Pascale, 2010). The advantage to being in a 401(k) is that the company I work for matches my contributions up to 3%. If my 401(k) is cut in half from a

International law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 1

International law - Essay Example International law sets the limits on and relations between and among states. International law is not a new concept. Keep in mind that rudimentary international law was evident as far back of the fourth millennium B.C, when belligerents consented to observe truces for holidays and other similar situations. Homer\s The Iliad and Thucydides\s The Peloponnesian Wars are abounding with references to armistices, acceptance of heralds in addition to other customary standard behaviour connecting peaceful or warring parties. But is should also be remembered that such references are equally filled with instances of agreements being dishonoured. Modern international law, customary international law being part of it, gradually evolved as states gained status. Denial S Papp1 states that Hugo Grotius is usually taken note of as the father of modern international law with references to his work, On the Law of War and Peace, published in 1662. His publication paved the laying of the foundations of the rights and responsibilities that states are obligated to each other. It is on the writings of Grotius that the entire systems of treaties, tribunals as well as similar codes of international conduct take their extraction. From the readings of Grotius’s publications, at least four separate interpretations of what international law is, exist.2 These include: the naturalist school of law exemplified by Samuel Pefundorf (The Law of Nature and of Nations, 1672); the positivist school of law, led by Cornelius van Bynkershoek (Forum for Ambassadors, 1721 and On Questions of Public Law, 1737); the eclectic school of law led by Emmerich de Vattel (The Law of Nations, 1758) and finally the neorealist outlook. The more general view is that states interpret and adopt whatever view of international law that best shores up the most preferred course of action. There are various sources of international law to which states can tie

Information and Communication Technologies in Virgin Atlantic Essay

Information and Communication Technologies in Virgin Atlantic - Essay Example With emphasis on the airline industry, the emergence of internet and the subsequent development of extranets and intranets forced airlines to rethink their strategies on technological innovation and enhance their competitiveness in their market niche. The internet has proved a source of opportunity to tackle distribution costs and reengineer the structure of the airline industry (Alamdari and Mason, 2006:123). These technological innovations seek to monitor a wide range of business processes in the airlines, as well as identifying ways of improving these processes. This report examines the implementation of the online ticket booking by Virgin Atlantic Airways to achieve cost reduction and competitive advantage objectives. The report works on the assumption that the previous booking systems had flaws in efficiency and effectiveness, thus the company sort to redesign the booking process to attain some competitive edge against its competitors and increase its effectiveness and efficienc y in general (Olugbenga, 2006). Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited, famously as simply Virgin Atlantic, is a British airline headquartered in West Sussex, England. The airline, founded in 1984, has become the second largest carrier in Britain serving the major cities in the world. Currently based in Manchester airport, Heathrow airports, and Gatwick in London, the airline operates long-haul services to more than thirty destinations worldwide, as far apart as Shanghai and Las Vegas. Virgin Atlantic enjoys huge popularity, receiving top business, trade, and consumer awards worldwide. The airline has credit for pioneering a range of innovations and setting new service standards, with its competitors seeking to follow the same... This essay stresses that for Virgin Atlantic to achieve competitive advantage in the airline industry, it needs to develop and implement innovative strategies to improve the sale of ticket, as this forms the primary source of income. The company may integrate ICT tools to achieve this, including developing an efficient booking system incorporated into the official website of the company. This paper makes a conclusion that ICT may support all business functions, thus integral in the efficient operation of the entire travel industry. ICT provides tools for searching for profitable and meaningful niche market segments and identify value added components for the services and products, as well as differentiate these services and products through special media to market segments. Flexibility and cost effectiveness are among the products of ICT in this process, as they are integral in cost efficiency maximization and cost reduction. The impact of ICT on the airlines industry is persuasive, as information forms the core foundation of the daily operations and the strategic management of organizations. This is evident from the implementation of Virgin Atlantic online ticket booking. The online service has significantly improved the services of the company in all levels of management. Subsequently, there has improvement in tickets sales, with increased efficiency and effectiven ess. At the strategic level, airlines must continuously assess all the external elements of the environment, as well as customers’ needs and competitors, and subsequently adapt to them to enhance their competitiveness

Retirement Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Retirement Planning - Essay Example While there are many courses of action one can take to retire, some have greater risk while others offer security. For those of us wanting to retire in the next fifteen to twenty years, risk should be tempered through proper management, diverse investing, and proper estate planning that includes a will, estate plan, and life insurance if one is not self insured through a high net worth in personal property (FINRA, 2011). How Much Does one Need to Retire? Retirement goals most often deal with time and money. In order to retire by a certain time, one must have a certain amount of money. This amount can be in a stock account, coming in as passive income, or cash flow, or be a combination of both. In order for me to maintain my current lifestyle in retirement, I will need to have an income of $4,500 with a margin of growth that meets or exceeds inflation. While many people’s expenses go down in retirement, I do not want to take any chances when it comes to matters such as healthca re, which is the reason that many senior citizens end up broke and living off of social security and, in some cases, the equity in their home through a reverse mortgage. So, while some of my current expenses, such as paying for my mortgage, will not be an issue when I retire, I want to maintain the same level of income to allow for a lifestyle that goes beyond living, and allows me to have a life so that I can travel, give money to organizations I feel are important, while having more to leave behind to loved ones. This will be accomplished through proper asset allocation in a diversified portfolio that will come to approximately three-million dollars. Asset Allocation My current asset allocation is split between individual stocks that I manage through Scottrade, a company matched 401(k), and real estate. My equity is split evenly between the stock market and residential properties, but over the next fifteen to twenty years I expect my real estate holdings to be approximately two-th irds of my portfolio. The reason for this forecast is the properties’ appreciation and growing equity. In addition to the properties’ gains, I will also acquire more properties when good deals are available along with the cash to purchase. Owning property is extremely attractive because the investment can grow while paying at least partially for itself if not in full by way of payments made from tenants. In addition to this, owning property allows investors to receive tax breaks from losses even in years when money has been made. This is done after mortgage interest and depreciation is taken into account. For example, if a piece of property is worth $124,000 with mortgage payments of $1,000 per month, and a tenant occupying the home is paying $1,150 in rent for the whole year, then the profit at the end of the year is $1,800. However, the mortgage interest amounted to $9,000, and depreciation on a piece of investment property is incurred over thirty-one years. In the c ase of this property, the depreciation is $4,000 a year. Rather than paying taxes on $1,800, a loss is shown in the amount of $11,200, resulting in a larger tax return, or lower tax burden, at the end of the year (Pascale, 2010). The advantage to being in a 401(k) is that the company I work for matches my contributions up to 3%. If my 401(k) is cut in half from a

Information and Communication Technologies in Virgin Atlantic Essay

Information and Communication Technologies in Virgin Atlantic - Essay Example With emphasis on the airline industry, the emergence of internet and the subsequent development of extranets and intranets forced airlines to rethink their strategies on technological innovation and enhance their competitiveness in their market niche. The internet has proved a source of opportunity to tackle distribution costs and reengineer the structure of the airline industry (Alamdari and Mason, 2006:123). These technological innovations seek to monitor a wide range of business processes in the airlines, as well as identifying ways of improving these processes. This report examines the implementation of the online ticket booking by Virgin Atlantic Airways to achieve cost reduction and competitive advantage objectives. The report works on the assumption that the previous booking systems had flaws in efficiency and effectiveness, thus the company sort to redesign the booking process to attain some competitive edge against its competitors and increase its effectiveness and efficienc y in general (Olugbenga, 2006). Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited, famously as simply Virgin Atlantic, is a British airline headquartered in West Sussex, England. The airline, founded in 1984, has become the second largest carrier in Britain serving the major cities in the world. Currently based in Manchester airport, Heathrow airports, and Gatwick in London, the airline operates long-haul services to more than thirty destinations worldwide, as far apart as Shanghai and Las Vegas. Virgin Atlantic enjoys huge popularity, receiving top business, trade, and consumer awards worldwide. The airline has credit for pioneering a range of innovations and setting new service standards, with its competitors seeking to follow the same... This essay stresses that for Virgin Atlantic to achieve competitive advantage in the airline industry, it needs to develop and implement innovative strategies to improve the sale of ticket, as this forms the primary source of income. The company may integrate ICT tools to achieve this, including developing an efficient booking system incorporated into the official website of the company. This paper makes a conclusion that ICT may support all business functions, thus integral in the efficient operation of the entire travel industry. ICT provides tools for searching for profitable and meaningful niche market segments and identify value added components for the services and products, as well as differentiate these services and products through special media to market segments. Flexibility and cost effectiveness are among the products of ICT in this process, as they are integral in cost efficiency maximization and cost reduction. The impact of ICT on the airlines industry is persuasive, as information forms the core foundation of the daily operations and the strategic management of organizations. This is evident from the implementation of Virgin Atlantic online ticket booking. The online service has significantly improved the services of the company in all levels of management. Subsequently, there has improvement in tickets sales, with increased efficiency and effectiven ess. At the strategic level, airlines must continuously assess all the external elements of the environment, as well as customers’ needs and competitors, and subsequently adapt to them to enhance their competitiveness

Virtue ethics Essay Example for Free

Virtue ethics Essay Unlike morals, which are deeply held convictions held by an individual in regards to right and wrong behavior, ethics are recognized rules of conduct in regards to a specific action or a particular group of people. In short, ethics come from an external social structure whereas morals come from within – a person’s own perceptions of right and wrong regardless of what society’s rules say. The three primary schools of ethics that can be used in discussing ethical problems and dilemmas are care-based ethics, rule-based ethics, and end-based ethics. In the case of ethical dilemma number 2, if one were to apply care-based ethics, then both of the adult parties in the situation would yield to what would be best for the child. Care-based ethics involves having the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes and see a situation from his or her point of view. The ethical dilemma clearly states that the girl was taken away from her foster parents against her will after her biological parents sobered up and wanted to regain custody. To abide by care-based ethics, the adults would need to let the girl make the decision; everyone would have to consider how the child feels. ; care-based ethics is not determined by law, courts, or duty. Utilitarian ethics looks to solve a dilemma by producing the greatest good for the greatest number. In ethical dilemma number 2, utilitarian ethics would most likely favor the girl living with the foster parents because it would be the case of three people against two. The girl spent her entire life with her foster parents, growing up to love and respect them. In addition, her foster parents more than likely developed mutual feelings for her. Her biological parents have had absolutely no connection to the girl and so by a court ruling in their favor they are setting up a family of strangers. In addition, it is unfair to the foster parents who were probably under the impression that they would raise the girl throughout her entire childhood. Both of the laws applied to ethical dilemma rule in favor of the girl living with the foster parents and not the biological parents. However, care-based ethics does so out of genuine concern for the child’s interest. It doesn’t really consider what the outcome for other parties would be. End-based ethics, though coming to a similar conclusion did so by a different route. All parties in the situation were considered and the pros and cons are weighed out based on what is most fair for those involved. I think that though the schools of ethics can be applied to many real life situations and provide a good springboard for making judgments; I believe that applying formulaic standards to something life like could ultimately be hazardous. Life isn’t a math problem where you can plug and chug a situation into an ethical framework and get only one correct outcome. There are many different factors and feelings that need to be considered when making decisions on real life matters. Aristotle’s idea of virtue factored in the uncertainties of everyday life. To Aristotle, to be virtuous was to practice practical wisdom. In other words, he believed that making ethical decisions was dependent on choosing the right thing at the right time for a situation. I think Aristotle would have agreed with the both of the decisions to let the girl live with the foster parents because it would be the most practical choice to keep a loving family together than to tear it apart by giving the girl back to her biological parents.

Antimitotic Prodrugs Advantages And Disadvantages

Antimitotic Prodrugs Advantages And Disadvantages Abstract The intricate prodrug therapy has made possible the synthesis and identification of novel drug discovery that have significant structural modifications or intermediate derivatives which may facilitated and enhanced therapeutic parameter during in vitro and in vivo studies. Along with improved target delivery of prodrugs provides the capability to not only overcome certain limitation of antimitotic drugs, but to increases the chances to undergo clinical phase trial studies to get in to action. Development of these new prodrugs as improved alternatives gone through from significant challenges; nevertheless these potential therapies also use to analysed and give suggestion about their further development by clinical studies. Introduction Cancer is diseases in which the bodys cells become abnormal and split without control. Cancer cells may show aggression nearby tissues. They may spread through the bloodstream and lymphatic system to other parts of the body. [1, 2, 3]. Now the days there are mainly three types of treatments are in use surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Among these, surgery and radiotherapy are to be employed for specific treating are and chemotherapy employed during the systemic treatment of metastases in local as well as regional cancer cells. Chemotherapeutic drugs can be divided in to alkylating agents, antimetabolites plant alkaloids (antimitotics), topoisomerase inhibitors, and other antitumor agents. All of these drugs affect the cell division or DNA synthesis and translation, and function in other ways. The proliferation rate is the play the key role in for the effects of these drugs thus; they are not much selective of tumours. Chemotherapy is treatment with drugs that kill cancer cells and make them less active. It is the treatment of disease by chemicals, especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen. In its non-oncological use, the term may also refer to antibiotics, long time use of chemotherapy consequences natural cell deaths in the treatments of tumour [4]. Sometime these agents produce remission and re-growth which result in proliferation of cancer cells along with resistance of drugs. Although, intense researches have been conducted in the field of cancer, there are some pioneering ideas need to come in this field to decrease toxicities, physicochemical properties and therapeutic index [5]. The use of prodrug is generally established as a strategy to improve the physicochemical, biopharmaceutical or pharmacokinetic properties of pharmacologically potent agents, and thereby increase the develop ability and usefulness of a potential drug [6,7]. The aim of the prodrug establishment is to improve (i) physicochemical properties like solubility, chemical stability, taste and odour etc. (ii) selectivity; (iii) pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic problems and (iv) therapeutic index. Thus; by these improvements, we can overcome the formulations challenges of the drugs [8, 9]. The most of the antimitotic prodrugs developed with conjugating prodrug molecules to low to high molecular weight molecules like sugars, enzymes, vitamins, antibodies, polymers and nanoparticals. These are the carriers which transport prodrug in to tumour and drug release with conjugating the drug to the carrier through a spacer that include particular point which make the specific targeting of the drug. These carriers are very complicated in the structure and demand very hard work to make carries linked prodrugs. Hetrogenecity, biodistribution, expression of multidrug resistance, interstitial pressure and amount of the drug reaching to the target site, are the problems which make the task more difficult. Along with that targeting properties will preserved or not with structural changes are major problems in the formulation of carrier liked prodrug molecules. Here I provide an overview of recent developments in targeted antimitotic prodrug and conjugate design. These are examples which, illustrating the salient features of different targeting strategies. I have focused on prodrug and conjugate examples in priclinical trials or advanced preclinical studies with advantages and disadvantages associated to each strategy are also discussed. Antimitotics In the process of mitosis eukaryotic cell isolate the chromosome in its cell nucleus into two the same sets which are divided in two nuclei. In cancer the single cell start converts from normal cell to cancerous cells by the process of mitosis. The mitosis inhibitors contain certain different cancer drugs. They are different in mechanism of action from the other classes of cancer drugs [12]. They mainly interfere with cell proliferation of cell rather than alter DNA structure and function. Mitosis includes DNA replication which divides the cells in to two new cells. Spindle fibers separate newly replicates chromosomes and convert them in to two forming cells. The fibres which are produce microtubules which fix with the replicated chromosomes. Now chromosomes pull one of this copy to each side of the cell which includes spindle fibers, without that cell cannot divide. Antimitotics inhibit this earlier uncertain spindle function during cell cycle. Spindle fibers form of long chains of smaller subunit of tubuline protein. In the process of polymerisation tubuline subunits can add to microtubule. Some types of antimitotics stop the process of forming of tubuline monomers which inhibits the microtubule. In this process they arrest movement of chromosomes as well as spindle tubule [13]. Examples of mitotic inhibitors include Taxanes, paclitaxel (Taxol) and docetaxel (Taxotere), Epothilones like ixabepilone (Ixempra), and Vinca alkaloids: vinblastine (Velban), vincristine (Oncovin), and vinorelbine (Navelbine), estramustine (Emcyt) and Colchicines. Vinca alkaloids and colchicines are those who have more over same mechanism of action. Vinblastine inhibiting the formation spindle fibers which are responsible for position of chromosome and the separation of the chromosomes during anaphase. It also inhibits the formation of microtubules which are responsible for the formation of cell division. Vinca alkaloids have many side effects like others [14]. Vincristine also binds to the tubuline monomers and arrests the formation of spindle microtubules. As result of this, it blocks the movements of chromosome during cell division. Speficity is the major problem with vincristine because it also affects the healthy cells with cancer cells during cell division. Vindesine is another Vinca alkaloid who binds to the microtubules. It has target specificity problem which makes them less potent [15]. Texel is natural antimitotic drug and different in mechanism of action from Vinca alkaloids. Paclitaxal and docetaxel are the two important analogues . Paclitaxel inhibits microtubuline assembly rather than monomers. It binds to microtubules and prevent this breakdown because these two processes, polymerisation and breakdown, both are requiring for movement of replicated chromosomes. The prevention of chromosomes breakdown inhibits them to move to opposite direction of dividing cells. Reduction in bone marrow function which may result in anaemia, blood in stools or black stools, fast or irregular heart beat, are common side effects associated with paclitaxel [16]. Docetaxel has same mechanism of action as paclitaxel but if the drug is give with combination it will cause major side effects than paclitaxel [17]. Epothilones is microtubule function inhibitor. It binds to beta-tubuline subunit on microtubules and preventing polymerization during cell division and eventually causes cell death. Mainly peripheral neuropathy, mylosuppersion with white blood cells and hypersensitivity reactions are the side effects which cause by Epothilo nes [18]. Colchicines are antimitotics which have same mechanism of action as Vinca alkaloids. It also binds to tubuline and inhibits polymerization of microtubules. Tubuline availability is necessary for mitosis process and colchicines are inhibiting these tubules as spindle poison. Cancer cell have nature to proliferate most and this make them more susceptible to Colchicines drugs [19]. These are natural anitimitotics and their analogues. Their mechanism of action is mainly on tubuline and sometime called antitubuline agents. But they have their own challenges like insolubility, bioavability, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynemics, and toxicities problems. Tubuline plays a key role in their effects to bind mitosis but to overcome these challenges, proteins which are involve in the mitosis, are founded. They are presently under process to develop the capacity of clinical efficacy that those drugs have established [20]. Present scenario in antimitotics drug development (Specific druggable protein targets) The targeted proteins with specific function of new generation of anti mitotics are identified with molecularly targeted drug discovery. These new agents play important role in the unique way to provide the significant effects, which take beyond the certain limitations of drugs as well as extend the scope of their clinical efficacy of current antitubuline drugs. Although, they are facing some considerable challenges, but molecular mechanism of action of mitotic-checkpoint plays important role in mitosis [21]. Antitubuline drugs have complex chemical structure and are complicated to isolate and synthesised from their natural sources. Neurotoxicity and insolubities are the major problems with Vinca alkaloids and Taxanes. They also interfere in function of microtubules in axons, which provoke the neuronal vesicle motility. The non-structural components of mitosis as potential drug targets are one of the solution for therapy. They have unique effects in morphological stages during the mi tosis which is bring mitotic Kinesins, Aurora kinases and polo-like kinases (PLKs), as druggable protein target classes [22]. Targeting these proteins is well known as mitotics kinesin, kinesin spindle protein (KSP) are requires for the proliferation from prophase to prometaphase and Centromeric protein E (CENPE) is required during prometaphase to metaphase and also have effects in mitotic checkpoint [23, 24]. These protein targets are only finds in dividing cells so non-dividing cells are not effected. This showed that, this kind of target inhibition have potential and improved therapeutic index compare to tubuline target anti mitotic drugs. Although, proteins inhibitors might not enough effects on both the mitotic spindle and cytoskeleton but they have some significant role out side the mitosis. Moreover, to support these new agents, the role played by them in the mitosis, cause target inhibition to be connected with tumour growth inhibition. By the using pharmacodynemic marker, significant effective dose during drug development founded. These doses were affected instead of maximally tolerated dose, might also caused improved therapeutics index. The mechanism of action of these agents by which they inhibits tumour cells undergo cell death was not properly defined but they have many positive effects on these proteins. Activation of caspace 3 (significant effectors) has been identified in studies of protein target drugs, along with that mitotic catastrophe has also been founded [25, 26, 27]. Actually, catastrophe is cell death occurs from metaphase of mitosis against the drugs that produce DNA damage because of in this stage the caspace 2 is involved rather than caspase 3 which produces many morphological and therapeutic aspects of cell death. On the other hand, mitotic check point as effectors of cell death against protein inhibitors was contentious. It was suggested that KSP inhibitors needed mitotic checkpoint. In contrast to that, role of checkpoint studies involved that; this signalling might cause cell death with mitotic damage [28, 29, 30]. This mechanism might supported by Aurora B inhibitors [31]. Eventually, the mechanism of action of these new protein inhibitors became more understandable that, they are more involved in killing cell by unique mechanism but also, different genetic alterations, which may produce during cancer, play the important role during inhibition by these agents. Although, this studies is unfinished so its hard to get these new agent in action because they needed further more researches. KSP Inhibitors: Ispinesib was first KSP inhibitor and studied in clinic to check the therapeutic effects. Small molecules of KSP ATPase were targeting by this drug but it was not involved in effecting ATP and ADP. In terms of specificity, it was 40,000 times more selective as compare to other kinesins. Firstly it was studied intravenously and results founded that during different number of days, the cumulative dose delivery was same and dose limiting toxicity on both occasion was neutropenia as well as haematopoietic lineages, along with that nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea also observed. Raise in the dose also increases the amounts of phosphor-histones-H3 in tumour which involved inhibition of proliferation of tumour cells with dose. As consequence, the pharmacodynamic activities also increased. In earlier, the renal cell, hepatocellular and colorectal cancers are not responding to anti tubuline agents, but this KSP inhibitor extend the time duration of stability for more than 6 months. This agent a lso needed following treatments of natural anti tubuline agents [32]. The next KSP ATPase inhibitor is same to Ispinesib, and during clinical evaluation it came from the chemical synthesis [33]. It has more efficacious than first one. During the studies it is connected with dose limiting toxicities that is neutropenia and hyperbilirubinaemia [34, 35]. For cholangiocarcinoma, it gives some positive effect and two more cancers extend as stable diseases for more than six months. Third potent KSP inhibitor is MK-0731. It is more selective about more than 20,000 fold and associated with increased activity of hepatic transaminases and neutropenia [36]. Finally, clinical experience of KSP inhibitors showed that these agents associated with common dose limiting toxicities like neutropenia, increased activity of hepatic transaminases which are also observed with tubulin inhibitors. Although, some of toxicities like alopecia, mucositis and neuropathy, are not often seen. Nausea and vomiting have seen uncommonly with these protein targeting inhibitors. AURORA and PLK inhibitors One of the potent drug called as VX-680 also know as MK0457 as ATP competitive inhibits Aurora A, B and C to inhibit the cell differentiation in cell culture [37]. Its mechanism of action is to inhibit the FMS-related tyrosine kinase 3 and imatinib-resistant mutants forms of Abelson tyrosine (ABL) kinase. Imatinib and dasatinib are the resistant to those agents. During the studies, cancer cell from different patients, were tested against intravenous infusions. As results, neutropenia was mostly observed dose limiting toxicity and when the dose increased the some pharmacodynemic effects in skin was also observed. To evaluate that, phospho-histone-H3, Ki67 (antigen) and cycline B1 expressions are being checked before and after these studies. In the skin biopsies, there was no strong evidence observed, which showed the mitotic arrest or decrease in cell proliferation in the skin, during clinical studies. There was strong proof about the effects on cell proliferation which are haematopoi etic, but it was not case with skin biopsies. Mitotic inhibition, aneuploidy, was expected from the pan-Aurora but only delay in the mitotic progression observed during studies. Moreover, these agents inhibit the Aurora B and decrease the PHH3 levels when other anti-mitotic agent increases this biomarker. To overcome this limitation, the assays procedures developed which are capable to find out the decrease in the level of PHH3. Skin was not responding to these drugs. Extended stable disease for more than 6 months observed [21]. Another ATP-competitive Aurora B inhibitor is AZD1152 with significant IC50 cellular proliferation. This inhibitor evaluated in two schedules. In the both schedules, neutropenia observed as dose limiting toxicity for intravenous infusion. Moreover, next assessments reached in phase I and II studies for cancer like leukaemia [38]. BI 2536 is first ATP-competitive inhibitor of PLK1. There were three different partitions to evaluate this small molecule inhibitor. Every partition was evaluated by intravenous infusion and as result of that, same toxicity and dose delivery were obtained. Thrombocytopenia and neitropaenia were major dose limiting toxicities in every partition [39]. The second ATP non-competitive inhibitor of PLK1 is ON 01910. It may support PLK, to bind the substrates. It is currently under trail for two different doses because it has low potency to FLT1 and platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR). Increased activity of hepatic enzymes, anaemia, leucopoenia and gastrointestinal symptoms, are the adverse effects with this inhibitor [40]. All over, neutropaenia without significant neuropathy was major dose limiting toxicity with these inhibitors. Challenges and Developments in New Antimtotic Drugs Although, these novel antimitotic drugs have very significant role in inhibition of mitosis, they are facing many problems during their developments. Their appropriate ways, potential to reduce toxicities, activities, safety profile, and efficacy are some promising questions are yet to be solved. These agents have reduced risk of neurotoxicity, which is proved in clinic, but they also have dose limiting toxicities like neutropenia with relative sparing of the other haematopoietic lineages. So it will be difficult to tell yet that they have potential [41]. Another challenge was that, there was no clear perceptive between inhibition of respective mitotic target and cell death. Because they have mechanism of action is to arrest mitosis but whether this mitosis arrest initiate by activating by mitotic checkpoint or it is followed by mitotic slippage for further cell death. To identify the patients who are best responding to these agents is also a challenge in developments in theses agents. In addition to that, during clinical development, it is difficult to develop surrogate tissue to check the pharmacodynemic responses of these drugs because targets of these agent, was absent in most of them [42]. Along with pharmacodynemic effects, duration of such effect both is also crucial determinants for apoptosis. Therapeutic window can be calculated by evaluation of tumour markers at maximum tolerated dose (MTD) or below the MTD if possible but this might be achieved by incorporation of serial tumour biopsies was uniquely challenging. In addition to, which schedules would be sufficiently discover pharmacodynemic and pharmacokinetic data was difficult [43]. Considerable steps have already come in to view, to overcome these limitations and evade toxic side effects, produced by these agents. Such steps make two different types of practices; they are prodrugs and drug targeting methods. During these practices both methods led to increase some of biochemical properties along with pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynemic effects. Prodrug Prodrugs are chemically modified versions of pharmacologically active agents that must undergo transformation in vivo to release the active drug. The prodrug is administered in an inactive or significantly less active form. The use of prodrugs is generally established as a strategy to improve the physicochemical, biopharma-ceutical or pharmacokinetic properties of pharmacologically potent agents, and thereby increase the develop ability and usefulness of a potential drug [6]. Antimitotic Prodrugs which are in Use or Developing The following are the antimitotic prodrugs which try to develop to overcome these limitation associated with specific antimitotic drugs like Vinca alkaloids, Texans, Cochicines and phodopyllotoxins. A) Hydrolytically Activated Paclitaxel Prodrug Paclitaxel is well using in diseases like ovarian cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer but it has limitation like low water solubility, less effective, drug resistance and some effects. At high dose it produces hypersensitive reactions, hematologic toxicity, and neurotoxicity. It also limited by granulocyte colony-stimulating factors dependent neutropenia. It has dose dependent neurotoxicity expressed by loss of sensation [44]. Adapt from [44] By masking position7 hydroxyl group of paclitaxel with hydrophilic side chain (*) and resulted 7-(2, 3-dihydroxypropyl carbonoxy) paclitaxel is biologically inert and is activated at low pH conditions by hydrolytic cleavage of the carbamate linkage, obtaining active paclitaxel, dihydroxy propanol, and CO2 [44]. Following are the results obtained by analysing paclitaxel prodrug. Figure, (A) Figure, (B) Table 1, Figure A and Figure B, Adapt from [44]. Table 1 is hydrolytic activation of paclitaxel prodrug in vivo, indicating decrease in prodrug and increase in active drug. Figure (A), for conversion to active paclitaxel in vivo, indicating peak plasma concentrations were observed at 3 hours for paclitaxel prodrug (P1) and at 6 hours for active paclitaxel (P2), for 1 patient. Figure (B), for activation of paclitaxel in vivo, demonstrates the slow-release mechanism in vivo, for 5 pateints [44]. B) First enzymatically activated Taxotere Prodrugs Designed for ADEPT (Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy) and PMT (Prodrug Mono Therapy) Paclitaxel and its semi synthetic analogue docetaxel is essential drugs in the treatment of cancer as antimitotic drugs. There is slight difference between them is substitution at 3- nitrogen on the side chain and the 10-posititon of the taxoid core. They have high potency to solid tumour but they have number of undesirable side effects and poorer water solubility and also with detergent they initiate hypersensitivity reaction on body. These drugs delivery have evaluated on enzymatic hydrolysis in ADEPT (Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy) and PMT (Prodrug Mono Therapy).The two docetaxel prodrugs in figure A have synthesised with glucuronic moiety is linked to a double spacer. Para hydroxyl bezyle alcohol connected to diamer tether through a carbamate linkage in this spacer. This complex was shown to be more potent and labrets drugs in the presence of ÃŽÂ ²-Dglucuronidase enzyme in ADPET and PMT therapy [45]. Figure A, structure of scheme 2 and scheme 3 (Prodrug 4), scheme 2 and scheme 4 (Prodrug 5) and Prodrug 3 Adapt from [45] Following are the results by the comparison of these two drugs. Both of prodrugs have 24 hr-run of stability and there was no release from the prodrug during this time. Table 1 showed that these two prodrugs have compatible IC 50 values for the ADEPT and PMT strategy. Figure A and figure B showed that, during HPLC detection, prodrug level decreased until finished and spacer and parent drug, docetaxel, reached at area of stability [45]. Table 1, measured for L1210 cell lines were (HPLC): Prodrug, Scheme 2 and scheme 3 : 4.86 uM Docetaxel : 14. 4 uM Spacer: 75.3uM Prodrug, Scheme 2 and scheme 4: 2.69 uM Spacer:45.8uM Figure A, Comparison of the disappearance of the three prodrugs. Figure B, Enzymatic cleavage of prodrug 5 Figure 2, Scheme 2 and Scheme 4. Table 1, Figure A and Figure B adapt from [45]. C) Zyn-Linked colchicines: Controlled-release lipophilic prodrugs With enhanced antitumor efficacy Zyn-linked drug have rapid binding property to cell membrane. These Zyn-linkers prolong their binding and preservation in tissues, make sense to produce Zyn-linkers conjugates those who have better local delivery of therapeutics. Colchicine has chosen for these studies because this drug and its analogues are still under examination. Five Zyn linked colchicine analogues with either cleavable hydrazone or imine bonds, have synthesised and evaluated their stability ,cytotoxicity and antitumour activity [46]. Fig.1. Structures of colchicine and modifications to form the analogues for Zyn-Linking are shown. Fig. 2.Structures of the Zyn-Linkers modified for attachment of the colchicine analogues. Fig.3. Structures of Zyn-Linker conjugates are shown with the bonds subject to hydrolysis indicated by an arrow: (a) hydrazones conjugates linked at the B-ring of the colchincine moiety, (b) imine conjugate, and (c) hydrazones conjugate linked at the A ring of the colchicine moiety. Figure 1, 2 and 3, adapt from [46] Following are the results for their relationship among different properties. Table 1 Table2 Table3 Table 1, 2 and 3, adapt from [46] Table 1 showed that, ZYN 162 and PKH 158 at pH 7.2, are two potential products and out of them one is expected and one is unidentified products. Table 2 showed that, 80% to less than 1%, was range of therapeutic and unhydrolysed conjugated, was inactive. Zyn-linkers had no antimitotic activity; on the other hand, drug or Zyn-linked drugs were active. Table 3 showed that, with 4-formayl group thiocolchicine have reduced their toxicities and enhanced therapeutic activity [46]. D) Preparation, characterization, cytotoxicity and pharmacokinetics Of liposome containing water-soluble prodrugs of paclitaxel Paclitaxel have antimitotic effect against the various cancers like breast cancer, ovarian cancer, head and neck cancers. Due to its aqueous insolubility, it was dissolving in the mixture of 50 % Ethanol and 50 % Cremopher EL (caster oil). Neurotoxicity and hypersensitivity are side effects of this Cremopher. So to reduce this side effect and to enhance the drug entrapment in liposome with better aqueous solubility, three prodrugs and prodrugs liposome formulations have synthesised and evaluated their pharmacokinetic parameter, stability and antitumor activity with parent drug [47]. Following are the results obtained during comparison in stability, cytitoxicity and pharmacokinetic property of drug, prodrugs and their prodrug liposome. 1) Stability Table1 Table 2 Figure 1, 2 and 3, Table 1 and 2, adapt from [47] Figure 2 and 3 showed that, by the changing the property like diameter, membrane fluidity and charge, liposome containing 2-mPEG-paclitaxel composed of PC-PG-CHOL 9:1:5 showed better stability more than 2 months and good entrapment ability. Table 1 and 2 showed that, in vitro cytotoxic effects of liposome containing compound 3 and 4 on two cell line, HT-29 and MeWo, maintained, but rapidly hydrolysed and giving free parent drugs, while liposome loaded paclitaxel-2succinyl had more resistance to hydrolysed. 2-PEG-paclitaxel also had ability to make difference in pharmacokinetic parameters as compare to free drug [47]. D) Synthesis and evaluation of water-soluble docetaxel prodrugs- Docetaxel esters of malic acid. Paclitaxel and docetaxel are semi synthetic analogues widely used for various cancers. But water solubility is major limitation for these drug and to come over from this limitation, at C20, C7 -or/and C10 position several research group introduced solubilising moieties [48]. Figure A Figure A, table 1 and table 2, adapt from [48] Figure A, table 1 and table 2 showed that, 20-DLmalyl docetaxel sodium salt 3a come out with excellent water solubility, more active than docetaxel in vitro and antitumor activity in vivo [48]. E) Synthesis of Water Soluble Prodrugs of the Cytotoxic Agent Combertastatin A4 Combertastatin A4 has structure similar to colchicine. It is an inhibitor of tubulin polymerisation to stop proliferation of cells. Although, this drug has potential for antimitotic activity, it is soluble in the few pharmaceutically accepted solvents. Synthesis of water soluble glycosides of combertastatin A4, have conducted by make modification by hydroxyl function. To increase the yield, they have reversed the components of the Witting reaction [49]. Adapt from [49] The ammonium salt have prepared and converted into potassium salt to make crystal form. This ammonium salt was more stable in buffer solution and degraded slowly in plasma at 37 C when incubated with acid phosphates and alkaline phosphatise [49]. F) Prodrugs of 40-Demethyl-4-deoxypodophyllotoxin: Synthesis and Evaluation of the Antitumor Activity 4-Deoxypodophyllotoxin (DPT) and 4-demethyl-4-deoxypodophyllotoxin (DDPT) have comparable in vitro potency against different cell lines but free hydroxyl group at 4 position in structure of DDPT loss its in vivo antitumor activity against BDF1/3LL model. Replacing this free group by bioreversible functionality might improve in vivo activity. For that series of prodrugs have synthesised and evaluated their cytotoxic and antitumor activities [50]. Following are the results obtained during studies. Adapt from [50]. Table showed that 10 and 11 derivatives were properly transferred in to parent drug 2 but weak in vivo activity and 6 derivative showed IR of 95% of antitumor activity. The carbamates and carbonates of two compounds, 6 and 9, showed potent antitumor activity, might be by intermolecular cyclic rearrangements of hydroxyl side chain. Moreover, amino acid prodrugs, 12 to 17, demonstrated better water solubility and potent antitumor activity [50]. Discussion Presently the antimitotics prodrugs are novel compounds and hold many promises and may have abilities to improve the drawbacks of anti tubuline or specific protein inhibitors, which are regulating the cell cycle, demonstrated by clinical data. With observations to clinical activity, it is too premature to tell for most of the agents in development. There are number of prodrugs have been developing and some have evaluated in laboratory. Antimitotic prodrugs may improve limitations of these drugs during in vitro and in vivo studies but there are still need more information about clinical phase trails by using number of patients, to these prodrugs. In particular, hydrolytically activated paclitaxel prodrug has decreases toxicity in vivo and produced better responses in patients with end stage in cancer. Serum half- life also dramatically increased with maximum plasma concentration, in vivo, but more studies require about responses in phase III trails, as it was evaluated in 10 patients. Moreover, information needed about, high concentration expose to tumour tissue for critical time, as significant G2M phase arrest is primary mechanism of action. First prodrugs of docetaxel have synthesised for the ADPET (Antibody Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy) and PMT (Prodrug Mono Therapy) strategies. Spacer have nitro group on the aromatic ring. In the hydrogenesis step it could be preserved which is not seen in the previous paclitaxel prodrugs. This nitro and amino groups containing prodrugs have expressed good kinetics and enzymatic hydrolysis in particular cell line, but more information needed about self immolative spacer for its effects on the paclitaxel on various cell lines. This issue need more clarification prior to clinical trails in malignancy models. Four conjugates of Zyn-linked colchicine have hydro linkage, imine bond in spacer arms, colchicines moiet

Ecological Role of Termites in Dry Environments :: Environmental Ecology Research Papers

Ecological Role of Termites in Dry Environments Termites are predominantly thought of as destructive and menacing creatures that serve only a small part in Earth’s ecology. The contrary, however, is a more accurate description of the incredible niche that this animal fulfills, particularly amid arid and infertile environments. The inhospitable outback of Australia receives a minute amount of annual precipitation. The shortage of moisture has led to an astounding adaption of the few animals that continue living there, notably the termites. Water is required by all living things to stay alive; this fact is not lost on termites. Several species of termites have evolved to such a degree that entire colonies are able to exist entirely within their self-manufactured environments, sometimes even entirely within a piece of dead wood. Recycling everything they use, the termites construct ingenious mounds with their waste materials and prevent moisture from escaping by packing everything together, forming water proof pavements. The t ermites’ ability to metabolize cellulose with a mutualistic symbiotic relationship allows them to decompose dead plant material and recycle the nutrients back to the environment. Overall, termites are the most important decomposers in dry environments because of their ability to recycle nutrients, form soil, and retain moisture. Introduction It seems natural to dislike termites. Most of them are very small, off-white, alien-looking insects, they live in the darkness, and they have a reputation for being â€Å"pests† by causing millions of dollars in damage to wooden structures and vegetation all around the world. Thomas Snyder exhibits this widespread negative view of termites in the title of his 1948 book, Our Enemy The Termite. Nevertheless, recent studies and discoveries have begun to correct the downbeat view of the termite. Surely a creature that exists (or has existed) on every continent in a wide range of environments has a greater ecological niche than a â€Å"pest†. Recent studies into the evolution of this order of insects suggests a much more accurate relationship of their contribution to the environment now and in the millions of years they have existed. The termites’ ability to adapt to arid environments has led them to fill the important role of decomposition where common decomposers su ch as bacteria and fungi cannot function. Australia is an ideal place to study the effects of dry environments on termites because of the low precipitation and elevated heat levels of the desert and savanna. Background Taxonomically, all termites can be placed into Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Class Insecta, and Order Isoptera.

Typical and Atypical Abuse Essay -- Physical Emotional Abuse Abusive E

Typical and Atypical Abuse Physical and emotional abuse can originate from any source but the majority of the abuse generates from parental or adult figures and is direct toward a timid figure, typically a child. The abuser commonly chooses a more timid recipient because they will be less likely to stand up against the abuser. Physical abuse is maltreatment that involves actual contact between one body part of a person and an other body part of an other person, such as hitting or slapping. Emotional abuse consists of just the opposite: maltreatment that is directed to harming the individual psychologically, such as negative comments or put downs (National Exchange Club Foundation, 2000). Regardless of whom the abuse is directed toward or whether its physical or emotional, it all causes several types of damage. Abuse is not limited to a specific type of community or to children (NAEYC, 1997). Three million children are victims of abuse each year. Each day three hundred and sixteen young children are arrested for crimes. Sixteen die from gun related wounds (Massey, 1998). The majority of these statistics are related to abused children from home settings, which will cause significant damage to how the child deals with everyday situations in settings out of the home. The effects of abuse tend to vary with different children but any type of abuse can cause serious damage. Not all children display the same responses to physical and emotional abuse. A few of the typical emotional responses include; showing excessive fear, extreme anger, low self-esteem, and an inability to trust adult figures. In contrast a few physical responses are difficulties developing speech patters, difficulties getting involved with other ch... ... situations, such as; gangs, drug abusers, and children that were abused but adults. But with programs, time and devotion the country is now lowering their numbers of each hazard that can cause harm to the students learning environment. Rose, M. (2002, February 22). TSL Education Limited The Times Educational Supplement. Abuse That Comes With a Smile for Not Making Waves, pp. 2 from the Academic Search/EBSCO database There are a few parents who choose to educate their children at home so the students will not come into contact with controversial topics. However, by home schooling, the parents unwittingly enforce social learning issues on their children because they will never feel comfortable in situations that deal with other people their own age. This proves the children need the social aspect of school just as much as the educational aspect.