Law Enforcement Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Law Enforcement - Assignment Example In this regard, the project aims to respond to six questions after selecting a state and recording pertinent information relative to criminal activities in the area. To achieve the objective, the state of New York is examined for violent criminal incidents, such as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault for the period 2006 to 2009. Law Enforcement 1. Select a city, town, or municipality in the United States and examine trends in criminal activity over the last 3 years. Analyze reported crime statistics for major/minor offense categories such as murder, robbery, rape, and CREATE A TABLE OF THE RESULTS. ... What are the overall patterns of crime that you see in the selected town or city? What have you learned by the data? From the data, one learned that in the state of New York for the years 2006 to 2009, majority of violent crimes is reflected in the area of aggravated assault, followed by robbery. Only a negligible amount was recorded in rape and the least in murder. Most notable however, was that the total number of violent crimes have been exhibiting a declining trend from the period 2006 up to 2009. On the other hand, for minor offenses like property crimes, the trend manifests predominance of larceny representing more than 75% of total crimes in 2006 and reaching to 75% in 2009 with the least crime in motor vehicle theft representing only about 10% in 2006 and further declining to 7.5% of all property crimes in 2009. Is there a pattern? In what direction are the trends going? What crimes are on the decline or rise? While it was seen from the chart, there is no clear apparent patte rn in the incidents of violent crimes. The number of incidents for aggravated assault, for example, manifests an up and down pattern where the assaults from 2006 increased, then decreased in 2008 before increasing again in 2009. The same goes with other violent crimes, where the number of incidents increase and decrease intermittently. However, from the total violent crimes, it was eminent that the total number has been manifesting a decreasing trend or pattern since 2006. For minor offenses, the overall manifested trend as exhibited in the total property crime is declining for the period under review and larceny dominating the property offense classification. 3. What are the surprises and usual results in the data that you analyzed? Actually, for a city as New

Analysis of Why i Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty Essay

Analysis of Why i Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Why I live at the P.O. is a book written by Eudora Welty, who was born in Jackson Mississippi. She was a multitalented artist, who succeeded as a writer and a photographer. She was inspired to write this story by a lady ironing in a small rural post office, whom she saw while working as a public photographer. Although Welty writes in varied moods and styles, Why I Live at the P.O. is a representation of her masterful use of vital characteristic of southern speech. It is, therefore, one of her beloved stories.   The story takes a form of a dramatic monologue. It is taught from the first person narrator, sister. Sister tells her side of story, explaining to the readers why she moved away from a home she had grown into adulthood, to a local post office. Her story is an appeal to the reader to take her side of the story as she resentfully recounts her Sister’s unfair maneuvers in turning every member of the family against her. How ever, her exaggeration and self pity turn her situation unintentionally humorous. The events of Why I Live in P.O. sets in motion when the narrator’s Sister, Stella Rondo returns to the family in China Grove. Sister states that before the arrival of her sister, she was getting along well with her mother, Papa-Daddy, and Uncle Rondo. The arrival of her sister, therefore, interrupts her uneventful life. Stella Rondo had just left her husband, Mr. Whitaker, a man Sister had briefly dated before becoming engaged to Stella. Stella Rondo arrives home with a girl, Shirley T, she claims to have adopted. Everybody in the family believes that the girl is actually adopted except for sister, who believes that Shirley is Stella’s biological daughter. Sister asks Stella bout Shirley’s parentage, and Stella gets furious with her. She decides to turn Papa-Daddy against Sister and tells him that Sister suggested that he should cut short his beard. Papa-Daddy believes this and ge ts angry with Sister, reminding her that it was through him that she got the job at the Post Office. Later, Sister prepares green-tomato pickles, an act that is disapproved by Mama since Uncle Rondo and Shirley T would not agree with the food. In an argument between Mama and Sister, Mama does not agree with Sister’s believe that Shirley-T is not adopted. Sister goes further to suggest that Shirley could have a developmental problem since she had never uttered a word. Stella is angered by the accusation, and has Shirley sing a song. Mama insists that Sister should apologize, but she refuses. In her attempt to have Uncle Rondo turn against sister, Stella claims that Sister sneers at his ludicrous appearance. Uncle is angered and throws lit firecrackers in Sister’s bedroom. It is at this point that Sister decides to move. She makes her reasons known and collects her belongings from the house. The story is taught from the first person point of view, therefore, a subject to the distorting interpretations. She skillfully directly addresses her audience in an attempt to call for attention to specific egregious offenses. At the end of the story, she believes that a change in venue shall be a solution to her problems, but it is arguable that her departure is a sign of cowardice (McHaney 39). Welty skillfully uses diction throughout the story. This is evident in the manner in which she records distinctive speech models of the characters. This is meant to humanize the characters and firmly place them in a local setting. In addition to this, she fills the stripes of dialogue with idiomatic expressions extracted from speech among the southerners. For instance, instead of must have, she writes must of, a transcription, grammatically unacceptable, but standard to the characters exceptional self expression ((McHaney 76)). Welty also uses appearance of words as an attempt of adding uni que rhythms and tones to the speaker. For instance, when Papa-Daddy is angered, she writes l-a-y-s (McHaney 76). This spacing is intended

Social Issues In Sport

Social Issues In Sport Sociology is the study of how society is structured and how people experience life through its processes, directly or indirectly. A basic understanding of social issues helps us to learn how these processes affect us in everyday life. Discussing social issues in sport can help us understand different sociological concepts and perspectives of sport in society. These sociological perspectives can help explain the underlying reality of sports organisations, participation barriers, influence on sport performance, and how to develop strategies to deal with social complexities. Such concepts include that of; functionalism, figuration, class and Bourdieu, conflict and Marxism. Functionalism is a perspective that examines society through a functional framework which stresses that everyone and everything, no matter how seemingly harmful or out of place, serves a purpose. Society is looked at on a macro scale so it generalises ideas toward the whole of society. For example they look at what ed ucation does for society as a whole not just certain people in society. Functionalists also believe that society is based on consensus or agreement that we are all brought up to agree on how to behave and what values are right and wrong. Functionalism could be described as the most generalized of the sociological perspectives. It does not distinguish between cultures and it cannot effectively explain change. It also assumes that all social groups benefit equally from sports. The functionalist viewpoint is a distinct contrast to that of figuration. Figuration is a sociological concept that believes everyone is linked in groups of interdependence, such as schools, families and in the workplace. Sports games are seen as microcosms of social life. For example, a basketball match is in a constant state of flow, with ongoing tests of physical and mental balance between opponents. It suggests power exists only through interconnected relationships and that a stronger competitor still needs weaker opposition to be successful. Due to a more increasingly complex society, there is a greater need for social interdependency, therefore continuing the civilizing process. Unlike the Bourdieu theory, where there are distinct divisions between social classes. The Bourdieu theory of class and classification evaluates the social world and expresses the division between classes, age groups and the sexes. It believes there is a highly complex system of social positions, structured and fighting for the ultimate goal of control over capital. The field is a competitive system of social relations in an area or place where there is a struggle for power between the dominant and subordinate classes. Capital may be categorized as social, cultural or economic. This sociological concept also explains the use of habitus, a conscious or unconscious train of thought stemming from social origins. It influences the way we act by our common preconceptions. Were it not for the influence of Pierre Bourdieu, the notion of class would be given surprisingly little individual attention in the sociology of sport. In contrast to this perspective, there is the theory of Conflict which resembles some of the conceptions of figuration. Conflict theory and Marxism is a structural sociological hypothesis, structural meaning that our actions are determined by social forces and structures. Conflict theory explains society as a fight for authority, linking groups that are struggling for limited capital. Karl Marx was the socialist thinker behind conflict theory. He believed that capitalism would in due course be overtaken by communism. This Marxist based theory suggests that the social classes within society are in a constant fight to gain capital, and that the more powerful groups, usually higher class, use that power to exploit those with less power, usually the lower working class, in a bid to stay in control. This will now be discussed further, as a more detailed explanation into Marxism and Conflict theory will be given. Karl Marx is best known as a philosopher, a revolutionary communist and a social scientist (Burke, 2000), whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. He believed that capitalism would ultimately be replaced with communism, a classless, stateless society. He thought that society consisted of two interconnecting parts; infrastructure and superstructure, each playing there part in the process. Infrastructure includes and signifies all the power of production. This includes method of production, labour force, the logical and physical abilities of workers and the organization of social classes. Infrastructure interlocks with superstructure, which is the foundation, and which refers to the different forms of societal consciousness, such as; ideology, religion, philosophy and the political structure. As Coakley (2002) reiterates, Marxist theory focuses on economic activities and relations, the infrastructure, and their impact on social institution s, such as politics and culture, the superstructure. Marxist theorists assume that social development is initiated through economic processes, in particular, any change in the system of production. The economic conditions of capitalism involuntarily generate social economic conflict between the owners of production and the workers; this is known as the class struggle for power. Marx believed that this exploitation would become conscious to the working class and unite the people, resulting in the elimination of the class struggle. Marx saw the upward rise of the working class as the driving force of its own freedom. It would be this working class, created and organized into an industrial workforce that would overcome its domination and lead in a society liberated from exploitation and oppression. What the bourgeoisie consequently would produce would be its own downfall (Burke, 2000). In his disapproval of the wage structure and the acceptance of the working class to live with it, Mar x explained the need for false consciousness, used by the Bourgeois class and how social life influences consciousness. What Marx meant by this is that the ruling capitalistic class within society reap the benefits because it is very one sided. Antonio Gramsci was one of the first Marxist theorists to work on the problems of major change in twentieth century western society and to recognize the importance of the battle against bourgeois values, such as an ideological cultural struggle (Burke, 1999, 2005). Marx claimed that one way to help release the stranglehold of the bourgeois on the proletariat was to remove control over education. He assumed that education had been used to reinforce class consciousness and the capitalists system of production and with power wrested from the bourgeoisie, the proletariats position would then be reinforced by the promotion of proletarian ideology through education (Carr, 1972). Marx felt that education, as a social institution that imparts values, and by the introduction of free education, this would guarantee a distribution of cultural opportunity. Therefore, no longer would education support class distinctions and capitalist ideology, although in todays society it does still happen, wit h private schooling available to those with greater economic capital. One of the main topics within the study of Marxism is the thought that all social changes result from conflict between existing classes in society. Marxists believe that the main ideology of each society is the ideology of the ruling class. Marx believed that this concept could be applied throughout all of history and would continue to exist, ultimately resulting in a proletariat revolution and the abolishment of all classes. Burke (2000) suggests that what Marx brought was to recognize that the existence of classes was made due to the production or economic structure and that the proletariat, a new working class that capitalism had shaped, had a historical capability in helping toward the collapse of all classes and to the construction of a classless social order, resulting in the creation of communism. Berger (1982) also shows that history is based on unending class conflict just as Marx stated. In contrast to this view, Boyne (2002) suggests that class appears to be less noticeabl y determinant of social action now than was the case just a quarter of a century ago, and that it has even been overtaken in the ranks of social structural influences by ethnicity, economic geography and gender. Marxs view was complete economic sight. The two classes have interests in common; therefore they are in conflict with those of a whole other class. This is turn leads to conflict between individual members of different classes (Berger, 1982). In addition, Marx did not recognise other systems of classification. The Marxs perspective only views the classes between employer and employee as a substantial system of classification, and others like; religion, race, and nation, are not included. The reasons behind this being that, Marx believed these social influences were not natural or useful to humans. It is in the relationship between work and sport that socialist sport theorists draw a strong association. A basic physical relationship is seen between work and sport, in so much that fundamental forms of work activity are repeated in the motor movements of sport. Although the technical development of society is now at a stage where elite sport as a preparation for productive work is no longer necessary in the manner that Marx envisaged it, the approach supporting the relationship between production and sport still exists even though a certain degree of independence is now granted to sporting activity. Through these similarities, sport was used as a capitalist control tool. As shown by Delany T and Madigan T (2009), Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses, this is means that Marx saw religion as a way of dulling the pain of reality by encouraging a feeling that no matter how oppressed of unfulfilled the working class may be, there will be a joyous afterlife for thos e who endure such inequalities on earth. Since then, a Marxist perspective from Hoch (1972) said that, Five generations ago, Karl Marx called religion the opiate of the masses. Today that role has been taken over by sports. He suggested that people were more concerned by baseball and football scores than the Vietnam War at the time. Both views relate, as both are social institutions within society, and the realisation that sports is in the age of the spectator and consumer, giving an escape from reality that some people crave during everyday life. The bourgeois as a social class, is defined by Marx as those with ownership of capital and power. Therefore, they do not agree with the Marxism concept, simply because a communist society would not be beneficial to them in anyway, showing that those with power and influence do not wish to share or lose it. Sport, just like society, is an ever changing institution that has grew and moved on with the times. Sport is not the same kind of activity in the advanced capitalist societies of the late twentieth century as it was in the pre-capitalist societies of the seventeenth century. As Jones (1988) states, in the early stages of industrialisation sports was a diversion, but more than that, it was linked to rules and hierarchies of an established social order, as well as often a release from them. The society reinforcing sport was very different to todays democratic interests and commercialised lifestyle. By the twentieth century football has become structured and pacified, despite the hooligan element. It has become a spectator sport, controlled on a national basis and is a fundamental aspect of todays consumer culture. It is a necessary distraction in their lives. For millions of people, participation in sport offers an escape from the hard work of everyday life, and something that they be nefit from. For many others, watching sport live or more so these days, on television, gives both a release from workday stresses and allows a straightforward and easy identification with sports athletes or sports clubs which offer them satisfaction in their lives. Football related disorder, or what it is more commonly known as, football hooliganism, is a kind of behaviour ranging from verbal abuse and aggressive posturing through to rioting and even murder. Such things have been a regular topic of many books, DVDs, web sites, digital games, features films and documentaries in the UK over the last two decades. Although this subject has been portrayed in many ways in recent history, it is a very real concept, and can be explained by many theorists relating to sociological issues. As shown by (Dunning, E. Murphy, P. Williams, J. 1986) the early works of Ian Taylor, from a Marxist point of view, states that the rise of the football hooligan stems from the boursification and internationalisation of the game, and that clubs used to be the working mans voice or resistance movement against the middle class groups seeking to gain control and to implement their middle class values on society. It was believed that spectacularisation of the game through p re match shows, better seating and increased commercialisation alienated the working class fans. A largely similar approach was developed by Clarke (1978), he argued that hooliganism originated in the way in which the traditional forms of football watching encounter the professionalization and spectacularization of the game, saying it was a consequence of the changing relationship of its audience and the game. He also believed that due to some sub cultural differences, young working class males needed to resolve essential conflict in their lives, so in turn choose hooliganism. Over recent years, professionalism has been increasingly associated with sporting organisations. Clubs and sporting organisations must perform well financially, or at the very least remain viable, if they want to survive in the highly competitive world of commercialised sport. Elite sport has developed into a business that demands nothing less than specific, professional preparation. As Shilbury and Deane (2001) suggests, institutions must now conform to commercial process of professionalism, which give emphasis to minimalist inputs, business decision making and a keen awareness of the financial interests of the shareholders. Wilson. B (2007) argues that sport has become increasing globalised and transnationalised to a point where it is possible to analyse a team or individual athlete from any country in the world and be constantly updated of their activities, even from the side of the planet. He also points out the effects that it has on the sport related cultures around the world, not to mention the increasingly realized potential and means of promotion of a capitalist agenda. This shows the capability of the media and the internet to internationalise or globalise almost any brand, allowing a capitalist ideology to be explored globally. In sport today there is an unhealthy and unequal distribution of resources, this can easily be seen when comparing economic growth between sports in Britain. For instance, football in Britain far exceeds any other sport in economic growth and in media coverage. You only have to look at the sports section in almost any newspaper in the UK, to see that is dominated by football. This is especially true when you consider the number of games broadcasted across television and the increasing need for internet streaming, all of which results in a huge financial difference between football and other sports in the UK. Burke (1999, 2005) suggests that Gramsci identified two rather distinct forms of political control, domination and hegemony. The domination refers to direct physical force by authorities, and hegemony, which referred to both ideological control and more importantly, consent. He assumed that no rule, regardless of how authoritarian it might be, could sustain itself continuously through state power and force. In the long run, it had to have popular support and legality in order to maintain stability. Even in real life today, the capitalist governing body are desperately seeking a revival to the current economic crisis, and are looking to economic business for recovery. As Woods (2009) proposed, the governing class are concerned about the social and political effects of the economic situation. Thats why they invest huge sums of money into the economy, which creates exceptionally large levels of debt. As people know, sooner or later these debts must be repaid, and that in itself is a rec ipe for an enormous crisis in the future. The theory of class conflict explains the human social history between two classes, the exploiting and the exploited. As Marx explained, in the interests of the bourgeois, ownership of the means of production enables them to employ a system of exploitation to a large mass of wage workers, the proletariat, and usually out of necessity the workers go along with this system as they have no means of livelihood other than to sell their labour to the property owners. Marxists argue that new wealth is created through work, therefore if someone gains wealth that they did not work for, and then someone else has to work for it and they do not receive the full wealth created by their work. In other words, that someone else is exploited. This is how the capitalist bourgeois might turn a large profit by exploiting workers. An example of this is shown in work by Hickman (2010) where it is suggested that many of todays top brands such as; Nike, Puma and Adidas, were found to be exploiting low wage labour workers from developing countries to a means of economic production. This can also be shown in sport through the form of child labour, which gained a lot of attention recently when extensive media coverage reported that sporting goods manufacturers were using underage child labour in a range of developing countries, the children were paid much less than the minimum wage and were used to manufacture footballs and football merchandise. The news was extremely damaging to the sporting goods industry, especially because the children would never have the chance to use any of the equipment manufactured in the factories. This evidence shows that children are being openly exploited in the sports industry and that large divisions of the industry remain unregulated. As shown by Keys (2010), child exploitation has been ongoing since the late eighteenth century, just to sustain the capitalist class and produce their economic surplus value. The theory of Marxism does contain strengths and weaknesses in relation to todays society. As is derived from Marxist principles, the increase in production in all areas of socialist life is extremely important to the success of socialism. Physical education contributes effectively towards increasing the total work output of the socialist community. The progressive development of socialism depends upon the socialist consciousness of each individual. Sport provides a good means for the development of political assurance because of the possibilities it provides for social training. Marxism can be also be viewed in a good light simply because some people, like to know there place in society as it gives them a sense of the order of things, it also gives good opportunity for personal growth. Although, the Marxist concept does show a number of weaknesses, especially as some of their views may be outdated in todays society. The industrial proletariat described by Marx is undeniably a threat ened species, particularly in western societies, in which heavy manual labour is increasingly a thing of the past. To the extent that most adults can be described as workers in terms of their relationship to the means of production, Marxs original understanding of the idea of a working class becomes less tenable. Students relate how their parents have worked all their lives. That they also earn large amounts of money and acquire considerable social status from their occupations, so this does not necessarily invalidate the claim that they are, workers. The Marxist perspective also ignores the possibility that spectatorship or participation in sport can empower individuals within capitalist societies. Furthermore Marxism only gives an exclusive focus on economic factors and underplays the significance of non economic types of conflict, for example; gender, race, age, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

The Work and Skills of Managers within the Organization Essay -- GCSE

The Work and Skills of Managers within the Organization ABSTRACT The aim of this essay is to investigate whether the work and skills of a manager are the same regardless of the level of their position within the organization. Through research conducted into three main theorists namely Henri Fayol, Henry Mintzberg and Robert L. Katz it is concluded that the core work functions a manager does are the same irrespective of position. The work roles in which a manager occupies within the organization are dependent upon the organization and their position within the organization. The skills that are needed by managers are universal to all managers but the composition of these skills is largely dependent upon the manager's position. The work and skills of managers are the same irrespective of the level of their position within the organization. Introduction A manager's job is essential to the smooth operation and profitability of an organization. Can we say that the work and skills that managers need are the same irrespective of their level within the organization? The short answer to the question posed above is yes and no. The long answer is that managers of all levels will perform the same basic management work functions. The role and consequently the type of work the manager does will be dictated by the level of their position within the organization and the type of organization. To accomplish these work functions the manager needs core sets of skills, however the composition of these core sets of skills is dependent upon their level within the organisation. Work Functions of Management Henri Fayol (1841-1925) first proposed the ideas of an ordered set of management functions (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, Coulter 2003, p. 41). Through Fayol ¡Ã‚ ¯s involvement as managing director of a large French coal-mining firm he developed a framework of management activities (Robbins, et al., 2003, p. 41). The functions of management that Fayol devised included planning, organising, commanding, co-ordinating and controlling (Lamond 1998, p. 6). The idea of core functions that pervades every level of management was revolutionary when Fayol first wrote it and is still used as a framework for many textbooks (Robbins, et al., 2003, p. 9). Through refinement of Fayol ¡Ã‚ ¯s five management functions it is now recognised that there are four distinct management function... ...n be seen that the work of management of all levels consists of the four main management functions, namely planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Works Cited: Carroll, S. & Gillen, D. (1987),  ¡Ã‚ °Are the classical management functions useful in describing managerial work? ¡Ã‚ ±, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 38-51. Koontz, H., O ¡Ã‚ ¯Donnell, C. & Weihrich, H. (1982), Essentials of Management, (3rd edn), McGraw-Hill Inc., Sydney. Lamond, D. (1998),  ¡Ã‚ °Back to the future: Lessons from the past for a new management era ¡Ã‚ ±. In G. Griffin (Ed.), Management Theory and Practice: Moving to a New Era, Macmillan. McKenna, S. (2004),  ¡Ã‚ °Predispositions and context in the development of managerial skills ¡Ã‚ ±, Management Decision, Vol. 23, No. 7, pp. 664-677. Mintzberg, H. (1975), The Manager ¡Ã‚ ¯s Job: Folklaw and Fact, Harvard Business Review, July-August, pp49-61. Peterson, T. & Van Fleet, D. (2004),  ¡Ã‚ °The ongoing legacy of R.L. Katz An updated typology of management skills ¡Ã‚ ±, Management Decision, Vol. 42, No. 10, pp. 1297-1308. Robbins, S., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. & Coulter, M. (2003), Management, (3rd edn.), Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest.

Compare the Evidence of a Nordic Presence in the Americas

Compare the evidence of a Nordic presence in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus with the evidence of a West African presence during that period. It has been said by historians that the Nordics and the West Africans were in the Americas before Columbus arrived in 1492. Though evidence, such as oral sagas, tracing routes which it was said they took, artifacts, skeletal remains, among others, have been found to prove that they could have been present; there are still debates as to whether or not they actually came to the Americas before Columbus.Some believe that the evidence of the presence of the Nordics is more admissible than that of the West Africans. The Norse (also known as the Vikings) got their name from the language they spoke, ‘Old Norse’. They were originally from Scandinavian countries. It believed that they came to the new world for several reasons such as; the fact that it had a rich supply of salt to preserve their goods, they were explorers, the co untry they lived in, Greenland, soon became over populated and they experienced a great famine in 975. It is also believed that there was a political unrest between the cans in Northern Europe.There has been many pieces of evidence to support the theory that the Vikings were, in fact, present in the new world during the pre-columbian era. Some of the settements of the Vikings were found, still standing, such as ‘York’ and ‘Dublin’. There was not much written records on the Viking so most of their history was passed down orally through sagas, through which we first heard of their exploration into Europe and the Americas, there were two sagas which survived; these are the Greenlander’s Saga and The Saga of Erik the Red. The sagas claim that the Vikings interacted and traded with the native people that they found in the Americas.The sagas led to the finding of some substantial evidence such as the archaeological remains found in ‘Newfoundland†™ and there it was discovered that there was a Viking settlement in the town called ‘L’Anse aux Meadows’, in this town historians discovered that the Vikings did travel further south into the Americas and explored the land they spoke of in their sagas, Vinland. When they ventured further down into Vinland historians discovered butternut wood and butternuts, which were not native to the area so it is believed that the Vikings brought it there from further south (lands surrounding the Gulf of St.Lawrence). Other artifacts such as architectural structures, woodworking items, boat rivets and personal items were found in the region, which historians dated back to about AD 1000 with the use of scientific method. Another hard piece of evidence found in ‘Vinland’ was a Norse coin which was found off the coast of Maine and was dated back to between AD1065-1080 which suggests that there was interaction of these people and the indigenous peoples. This gave hi storians physical evidence that coincided with the oral sagas. All this evidence pre-dates European arrival by as early as 500 years.It is also believed that the West Africans came to the New World centuries before the arrival of Columbus. Ivan Van Sertima is one of many who argue that West Africans made contact with the new World before Columbus. According to Sertima the Africans travelled from the African coast from the north to the west and crossed the Atlantic. According to the famous Egyptian Scholar, Ibn Fadi Al-Umari, in 1342, there were two large voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, before Columbus’ voyage, both of these voyages were pioneered by one man, Mansa (king) Abubakari II. In the year 1311, Abubakari abdicated his thrown to Mansa Musa.Not a son of his son but in fact his brother. He (Abubakari) equipped 1000 of his ships with the finest men, sorcerers, physicians, sailors and navigators. Every ship had supply ship attached to it. The number of ships totalled 20 00. The other 1000 ships were loaded with foodstuffs, drugs, fruits and drinks to last his team for 2yrs. It was believed that Abubakari arrived on the other end of the Atlantic in the year 1312. Proof of the Malian expedition can be noted in the names given to places in Haiti as the Malians renamed places after themselves. Examples of such are Mandinga Port, Mandinga Bay and Sierre de Mali.It is said that the African mariners that came to the western hemisphere were looking for trade and knowledge of what lied beyond their coasts. They brought with them flora and fauna, cloth, their scientific knowledge, technology and the arts. Modern experiments have shown that the ancient African boats could have made the journey across the seas to the new world as they were strong enough. Boat builders in Central Africa’s Lake chad made a papyrus craft that was sailed from North Africa to Barbados in eastern Caribbean in 1969, there were similar journeys that showed that even the small b oats could with have survived these crossings.Some of the evidence that the West African’s were in fact present in the region before Columbus’ arrival are; the linguistic continuities in the region, an example of this is when it was recorded that the indigenous peoples referred to the Africans as ‘guanine’ which was the first piece of evidence that west Africans were in the region, it, however, was not seen as strong enough by many historians to hold up such a theory. There were no written evidence that they were there, it could be assumed that they could have been lost, or destroyed as it was seen that the Europeans were not always tolerant of these other cultures in their explorations.History has recorded some incidents where the writings of natives and precious metals and gems were destroyed (in the case of the precious metals and gems, they were used or melted down) by the Europeans when they came to the land of the natives, as they saw some of these a s pagan items. Another piece of evidence found by historians were the archaeological remains that were found, the age of these remains were dated back according to how deep the archaeologist had to dip for it.The successive layers of dirt only built up over time, so the archaeologists knew the date of the dirt layer then the date of the artifacts to the layer which was found. Additional evidence that supported the thesis that both these cultures came in contact came from clear evidence of the facial features of the images and figures, which were done using various materials such as clay, gold and copper that were found in the relics which were dug up.The images and figures found in the relics were unmistakably inspired by an African as the phenotypical and cultural characteristics were clearly of an African origin, this could be told by â€Å"†¦their colouration, the fullness of lip, prognathism, scarification, tattoo markings, beards, kinky hair, generously fleshed noses, and even in some instances, identifiable coiffures, head kerchiefs, helmets, compound earrings†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Sertima 1976). † Also, there were huge head sculptures which were discovered in the Central and South America that also had African features.Skeletal remains which belonged is believed to have belonged to Africans were found. Further evidence is seen in the religious rituals of the people in Mexico, as their gods and ceremonies are closely modelled to those of the African society. Also, the use of shells as currency rather than just symbolic items and also the botanical continuities such as the presence of species of African origin, for example; banana, jack bean, yam and others. Other evidence which came directly from the natives themselves when they explained to the Europeans that they â€Å"received an alloy called guanine’ from the Africans†, the alloy which they spoke of consisted of a mix of precious metals. It was also noted that some of the artifacts of the natives which Columbus collected, such as the cloths used by the natives closely matched the weave, colouration and style of cloths used by African communities in Guinea. An explorer, Balboa, also recorded that he came across scattered groups of people who looked very much like Africans in regions that he had ‘discovered’.This shows that the Europeans themselves came across Africans in the region. There is also the scientific evidence (oceanography) which points to the fact that the Africans were very capable of getting to the new world before Columbus, The Atlantic World’s coastline was linked to the African coastline by the ocean currents which moved between the two areas, which meant that the Africans who were seen in the Americas would not have had any problems using these ways to make their way to the new world.In both cases, as relating the presence of the Nordics and the west Africans in the western hemisphere before Columbus, the main problem is t he fact that there are not much written accounts by the people themselves, and so it is easy to call the evidence inadmissible as in the world today facts are based on what is written in the books.There is, however, more admissible evidence for the Nordics as it relates to how they got the western hemisphere as there route can be traced easily, though it is said that the Africans got to the western hemisphere using Pacific current known as the Kouro-Siwo and the Equatorial currents of the Atlantic Ocean. In both case, settlements were uncovered, and evidence of things they left behind such as flora and fauna, personal items among other things.It can be said that though there was not much written accounts of their presence, there is sufficient evidence that they had, indeed, been present in the Americas in the pre-columbian era.BIBLIOGRAPHY Africaspeaks. com Bornblackmag. org Campbell, John and Heather Cateau. History for the Caribbean in the Atlantic World. Ghanaweb. com Shepherd, V erene Liberties Lost. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, Worker. org

Genetically Modified Food and Crops Essay

Abstract Since the 1980’s scientists have been altering crops, including some of the food we eat (Fairly & Gaskins, 2000). Genetically modified food has always been a concern for many people. I find the concerns to be unwarranted because there has never been a negative health report due to the fact of consuming GM foods. Biotechnology gives us the best means for solving the world’s food shortage now and in the future. Genetically modified crop plants are now grown on nearly 150 million acres in the United States alone, helping farmers to increase yields, reduce pesticide spraying, and save topsoil (Conko & Miller, 2011). What are we actually eating? Looking at ingredients on the back of a product was almost considered out of the ordinary ten to fifteen years ago. But now it is one of the most important factors in the decision on whether or not a consumer will buy the product. In all the research I conducted there was never a proven harmful effect from genetic engineering. However, the benefits are scientifically proven which gives genetically modified crops the advantage over traditional farming. The proposed ideas and research by scientist show that a lot more can be done with GM food other than eating it. Globalization of GM crops is becoming apparent as well as GM crop commercialization. _Keywords: GM Food, GM Crops, Genetically engineered crops, Biotechnology, GM organisms._ â€Å"Genetically modified organisms can be defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. The technology is often called â€Å"biotechnology† and it allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another† (World Health Organization, 2002). For more than twenty years of scientific,  humanitarian, and financial success genetic engineering has been applied to agriculture. This has been accomplished without injury to a single person or damage to the ecosystem. However, activists are still fighting the use of genetically modified crops (Conko & Miller 2011). Millions of people around the world suffer from malnutrition and with the steep projected increase of our world’s population in the next fifty years a change needs to be made. Genetically modified crops increase yield, nutrition and uses fewer pesticides all without proven negative effects. GM crops and all its benefits make it the gateway for the world’s agriculture success. Genetically modified crops are becoming the building blocks for agriculture advancements. Scientists are continually working to create more benefits for consumers as well as farmers. The main concern of GM foods is negative health risks however, they are actually more beneficial. GM foods have longer shelf life, contain higher nutritional value and are safer to eat. For example, â€Å"GM corn has lower fungal toxin content then non-GM corn, and farmers typically produce GM crops using fewer pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers† (Tyson, 2001). By drastically reducing the use of chemicals on the plants it provides a major improvement for the consumer’s safety and nourishment. Because scientists slightly tweak the DNA of the plants with other genes it is possible that food allergens may end up in GM products. Steve Taylor, a scientists at the University of Nebraska states that, â€Å"the food-allergy threat is small because food  engineers now avoid using genes from n uts and other common food allergens. The benefits of genetic engineering justify the risk† (Fairley & Gaskins 2000). Products from biotechnology are no less safe than traditionally bred crops. According to Dr. Prakash, â€Å"genetically improved products are subjected to intensive testing, while conventional varieties have never been subjected to any such regulation for food safety or environmental impact† (Prakash, 2000). Every GM food that is currently available on the international market has already passed risk assessments and is not likely to pose a risk for the consumers. No effects have been shown and GM foods will continue to be regulated in more and more countries (World Health Organization, 2002). GM crops are never expected to present a health risk  and therefore should reassure government officials worldwide in the use of this technology. Another concern of GM technology is the effect it has on the environment. The environmental risks of biotechnology are also unidentified just like the health trepidations. No scientific evidence proves that GM crops are harmful to the environment. â€Å"U.S. officials pointed out that scientists in Europe had been unable to find any evidence of added risk to human health or the environment from any GM crop variety developed to date.† In fact, none of the studies by Europe found any scientific evidence of added harm to humans or the environment (Paarlberg, 2003). GM engineering will actually help the environment rather than harm it. In the U.S. alone farmers annually administer more than nine hundred seventy million tons of insect and plant killers. Now GM crops have the ability of containing their own insect and plant killing gene which means the farmers can use fewer chemicals (Tyson, 2001). To ensure that the environment is remaining safe, risk assessments are conducted for the GM product as well as the area in which the crop will grow (World Health Organization, 2002). Furthermore, the United Nations Environment Program has used funding for developing countries to implement biosafety regulations for GM crops. The UNEP wants these regulations implemented before any crop is planted no matter the cost or delay (Paarlberg, 2003). Since 2011, The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved seventy four different GM crops. In each case the crops data was reviewed for several years and each â€Å"concluded that they will have no significant environmental impact† (Conko & Miller 2011). These precautionary measures toward genetically modified crops allow the government to regulate farming actions and safeguard the environment. The initial reason GM organisms were created was to improve crop production. â€Å"The GM crops currently on the market are mainly aimed at an increased level of crop protection through the introduction of resistance against plant diseases caused by insects or viruses or through increased tolerance towards herbicides† (Tyson, 2001). Producers are getting a lot more for a lot less which translates to products with lower prices. The improved production of  crops and technology accounts for the lowered costs and have â€Å"forced tremendous competition in the herbicide and insecticide markets† (Prakash, 2000). This also helps traditional farmers because it now allows them to buy these products at a cheaper cost. In fifty years the world population could exceed eleven billion people unfortunately, the current food supply is not expanding at the same rate. Because of this, GM crops need to expand and gain popularity over traditional farming. Global GM crop farming in 1999 covered about one hundred million acres (Tyson, 2001). Now, genetically modified crop plants are grown on nearly one hundred fifty million acres in the United States alone (Conko & Miller 2011). These statistics show that GM crop farming is rapidly expanding and the benefits are obvious. Biotechnology and its productivity give us the best chance to safely solve the food needs of today and the future. Poor farmers in tropical countries face problems such as crop pests, drought and low soil fertility (Paarlberg, 2003). These are the people who annually struggle to produce enough food for their families. Bugs, drought and disease destroy many acres of farmland every year. Fortunately scientists are creating GM crops with built in resistance to insects and diseases. GM Crops are also being developed that can grow in deserts or near salt water which allows more area for farming (Fairley & Gaskins, 2011). Because GM crops are now being built in with these resistances farmers won’t experience huge financial setbacks caused by pests killing their plants. Since the majority of malnutrition people in the world live in developing countries this opens up the opportunity for them to increase crop yield and provide enough food for everyone. Also, in developing countries people often have to survive off a single staple that own its own doesn’t supply sufficient amounts of nutrient s. Food scientist hope to solve this problem by creating crops equipped with vitamins and minerals. According to Tyson, â€Å"one of the most promising is â€Å"golden rice,† which can stimulate our bodies to generate vitamin A. In the developing world, vitamin-A deficiency kills two million children each year† (Tyson, 2001). A development through GM foods may be able to save two million people which would be a life changing breakthrough. Scientists are also trying to perfect â€Å"eatable vaccines.† They are genetically adding vaccines to tomatoes and bananas, since traditional  vaccines are expensive to manufacture and require specialized storage. â€Å"Eatable vaccines,† will be easier to transport, store, and administer in third world countries (Tyson, 2001). Biotechnology holds unlimited potential for areas of the world where poverty and poor agricultural conditions make farming challenging. The U.S. needs to ensure the people of these countries that G M food is safe and will be nothing but beneficial to their people. Genetic engineering is a crucial factor in agricultural productivity and if it continues to safely expand it could help meet the problematic food challenges that have already started. Genetic engineering holds great possibilities that could change the world. Simply peeling back a banana infused with antibiotics could be the next breakthrough science has to offer. Biotechnology continues to show safety is not an issue. GM farmers are now administering fewer chemicals on their crops. This reduces the amount of air pollution and water contamination in the environment. Genetic modifications were being made since farming started. Farmers always crossed bred the most successful plants year to year and without any concerns from the public. Today, scientist have a better understanding of how genetic modifications work making it safer for the consumers. However, government regulations are still implemented just for precautionary purposes. The United States is fortunate enough to grow numerous varieties of crops and also have the ability to choose the method of how they are grown. Unfortunately, not every country has these advantages. Genetically modified products allow these developing nations to grow crops at a more productive rate. Commercialization of genetically modified agriculture needs to be strictly monitored to make sure regulations are followed. Over industrialization of farming today is negatively viewed therefore making it essential that a golden mean is set for genetically modified products. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fairley, P., & Gaskins, P. (2000). Food Fight!. _Scholastic Choices_, _15_(8), 16. CONKO, G., & MILLER, H. I. (2011). The Rush to Condemn Genetically Modified Crops. _Policy Review_, (165), 69-82. World Health Orginization. (2002). Retrieved from website: http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/index.html Tyson, P. T. (2001, April 12). _Harvest of fear_. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/exist/ Prakash, C. (2000). Genetically engineered crops can feed the world!. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/biotech.html Paarlberg, R. L. (2003). Reinvigorating genetically modified crops. _Issues in Science and Technology, 19_(3), 86-92. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.sju.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/195920735?accountid=14071