Thursday, November 28, 2019
Gas War Essays (2040 words) - Petroleum Politics, Commodity Markets
Gas War Gasoline is produced by a distillation process where crude oil is heated and fumes are captured and converted into many products such as kerosene, jet fuel, and gasoline to name a few. Therefore the price of crude oil, which is extracted from oil wells beneath the earths surface, is a major factor in gas prices. The five leading oil-producing countries and their approximate shares of the world supply of oil are: Soviet Union 21%, Saudi Arabia 17%, The United States 15%, Venezuela 4%, and Mexico 4%. These five countries made up 61 % of the worlds oil production back in 1980. Even though The United States is a major producer of oil, it does not make them self-sufficient. The United States uses more oil than they can produce and must look towards foreign countries. An organization called O.P.E.C. controls approximately four fifths of the worlds oil reserves in the non-communist world. The United States is forced to deal with O.P.E.C., not only in its own interests, but also in the inter est of its allies and in the interest of maintaining peace. The former Soviet Union may now have an interest in selling some of their oil that they have a tremendous amount of. O.P.E.C. which stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is made up of 13 countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Gabon. O.P.E.C. was founded in Baghdad, Iraq in September of 1960. It was organized in response to oil producing countries that did not consult with the Middle Eastern oil states before lowering their crude oil prices. The producers feared that other countries would establish monopolies. The aim of O.P.E.C. was to create a universal price between the countries, in order to ensure peace between oil producers throughout the world. O.P.E.C. also wanted to provide its members with technical and economic support in times of need, since not all the countries were completely stable. The headquart ers were initially set in Geneva, but were later moved to Vienna in 1965. O.P.E.C.'s goal was to establish firmly unified prices amongst their members, but the organization was not always successful. In their quest for control over the world market of oil production, they have ran into several obstacles and setbacks. O.P.E.C. has barely survived being eliminated due to internal conflicts amongst its members. Since O.P.E.C. almost has a strangle hold on the worlds oil supply, The United States is extremely concerned with the areas instability. The Middle East and the Persian Gulf area, where most of the members are located, are extremely prone to wars, both civil and cross borders, plagued by religious battles, and positions of power are frequently overthrown, making it hard for any stability to come out of the area. Any time there is chaos in the Middle East, The United States thinks back on ?memories of other troubles in the Persian Gulf area: the Arab oil embargo in 1973-74, the Iranian revolution in 1979-80 and Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. (1) The area is also vital to our allies, who would be crippled without Gulf oil, whose livelihood we are dependent on. In 1973 O.P.E.C. raised oil prices 70%. The dominant Middle Eastern members of O.P.E.C. used succeeding price increases as a political weapon aimed at Western nations in retaliation for their support of Israel against its Arab neighbors in the so-called Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Prices were accordingly raised another 130% at the Tehran conference of December 1973, and a temporary embargo was placed on the United States and the Netherlands at the same time. Other prices increases followed in 1975, 1977, 1979, and 1980, which ultimately raised the price of a barrel of crude oil from United States $3.00 in 1973 to $30.00 in 1980. (2) Almost every college student has heard stories from friends or relatives about the gas crunch in the 1970's. People waited in lines that stretched for miles, and could only get gas on certain days depending on the first letter of your last name. O.P.E.C. used the money they raised to invest in other countries, placed in foreign banks, currency markets, and to help their
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Cinema is an Adventure , but the difficulty is that it is an adventure that you have to strive continually to control The WritePass Journal
Cinema is an Adventure , but the difficulty is that it is an adventure that you have to strive continually to control Abstract Cinema is an Adventure , but the difficulty is that it is an adventure that you have to strive continually to control AbstractIntroductionJean Rouch as a Film maker and an Ethnographerâ€Å"Les Maitres Fous†(The Mad Masters)ConclusionBibliographyRelated Abstract The very perceptions and style of ethnographic cinema was changed with the intervention of late Jean Rouch’s films. He was considered as one of the founding fathers of Cinema Verite or Real Cinema In France, and Surrealism. Jacques Rivette (1968) considers Rouch as the force behind the entire French cinema made in past ten years. Rivette comments that the importance of Rouch is much more in the evolution of French Cinema than Godard with few people realizing it (Rivette,1968). According to Henley(2009) his sudden death in a road accident, in February 2004, made Visual Anthropology lose one of its precious gems. Rouch was a visionary and a true believer in the strength of lenses. In most of his interviews he talked about the power of camera and the responsibility attached to it. He believed that camera had the power to reveal the inner most beliefs and impressions of mankind (Henley,2009). My first encounter with Rouch’s films was in my Visual Anthropology classe s. At first I found it quite difficult to understand his films as most of them were in French. However Rouch’s different and controversial approach to ethnographic cinema with his very interesting personal touch in all his films molded me to watch his movies in spite of such difficulties. Henley comments that though Rouch made more than one hundreds of films but only handful films have been distributed far wide while majority of the films remain unknown and difficult to see specially for English speaking world (Henley,2009). The most interesting fact about Jean Rouch’s cinema, as Mick Eaton puts forward was that, Rouch believed that more observations can be done with a film rather in direct observations. He suggested that through films you can get more feedback from your subjects and participants which make the observation far more interesting and trustworthy. Rouch belived that his films were for greater number of people, it is a fight against the colonial oppressions and colonial notions of other societies as savages.(Eaton, n.d) Through his films he conveyed the message that was given by Malinowski long back. He asked people to understand each society in their own unique context and to respect their values and institutions. Rouchs films are true representation of his thoughts on humanity and global understanding (Eaton,n.d). Introduction My earnest desire to write a Visual Anthropology essay on the works and contributions of Late Jean Rouch grew more profound after watching his film†Les Maites Fous†(The Mad Masters) .The film was released in the year 1955 and was a subject of great dispute among the various African intellectuals and French scholars. At the first glance I felt very uncomfortable with the scenes and visual presentations of the Film, but as I kept on watching it, true meanings of the film kept on unfolding in front of my eyes. One of the major reasons for choosing Jean Rouch and his film as the topic of my essay is because through my research I realized that most of the scholars and researchers have avoided critical evaluation and organized research on Rouch’s films due to unavailability of the films and also because major number of films are in French. This has diminished the contribution of Jean Rouch and his films in the sector of Anthropological and Ethnographic films to an extent especially in the English Speaking Countries. The neglecting behavioral pattern towards Rouch’s films instigated me to find out more about Jean Rouch and his films. As Paul Stroller (1992) puts forward, that Jean Rouch is not given the right place in the history of anthropology and film and is often misunderstood and condemned by different scholars. In this essay I will talk about the various notions attached to Jean Rouch and his films, while critically evaluating his work â€Å"Les Maitres Fous†(The mad masters), 1955. Jean Rouch as a Film maker and an Ethnographer Jean Rouch saw cinema as an adventure and himself as an adventurer. As Claude Jutra(1960) comments â€Å" A chronicle of the Rouchian adventure is certainly an exciting prospect , but it is one that I approach with caution. One never admires without reservation. Any tribute carries within it an element of denunciation. No eulogy deserves to be trusted unless it is combined with certain degree of meanness†. (Jutra,1960:2). Jean Rouch dreamt of cinema as the only means of telling truth about people and societies. Stroller designated Rouch as the most prolific ethnographic filmmaker in the world whose ethnographic works are much unknown (Stroller,1992). Rouch clearly represented a unique combination of anthropology and art in his films. According to Brink, he was a filmmaker who did the most initiating job in pushing the boundaries of visual anthropology to an extent whilst still following the important norms and perceptions of visual anthropology of his time (Brink,n.d). Henley(2009) claimed that his films blurred the distinct lines between fiction and reality. As Jean Rouch himself, elaborately comments â€Å"For me as Filmmaker and ethnographer, there is practically no frontier between documentary film and fiction film. Cinema art of the double, represents a transition from the real world to the world of the imaginary, while ethnography, the study of other a peoples’ system of thought, involve s a permanent criss-crossing from one conceptual universe to another, a form of acrobatic gymnastics, in which losing your footing is the least of the risks†.(Rouch,1981:31) Rouch’s most remarkable films were Les Maitres Fous (The Mad Masters 1955),Moi Un Noir (1958),Jaguar (1967), andChronique d’un ete (1960).  Grimshaw and Eaton suggested that Jean Rouch’s films were much controversial in nature as well as did create a lot of debates among the scholars and intellectuals of younger generations. Surprisingly enough, among the anthropologists, there has been a substantial transformation in the approach towards Rouch’s films which has made it as one of the best examples of traditional ethnographic films. Stroller comments Jean Rouch as the Champion of the African Ethnography and the â€Å"Father of The Nigerian Cinema†(Stroller,1992).Brink states that Rouch gave primary focus to African people in his films, which made his cinema appealing and engaging to a limited number of audiences (Brink,n.d). According to Eaton, Rouch wanted his cinema not only to serve the purpose of anthropological education but also to use i t in much greater scale in order to understand the universal human interests and disciplines (Eaton,n.d). Henley remarked that Rouch believed in 100% participation in the events he filmed (Henley,2009). According to Edgar Morin, Rouch was a â€Å"Filmmaker Driver†who immerses himself into the life of his subjects and participants. Morin who was a well known French sociologist, worked with Jean Rouch in one of his most celebrated works â€Å"Chroinicle of a Summer†or â€Å"Chronique d’ un ete†in 1960. It was him who categorised Rouch’s films as â€Å"Cinema Verite†. Morin has explained this term as â€Å"there remain the most difficult, the most moving, the most secret (aspect of social life): wherever human feelings are at stake , wherever the individual is directly involved , wherever there are interpersonal relationships of authority, subordination , comradeship , love , hate in other words everything connected with emotion fabric of h uman existence . There lies the great terra incognita of the sociological or ethological cinema , of â€Å"Cinema Verite†. There lies its promised land (Morin, 1962:5) â€Å"Cinema Verite†is very much different from the direct cinema. Rouch viwed â€Å"Cinema Verite†as â€Å"Cinema Provocation†. He explained that through this provocation a new form of cinema emerges which is more realistic than the real. The most interesting fact is that at first Rouch, himself was a great supporter of direct Cinema but with the time he got more indulged into the fictional films following the ethnological perception. According to Michel Marie (1976), â€Å"Direct†in the technical sense of the term designates the synchronous recording of image and sound , the concept of direct cinema designates first of all a new technique of recording pro-filmic reality. This term replaced the more enigmatic cinema such as â€Å"Cinema Verite†at the beginning of the sixties, applies beyond a simple technique, to the whole new stream of practices which overthrew methods of film making that was previously standardized completely through the industrial model. Marie commented that â€Å"As opposed to industrial cinema, fictional and spectacular, in case of direct cinema the action to be filmed is void of an anterior status†(Marie,1976:35). â€Å"Cinema Verite†It is a kind of cinema where there is a good amount of conversation and interaction between filmmaker and his subject. In this form of cinema there may be also little provocations which can be noticed from the filmmakers side to his subjects (Feld,2003). Rouch as a kid was very much influenced by the film â€Å"Nanook Of the North†(1922), which became an inspiration to the films that he made in later life. Brink states that Rouch inserted new forms and ways in the style of film making. With his work he blurred the difference between real and unreal, truth and fantasy and literally played with his lenses. It was interesting to note that his inquisitive nature and the use of new technology gave birth to a different genre of cinema which more or less became unique in its own ways. As Mick Eaton (n.d) suggests that Rouch has tried to defend his film making practice in a very significant way, according to Rouch his presence during the film making is a very crucial factor not because people i.e. his subjects and participants will reveal themselves more openly and honestly out of trust and faith but more because they will lie and feel uncomfortable. It is the manifestation of this side of participants which will be regarded as more profound disclosure than anything â€Å"candid camera†or â€Å"living cinema†ever could disclose. Eaton followed the words of Jean Rouch believed that camera uniting with presence of its director acts as a catalyst to the whole process of film making.                                                 Thompson comments that Surre alism played a very important role in the development of Rouch’s films (Thompson,n.d). Surrealism as a cultural movement influenced the mind of Jean Rouch to a great extent. It was a philosophical movement which according to Henley became very popular in Paris during the world war. Jean Rouch claimed in 1967 that for him making a film or cinema is like a surrealist painting. Rouch was a bridge builder in true sense. He bridged the gap between film and anthropology along with an introduction to new techniques and style of film making. Brink comments that â€Å"The filmmaker who was educated as civil engineer became a true bridge builder between film and anthropology, film and art, fiction and documentary , Europe and Africa†(Brink,n.d:2) Grimshaw states that Rouch’s Anthropological films are mostly based on the sense of intuition and are idiosyncratic in approach. His films are a visual treat for the students of visual anthropology. Grimshaw strikes a comparison between the anthropological cinemas of Jean Rouch and Mac Dougall where she describes Mac dougall cinema as detailed and practical while Rouch’s anthropological films to be more idealistic and imaginative. According to Grimshaw , rouch was a visionary who used his films as a way to interpret the complexities and connections between the world and humanity. His ethnographic films were very much influenced by the political situation at that time. Rouch was very much inspired by the different freedom movements by the colonial people during that time which brought huge political, economic and social transitions around the world saw the colonies as oppressive masters. According to Grimshaw, Rouch was not only supportive of these movements but also gave different humanitarian expressions to it (Grimshaw,2001). Rouch’s ethnographic sensibilities as a film maker and anthropologist was very much shaped by his individualistic nature, background and political circumstances in France during that time (Grimshaw,2001). Rouch as an Anthropologist was very much trained in the path Maussian ideologies a very well know French anthropologist during 1920s till 1940s. Henley comments that Rouch himself never met Mauss but he came to know about his contributions in Anthropology through his supervisor Marcel Griaule who was a student of Mauss himself. Maussian influence is very much evident in earlier works of Jean Rouch, especially in the films he and Rosefelder produced together during their expeditions. Inspired greatly by Mauss’s idea to use camera gave birth to Rouch’s lifelong interest in â€Å"salvage ethnography†(Henley,2009). The most significant and appealing part of Rouch’s journey is that though other leading ethnographic film makers such as Robert Gardner and Judith Mac Dougall (2006) have made films based on different continent. However, Rouch’s focus has always been on Paris and Africa, with more concentration on Niger. This approach of his was mostly influenced by Griaule (1938) and Dieterlen (1987) who believed that it takes twenty to thirty years to understand and have a deep knowledge about a particular society. This view is significantly supported by Jutra’s comment â€Å"Rouch, the ethnologist! Rouch, the explorer! Rouch, the traveler ! mere appearances. Rouch has two very circumscribed habitats : Paris and Niger†¦ he has no desire to cross these boundaries that he has so carefully traced†¦. Rouch is sedentary, a stay – at – home.†(Jutra,1961:116) From all the works of Jean Rouch I will consider Les Maitres Fous as the starting point of his greater expression for universal humanity. This film is notable in ways that it establishes and evokes the contours of Rouch’s humanistic vision (Grimshaw,2001) â€Å"Les Maitres Fous†(The Mad Masters) This film was first screened in Paris in the year 1955. According to Grimshaw the small number of audience of African intellectuals and French anthropologist present in the premiere of the film in Musee De l’ Homme was largely antagonistic in its response to Rouch’s works. Marcel Griaule called for the fim to be destroyed; Africans present during the screening of the film rejected it as bigoted and insulting. Shortly afterwards British government banned this movie to be shown in the colonial territories of West Africa (Grimshaw, 2001). Today†Les Maitres Fous†is widely accepted and considered as a classic of contemporary cinema. After watching the film consecutively for the third time I realized that the film’s power to move and perturb the audience has not reduced at all with the passage of time. Grimshaw comments that â€Å"Les Maitres Fous†inaugurates the distinguished series of films, which Rouch made between 1954 and 1960. Some of the fi lms which were made during this time was Jaguar, â€Å"Moi Un Noir†and â€Å"Chronique d’un Ete†, the most important fact about all of these films was that all f them were based in different themes. It is one of the most significant films in the growth of Rouch’s works as an ethnographer (Eaton n.d). Feld (2003) illustrates that Les maitres Fous was the earliest departure from purely evocative cinemas into a more unreal approach to event structures. He claims that having experiencing a ceremony several times, Rouch thought of breaching the vital aspects and approaches them as dramatic narratives. According to Eaton Rouch was asked to make this film after him and his wife Jane had given lecture at the British council in Accra. Rouch was approached by some of the Hauka priests and initiates present in that lecture who approached him to film their Hauka Annual Ceremony. The priests wanted to record the event not only to preserve it as a film and memory but also so that it could be used I the ritual itself (Eaton,n.d) . Grimshaw reflects that the film basically documents the course of possession ceremony held during one Sunday by members of the Hauka sect working as migrant labourers in Accra. During 1920s there was a form of strong resistance against the French colonial rule by this Hauka cult who had moved from their villages to work in Kumasi and Accra , the commercial areas of British dominated Gold Coast (Grimshaw, 2001)    . According to Feld the Haukas were the most famous possession cult among the Songhay , that reached its full expression in Ghana, brought by the migrants from Niger. Mick Eaton explained that these ceremonies of Hauka sect started in the late 20s in the upper Niger region. Discriminated by the French colonial administration and adjudicated by rigid Islamic supporters many of the members of the Hauka sect moved to Ghana in the thirtees working as a migrant labourer throughout the gold coast region. Haukas defined themselves as the â€Å"new gods†the spir its of power and the winds (Eaton n.d) .The film vividly views the members of the Hauka cult working at menial task in the city during the week then in the possession trance during the weekend and again back to work in the week. The film starts with the scene of Bustling city of Accra where different people from across West Africa jostle up with one another sharing the â€Å"Great African adventure of work and life†. From the start the film appears to be imparting a sense of complexities, movements and characteristics of urban life. Then there is sudden shift of events and audience find themselves plunged into a dark deep forest where Hauka people travelled by buses and trucks. According to Rouch’s commentary this was the place where the Hauka annual ceremony takes place and where the high priest of Hauka known as Mountebya lives. The film shows the preliminary stages of confessions and appointment of new members before arriving into a dramatic climax w here members become possessed, adopting the identities and conventional behavior of British governor and his crew. The ceremony reaches its peak with the killing and eating of a dog, slowly Dusk approaches and Hauka people emerges from their trance and get prepared to return to Accra. The film ends with streams of flashbacks. Rouch is shown to return the following day to the same Hauka members who were possessed in the ceremony, calmy and efficiently working in their respective jobs (Grimshaw,2001). The possessed and frothing of the mouth, dribbling saliva flecked with the blood of the butchered dog, the violent and uncontrollable body movements and disturbing style of eating the dog meat are the most troubling factors of the film which shocks the senses of human mind and leaves a lifelong impression in ones’ mind. These shocking scenes of the film justify the fact behind the film being rejected by most of its audience as a whole. Indeed as James Clifford notes that this film stands as Rouchs’s manifestation of Griaule’s recognition that ethnographic observation involves conflict. According to Grimshaw â€Å"Les Maitres Fous†, reveals the sharp contrast between the conception of a shared or participatory anthropological cinema persued by Mac Dougall and the one practiced by Rouch†(Grimshaw,2001:101) â€Å"Les Maitres Fous†is distinguished for its intricate style camera work which Rouch adopted during his earlier life after the destruction of his tripod. Grimshaw (2001) also talks about Rouch’s narration in the Film as improvised or unrehearsed. It is his commentary that makes the film comprehensible and incomprehensible at the same time. Feld commented that Rouch made the film â€Å" Using a montage to create contexting boundaries and making the most of the technical limitation of twenty five second shots (he was still using a 16mm camera),Rouch was able to make a short film with more explicative depth and synthesis than his previous ethnographic studies†.(Feld,2003:5) As Feld (2003) and Eaton (n.d) both expressed that the film was shot on a hand cranked 16mm Bell and Howell Camera which allowed for 25 second shots, but it was also edited in the camera as much as possible and the ultimate shooting ratio turned out to be 8 – 10. The sound was recorded by Lam Ibrahim Dia and Damoure Zika, one of the first Africans whom Rouch knew quite well from his first trip to during the war, using a scubitophone which is a portable though heavy tape recorder with a clockwise motor that had to be wound up between takes. Henley added that the film is of 28 mins, edited by Suzzane Brown and produced by Les Films de la Pleiade and was awarded Grand Prix in the ethnographic category of the Venice Film festival in 1955 (Henley,2009). Eaton significantly estimated that Rouch’s use of voice over in â€Å"Les Maitres Fous†does not preserve the primacy of the images rather sets up completely different relation with sound and image. Rou ch not only translates the ceremony held by Huaka sect but more or less acts it out which in a way kills the authenticity of an ethnographic documentary (Eaton,n.d). Cooper (2006) suggests that though Rouch has tried to gain ethnographic knowledge through his ethnographic films as claimed by Jay Ruby (2000) but there is still a lot of space in acknowledging the fact which cannot be known or understood through the lenses. With no formal training in film making and direction, Rouch suprsing arose as a rule breaker in the Film world. Les Maitres Fous was one of the biggest examples of such rule break. According to Cooper†Les Maitres Fous†as a film can be represented in two ways at first considering the fact it is filmed by a western filmmaker it can be interpreted as a show of uncivilized attitude by the African Hauka people and secondly it can also be deciphered as African representation of the oppressive colonial western culture and its position in their society (Cooper ,2006). According to Homi.K .Bhabha the film is a clear representation of mockery to the oppressive colonial rule and their power show while showing the deep sighted pains of oppressed Africans (Bhabha,1994). The voice over used by rouch in the film is quite assertive and does influence the thinking process of the audiences a lot. Conclusion Rouchian cinema indeed consists of the most exciting form of ethnography which can be traced in all of his movies. My personal experience of Rouch’s film is a mixture of both the senses of agitation and fascination simultaneously. His film is indeed an experience of life time which stays in your memory till the last days of your life and which evokes the true spirit of humanity irrespective of class race and ethnicity. Through this Essay I have tried to discuss the various aspects of Jean Rouch’s cinema significantly concentrating my attention on â€Å"â€Å"Les Maitres Fous†. This movie disturbed my senses and my thinking about the human acceptance of culture. Through this film I realized that each society is different and is composed of different social dynamics. To me this film is a clear representation of the influence of oppressive western civilizations on the Africans and there after effects on African society. Though it should be also noted that this film has a element of fiction into it which sometimes covers the facts and presents a new form of truth which cannot be trusted sometimes. Cinema is the combination of rational, irrational, fiction and fact. Rouch expresses these elements more profoundly through his movies. Bibliography Henley, P .2009. The Adventure of the Real: Jean Rouch and the craft of Ethnographic Cinema. London and Chicago: The University of Chicago Press Ltd. Grimshaw, A . 2001. The Ethnographer’s Eye : Ways of seeing In Anthropology .New York , Cambridge and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Stroller, P.1992 .The cinematic Griot:the ethnography of Jean Rouch .London and Chicago: The University Of Chicago Press. Cooper , S .2006. Selfless Cinema?:Ethics and French Documentary. London: Legenda. Bhabha, H.K.1994. Bhabha: The Location Of Culture. New York: Routledge. Ruby ,J. 2000.Picturing Culture: explorations of film anthropology. Chicago and London:The University Of Chicago Press. Griaule , M. 1938. Masques Dogons. California:Institut dethnologie . MacDougall , D.2006. The corporeal image: film, ethnography, and the senses. Oxfordshire and New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Eaton, M.,n.d. Chronichle. In: Eaton. M,ed. 1979. Anthropology Reality Cinema: The films of Jean Rouch. Colchester and London:British Film Institute. p 1-34 Michel, M.,n.d. Direct. In: Eaton. M,ed. 1979. Anthropology Reality Cinema: The films of Jean Rouch. Colchester and London:British Film Institute. p 35-39 Eaton, M.,n.d. The production of Cinematic Reality. In: Eaton. M,ed. 1979. Anthropology Reality Cinema: The films of Jean Rouch. Colchester and London:British Film Institute.p 40-53 Rouch,J.,n.d. The Camera and Man. In: Eaton. M,ed. 1979. Anthropology Reality Cinema: The films of Jean Rouch. Colchester and London:British Film Institute.p54- 63 Brink.J.T.,n.d. Introduction. In.Joram .T.B,ed. 2007.Building Bridges: The cinema of Jean Rouch.London and New York :Wallflower Press.p 1 Nijiland,D.,n.d. Jean Rouch: A builder of bridges. In.Joram .T.B,ed. 2007.Building Bridges: The cinema of Jean Rouch.London and New York :Wallflower Press.p21 Grimshaw.A.,n.d.Adventure on the Road:Some reflections on Rouch and His Italian Contemporariries. In.Joram .T.B,ed. 2007.Building Bridges: The cinema of Jean Rouch.London and New York :Wallflower Press. Thompson.C.,n.d. Chance and Adventure in the Cinema and Ethnography of Jean Rouch. In.Joram .T.B,ed. 2007.Building Bridges: The cinema of Jean Rouch.London and New York :Wallflower Press Feld.S.,2003. Cinà ©-ethnography Jean Rouch.Minneapolis:University Of Minnesota Press
Thursday, November 21, 2019
David Cole Interviews Dr. Franciscek Piper Essay - 1
David Cole Interviews Dr. Franciscek Piper - Essay Example But according to interview, Cole has disapproved the theory of concentration camps and gas chambers as gas used was just a disinfectant. Piper was an eye witness to the holocaust and believes that the figure projected by Russian was much higher, only about 1.1 million Jews had died as against the Russian propaganda of 4.4 million Jews who had been exterminated! The bullets marks were that of Air Force raids when it was turned into airbase for Germans while fighting against Allied forces. Cole believes that Auschwitz’ gas chambers and concentration camps were wild imaginations of few and Jews had probably died due to hard working conditions. But 1.1 million is not a small number and if Piper has quoted this number, then mass murders did happen. Whether they were killed or not in gas chambers or were tortured to death in concentration camps is immaterial. I fail to understand the purpose of Cole’s interview with Piper because even though, he has found no evidence that prove that people could have been killed in the gas chamber that was shown to Cole, the interview, nevertheless clearly reveals that such heinous crime was committed in Auschwitz by Germans in WWII. (words:
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
3 dyadic interview and appellations of concepts Essay - 2
3 dyadic interview and appellations of concepts - Essay Example However, I realized that they are much conserved and the information that they gave was not complete. Despite this, when giving their answers they were cool, calm, and collected. My focus was to know X’s interpersonal relations. This relates to the way they are able to interact with others as well as the extent to which they express their feelings as well as personal reaction to situations. When communicating with others X is very brief and precise, not that he is cautious of his words but at some point, he seems to lack the words. His expressions are not fully complete. However, he demonstrates clarity in the way he communicates. I talked with him concerning his ability to communicate with others. In this, he was very categorical that he finds it difficult to initiate conversations with strangers. Not only is this his predicament, but also maintaining a conversation with a stranger is a daunting task to him. Despite this, when communicating with a person he is conversant with , he pointed out that he is very free and can communicate for long time without any breakdown in communication. I yearned to know more about his interaction with family members and friends. He pointed out to me that have been with a single parent, who is his mother. Therefore, he points out that there are some things that he is not comfortable sharing with the mother. Being the only child, he has no option rather than learn from friends. His scope of friends is relatively small but his friends are very close to him. He demonstrates a deep sense of affection and does not take relationships lightly. He tells me that he has a girlfriend whom they spend a lot of time together. They have been together for the last three years. He tells me that his mother was initially opposed to the idea but she came to appreciate. As the conversation went on, he was easy going and could explain his answers in much more details compared to the
Monday, November 18, 2019
Analysis Cases In Arbitration Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words
Analysis Cases In Arbitration - Research Paper Example The U.S. Court of Appeals had declined to reassess the decision made by the en banc on February 1, 2012, in the case of Italian Colors Restaurant v. AET Related Services Co. Owing to this reason, the Supreme Court of the US is quite likely to be requested to revisit the issue related to class action waivers in the arbitration agreement by the US Court of Appeals. The dispute arose because of the fact that the Second Circuit denied offering an en banc rehearing. The chief judge, as well as four other judges, asserted that the case must be reheard which led to splits among the judges grounded on the protest that the Ninth Circuit was not being followed. In Italian Colors, it can be observed that the Second Circuit panel did not impose the class action waiver in relation to AE arbitration agreement considering that it would prevent the claimant from impeaching its federal antitrust claims. In the complaint, the Plaintiff claimed that the merchant contract disobeyed the SA. The merchant contract comprised of the arbitration provision that needed all claims that arose from agreement to be decided by means of arbitration. The SC on remand will face the concern of whether class-action waivers in case of arbitration agreements are unconscionable just because they prevent disputes from being resolved by ways of class proceedings. In an order list that was published within a week after the decision, it was found that the Supreme Court provided a writ of certiorari and thus evacuated and remanded the case of AE v. ICR.merican Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant. The court further ordered the Second Circuit to reassess its decision in relation to the unenforceability of class-action waiver in light of the Stolt-Nielsen opinion (Consumer Financial Service Group, â€Å"Second Circuit Splits with Ninth Circuit on Enforcement of Class Action
Friday, November 15, 2019
Determination of Sodium Thiopental Using Gold Nanoparticles
Determination of Sodium Thiopental Using Gold Nanoparticles Development of a new colorimetric method for the determination of sodium thiopental using gold nanoparticles Sodium thiopental (sodium pentothal) is in a group of drugs called barbiturates.this barbiturate commonly used anesthetic induction agents in man and animals because recovery is rapid and it has the advantage of having very little or no side effects[1].It is used for intensive-care patients with head injuries to control convulsions and reduce raised intracranial pressure[2]. As a resultmonitoring of theserum concentrations is important in this patient population. Several analytical procedures have been reported for the quantitative determination of thiopental. Among these high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are more popular. HPLC assays are not completely reliable, and do not have the short process-time required in most of the above-mentioned indications[3, 4]. other methods are available for determining thiopental including stripping voltammetry[5],membrane sensors[6],capacitive chemical sensor [7],gas chromatography (GC)[8],spectrophotometric and spectrophotofluorometric[9, 10]. Donald et al[11]reported that, after the usual 4.8 mg/kg induction doses, thiopental concentration in serum as a function of time varies between 10 mg/L to 25 mg/L during 50h.As stated before most of these currently used methods for sodium thiopental detection usually need expensive and complicated instruments and are time-consuming, making on-site and real-time thiopental detection difficult. Therefore, it is important to develop a simple reliable and hig hly sensitive method for on-site and real-time detection of sodium thiopental. Recently, gold nanoparticles (NPs) explored for metallic NP-based colorimetric detection have attracted considerable attention due to biocompatibility, stability, and high extinction coefficients[12]. gold nanoparticles present size-dependent optical properties owing to the surface plasma resonance(SPR)[12]. The color of the colloidal Au NPs can be readily and precisely changed via aggregation of Au NPs.Au NPs were widely applied in colorimetric detection of several analytes such as protein, DNA, metal ions and small molecules[ ]. In this study, we used gold nanoparticles as a colorimetric probe for sensitive and selective detection of sodium thiopental. The gold nanoparticles were prepared using the classical citrate method [12].thiopental on the surface of AuNPs displaced the stabilizing citrate ions because thiol group of sodium thiopental tends to readily adsorb onto the surface of colloidal gold via chemisorptions-type interactions. The thiopental capped Au NPs were stable at basic and neutral conditions .Puntes et al [13] have studied the stability of cationic gold nanoparticle bioconjugates as a function of pH and the presence of citrate in solution. The pH of an aqueous solution of thiopental-Au NPs was varied by direct addition of citrate buffer. the thiopental-Au NPs can be aggregated by adding certain amounts of citrate buffer due to the electrostatic attraction between amino group contained in thiopental molecular and citrate ion on the surface of Au NPs, the amino group of the thiopental would be positively charged at the given pH value and they would therefore interact electrostatically with the negative charges of the citrate molecules. Thus forcing the aggregation of the conjugated Au NPs and subsequently resulting in the color change from wine red to purple or blue color.So that we detected it by UV–Vis spectrophotometer and paptode techniques and contrast both methods.First time at 2004 paptode was developed in Dr. Abbaspour group for speciation of iron(II) and iron(III) and the full range pH monitoring [14]. Then it was used for the determination of dopamine [15], hydrazine [16]. In paptode, conventional à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡atbed -scanner (as a nondestructive detector) was used to acquire the analytical parameters for quantitative determination of analyte that occurs via colorimetric reaction. The estimated re à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ection density, as an analytical parameter, is obtained from an area of the sensing zone of spots using the average Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B) channel. Degrees of the color of the spots are found to be proportional to the concentration of the testedanalyte. Experimental section: Reagents: HAuCl4.3H2O, trisodium citrate and citric acid were purchased from Sigma. Thiopental was obtained from Biochemie (Kundl, Austria) and zinc sulfate purchased from Fluka All solutions were prepared with ultrapure water Apparatus and software: The colorimetric study of NPs were performed by means of a Shimadzu 1601PC UV–Vis spectrophotometer (Kyoto, Japan)from 300 to 700 nm. Also a Canon scanner were used to record the color changes in paptode technique. The paptode Cells were built by creation of the holes (i.d 1.5 cm) in the sheet of plexiglas (thickness 0.9 cm). We used by photoshop Cs6 software to convert the recorded pictures of color of cells to RGB (Red, Green and Blue) and L*a*b data. The morphology and size of the nanoparticles were characterized by a transmission electron microscope (TEM model CM10; Philips). The X-Ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were obtained by using a D8 ADVANCE type (BRUKER-Germany) with Cu-KÃŽ ± radiation (ÃŽ »= 0.1542 nm). Powder XRD patterns were taken in 0.02 ° steps at 1 s per step. All the experiments were carried out at room temperature(25  ± 2 C) Synthesis of citrate-stabilized Au nanocrystals: Nanoparticles of noble metal were prepared by classical citrate method[12].the10ml of 0.014M of trisodium citrate dehydrate solution was added quickly to the 100ml of boiling solution of 0.5mM of HAuCl4.3H2O under magnetic stirring. The stirring was continued until a dark red color was observed (around 20 min) and the maximum absorbance of AuNPs solution was centered at 520 nm Sample preparation: Fresh human blood samples (2.0 mL) were obtained from volunteers of the local hospital. After letting sample stand for 60 min at room temperature we centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 min. The supernatant was used as the source of the serum. We used zinc sulfate method as a deproteinization technique[]: we vortex-mix for 10s of the 10ml of serum sample and 150mg zinc sulfate, then we centrifuged the mixture at 3000 rpm for 20 min. The supernatant, which excluded protein, was used for further analysis. Procedures for the detection of sodium thiopental: In a typical detection of sodium thiopental, different amounts of thiopental solution were added to the above XmlAu NPs solutions at room temperature. we proceeded to study the behavior of the conjugated system by modifying the pH . To investigate the effect of pH of the buffer solutions on thiopental detection, 0.5 mL of 0.1 M buffer solution (citric buffer solution in the pH range of 3.0–6.0 ) was added in mixture of thiopental and Au NPs solution. The obvious color change was observed with the naked eye and the absorbance spectra and scanning images of the solution were recorded 1 min after the addition of citrate buffer. In spectroscopy technique ,The concentration of sodium thiopental was quantified by the absorption ratio (A670/A520). Results and discussion Citrate was chosen as the stabilizer for AuNPs because it is negatively charged, and can act as a stabilizingagent to disperse AuNPs in aqueous solutions. The Au NPs after synthesis showed a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at 405 nm (Fig. 1a). the addition of sodium thiopental doesn’t led to a color change of Au NPsin ultrapure water, although the thiol group of sodium thiopental tends to readily adsorb onto the surface of Au NPs.The pH of AuNPs solution in present of sodium thiopental is 10.2 and Puntes et al[13]reportedthat the presence of charged molecules insolution may induce NPs aggregation by bridging particlestogether. It was observed that multiple electrostatic interactions between the conjugates mediated by cross-linking species led to an effective strong bond and consequently to irreversible aggregation and precipitation. So that at the given pH value , charge of thiopental can be change and thenthe color of the colloidal thiopental-Au NPs can be changed to blu e (broad band above 600 nm).*Scrutiny of pH/Concentrate diagrams of citrate and thiopental shows that at the pH of between 5 to 7 , charge of citrate and thiopental can benegative and neutralfig S1. But when sodium thiopental add to AuNPs solution, the S- group in the sodium thiopental provides a strong affinity for gold. So that orbital of thiol group of thiopentalinvolved for Au NPs surface and when pH change from 10.2 to 6 , the amino group of the thiopental would be accepted H + and get positive charge. In present of excesscitrate at the pH of 6 , thiopental-AuNPscan be aggregated via electrostatic attraction between the citrate ions and the thiopental. So that in this study we used citrate buffer solutionfor control of pH( in the pH range of 3.0–6.0) and source of citrate (as a bridging factor). The aggregation mechanism of Au NPs is illustrated in Fig. 1. Optimization pH and time we proceeded to study the behavior of the conjugated system by modifying the pH( 7.1-5.4). The pH of an aqueous solution of0.00001M thiopental capped AuNPs was varied by direct addition of 0.05Mcitrate buffer to the solution andThe UV-Vis spectrum wasmonitored and the extinction ratio of absorbance at 600 nm to 420 nm (A600/A410) is plotted against the pH inFig. 3A. The thiopental-capped Au NPs were stable at basic and neutral conditions.When the pH of the solution was below the 6.4 , Au NPs agglomerated.the aggregation was solely due to the bridging citrate between the amine functionality.Onthe basis of this optimization experiment, the pH was set to 6.2 to achieve a best aggregationFig. 3A.When the pH was decreased immediately from 5.4 after the addition of the citrate buffer scatteringwasobserved.Fig. 3A illustrates theabsorption spectra of AuNPs at different pH value. At the concentration of sodium thiopental as 0.00001M, the extinction ratio ofA650/A520 at room temperatureexhibited a rapid increaseduring the first 1.5min,then increased gradually from 1 min to 18 min and then remained constantFig 3B. Thus, the detection time was chosen as 20 min. We choseto use the absorbance ratio at 500 and 600 wavelengths to quantify thecolor of the system,thecolor change at various sodium thiopental concentrations were monitored byUV/Vis spectroscopyfig4A.Quantitative analysis was performed by monitoringthe absorbanceat 1minute after the addition of citrate buffer Fig4B .The linear range, detection limit and reproducibilityof the method were evaluated under the optimumconditions.Thecalibration curve for sodium thiopental was linear in two ranges of( †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. To †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ and†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ to †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦) with correlation coefficients 0.9981 and0.9979, respectively. The Experimental detection limit has been obtained as 2 µM. The relative standard deviation(R.S.D.) for1.0Ãâ€"10−8M thiopental measurementwas2.7% (n=11)Fig4A .when thiopental concentrationincreased above 0.0005M, scattering was observed fig3B because thiopental polymerized white citrate molecule. So that we tried paptode techniques to resolve thisproblem FigS1. Although the higher concentrations of sodium thiopental was determined by paptode, but the limit of detection was rather high (LOD 10  µM) in comparison to the spectrophotometric method. The detailed procedure for sodium thiopental determination by the paptode method is explained in supporting information. To test the selectivity of the above method for sodium thiopental, we testing the response of the assay to some potential interference species and structurally similar to the sodium thiopental such as†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.in optimum condition and different concentration .the results areshown in bar diagramFigure 8 .red barsexhibit Color changes of the solution in thepresence of various interference species at concentrations of 10mMand bluebars exhibit Color changes in presence ofinterference species at real concentration in serum ( 1M cysteine, 2M†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦), The maximum absorption wavelength of AuNPs did notchange in the presence of the tested species, Except for cysteineat concentrations of 10mM. Therefore, AuNPs had good selectivity for sodium thiopental detection in optimum condition in the serum. Colorimetric detection of sodium thiopental in serum: To validate the reliability of the proposed method for sodium thiopental detection in real samples, The unknown amounts of thiopental were added to thethree different human serum samples before samplespre-treatment .Detecting of sodium thiopental in a serum is not easy because of the serum constituents.the color of the Au NPs was not stable by the addition of the blank serum. So that it mustdiluted ten times. As regardsthe calibration curve for detection thiopental by this methodand dilution of serum and thiopental concentration in serum as a function of time varies after the usual 4.8 mg/kg induction doses [] , we can detect sodium thiopental in human serumbefore 3 hour.samples were determined by both the AuNP-based method reported herein and the standard addition method. Satisfactory results and recoveries as shown in Table 2. The satisfactory results obtained indicate that proposed sensors can be applied to real sample assays. [1] H. Russo, F. Bressolle, Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 35 (1998) 95-134. [2] R.I. Katz, J.T. Skeen, C. Quartararo, P.J. Poppers, Anesthesia Analgesia, 66 (1987) 1328-1330. [3] H. Russo, J.L. Allaz, F. Bressolle, Journal of Chromatography B: Biomedical Sciences and Applications, 694 (1997) 239-245. [4] G. Coppa, R. Testa, A.M. Gambini, I. Testa, M. Tocchini, A.R. Bonfigli, Clinica Chimica Acta, 305 (2001) 41-45. [5] A.M.M. Ali, O.A. Farghaly, M.A. Ghandour, Analytica Chimica Acta, 412 (2000) 99-110. [6] N.M.H. Rizk, A.-H.M. Othman, Analytical Sciences, 21 (2005) 107-110. [7] M. Najafi, A.A. Baghbanan, Electroanalysis, 24 (2012) 1236-1242. [8] W.R. Kà ¼lpmann, Z. Anal. Chem., 311 (1982) 409. [9] G.A. Saleh, Talanta, 46 (1998) 111-121. [10] P.G. Dayton, J.M. Perel, M.A. Landrau, L. Brand, L.C. Mark, Biochemical Pharmacology, 16 (1967) 2321-2336. [11] D. Jung, M. Mayersohn, D. Perrier, Clinical Chemistry, 27 (1981) 113-115. [12] M.-C. Daniel, D. Astruc, Chemical Reviews, 104 (2004) 293-346. [13] I. Ojea-JimeÃÅ' nez, V. Puntes, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 131 (2009) 13320-13327. [14] A. Abbaspour, M.A. Mehrgardi, A. Noori, M.A. Kamyabi, A. Khalafi-Nezhad, M.N. Soltani Rad, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 113 (2006) 857-865. [15] A. Abbaspour, A. Khajehzadeh, A. Ghaffarinejad, Analyst, 134 (2009) 1692-1698. [16] A. Abbaspour, E. Mirahmadi, A. Khajehzadeh, Analytical Methods, 2 (2010) 349-353.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Americas Ignorance :: Americas Ignorance
Americas Ignorance America’s Ignorance For centuries now, men and women have struggled over their sexuality. It has been noted throughout time that several well known and highly regarded historical figures have been free with their sexuality on both sides of the spectrum. Basically, homosexual tendencies have been accepted as a normal part of life in that it has never been regarded as wrong. Only now in our new environment as Americans does the idea of homosexuality bring uncomfort and distaste to people. In fact, American has almost pushed the homosexual populous underground where they now reside as somewhat of a subculture. Americans have put a huge strain on the gay community by persecuting them and demanding that their way of life is wrong. This phenomenon is particularly prevalent in the middle class American society; at least it was a lot more in the past. The novel Giovanni’s Room, written by James Baldwin, depicts a young man caught in the troublesome situation of being a gay American in the middle twentieth century. The character, David, accepts his homosexuality as a boy, but soon learns that his sexual behavior is highly frowned upon by most Americans. With this understanding of homosexual resentment in America, David sets off for Paris in search of an escape from the turmoil’s that lay at home. David cannot and does not accept his homosexuality because of the ingrained middle class American attitude towards homosexuals. David’s father, although not resentful of gay people, wants David to become a man. A man in the classic sense of a man, and certainly not a homosexual man: ‘And listen,’ said my father suddenly, from the middle of the staircase, in a voice which frightened me, ‘all I want for David is that he grows up to be a man. And when I say man, Ellen, I don’t mean a Sunday school teacher.’ David’s father was not suggesting that David was not a man, but our society has set forth preconceived notions about what it means to be a man. When David heard this from his father, he felt as though by being gay, he was somehow disappointing his father. This idea certainly scared David into thinking that his homosexual feelings were bad. Later in Paris, David was able to escape the direct tension that he felt, but his worries still lingered and he fought to become the person that he thought he should be:
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