International Investment Report Malaysia Company Essay

International Investment Report Country: Malaysia Company: Tesla 1. Introduction Country Basics Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories in Southeast Asia. The capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur which has a population of almost seven million. It consists of two regions separated by the South China Sea and is bordered by Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand. The government is Constitutional Monarchy, where head of state is king and head of government is prime-minister. The economic system is mixed where private freedom combines with centralized economic planning and government regulation. Malaysia is a member of Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation(APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN), and the Trans-Partnership(TPP). Company Basics Tesla motors was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers in Silicon Valley. The company was founded on the guiding mission statement; to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. 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Analysis Of The Book Bas N ¡ Ball By James Naismith

Bas ·ket ·ball(ˈbaskÉ™tËÅ'bà ´l)- a game played between two teams of five players in which goals are scored by throwing a ball through a netted hoop fixed above each end of the court. If you were to ask the average person what basketball is that is the answer you ll probably get, but it is much more than that. Bas ·ket ·ball- a game that has evolved drastically invented by James Naismith played by millions of people around the world. Ah! That s like it. Basketball has changed a lot over the past years and still continues to grow, but many wonder â€Å"How did this all start?† The start of basketball began in the early 1890s. Brian Faurschou acknowledges that Well before James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891, the peoples of Mesoamerica had a very similar game where the point was to get a ball through a hoop. Ancient Mexican people such as the Aztecs and the Mayans had very similar games to basketball, but instead of a ball they used their conquered foes skulls. He also implies that The first basketball type game may have been played by the early Olmec people of Ancient Mexico as early as 500 years ago (Faurschou). The game of basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith. Naismith, a P.E. teacher from Canada, invented the game in 1891. At the time James Naismith as working at the YMCA Training School in Massachusetts (Who Invented). Wyckoff implies that James was great at teaching summer sports, but when winter came, there was a problem. The men at the college were

Enhancing Logistical Process of E-Commerce

Question: Discuss about the Enhancing Logistical Process of E-Commerce. Answer: Introduction: I am studying a course on Engineering Management which a practice that combines the technical skills of engineering with the business and management skills so as to prepare us on solving business problems that are complex in nature. A practical understanding of the business situation is needed to be a good engineering manager in addition to the technical knowledge is required. This includes practical understanding of engineering management processes used in companies(Belanger, Pupulin, Coope, P.Geoph, Lowe, 2004). As a professional, I can assume from any of the available roles such as project manager, systems manager, technical consultant, corporate strategy planner, strategic consulting manager, and material logistics professional. Logistics being one professional area of development for management engineers attracts me. With an increase in the ecommerce organizations in India, it is seen that logistics decisions play a critical role in ecommerce space. I would develop myself as a professional engineering manager who can provide supply chain consulting to ecommerce organizations. Thus, I have chosen a practical project on ecommerce logistics which aims at understanding how logistics operations can be established and streamlined to achieve strategic performance advantages. This would help me understand how Indian ecommerce organizations work and manage their logistics and develop myself. This knowledge would make a pathway for me to reach out to organizations into ecommerce space after I graduate as they would be able to see my potential as an Engineering manager from the research I would be conducting(Lloyd, 2000). Professionalism in Engineering demands specialized technical knowledge on subject which I have with my college learning which would help in assessing operational alternatives. As a professional engineering manager, I would also need to have certain skill sets including ability to solve challenging issues, ability to do modeling for visualizing solutions, and ability to apply theories learnt or abstract concepts learnt to practical engineering applications. Logistics is a complex problem to solve when it is about developing in-house capabilities for an organization and thus, this project would help me gain a practical problem solving skills. Also, as I am taking the case of a company that has already developed its logistics that I would have to visualize to create a model to present during my research, the project would also help in understanding the concepts of business modeling. Further, many of the concepts and theories that I have learnt during my classroom sessions would be put to use in practice through this project. I have learnt about plant layouts, material handling, supply chain networks, and systems engineering that would be very useful as I would be able to apply them to the case study and learn the professional trait of applying theories to practice(Szpytko J.Lis, 2005). Besides these traits, a professional engineering manager also needs to have commitment to standards, ethical responsibilities, ability to handle uncertainty, communication skills, ability to appreciate management concepts, and ability to work with, lead or manage teams. As I am focused on one organization and would conduct research on the same, this would give me an opportunity to work with teams and develop these professional traits. Research Background In-sourcing of logistics services has become less use practice used by organizations all over the world because of costs and complexities involved. There are only a third of multinational organizations that have in sourced operations including logistics. Outsourcing on the other side has many advantages such as lower costs, more flexibility, access to more capabilities not present in-house, facilities consolidation, faster entry into new market and so on. Organizational Background The chosen organization is Flipkart which is into ecommerce space and had started with outsourcing model to slowly move to adoption of the in-sourced logistics. The company was founded in 2007 by IIT; Delhi Alumnis and is headquartered in Bangalore. It started as a book store but now sells an array of products through ecommerce including electronics, white goods, consumer goods, lifestyle products, stationeries and more(NIGAM, NAYAK, VYAS, 2015). Aims Objectives Aim of this research is to discover ways organizations can use in-sourced logistics to build on strategic advantages and achieve better performance in the ecommerce industry. Specific objectives of the research would be: Understanding the impact of outsourcing and in-sourcing of logistics on organizational supply chains Understand how Indian ecommerce operate their logistics Explore the impact of in-sourced logistics on ecommerce organizations performances Literature Review When an organization procures components required for its production processes from the company itself, the process of in-sourcing. In-sourcing can be done within the home ground, process called onshore in sourcing or through a foreign subsidiary, which is called offshore in sourcing. A major challenge with in sourcing is that the flow of products or its components happens across transnational borders making it difficult to make interpretations of the trade statistics. Outsourcing can help company reduce these complexities while at the same time, reduce investments and get more returns. There are other benefits of outsourcing that further add value to the arrangement such as access to different supplier capabilities, improved performance, and more. This is the reason why many international organizations have higher focus on the outsourcing of their operations. However, in 2005, Gottfredson, Puryear, and Phillips discovered that around 50% of these organizations adopting outsourcing model actually fell short of expectations. There were only 10% of these companies that were able to save costs and only 6% were satisfied with the overall performance of outsourced operations(Akili, 2011). Watson, Zinkhan, and Pitt had a theory devised a framework for understanding performance implications of outsourcing. The framework identifies two types of costs that are incurred in the outsourcing model - coordination costs and suboptimality costs. Networks can increase both increase or decrease coordination costs based on the level of autonomy(Miguel, 2005). Early adopters of outsourcing usually gain high returns while late adopters gain more of institutional legitimacy. The relationship between outsourcing and performance is affected in the long run and if there is too much of outsourcing, the performance can suffer. With more and more operations outsourced, management of multiple suppliers becomes difficult adding to coordination costs. Further, the cost of offshore outsourcing is much more than domestic outsourcing. Rottman and Lacity conducted a study on US companies and found that offshore outsourcing projects cost them 50% of whole contract prices while domestic outsourcing contributed up to 10%. Offshore outsourcing models can majorly be affected by currency exchange rate fluctuations adding to costs of operations(Li, Fan, Abid, Haartman, 2014). The ecommerce organization outsourcing its logistics operations risk losing their differentiation as they cannot differentiate their services against competition. They also lose on the bargaining power with suppliers as more and more organizations start to outsource their logistics to limited suppliers. Another challenge with outsourcing of logistics is that interfaces that connect the firm with customers reduce causing a lack of learning and thus, doing innovation becomes difficult(Kotabe, Mol, Murray, 2007). In the long term, outsourcing has a negative impact on performance and thus, it can be said that lesser the outsourcing, better is the performance of the organization. While in in-sourcing, there is more control over functions and thus, there are no hidden costs that can affect the operations in longer run. Instead, the company with in-sourced logistics can actually achieve economies of scale over time and thus, gain a competitive advantage(ASL, 2014). The choice of the logistics sourcing from outsourcing and in-sourcing can actually be affected by various factors other than their direct and indirect company advantages. These factors can be differences between countries, industries, and transactions. Walker has identified two levels of uncertainties in contracts including volume uncertainty which can increase costs when volumes are inappropriately estimated making in-sourcing of logistics a better approach while technological uncertainties raise questions on future technological developments making outsourcing a better option(Daniel Nordigardeh Chicksand, 2015). Research Methodology This research would use a secondary case analysis methodology to identify ways organizations can use in-sourced logistics practices to improve upon its strategic capabilities and achieve better performance for their ecommerce business. The research would collect textual data of a selected organization with in-sourced logistics and would analyze their business and supply chain models. For collecting secondary data on Flipkart supply chain and logistics practices, the researcher would make use of journal articles, books, Flipkart website, its case studies, news sources, and other authentic data sources about company operations. The case study would explore the logistics operations of the organization, would make an attempt to understand their decision of moving to in-source logistics and explore the performance benefits achieved by the organization after adopting in-house logistics. References Akili, E. A. (2011). Impact of the design of Logistics Outsourcing strategy on the firms logistic performance. University of Adger. ASL. (2014). Outsourcing versus Insourcing. ASL. Belanger, R., Pupulin, R., Coope, H., P.Geoph, Lowe, G. (2004). Concept of Professionalism. APEGGA. Daniel Nordigardeh, J. R., Chicksand, D. (2015). Sourcing Uncertainties: The Case of Outsourcing and Global Sourcing. Modern Management Science Engineering . Kotabe, M., Mol, M. J., Murray, J. Y. (2007). Outsourcing, performance, and the role of e-commerce: A dynamic perspective. University of Warwick . Li, Y., Fan, R., Abid, M., Haartman, R. v. (2014). The coordination of E-commerce and Logistics: A case study of Amazon.com. Hogskolan Igavle. Lloyd, B. E. (2000). Engineering Professionalism. Journal of The Institution of Engineers. Miguel, P. T. (2005). The Impact Of Logistics And Manufacturing Outsourcing On Shareholder Value . Graduate School of Vanderbilt University . NIGAM, P., NAYAK, K. M., VYAS, P. H. (2015). E- Commerce Challenges: A Case Study of Flipkart.com Versus Amazon. in. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 332-339. Szpytko, J., J.Lis. (2005). Professionalism in engineering practice. Mickiewicza: AGH University of Science and Technology.

Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers Essay Example

Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers Essay DOI: 10. 1111/j. 1464-5491. 2006. 01868. x Glycaemic control Review Article 23 0742-3071Publishing, alcohol Diabetic Medicine and2006 consumption D. Ismail et al. DME UK Oxford, article Blackwell Publishing Ltd Social consumption of alcohol in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes is associated with increased glucose lability, but not hypoglycaemia D. Ismail, R. Gebert, P. J. Vuillermin, L. Fraser*, C. M. McDonnell, S. M. Donath†  and F. J. Cameron Abstract Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, *Wimmera Base Hospital*, Horsham and † Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia Accepted 10 June 2005 Aims To determine the effects of social consumption of alcohol by diabetic adolescents on glycaemic control. Methods Fourteen (five male) patients aged 16 years were recruited from the diabetes clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital. The continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) was attached at a weekend when alcohol consumption was planned for one night only. For each patient, the 12-h period from 18. 00 h to 06. 00 h for the night with alcohol consumption (study period) was compared with the same period with non-alcohol consumption (control period) either 24 h before or after the alcohol study night. Thus, each subject was his /her own control. Glycaemic outcomes calculated from continuous glucose monitoring included mean blood glucose (MBG), percentage of time spent at low glucose levels (CGMS 4. 0 mmol/l), normal glucose levels (CGMS 4. 0–10. 0 mmol/ l) and high glucose levels ( 10. mmol/ l) and continuous overall net glycaemic action (CONGA). Results The mean number of standard alcohol drinks consumed during the study period was 9. 0 for males and 6. 3 for females. There was no difference in percentage of time at high and normal glucose levels in the study and control periods. During the control period, there was a higher percentage of time with low glucose levels compared with the study period (P 0. 05). There was an increas ed level of glycaemic variation during the study time when compared with the control period. We will write a custom essay sample on Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Conclusions In an uncontrolled, social context, moderately heavy alcohol consumption by adolescents with Type 1 diabetes appears to be associated with increased glycaemic variation, but not with low glucose levels. Diabet. Med. 23, 830–833 (2006) Keywords adolescence, alcohol, glycaemic control Abbreviations CGMS, continuous glucose monitoring system; CONGA, continuous overall net glycaemic action; MBG, mean blood glucose; RCH, Royal Children’s Hospital Introduction Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes frequently engage in risk-taking activities [1]. Amongst these activities is the social Correspondence to: Dr Fergus Cameron, Deputy Director, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Royal Children’s Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. E-mail: fergus. [emailprotected] org. au consumption of alcohol, frequently as underage drinkers [2]. Whilst the effects of alcohol consumption upon glycaemia have been well described in a controlled setting [3– 6], little is known about the impact on glucose levels of alcohol consumption by adolescents within an ambulant, social context. The purpose of this project was to utilize continuous glucose monitoring to study the impact of social alcohol consumption on glycaemic control in a group of alcohol-using adolescents.  © 2006 The Authors. 830 Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833 Review article 831 Patients and methods This study was approved by the Human Ethics Research Committee of the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). That approval was contingent upon the fact that the investigators should not be seen to encourage underage drinking in adolescents. Consequently, we only approached adolescents who we knew were drinking socially and, despite our previous counselling, elected to continue to drink alcohol on a semi-regular basis. We recruited 22 adolescents with Type 1 diabetes from the RCH diabetes clinic. The adolescents were considered eligible only if 16 years old and parental/patient consent was obtained. HbA 1c (Bayer DCA 2000 immunoagglutination method, Calabria, Barcelona, Spain) was measured, and diabetes duration and insulin doses were recorded. The MiniMed continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) was attached to the study patients over a weekend period. Patients were required to have an alcohol-free period for at least 24 continuous hours during the weekend trace period. A diary was kept of activities during the trace period (insulin injections, meal, snacks, dancing, alcohol consumption, sport). There was no change in insulin doses between study and control periods. In the evening when alcohol was consumed, patients were asked to recall how many and what type of drinks were consumed and how inebriated they became. Patients recall of alcohol consumption was converted to ‘standard drinks’ (one standard drink contains the equivalent of 12. ml 100% alcohol) using The Australian Alcohol Guidelines [7]. CGMS data was recorded between 18. 00 and 06. 00 h on the evening when alcohol was consumed (the study period) and between 18. 00 and 06. 00 h on the evening when no alcohol was consumed (the control period). CGMS data were only analysed if there had been regular calibrations with intermittent capillary blood glucose readings at a maximum of 8-h intervals. Each CGMS trace was qualitatively and quantitatively analysed using mean glucose values, per cent time in glycaemic ranges and ontinuous overlapping net glycaemic action (CONGA) [8]. CONGA values were calculated to assess glycaemic variation over 1-, 2- and 4-h intervals. Low glucose values were defined as CGMS values 4 mmol/ l, normal glucose values when CGMS values were 4– 10 mmo/ l and high glucose values when CGMS values were 10 mmol/ l. Each patient acted as their own control with study periods and control periods being compared. Inter-individual values were grouped for comparison. Differences between study and control periods were analysed using paired t-tests. Analyses were done in Stata [9]. ales and nine females. The mean age was 18. 5 years (range: 17. 4 – 19. 5). The mean duration of diabetes was 9. 4 years (range: 3 – 16. 3). Six of our subjects took four insulin injections per day and eight took two injections daily . The mean insulin dose was 1. 1 units /kg/day (range: 0. 7 –1. 8), and the mean HbA1c was 9. 6% (range: 8. 2 – 10. 8). Activities during the study period Thirteen subjects had dinner before drinking and only one subject did not consume any food before going out. Three subjects ‘danced a lot’ and six subjects went dancing but did not dance a lot. Ten subjects had something to eat after drinking. Alcohol consumption during the study period The mean number of alcohol drinks consumed on the study night was 9. 0 (range 3–16) for males and 6. 3 (range 3–14) for females. All the females consumed pre-mixed sweetened alcohol drinks (5% alcohol), with only one consuming beer and one consuming wine. Four of the males consumed mixed spirits, one mixed spirits and beer and one beer only. Forty per cent of the males had more than seven standard drinks during the study and 67% of the females had more than five drinks. In total, 80% of the subjects had pre-mixed sweetened alcohol drinks at some point during the study period. Forty-three per cent of the subjects reported that they became inebriated and 14. 3% consumed alcohol to the point where they became physically sick. None of the subjects lost consciousness or took recreational drugs during the study period. Comparative CGMS data between study and control periods Results Patients There was no significant difference between the overall mean glucose levels of patients when comparing study and control periods (Table 1; P = 0. 43). Similarly, there were no significant differences in the amount of time spent with either normal or high glucose values between study and control periods (Table 1). A larger proportion of time was spent with low glucose values during the control period when compared with the study period (1. 9 vs. 16. 8%, P = 0. 03). A significantly larger degree of glycaemic variation was seen in the CONGA values in the study period when compared with the control period (Table 1). The difference in CONGA values were consistent and independent of whether glycaemic variation was assessed over 1-, 2- or 4-h intervals. Of the 22 subjects recruited, eight were excluded because their CGMS traces did not have sufficiently frequent calibration points with intermittent capillary measures of blood glucose. Of the 14 subjects remaining, we were able to obtain study period data on 14 patients and matched control period data on only 12 patients. The study period occurred on the night prior to the control period in nine subjects. There were five Discussion It has long been recognized that a prohibitionist approach is usually ineffective when counselling adolescents who engage in risk-taking behaviours [10]. Many centres today, ourselves included, have instead adopted a harm minimization approach in dealing with such behaviours. An important component  © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833 832 Glycaemic control and alcohol consumption †¢ D. Ismail et al. Outcome measure Mean difference between Study period Control period study period and mean value mean value control period (95%CI) P-value 10. 6 16. 8 58. 6 24. 6 2. 1 3. 2 3. 7 1. 2 (? 2. 1, 4. 4) ? 14. 9 (? 28. 1, ? 1. 8) ? 0. 8 (? 27. 3, 25. 8) 15. 7 (? 4. 5, 35. 8) 0. 6 (0. 2, 1. 0) 1. 1 (0. , 1. 9) 1. 8 (0. 4, 3. 1) 0. 43 0. 03 0. 95 0. 12 0. 006 0. 01 0. 01 Table 1 CGMS outcomes, study and control periods Blood glucose levels (mmol/l) 11. 8 Per cent time low glucose 1. 9 Per cent time high glucose 57. 8 Per cent time normal glucose 40. 3 CONGA1* 2. 7 CONGA2* 4. 3 CONGA4* 5. 5 *CONGA calculated at 1-, 2- and 4-h intervals. CONGAn is the standard deviation of differ ent glucose measures n hours apart for the duration of the CGMS trace. of counselling using a harm minimization approach is that the information provided be credible and reflective of ‘real’ or ‘lived’ circumstances. Continuous glucose monitoring provides a technique whereby the glycaemic consequences of various behaviours can be documented in an ambulant or non-artificial setting. Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes frequently consume alcohol in a social context [11]. Alcohol is known to inhibit the gluconeogenic pathway, to inhibit lipolysis, impair glucose counter-regulation and blunt hypoglycaemia awareness [3,4]. Previous studies in young adults with Type 1 diabetes have shown that moderate consumption of alcohol in the evenings without concomitant food intake may cause hypoglycaemia the following morning [5]. Consumption of alcohol after a meal, however, has shown no similar adverse effects on glucose [6]. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that alcohol consumption may be a significant risk factor for hypoglycaemia in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes [5]. Studies of the glycaemic effects of alcohol consumption in an ambulant adolescent/young adult population can be difficult. This is because such behaviours are uncontrolled, often spontaneous and usually in the context of other social activities (parties, dancing, etc. ). In order to ensure that we only reported accurate CGMS data during these activities, capillary blood glucose calibration was considered vital and those patients who failed in this regard were excluded from analysis. Just over 60% of the patients recruited were able to successfully wear and calibrate a CGMS unit during these activities. Given that patients who experience hypoglycaemic symptoms are more likely to perform capillary self measures of blood glucose, we feel that it is unlikely that those patients excluded from the analysis had a greater frequency of hypoglycaemia than those patients reported. We were unable to record our subjects’ alcohol consumption in a contemporaneous fashion and hence were reliant upon their recall. It is possible that their remembered patterns of consumption were not entirely accurate. This potential inaccuracy should not be seen as a weakness of this study, as we only set out to determine patterns of glycaemia in adolescents engaging in spontaneous and uncontrolled alcohol consumption. We neither specified the type nor the amount of alcohol to be consumed (our ethical approval was contingent on this not occurring). The data as to amount of alcohol consumed have been included for descriptive purposes only. The results of this study show that alcohol consumption by adolescents in a social context is associated with a greater degree of glycaemic variation and less time spent with low glucose values than evenings where no alcohol is consumed. Whilst the second of these findings appears counter-intuitive, there may be several possible explanations. Firstly, the vast majority of our study group ate a meal prior to going out and ate upon their return before going to bed. These are practices that we have instilled as harm minimization strategies to avoid alcohol-induced hypoglycaemia in our clinic. Secondly, most of the alcohol consumed was as pre-mixed spirit and sweetened, carbonated beverages. Finally, alcohol consumption was only associated with vigorous exercise (dancing) in a minority of our study group. All of these factors could have combined to negate the hypoglycaemic effects of alcohol. In a previous study of glycaemia during alcohol consumption in adult men [5], hypoglycaemia occurred most often 10–12 h after wine consumption when the evening before ended at 23. 0 h. We analysed our data to see if a similar phenomenon occurred in this study and found that the per cent of time spent with CGMS readings 4 mmol/l between 06. 00 and 12. 00 h on the morning after the study period (i. e. the morning after the drinking night) was only 1. 1%. Notwithstanding the fact that our cohort frequently consumed alcohol later than 23. 00 h, the facto rs that impacted upon glycaemic control during the study night appear to have carried over to the ‘morning after’. The findings in this study highlight the importance of ambulant testing. It is important to note that the findings of the group studied here may not be seen in adolescents who drink non-sweetened alcoholic drinks or in those adolescents with better underlying metabolic control. Whilst alcohol consumption in isolation may reasonably be thought to cause hypoglycaemia, alcohol consumption by adolescents in the context of meals, sweetened mixers and little activity did not result in more hypoglycaemia than an alcohol-free evening. Whether the increase in glycaemic variation seen on an evening  © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833 Review article 833 of alcohol consumption has negative clinical outcomes remains an area for further investigation. Competing interests CMM was a Novo Nordisk research fellow. FJC received fees for speaking at conferences and funds for research from Novo Nordisk. References 1 Cameron F, Werther G. Adolescents with diabetes mellitus. In: Menon, RK, Sperling, MA, eds. Pediatric Diabetes. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003: 319–335. 2 Frey MA, Guthrie B, Lovelandcherry C, Park PS, Foster CM. Risky behaviours and risk in adolescents with IDDM. J Adol Health 1997; 20: 38–45. 3 Avogaro A, Beltramello P, Gnudi L, Maran A, Valerio A, Miola M et al. Alcohol intake impairs glucose counterregulation during acute insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in IDDM patients. Diabetes 1993; 42: 1626–1634. 4 Kerr D, Macdonald IA, Heller SR, Tattersal RB. Alcohol causes hypoglycaemic unawareness in healthy volunteers and patients with type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia 1990; 33: 216–221. 5 Turner BC, Jenkins E, Kerr D, Sherwin RS, Cavan DA. The effect of evening alcohol consumption on next morning glucose control in type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2001; 24: 1888–1893. 6 Koivisto VA, Tulokas S, Toivonen M, Haapa E, Pelkonen R. Alcohol with a meal has no adverse effects on postprandial glucose homeostasis in diabetic patients. Diabetes Care 1993; 16: 1612–1614. 7 National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian Alcohol Guidelines: Health Risks and Benefits. DS9. Available from: http://www7. health. gov. au/nhmrc/publications/synopses/ds9syn. htm. 8 McDonnell CM, Donath SM, Vidmar SI, Werther GA, Cameron FJ. A novel approach to continuous glucose analysis utilising glycaemic variation. Diab Tech Therap 2005; 7: 253–263. 9 StataCorp. Stata statistical software. Release 8. 0. College Station, TX: Stata Corporation, 2003. 10 Kyngas H, Hentinen M, Barlow JH. Adolescents perceptions of physicians, nurses, parents and friends: help or hindrance in compliance with diabetes self-care? J Adv Nurs 1998; 27: 760–769. 11 Patterson JM, Garwick AW. Coping with chronic illness. In: Werther, GA, Court, JM, eds. Diabetes and the Adolescent. Melbourne: Miranova Publishers 1998, 3–34.  © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833 Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers Essay Example Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers Essay DOI: 10. 1111/j. 1464-5491. 2006. 01868. x Glycaemic control Review Article 23 0742-3071Publishing, alcohol Diabetic Medicine and2006 consumption D. Ismail et al. DME UK Oxford, article Blackwell Publishing Ltd Social consumption of alcohol in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes is associated with increased glucose lability, but not hypoglycaemia D. Ismail, R. Gebert, P. J. Vuillermin, L. Fraser*, C. M. McDonnell, S. M. Donath†  and F. J. Cameron Abstract Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, *Wimmera Base Hospital*, Horsham and † Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia Accepted 10 June 2005 Aims To determine the effects of social consumption of alcohol by diabetic adolescents on glycaemic control. Methods Fourteen (five male) patients aged 16 years were recruited from the diabetes clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital. The continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) was attached at a weekend when alcohol consumption was planned for one night only. For each patient, the 12-h period from 18. 00 h to 06. 00 h for the night with alcohol consumption (study period) was compared with the same period with non-alcohol consumption (control period) either 24 h before or after the alcohol study night. Thus, each subject was his /her own control. Glycaemic outcomes calculated from continuous glucose monitoring included mean blood glucose (MBG), percentage of time spent at low glucose levels (CGMS 4. 0 mmol/l), normal glucose levels (CGMS 4. 0–10. 0 mmol/ l) and high glucose levels ( 10. mmol/ l) and continuous overall net glycaemic action (CONGA). Results The mean number of standard alcohol drinks consumed during the study period was 9. 0 for males and 6. 3 for females. There was no difference in percentage of time at high and normal glucose levels in the study and control periods. During the control period, there was a higher percentage of time with low glucose levels compared with the study period (P 0. 05). There was an increas ed level of glycaemic variation during the study time when compared with the control period. We will write a custom essay sample on Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Technology Has Changed the Live of Teen Agers specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Conclusions In an uncontrolled, social context, moderately heavy alcohol consumption by adolescents with Type 1 diabetes appears to be associated with increased glycaemic variation, but not with low glucose levels. Diabet. Med. 23, 830–833 (2006) Keywords adolescence, alcohol, glycaemic control Abbreviations CGMS, continuous glucose monitoring system; CONGA, continuous overall net glycaemic action; MBG, mean blood glucose; RCH, Royal Children’s Hospital Introduction Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes frequently engage in risk-taking activities [1]. Amongst these activities is the social Correspondence to: Dr Fergus Cameron, Deputy Director, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Royal Children’s Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. E-mail: fergus. [emailprotected] org. au consumption of alcohol, frequently as underage drinkers [2]. Whilst the effects of alcohol consumption upon glycaemia have been well described in a controlled setting [3– 6], little is known about the impact on glucose levels of alcohol consumption by adolescents within an ambulant, social context. The purpose of this project was to utilize continuous glucose monitoring to study the impact of social alcohol consumption on glycaemic control in a group of alcohol-using adolescents.  © 2006 The Authors. 830 Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833 Review article 831 Patients and methods This study was approved by the Human Ethics Research Committee of the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH). That approval was contingent upon the fact that the investigators should not be seen to encourage underage drinking in adolescents. Consequently, we only approached adolescents who we knew were drinking socially and, despite our previous counselling, elected to continue to drink alcohol on a semi-regular basis. We recruited 22 adolescents with Type 1 diabetes from the RCH diabetes clinic. The adolescents were considered eligible only if 16 years old and parental/patient consent was obtained. HbA 1c (Bayer DCA 2000 immunoagglutination method, Calabria, Barcelona, Spain) was measured, and diabetes duration and insulin doses were recorded. The MiniMed continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) was attached to the study patients over a weekend period. Patients were required to have an alcohol-free period for at least 24 continuous hours during the weekend trace period. A diary was kept of activities during the trace period (insulin injections, meal, snacks, dancing, alcohol consumption, sport). There was no change in insulin doses between study and control periods. In the evening when alcohol was consumed, patients were asked to recall how many and what type of drinks were consumed and how inebriated they became. Patients recall of alcohol consumption was converted to ‘standard drinks’ (one standard drink contains the equivalent of 12. ml 100% alcohol) using The Australian Alcohol Guidelines [7]. CGMS data was recorded between 18. 00 and 06. 00 h on the evening when alcohol was consumed (the study period) and between 18. 00 and 06. 00 h on the evening when no alcohol was consumed (the control period). CGMS data were only analysed if there had been regular calibrations with intermittent capillary blood glucose readings at a maximum of 8-h intervals. Each CGMS trace was qualitatively and quantitatively analysed using mean glucose values, per cent time in glycaemic ranges and ontinuous overlapping net glycaemic action (CONGA) [8]. CONGA values were calculated to assess glycaemic variation over 1-, 2- and 4-h intervals. Low glucose values were defined as CGMS values 4 mmol/ l, normal glucose values when CGMS values were 4– 10 mmo/ l and high glucose values when CGMS values were 10 mmol/ l. Each patient acted as their own control with study periods and control periods being compared. Inter-individual values were grouped for comparison. Differences between study and control periods were analysed using paired t-tests. Analyses were done in Stata [9]. ales and nine females. The mean age was 18. 5 years (range: 17. 4 – 19. 5). The mean duration of diabetes was 9. 4 years (range: 3 – 16. 3). Six of our subjects took four insulin injections per day and eight took two injections daily . The mean insulin dose was 1. 1 units /kg/day (range: 0. 7 –1. 8), and the mean HbA1c was 9. 6% (range: 8. 2 – 10. 8). Activities during the study period Thirteen subjects had dinner before drinking and only one subject did not consume any food before going out. Three subjects ‘danced a lot’ and six subjects went dancing but did not dance a lot. Ten subjects had something to eat after drinking. Alcohol consumption during the study period The mean number of alcohol drinks consumed on the study night was 9. 0 (range 3–16) for males and 6. 3 (range 3–14) for females. All the females consumed pre-mixed sweetened alcohol drinks (5% alcohol), with only one consuming beer and one consuming wine. Four of the males consumed mixed spirits, one mixed spirits and beer and one beer only. Forty per cent of the males had more than seven standard drinks during the study and 67% of the females had more than five drinks. In total, 80% of the subjects had pre-mixed sweetened alcohol drinks at some point during the study period. Forty-three per cent of the subjects reported that they became inebriated and 14. 3% consumed alcohol to the point where they became physically sick. None of the subjects lost consciousness or took recreational drugs during the study period. Comparative CGMS data between study and control periods Results Patients There was no significant difference between the overall mean glucose levels of patients when comparing study and control periods (Table 1; P = 0. 43). Similarly, there were no significant differences in the amount of time spent with either normal or high glucose values between study and control periods (Table 1). A larger proportion of time was spent with low glucose values during the control period when compared with the study period (1. 9 vs. 16. 8%, P = 0. 03). A significantly larger degree of glycaemic variation was seen in the CONGA values in the study period when compared with the control period (Table 1). The difference in CONGA values were consistent and independent of whether glycaemic variation was assessed over 1-, 2- or 4-h intervals. Of the 22 subjects recruited, eight were excluded because their CGMS traces did not have sufficiently frequent calibration points with intermittent capillary measures of blood glucose. Of the 14 subjects remaining, we were able to obtain study period data on 14 patients and matched control period data on only 12 patients. The study period occurred on the night prior to the control period in nine subjects. There were five Discussion It has long been recognized that a prohibitionist approach is usually ineffective when counselling adolescents who engage in risk-taking behaviours [10]. Many centres today, ourselves included, have instead adopted a harm minimization approach in dealing with such behaviours. An important component  © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833 832 Glycaemic control and alcohol consumption †¢ D. Ismail et al. Outcome measure Mean difference between Study period Control period study period and mean value mean value control period (95%CI) P-value 10. 6 16. 8 58. 6 24. 6 2. 1 3. 2 3. 7 1. 2 (? 2. 1, 4. 4) ? 14. 9 (? 28. 1, ? 1. 8) ? 0. 8 (? 27. 3, 25. 8) 15. 7 (? 4. 5, 35. 8) 0. 6 (0. 2, 1. 0) 1. 1 (0. , 1. 9) 1. 8 (0. 4, 3. 1) 0. 43 0. 03 0. 95 0. 12 0. 006 0. 01 0. 01 Table 1 CGMS outcomes, study and control periods Blood glucose levels (mmol/l) 11. 8 Per cent time low glucose 1. 9 Per cent time high glucose 57. 8 Per cent time normal glucose 40. 3 CONGA1* 2. 7 CONGA2* 4. 3 CONGA4* 5. 5 *CONGA calculated at 1-, 2- and 4-h intervals. CONGAn is the standard deviation of differ ent glucose measures n hours apart for the duration of the CGMS trace. of counselling using a harm minimization approach is that the information provided be credible and reflective of ‘real’ or ‘lived’ circumstances. Continuous glucose monitoring provides a technique whereby the glycaemic consequences of various behaviours can be documented in an ambulant or non-artificial setting. Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes frequently consume alcohol in a social context [11]. Alcohol is known to inhibit the gluconeogenic pathway, to inhibit lipolysis, impair glucose counter-regulation and blunt hypoglycaemia awareness [3,4]. Previous studies in young adults with Type 1 diabetes have shown that moderate consumption of alcohol in the evenings without concomitant food intake may cause hypoglycaemia the following morning [5]. Consumption of alcohol after a meal, however, has shown no similar adverse effects on glucose [6]. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that alcohol consumption may be a significant risk factor for hypoglycaemia in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes [5]. Studies of the glycaemic effects of alcohol consumption in an ambulant adolescent/young adult population can be difficult. This is because such behaviours are uncontrolled, often spontaneous and usually in the context of other social activities (parties, dancing, etc. ). In order to ensure that we only reported accurate CGMS data during these activities, capillary blood glucose calibration was considered vital and those patients who failed in this regard were excluded from analysis. Just over 60% of the patients recruited were able to successfully wear and calibrate a CGMS unit during these activities. Given that patients who experience hypoglycaemic symptoms are more likely to perform capillary self measures of blood glucose, we feel that it is unlikely that those patients excluded from the analysis had a greater frequency of hypoglycaemia than those patients reported. We were unable to record our subjects’ alcohol consumption in a contemporaneous fashion and hence were reliant upon their recall. It is possible that their remembered patterns of consumption were not entirely accurate. This potential inaccuracy should not be seen as a weakness of this study, as we only set out to determine patterns of glycaemia in adolescents engaging in spontaneous and uncontrolled alcohol consumption. We neither specified the type nor the amount of alcohol to be consumed (our ethical approval was contingent on this not occurring). The data as to amount of alcohol consumed have been included for descriptive purposes only. The results of this study show that alcohol consumption by adolescents in a social context is associated with a greater degree of glycaemic variation and less time spent with low glucose values than evenings where no alcohol is consumed. Whilst the second of these findings appears counter-intuitive, there may be several possible explanations. Firstly, the vast majority of our study group ate a meal prior to going out and ate upon their return before going to bed. These are practices that we have instilled as harm minimization strategies to avoid alcohol-induced hypoglycaemia in our clinic. Secondly, most of the alcohol consumed was as pre-mixed spirit and sweetened, carbonated beverages. Finally, alcohol consumption was only associated with vigorous exercise (dancing) in a minority of our study group. All of these factors could have combined to negate the hypoglycaemic effects of alcohol. In a previous study of glycaemia during alcohol consumption in adult men [5], hypoglycaemia occurred most often 10–12 h after wine consumption when the evening before ended at 23. 0 h. We analysed our data to see if a similar phenomenon occurred in this study and found that the per cent of time spent with CGMS readings 4 mmol/l between 06. 00 and 12. 00 h on the morning after the study period (i. e. the morning after the drinking night) was only 1. 1%. Notwithstanding the fact that our cohort frequently consumed alcohol later than 23. 00 h, the facto rs that impacted upon glycaemic control during the study night appear to have carried over to the ‘morning after’. The findings in this study highlight the importance of ambulant testing. It is important to note that the findings of the group studied here may not be seen in adolescents who drink non-sweetened alcoholic drinks or in those adolescents with better underlying metabolic control. Whilst alcohol consumption in isolation may reasonably be thought to cause hypoglycaemia, alcohol consumption by adolescents in the context of meals, sweetened mixers and little activity did not result in more hypoglycaemia than an alcohol-free evening. Whether the increase in glycaemic variation seen on an evening  © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833 Review article 833 of alcohol consumption has negative clinical outcomes remains an area for further investigation. Competing interests CMM was a Novo Nordisk research fellow. FJC received fees for speaking at conferences and funds for research from Novo Nordisk. References 1 Cameron F, Werther G. Adolescents with diabetes mellitus. In: Menon, RK, Sperling, MA, eds. Pediatric Diabetes. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003: 319–335. 2 Frey MA, Guthrie B, Lovelandcherry C, Park PS, Foster CM. Risky behaviours and risk in adolescents with IDDM. J Adol Health 1997; 20: 38–45. 3 Avogaro A, Beltramello P, Gnudi L, Maran A, Valerio A, Miola M et al. Alcohol intake impairs glucose counterregulation during acute insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in IDDM patients. Diabetes 1993; 42: 1626–1634. 4 Kerr D, Macdonald IA, Heller SR, Tattersal RB. Alcohol causes hypoglycaemic unawareness in healthy volunteers and patients with type 1 diabetes. Diabetologia 1990; 33: 216–221. 5 Turner BC, Jenkins E, Kerr D, Sherwin RS, Cavan DA. The effect of evening alcohol consumption on next morning glucose control in type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2001; 24: 1888–1893. 6 Koivisto VA, Tulokas S, Toivonen M, Haapa E, Pelkonen R. Alcohol with a meal has no adverse effects on postprandial glucose homeostasis in diabetic patients. Diabetes Care 1993; 16: 1612–1614. 7 National Health and Medical Research Council. Australian Alcohol Guidelines: Health Risks and Benefits. DS9. Available from: http://www7. health. gov. au/nhmrc/publications/synopses/ds9syn. htm. 8 McDonnell CM, Donath SM, Vidmar SI, Werther GA, Cameron FJ. A novel approach to continuous glucose analysis utilising glycaemic variation. Diab Tech Therap 2005; 7: 253–263. 9 StataCorp. Stata statistical software. Release 8. 0. College Station, TX: Stata Corporation, 2003. 10 Kyngas H, Hentinen M, Barlow JH. Adolescents perceptions of physicians, nurses, parents and friends: help or hindrance in compliance with diabetes self-care? J Adv Nurs 1998; 27: 760–769. 11 Patterson JM, Garwick AW. Coping with chronic illness. In: Werther, GA, Court, JM, eds. Diabetes and the Adolescent. Melbourne: Miranova Publishers 1998, 3–34.  © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation  © 2006 Diabetes UK. Diabetic Medicine, 23, 830–833

The History of the Human Management of Honey Bees

The History of the Human Management of Honey Bees The history of honey bees (or honeybees) and humans is a very old one. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are an insect that has not exactly been domesticated: but humans have learned how to manage them, by providing them with hives so we can more easily steal the honey and wax from them. That, according to research published in 2015, happened in Anatolia at least as long ago as 8,500 years. But physical changes to bees that are kept are negligible from those that are not kept, and there are no specific breeds of bees that you could reliably identify as domesticated versus wild. Three distinct genetic subspecies of honey bees have been identified, however, in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe. Harpur and colleagues identified evidence that Apis mellifera originated in Africa and colonized Europe at least twice, producing the genetically distinct Eastern and Western species. Surprisingly, unlike most domesticated species, managed bees have a higher genetic diversity than their progenitors. (See Harpur et al. 2012) Honey Bee Benefits We are fond of the stinging Apis mellifera, of course, for its liquid honey. Honey is one of the most energy-dense foods in nature, consisting of a concentrated source of fructose and glucose containing approximately 80-95% sugar. Honey contains trace amounts of several essential vitamins and minerals and also can be used as a preservative. Wild honey, that is to say, collected from wild bees, contains relatively higher levels of protein, because the honey contains more bee larva and larva parts than kept bees. Honey and bee larva together are excellent sources of energy fat and protein. Beeswax, the substance created by bees to encase their larvae in combs, was and is used for binding, sealing and waterproofing, and fuel in lamps or as candles. The 6th millennium BC Greek Neolithic site of Dikili Tash contained evidence for the use of beeswax as a binding agent. New Kingdom Egyptians used beeswax for medicinal purposes as well as embalming and mummy wrapping. Chinese Bronze Age cultures used it in the lost-wax technique as early as 500 BC, and as candles by the Warring States Period (375-221 BC). Early Use of Honey The earliest documented use of honey dates to at least the Upper Paleolithic, some 25,000 years ago. The dangerous business of collecting honey from wild bees was accomplished then as today, by using a variety of methods, including smoking the hives to reduce the response of the guard bees. Upper Paleolithic rock art from Spain, India, Australia, and southern Africa all illustrate collecting honey. Altamira cave, in Cantabria, Spain, includes depictions of honeycombs, dated approximately 25,000 years ago. The Mesolithic Cueva de la Araà ±a rock shelter, in Valencia Spain, contains depictions of honey collection, bee swarms, and men climbing ladders to get to the bees, at ~10,000 years ago. Some scholars believe that collecting honey is much earlier than that  since our immediate cousins the primates regularly collect honey on their own. Crittendon has suggested that Lower Paleolithic Oldowan stone tools (2.5 mya) could have been used to split open beehives, and theres no reason that a self-respecting Australopithecine or early Homo could not have done that. Neolithic Bee Exploitation in Turkey A recent study (Roffet-Salque et al. 2015) reported discovering beeswax lipid residues within cooking vessels throughout the prehistoric world from Denmark to North Africa. The earliest examples, say researchers, come from Catalhoyuk and Cayonu Tepesi in Turkey, both dated to the 7th millennium BC. Those come from bowls which also contained mammalian animal fat. Further evidence at Catalhoyuk is the discovery of a honeycomb-like pattern painted on the wall. Roffet-Salque and colleagues report that according to their evidence, the practice became widespread in Eurasia by 5,000 cal BC; and that the most abundant evidence for honeybee exploitation by early farmers comes from the Balkan peninsula. Beekeeping Evidence Until the discovery of Tel Rehov, evidence for ancient beekeeping, however, was restricted to texts and wall paintings (and of course ethnohistoric and oral history records, see Si 2013). Pinning down when beekeeping began is thus somewhat difficult. The earliest evidence of that is documents dated to the Bronze Age Mediterranean. Minoan documents written in  Linear B  describe major honey stores, and based on documentary evidence, most other Bronze Age states, including Egypt, Sumer, Assyria, Babylonia, and the  Hittite kingdom  all had beekeeping operations. Talmudic laws from 6th century BC describe the rules of harvesting honey on the Sabbath and where the proper place was to put your hives relative to human houses. Tel Rehov The oldest large production facility for producing honey identified to date is from Iron Age Tel Rehov, in the Jordan Valley of northern Israel. At this site, a large facility of unfired clay cylinders contained the remains of honey bee drones, workers, pupae, and larvae. This apiary included an estimated 100-200 hives. Each hive had a small hole on one side for the bees to enter and exit, and a lid on the opposite side for the beekeepers to access the honeycomb. The hives were located on a small courtyard that was part of a larger architectural complex, destroyed between ~826-970 BC (calibrated). About 30 hives have been excavated to date. Scholars believe the bees are the Anatolian honey bee (Apis mellifera  anatoliaca), based on morphometric analyses. Currently, this bee is not local to the region. Sources Bloch G,  Francoy  TM, Wachtel I, Panitz-Cohen N, Fuchs S, and Mazar A. 2010.  Industrial apiculture in the Jordan valley during Biblical times with Anatolian honey bees.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  107(25):11240-11244. Crittenden AN. 2011.  The Importance of Honey Consumption in Human Evolution.  Food and Foodways  19(4):257-273. Engel MS, Hinojosa-Dà ­az IA, and Rasnitsyn AP. 2009. A honey bee from the Miocene of Nevada and the biogeography of Apis (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apini).  Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences  60(1):23. Garibaldi LA, Steffan-Dewenter I, Winfree R, Aizen MA, Bommarco R, Cunningham SA, Kremen C, Carvalheiro LG, Harder LD, Afik O et al. 2013.  Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance.  Science  339(6127):1608-1611. doi: 10.1126/science.1230200 Harpur BA,  Minaei  S, Kent CF, and Zayed A. 2012.  Management increases genetic diversity of honey bees via admixture.  Molecular Ecology  21(18):4414-4421. Luo W, Li T, Wang C, and Huang F. 2012.  Discovery of Beeswax as​   Journal of Archaeological Science  39(5):1227-1237.binding agent on a 6th-century BC Chinese Turquoise-inlaid Bronze sword. Mazar A, Namdar D, Panitz-Cohen N, Neumann R, and Weiner S. 2008.  Iron Age beehives at Tel Rehov in the Jordan valley.  Antiquity  81(629–639). Oldroyd BP. 2012.  Domestication of honey bees was associated with   Molecular Ecology  21(18):4409-4411.expansion of genetic diversity. Rader R, Reilly J, Bartomeus I, and Winfree R. 2013.  Native bees buffer the negative impact of climate warming on honey bee pollination of watermelon crops.  Global Change Biology  19(10):3103-3110. doi: 10.1111/gcb.12264 Roffet-Salque, Mà ©lanie. Widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early Neolithic farmers. Nature volume 527, Martine Regert, Jamel Zoughlami, Nature, November 11, 2015. Si A. 2013.  Aspects of Honeybee Natural History According to the  Solega.  Ethnobiology Letters  4:78-86. doi: 10.14237/ebl.4.2013.78-86 Sowunmi MA. 1976.  The potential value of honey in  Ã‚  Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology  21(2):171-185.palaeopalynology  and archaeology.

America, Becoming A Country Through Invasions essays

America, Becoming A Country Through Invasions essays America, Becoming A Country Through Invasion Warpaths by Ian K. Steele, is the book I chose to read for my book report. Warpaths discusses the invasions of North America and the struggles that went on so that Europeans could gain control of the New Land. The book is broken into three main sections; Bases for Invasion, 1565-1684,Colonies and Tribes, 1687-1748, and finally Empires, Colonies, and Tribes, 1784-1765. In the course of my essay I will go through and discuss the strengths and weaknesses in each section. I will talk about the use of maps, illustrations and the references notes that are used through out the text. Ian K. Steele has the main objective in this book of creating a new image of how America was created. Steele takes an Ethno historic and military, perspective on the invasions of America. He presents a new and radical view of how things took place and the reasoning behind the events that took place. The lay out of the book is similar to that of a common textbook, which creates a strong structurally persuasive b ook. The multitude of sources used by Steele forms a feeling of security in the readers mind, as to the authenticity of his argument. Before even getting into Part 1 of the book, Steele, has a chapter on Arms in Arcadia, this chapter talks about the beginning of it all, he touches on Columbus, Cabot, and Cortezs roles in the new world. Also talking about the Countries that gave power to these mere men. Steele successfully creates and idea of what life was like for the early inhabitants of North America. Showing pictures of the distribution of tribes in and around the Florida area of America, and describing life styles, he creates an understanding for his readers. As Steele begins in Part 1, he speaks of the lifestyles that the Europeans have made for themselves in America by 1565. Clearly explaining the incorporation of natives styles o...

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Meursault in The Stranger by Albert Camus Essay Example for Free

Meursault in The Stranger by Albert Camus Essay Life is wonderful, but also hard. We struggle to find the meaning in our lives, but we can not accomplish it. There are many kinds of thoughts or philosophies of life; some think that life is already determined by God or destiny when they were born, while others think that they decide what they do by themselves. In the stranger, Albert Camus creates Meursault as a protagonist, who does not think about anything deeply. Because of that, he can not really enjoy his life. However, finally, he thinks about his life when he faces death; he truly realized how to face to the absurd world, and thus becomes Camus perfect existential hero. Meursault is indifferent, and he thinks he perfectly enjoys each moment; however, the reality is he just wastes time and does not even know that. Meursault thinks that emotion is ridiculous because people are controlled by it, and regret or feeling sorry is a waste of time. Thus, even when he faces his mothers death, he does not feel anything. He does not have interest in his mothers death, so he does not even know when his mother died. Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I dont know(3). Usually, ones mothers death significant and people think about their lives through her death. Even though it is not his, and he knows that he can not find it, he should think about what his life means from the relationship between death and life. However, it is possible that he does not care about it too much because he can not do anything in her death, but he does not care about his marriage, too. He has a girlfriend, named Marie, and when she asked him to get married with her, he was still indifferent, Then she pointed out that marriage was a serious thing. I said No'(42). He dos not know what is important in life. It is not because he has different sense of values but because he does not care about anything seriously. He has not had a big problem in his way, but his way to live is now problem. When he takes Arabs life away, he does not really realize what he did. Even when he was in the police station, he does not understand what he did, thus, c I was even going to shake his hand, but I remembered that I had killed a man(64). He treats everything as a fact, so he does not really have an  emotion. He thinks it is the way to enjoy his life, but it makes his life more meaningless. He does not think deeply. Also, he thinks death is death, so there is no future after death. Then, he shot the Arab four times more, but he does not know what it means, Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness(59). He does not feel good about shooting four more times, but it is not worth death at all. Taking human life is same as knocking the door of unhappiness for him; his way to live, which is without emotion makes his life horrible later, but at this time, he does not understand anything. Life without emotion is easy because an emotion does not make sense, so he can make sense with everything in his life. However, it also makes his life colorless. Because he is different from others, the society beats him; the world does not help him, so he now has to create meaning in his life by himself. When he is on trial, he testifies honestly because he always follows his heart and does what he wants; however, it does not fit the society, then people judge him from their subjective justice. @ @When he honestly testifies about why he killed Arab, people did not listen seriously, cI blurted out that it was because of the sun. People laughed(103). People do not understand him, and then they do not treat him as usual. They beat the stranger; there is nobody to help him. Moreover, they think they are right, so people rid from the society and make him look worse. The prosecutor does not want Meursault to live in the society, which the prosecutor lives and to have the same human heart. He stated that I had no place in a society whose most fundamental rules I ignored and that I could not appeal to the same human heart whose elementary response I knew nothing of(102). He denies Meursaults human right. He should be in trouble, but in the trial, there are only people who think they are normal and right, so they are the same as him. Thus, they do not notice that the prosecutor is wrong. Their personality is horrible because there is no exception. Meursault thinks about this judgment and the machinery of justice(108). It is exactly correct. They follow their own common sense, and treat him as a stranger. The consequence is a death penalty. However, ironically, this situation, which makes him face death and being aware that nobody helps him, makes him  think about his life and notice that he has to find it by himself. Right before his death, he realized the meaning in life. People do not know why they are living, but they laugh at him because they think he is stupid and better than him; however, ironically, he understands his life. When he accepts the absurd world, he can create meaning of his life; there is no future, so he has to think about every single moment carefully and enjoy it. Ironically, he does not have time any more. However, he thinks, I had been happy and that I was happy again(123). Actually, he enjoys his life because he did not know that he has lived indifferently. His life is hard for ordinary people to understand, but for him, it totally makes sense. Moreover, he understands everything now, so he feels happiness again. Also, he feels a sense of superiority because he knows that people who look down on him do not know. There are many thought about world, and he wants to see the absurd world, and show them his way to live, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate(123). He notices that nobody seriously cares about him, but still they come to his execution. Playing the game is ridiculous for him, but people can not live without it. Nobody really has a grudge against him, but they follow the others. Being apart from society is scary and alone, so usually people can not do that. He also feels that, so he wanted to die in the crowd. Also, he is proud of his life, so he wanted to show how he lived. Now, he really enjoys his life. The life is meaningless; he realizes it when he faces death. If people know that, they give up everything; however, for Meursault, everything makes sense. There is no clue in the world, so what he can do is creating the meaning by himself. Life is hard because nobody helps him, but he decides everything and what he does has meaning. He can enjoy his life fully, so his life is wonderful. He has to enjoy his life while he is living because there is nothing after death. There is no meaning in the world, so he creates it. Everything is to be happy.

Captivity Narratives - Our Nig and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

Captivity Narratives - Our Nig and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson  Ã‚   Our Nig; or Sketches from the life of a Free Black and   A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson   Harriet Wilson’s and Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narratives have three things in common.   First, they have a theme of sustaining faith in God throughout their trials.   Secondly, they portray their captors as savages.   Finally, they all demonstrate the isolation felt by the prisoner.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Our Nig: or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black by Harriet Wilson is the story of a Northern girl, born into an interracial family and later abandoned by her parents, forcing her to become the servant of the Bellmont Household. After Mary, Mrs. Bellmont’s daughter falls into a stream, Frado must endure a horrific beating by both women.   â€Å"No sooner was he out of sight than Mrs. B. and Mary commenced beating her unhumanly, then propping her mouth open with a piece of wood, shut her up in a dark room, without any supper.† (Wilson, 34-35).   Yet Frado is able to continually endure the wrath and violence of Mrs. Bellmont.   â€Å"But, Frado, if you will be a good girl, and love and serve God, it will be but a short time before we are in a heavenly home together.   There will never be any sickness or sorrow there.† (Wilson, 95). As she is continually tortured, Frado finds salvation through her faith, thus allowing her to survive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mary Rowlandson’s A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson displays this same theme as well.   The Narragansett Indians took Rowlandson and her children captive.   â€Å"All was gone, my Husband gone (at least separated from me, he being in the Bay, and to add to my grief, the Indians told me they ... ...ile Wilson’s novel exposed the savage treatment of â€Å"free† blacks in the North prior to the civil war. Works Cited American Authors. http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl311/aufram.html (October 28, 1999). Harriss, Sharon M. â€Å"Introduction to Mary Rowlandson.† The Heath Anthology of American   Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Lauter, Paul, Ed. 340-342. Rowlandson, Mary. â€Å"A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson."   The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. 343-366. Wilson, Harriet. Our Nig; or Sketches from the life of a Free Black. New York: Vintage Books,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1983.    "In [a captivity narrative] a single individual, usually a woman, stands passively under the strokes of evil, awaiting rescue by the grace of God.† – Richard Slotkin.     

Feminist Anthropology

Introduction In the center of the nineteenth century the theory of feminist anthropology emerged as a reaction to a perceived androcentric prejudice within the field of anthropology ( Lamphere 1996: 488 ) . Symbolic anthropology, on the other manus, emerged during the twentieth century and formed in response to the dissatisfaction with the theory of structural linguistics that was grounded in linguistics and semiologies ( Des Chene 1996:1275 ) . The purpose of this paper is to analyze the similarities and differences between the theories of feminist anthropology and symbolic anthropology in order to better understand the impact both motions had on the societal scientific disciplines. Both of these theories, although seemingly unrelated, portion a assortment of similarities that are at the nucleus of the paradigm displacement in anthropology that continues today. Further, an scrutiny of some of the cardinal figures in anthropology who influenced the outgrowth of these theoretical tendencies, will further clarify the principle for their development.OrAdditionally, an scrutiny of some of the cardinal figures in anthropology who influenced these paradigm ‘s will further light these th eories ‘ importance. Although this paper can non supply a complete analysis of what differs and remains the same between feminist and symbolic anthropology, we can make a better apprehension of the two theoretical schools of idea and the impact they had on the field of anthropology and societal scientific discipline as a whole. However, before comparing and contrasting the theories, it is indispensable to hold a basic apprehension of what each theory entails. Basic Dogmas of Feminist Anthropology In the history of anthropology, three different moving ridges of feminist anthropology occurred with varying focal points ( Gellner and Stockett, 2006 ) . These different moving ridges did non to the full occur in chronological order and there are convergences with some of the theories of each still relevant today. The first moving ridge occurred between 1850 and 1920, and had the primary end of including adult females ‘s voices into descriptive anthropology. At the clip, there was really small ethnographic informations refering adult females, and the informations that did be was mostly the studies of male sources talking for adult females and analyzed through male ethnographers ( Pine 1996: 253 ) . The focal point of the 2nd moving ridge, which occurred between 1920 and 1980 was an effort to divide the impressions of sex and gender. Until this point, the footings had been used interchangeably and the word â€Å" Gender † referred to both the constructs of male and female, the cultural building that created these two classs and the relationship between them. ( Pine 1996:253 ) . This was debatable since the definition of gender varies from civilization to civilization and can take to false apprehensions and the creative activity of cultural false beliefs in the field of anthropology . Further, during the 2nd moving ridge, feminist anthropologists pushed for a rejection of the bing dualities between work forces and adult females that were present in Western civilization, such as the thought that work forces should work while adult females stayed at place. During the 2nd moving ridge, mercenary research into the thoughts of societal dealingss about adult females, reproduction and their productive capablenesss in the work force became popular, particularly how these factors related to other societal factors such as societal category. Therefore, in the 2nd moving ridge, feminist anthropologists argued for a move off from the wide generalisations that had plagued the field of anthropology for coevalss ( Lamphere 1996:488 ) . This is linked to the single focal point put-forth by the interpretivist motion in anthropology during the 1950s. However, it differs because it makes connexions between adult females irrespective of what civilization they belong to. Contemporary women's rightist anthropologists make up the 3rd moving ridge of feminist anthropology, which started in the 1980s and continues throughout the new millenary. Feminist anthropologists of today, are no longer entirely focused on the gender dissymmetry but instead focal point on the differences that exist between classs such as category, race and ethnicity ( Geller and Stockett, 2006 ) . This modern-day focal point therefore examines the differences that exist between adult females with differing societal backgrounds, instead than concentrating on the difference between males and females ( McGee, Warms 1996: 392 ) . Contemporary women's rightist anthropology besides examines how these assorted societal factors interact, particularly in the con text of power, which is frequently used as the chief method of analysis. However, this method has resulted in a extremely disconnected theoretical attack, which uses combined pieces of assorted theories ( Geller and Stockett, 2006 ) . Cardinal Peoples in Feminist Anthropology One of the cardinal figures in the first moving ridge of feminist anthropology was Ruth Benedict ( 1887-1948 ) . Benedict was a pupil of Franz Boas, and one of the first female anthropologists, gaining her doctor's degree from Columbia University in 1923 ( Buckner 1997: 34 ) . Most of her work focused on Native Americans and other groups which led her to develop her â€Å" configurational attack † to civilization, which views cultural systems as working to prefer certain personality types among different societies ( Buckner 1997: 34 ) . Another cardinal figure who emerged in the 2nd moving ridge of feminist anthropology was Margaret Mead ( 1901-1978 ) another pupil of Franz Boas, who was friends with Ruth Benedict. Meads feminist work centered on the separating factors between sex and gender. Many of her theories were influenced by or borrowed from Gestalt psychological science, a subfield of psychological science which focused on analysing personality as an interconnected psy chological form alternatively of a aggregation of unrelated elements ( McGee, Warms 1996:202 ) Her work attempted to divide the biological factors from the cultural factors that influence human behaviour and personality development and helped to construct a model for the emerging subject of feminist anthropology. Additionally, her work analyzed the permeant sexual dissymmetry that existed in the ethnographic literature of anthropology during the clip. ( Levinson, Ember 1996:488 ) . Basic Dogmas of Interpretive Anthropology The intent of symbolic anthropology is to analyze the different ways that people understand their milieus, every bit good as the differing readings of those who act within them. Symbolic anthropologists believe that these readings can be combined to make a shared cultural system of significance, or shared apprehensions shared between members of the same civilization. However, it is understood that non all members of a civilization will hold the exact same beliefs ( Des Chene 1996:1274 ) . One of the chief focal points of symbolic anthropology is the survey of symbols and the assorted ways that symbols are created and have their significances assigned to them. Symbolic anthropologists believe that scrutiny of these symbols and the procedures that create them ( such as myth and faith ) will light the cardinal inquiries of human societal life shared by each civilization ( Spencer 1996:535 ) . Therefore, symbolic anthropologists view civilization as an independent system of intending tha t can be deciphered by construing cardinal symbols and rites that create it ( Spencer 1996:535 ) . Overall, there are two cardinal premises in symbolic anthropology. The first of these premises provinces that the beliefs of a certain group of people, nevertheless unintelligible they may look, can ever be understood when they are examined as portion of an bing cultural system of significance ( Des Chene 1996:1274 ) . The 2nd premiss provinces that the actions of a specific group of people are guided by the reading of these symbols. These two premises allows for symbolic anthropologists to use symbolism to construe both ideal and material activities of a specific group of people. Frequently, the focal point of symbolic anthropology will be on faith, cosmology, ritual activity, and expressive imposts such as mythology and the acting humanistic disciplines ( Des Chene 1996:1274 ) . However, symbolic anthropologists besides study other signifiers of societal organisation such as affinity and political organisation, which allows research workers to analyze the function that these symbols play in the mundane life of people from different civilizations. ( Des Chene 1996:1274 ) . Cardinal Peoples in Interpretive Anthropology Overall, the field of symbolic anthropology can be divided into two major attacks, each associated with one of the cardinal figures of the theory. The first attack is associated with Clifford Geertz and the University of Chicago and the other with Victor W. Turner at Cornell University. Geertz ‘s place illustrates the interpretative attack to symbolic anthropology, while Turner ‘s illustrates the symbolic attack. Clifford Geertz ( 1926-2006 ) studied at Harvard University in the 1950s and was strongly influenced by the Hagiographas of philosophers such as Langer, Ryle, and Weber. ( Handler 1991 ; Tongs 1993 ) Geertz was influenced mostly by the sociologist Max Weber, finally utilizing different facets of their thought as cardinal elements in his theory of interpretative anthropology, and was more interested in the operations of â€Å" civilization † than the assorted ways that symbols interact within the societal procedure. In his digest of essays entitled â€Å" The Interpretation of Cultures † ( 1973c ) , Geertz argued that an analysis of civilization should â€Å" non [ be ] an experimental scientific discipline in hunt of jurisprudence but an interpretative 1 in hunt of significance † ( Geertz 1973d:5 ) . Further, Geertz believed that civilization was a societal phenomenon and a shared system of intersubjective symbols and significances ( Parker 1985 ) .` This can be seen in his ain definition of civilization, which was â€Å" an historically familial form of significances embodied in symbols, a system of familial constructs expressed in symbolic signifiers by agencies of which work forces communicate, perpetuate, and develop their cognition about and their attitudes toward life † ( Geertz 1973e:89 ) . Geertz ‘s symbolic anthropology focused on the different ways in which symbols operate within a specific civilization, particularly how persons â€Å" see, experience, and think about the universe † ( Ortner 1983:129-131 ) . He believed that civilization is expressed through the external symbols utilized by society and is non merely stored inside the heads of members of that society. Geertz, argued that adult male utilized the symbolic as â€Å" beginnings of light † in order to point himself in his ain system of significance ( Geertz 1973a:45 ) . Therefore, societies use their symbols to show their ain alone â€Å"worldview, value-orientation, ethos, [ and other facets of their civilization ] † ( Ortner 1983:129 ) . Symbols could be seen as â€Å" vehicles of ‘culture † who ‘s intending should non be studied in and of themselves, but alternatively should be studied for what they can uncover about a peculiar civilization. Geertz argued that these cultural symbols shaped the ways that societal histrions see, experience, and think about the universe ( Ortner 1983:129 ) . Victor Witter Turner ( 1920-1983 ) was the leader of the other subdivision of symbolic anthropology ( Turner 1980:143 ) . Born in Scotland, Turner was influenced by the structural-functionalist attack of British societal anthropology that had been outstanding during the clip. In peculiar, Turner was influenced by Emile Durkheim, which shaped his version of symbolic anthropology to concentrate more on the operations of â€Å" society â €  and the ways in which different symbols operate within it. ( Ortner 1983:128-129 ) . Turner, like old British anthropologists, was interested in look intoing whether symbols really functioned within the societal procedure the manner current symbolic anthropologists believed they did. Thus, Turner ‘s attack to symbols was highly different than that of his modern-day, Clifford Geertz. Alternatively of being interested in symbols as vehicles of â€Å" civilization † as Geertz was, Turner believed that symbols functioned as â€Å" operators in the societal procedure † ( Ortner 1983:131 ) and that â€Å" the symbolic look of shared significances † , non the attractive force of stuff involvements, prevarication at the centre of human relationships † ( Maning 1984:20 ) . Turner believed that symbols â€Å" instigate societal action † and exercise â€Å" determinable influences tending individuals and groups to action † ( Turner 1967:36 ) and felt that these â€Å" operators, † if placed in a certain agreement and context, would bring forth â€Å" societal transmutations † which both act to maintain the people in a society tied to the society ‘s specific societal norms every bit good as decide societal struggle and assistance in altering the societal position of the histrions involved ( Ortner 1983:131 ) . Theoretical Similarities There are several theoretical similarities between feminist and symbolic anthropology. Both Fieldss recognize the dynamic nature of societal systems. Like symbolic anthropology which views civilization in footings of symbols and mental footings, accounting for its transient and altering nature, 2nd wave feminist anthropologists rejected Durkheim’s impression of a inactive system composed of built-in dualities, and sought to demo that the societal systems are dynamic. Further, both women's rightist and symbolic anthropology believe in â€Å" actor-centric † actions, intending that actions are non separate from societal histrions but a portion of their societal model. ( Ortner 1983:136 ) . Another cardinal similarity is the focal points shared by both women's rightist and symbolic anthropology. Focus on individuality and difference is a cardinal focal point of both feminist anthropology and symbolic anthropology. This means that there is a focal point on societal classs such as age, business, faith, position, and so on. Power is besides an of import constituent of analysis for feminist anthropology, since the building and passage of individuality occurs through discourses and actions that are structured by contexts of power ( Gellner and Stockett, 2006 ) . However, this besides fits in with Turner ‘s analysis of symbols and societal action. Further, both theories challenge the construct of normality and catholicity that many old anthropological theories supported. The rejection of normality and cosmopolitan truths, every bit good as the thought that anthropology must non merely analyze on a cultural degree, but besides on an single degree, is cardinal to symbolic anthropology. This thought is chiefly seen in feminist anthropology through the thought that male point of view differs well from the female point of view, and that both must be accounted for. The rejection of normality is farther seen in feminist anthropology through fagot theory, which is the most recent reaction against the impression of â€Å"normalcy† Queer theory challenges the construct of heteronormativity, or the premise that heterosexualism and the ensuing societal establishments are the normative socio-sexual constructions in all societies ( Gellner and Stockett, 2006 ) . The theory argues that gender is non a portion of the indispensable ego and is alternatively based upon the socially constructed nature of sexual Acts of the Apostless and individualities, which consist of many varied constituents ( Warner, 1993 ; Barry, 2002 ) . Therefore, like symbolic anthropology, feminist anthropology relies to a great extent on the construct of cultural constructivism. Arguing different positions Due to cultural growing and intervention of Man and Women. The most obvious similarity between the theories is that both were a response to old anthropological theories. The symbolic and interpretative theory was a reactions to structuralism that was grounded in linguistics and semiologies and pioneered by L? vi-Strauss ( Des Chene 1996:1275 ) . The subfield of Feminist Anthropology emerged as a reaction to a perceived androcentric prejudice within the subject ( Lamphere 1996: Additionally, another cardinal similarity between the theories is that they have non been discredited position in the modern societal scientific disciplines? ? Theoretical Differences One of the chief differences between the two anthropological attacks is the catholicity found in feminist anthropology. Although the construct of catholicity is under scrutiny today, early women's rightist anthropologists believed that there was a cosmopolitan subordination of adult females to work forces, in all civilizations around the Earth. Therefore, one of the chief constituents of feminist anthropology was to seek for cosmopolitan accounts for female subordination and gender inequality. However, the thought that all adult females suffer the same subjugation merely because they are adult females does non suit within the symbolic and interpretivist model. Symbolic anthropologists argue that these historically specific Western premises about the societal differences between work forces and adult females can non be decently applied to non-Western societies ( Spencer 1996:538 ) . Another of import difference between feminist and symbolic anthropology is that feminist anthropology c hiefly focuses on the constructs of gender and gender, while symbolic anthropology examines all societal facets. Varies from civilization to civilization Muslim adult females viewed as opressed, but they view forced sexualization as opression Decision

The Notion of Prophethood in Islam

Only when times are at their most turbulent, when the people of Earth reach a point of living that is considered to be sinful and discordant, is there a need for a change or reform back to a virtuous lifestyle. It is evidenced in the thoughts and traditions of many different faiths of the world that this change, this revolution as it may also be referred to, is brought about by a message. Of course, a message, especially one that is meant to bring about reform and revolution, will not be heard without scrutiny on the deliverer of the message, the messenger. In the monotheistic religions of the world, Islam in particular, emphasis is placed on these messengers as bringers of truth in times of untruth or darkness, a divinely inspired human who acts as an intermediary between God and the people to whom the message is brought. Such messengers are called Prophets. This piece will discuss the notion of Prophethood in Islam, what it means to be a Prophet, and the similar traits amongst the circumstances of the Prophets. Islam places an importance of the highest degree on the monotheistic message it delivers, that there is only one God and no other. Thus, special emphasis is placed on the ones to deliver this message, the Prophets. However, for a person to be considered a Prophet in Islam, there are certain stipulations that they have to meet. The notion of a Prophet is generally a divinely inspired human who acts as an intermediary between God and other people, but more to it is that each and every Prophet receives their message directly from God and not from other people, not even from other Prophets. However, despite not learning of the message from other Prophets, the message being delivered is the same between each and every Prophet. This ensures the authenticity of the message that each Prophet receives and clearly displays the link between the Prophet and God to the recipients of the message. However, there is even further divergence underneath the title of Prophet. In Islam, there are generally two degrees of Prophethood, Nabi, and Rasul. The difference between a Nabi and a Rasul is mainly that a Rasul not only receives message from God, but is charged to propagate it. A Rasul may also be a Prophet that brings God’s scripture and they are to restore Divine Law or Sharia as well. A Nabi on the other hand is a human who brings news of the message, but the message that each brings is not necessarily universal. Both a Nabi and a Rasul has to be a pure and worthy person in order to hear God’s message, thus it can be observed that each and every Prophet is a Nabi by default, where a Rasul is a Prophet of more responsibility than that of a Nabi. Thus, it easily observable that all Prophets have similarities, but there are a few that stand out amongst others. Of the 25 Prophets mentioned in the Qur’an, there are 5 major Prophets that stand out amongst others. These Prophets are the Prophet Noah (AS), the Prophet Abraham (AS), the Prophet Moses (AS), the Prophet Jesus (AS), and the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS). While their names appear in several passages in the Qur’an, there is a particular passage that mentions all of them: He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah [AS] and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad (SAWS)], and what We enjoined upon Abraham [AS] and Moses [AS] and Jesus [AS] – to establish the religion and not be divided therein†¦ The Holy Qur’an, Translated by Sahih International, 42:13 This verse addresses the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) in particular. It equates the message that was brought to the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) to the messages that were brought to the Prophets Noah (AS), Abraham (AS), Moses (AS) and Jesus (AS), establishing that the religion each Prophet was trying to propagate was the same for all of them: Islam. For example, the message that the Prophet Jesus (AS) had brought were brought to a people that had lost their way, but that message was not entirely original either, having been expressed before in some form. It was also said that Jesus (AS) did not so much preach a message as he was a message. In a similar manner, the conducts of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) were said to contain a message themselves: There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah [SWT] an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah [SWT] and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah [SWT] often. The Holy Qur’an, Translated by Sahih International, 33:21 This verse advises those who believe in Allah (SWT) of the patterns or the lifestyle of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and the message that can be found herein. It can therefore be observed that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) would be the next in line as an Abrahamic Prophet due to his similarities to the Prophet Jesus (AS). However, despite the numerous similarities between the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and the Prophets that were his predecessors, there is one fact that sets him apart from the others, and that is that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) is consider ed to be the Khatam al-Anbiya, or the Seal of the Prophets. In the Holy Qur’an, it states the following: â€Å"Muhammad [SAWS] is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah [SWT] and last of the prophets. And ever is Allah [SWT], of all things, Knowing† (The Holy Qur’an, 33:40). It is well known that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) did not leave any surviving male heirs, his three sons with Khadija (RA) as well his son with Mariya (RA) having passed away young, and his four daughters also having passed away in infancy (Textual Sources for the Study of Islam, p47). The verse relates that fact by acknowledging that there could be no direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS), thus no one could claim to be a Prophet by claiming to be descended from him. Even more so, the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) described his own status as the Seal of the Prophets: My likeness among all the Prophets is like the likeness of a man building a house. He is proficient at it, he does it well, and he leaves a single brick out. Then the people begin to go around the building, marvelling at it, and say: â€Å"It would be complete if not for this brick†. Indeed, in the building, I am the place for that brick. Textual Sources for the Study of Islam, p48 This quote puts forth more inclinations that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) was not only another Abrahamic Prophet (the other two being Prophet Jesus (AS) and Prophet Moses (AS)), but the final Prophet after whom there would be no other. Thus, the notion of Prophethood in Islam is clearly defined and differentiated, with all Prophets being a Nabi and a select few being a Rasul. The Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) has also been clearly established as an Abrahamic Prophet and the Seal of the Prophets in the Qur’an.