Selection Of A Pressure Vessel Manufacturer Essay

Selection Of A Pressure Vessel Manufacturer - Essay Example Further more the visit was to check the offer made in the proposals. This means that if Atomic products or Nuclear vessels quoted price x, is that what it is going to be at the end, why is the price x, is there better Quality because of higher price, are they offering something more because of the price and so on. In short , discover the story behind the story. Furthermore in terms of feasibility both were relatively feasible. Atomic products had a fixed price which was lesser to Nuclear vessels. However Nuclear vessels because of their variable cost they could end up to be cheaper then Atomic products. Further feasibility factors are discussed later in the answer. The second factor was to weigh the pros and cons of the two short listed suppliers. Even though this is discussed in detail in answer 3 and four, but in essence the discovery was that both of them were in comparison better in one field and relatively worse of in the other field. The fourth factor was to discover the story behind the story. In essence they did discover the story behind the story. The detailed answer is in question 4, but the summary of it would be that in nature, motivation and cooperation which play an essential part in any company even though on paper (proposal) one seems to be better. Furthermore a product is not good if it is cheap and of bad quality. Likewise guarantee is no good if the product does not meet specifications. In the end one ends up with no product with a period of time lost. The fifth factor was to evaluate whether the vision of Oceanics Company would materialize if the task was given to Atomic products or Nuclear vessels. This factor would be highly dependent on the perception of the Oceanics representative. As the case speaks that after the proposal and after the two visits Jack Tooles, the representative of Oceanics Company was in split between the two companies. Therefore the vision that Oceanics Company has, is applicable to both companies. Hence this completes the evaluation for both companies. 3. Based on the face value of the written proposals, which company appeared to submit the better offer which is better Proposal Point ATOMIC PRODUCTS NUCLEAR VESSELS Price.(estimated costs) x Price.(variable costs) Hence resultant lower costs x Shop facilities x x Past experience x Need for Subcontracting x Organization. x x Delivery. x x Guarantee x As the summary shows

The awareness of the physical abuse of the elderly in living Research Proposal

The awareness of the physical abuse of the elderly in living facilities - Research Proposal Example The proposed report posits using quantitative survey research in a fixed design, which will bring new dimensions to the general discussion of preventing elder abuse. The awareness of the physical abuse of the elderly in living facilities is an important issue today, and is the subject of the proposed report. Abuse and neglect are too often visited upon older individuals who have lost some degree of their independence, and many areas do not have the programs necessary to effectively counter this threat. There is even abuse and neglect that goes on with healthcare facilities, and this is perhaps the most insidious sort of abuse. In some cultures, the elderly are prized and honored above all other citizens and groups, but unfortunately this is not the case in the present culture. Older individuals are more likely to be seen as being in the way of the young than as role models who should be exalted because of their aged wisdom. Presently, however, many individuals are treated harshly by healthcare facilities and even their own kin, making elder abuse a significant problem in society. Also, in terms of economic scales, older individuals who are of a lower socio-economic class are more likely to be abused or mistreated. These people may lack a stable caregiver. The proposed report will look into all aspects of abuse, including verbal, sexual, emotional, and financial abuse of the elderly; however, physical abuse is the main consideration that the proposed report will focus upon. â€Å"Physical abuse is generally considered the most extreme form of elder maltreatment. Such physical abuse includes slapping, blunt force trauma, bites, pinching, traumatic alopecia, burns and scalds, force feeding, overmedication, undermedication, and improper medication, and improper use of physical restraints. Physical abuse accounts for up to 14% of all elder trauma and

Battle of Algiers Essay Example for Free

Battle of Algiers Essay One of the problems that continue to be a part of our modern society is the act of terrorism, which has played a major role in our modern warfare that continues to exist in the Middle Eastern regions. It is sadly a successful instrument that has been exploited by many terrorist groups through the fierce history of mankind. This method has often been approached when confronted by immeasurable odds and crushing military force that cannot be overcome by conventional methods. This act of Guerilla warfare has been witnessed before in countries such as Vietnam, Laos and in recent days Afghanistan and Iraq. The ideology behind Guerilla warfare is not only an act of retribution against the enemy forces but also an act, which the radical groups anticipate will persuade others to fall in line with their belief. In the movie, The Battle of Algiers, the same message is being persuaded by the FLN, when they rise up to go to war against the French army. The filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo captures their act of retribution against the French colonizer with such scenes as, â€Å"the drive by shooting of French citizens in an ambulance† or the suicide bombings at different locations crowded with French citizens. These scenes convey a message, which is rarely shown in modern films today, as the scenes not only create a positive attitude towards the act of vengeance but also makes it seem acceptable to take the lives of innocent individuals in order to gain the freedom of your nation and your people. Nevertheless, Stone in his article of Reel Terrorism portrays these acts quite differently as he envisions them from the viewpoint of an Islamic retribution rather than a revolution of freedom through war. In his article, Stone continues to portray an image of Islam being at the center of the film, which in my opinion is absolutely incorrect, as it not only takes away the freedom that these men and women fought for but also creates the central idea that the only reason the people of Algiers rose against the colonists is not because of oppression but rather because they wanted to bring back Islamic principles in order to purify their nation, which had been tainted by Western influence. In my opinion Stone focuses more on the metaphors that he himself creates from the movie, which seem to be greatly influenced from what the western media has portrayed the Middle Eastern freedom fighter to be in this modern warfare. Stone also continues to use this characterization of Islam within the movie in relationship to the ongoing war between America and terrorism. In the article, he mentions that it seemed reasonable to invade Afghanistan that was ruled by the Taliban, who are cruel to women, sheltered Bin Laden, and hated Americans. This quotation by Stone not only approves the act of vengeance, which he himself finds to be inappropriate within the movie but also makes it seem reasonable for Americans to become the colonizer within Afghanistan and to change their religious faith to be more acceptable in society. Nevertheless, Stones usage of characterization of Islam within the movie takes away the message that Pontecorvo was trying to portray in his movie, which was to show the audience the stand that people have to take against the colonizer in order to preserve their cultural heritage from becoming extinct.

CRM Prediction and CRM Validation Approaches

CRM Prediction and CRM Validation Approaches Since CRM is underlying the regulation of gene expression in tissue-specific manner, understanding the characteristics of CRMs is helpful to determine the potential CRM candidates for further applications such as tissue-specific gene therapy. As previously discussed the influential parameters to CRM activity include the types and arrangement of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) and epigenetic modification pattern[121, 124]. Therefore, these factors are taken into account for prediction of promising CRMs. Transcription factor binding sites are described as short DNA regions (6 to 10 bp in length) which are recognized and bound by various transcription factors[149]. One CRM can contain many TFBSs depended on its functionality[150]. Several experimental studies have been performed in order to map the TFBSs in DNA genome. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay is a common method to identify the TFBSs in protein-bound DNA complexes in the solution[151, 152]. In addition, DNase footprinting, which relies on the digestion of exposed DNA region where it is not protected by target proteins, has also been used[153, 154]. The difference between these techniques is mainly involving resolution of transcription factor binding sites[155, 156]. To derive the TFBS motifs from raw data, these DNA sequences are used as the input to compute the similarity and the potential motifs are generated. To apply the information of transcription factor binding sites motifs on CRM prediction, it is relatively simple as this method requires solely genomic DNA sequences. The predicted motifs are mapped to the original genome and prospective CRMs containing clusters of TFBSs are identified[124, 157]. Due to the enormous spread of motifs in large genome, a lot of DNA regions showing the potency of being CRMs are indicated; however, only few DNA sequences are actually occupied by the target transcription factors[158]. In the erythroid cells of mouse genome showed approximately 8 million hits of GATA-binding factor1 (GATA1) binding site motifs, but only 15360 motifs were bound by GATA1 and all of bound motifs bore H3K4 monomethylation[159]. Indeed, relying on merely TFBS motifs is not sufficient to obtain the significant CRMs. The study on smaller-size genomes is one alternative to improve the quality of CRM prediction.[157] Another approach to determine the potential CRMs is the use of conservation of non-coding DNA among several species. The assumption is that the DNA sequences associate with gene expression are highly conserved in comparison to non-essential DNA after evolving through the purifying selection over time [157]. This method is not depended on the information on TFBS so that it offers another solution to prediction of CRMs in case tissue-specific enhancers have not been widely studied. At initial study about the DNA sequence alignment of more than 100 bp-long DNA between human and mouse, with the minimal conservation of 70%, was conducted and potential enhancers for certain genes such as interleukin-4, interleukin-13 and interleukin-5 were identified[160]. Later on this approach shows the promising results due to high validation rates in transgenic mouse embryo by using rigorous conservation constrain[160-163]. The conservation-based prediction is also applicable to discover novel TFBSs wh ere the information is not extensively elaborated. With the DNA sequence alignment between orthologous species, the short DNA sequences conserved in many species, namely phylogenetic footprints, could be the possible binding sites for transcription factors [164, 165], and mutations of the conserved boxes can lead to the reduction of gene expression as in the example of altered effect of variant E box on ÃŽ µ-globin reporter gene induction[166]. As the approach is mainly related to the evolutionary constrain among species it means that the use of this method may overlook the potential CRMs which are lately developed and the TFBS pattern cannot be aligned to the former population[157]. For example, in the ChIP-seq study the GHP68 enhancer, located at intragenic region of mouse abhydrolase domain containing2 (Abhd2) gene, does not contain the footprint of GATA-binding factor1 (GATA1) motif which is commonly found in Abhd2 genes of other non-primate species[167]. Indeed, the GHP68 enhan cer in primate genome possesses the unique protein binding pattern[157]. Another consideration on conservation-based prediction is that even though the conservation level of selected CRMs is extremely high among orthologous species, the actual activities of CRMs possibly vary from species to species in nature[168]. Due to the limitations of previous approaches regarding false positive prediction by highly redundant presence of TFBS motifs in large genome[158], as well as lineage-specific evolution of certain CRMs in different organisms[157], epigenetic regulation is considered the promising parameter of CRM prediction as a result of the strong correlation between hypersensitivity to DNA treatment/histone modification and enhancer activity[169-171]. Many CRMs have been found to localize at genome region where the response to DNase activity is very sensitive[153, 172]. In addition biochemical patterns of modification at enhancer are showed including histone acetylation[169], high H3K4me1 as well as low H3K4me3 modification[170], and occupancy of histone acetyltransferase p300[171, 173]. For active promoter, in contrast to usual enhancers, the major characteristic is the presence of nucleosome-free and high level of H3K3me3 modification[174, 175]. By using the reference genome database containing epigenetic as well as DNase hypersensitivity regions, where the information is obtained from ChIP seq [176], and DNase seq experiments, the substantial rate of validation of selected CRMs from 43 to 100% in many study models[169-171, 176, 177] indicates the robustness of the epigenetic-based approach. The idea is this method is optimized that the predicted conditions is not too stringent as evolutionary conservation method and the number of output is not too enormous as TFBS-based prediction[157]. Still, some potential CRMs can be overlooked using biochemical features[173, 178]. For instance, the study of heart enhancer identification showed that three different predictions yielded various amount of outputs. The possible CRMs were hardly obtained through comparative genomic DNA alignment while the use of p300 occupancy to identify the potential sequences gave rise to 130 output sequences with 75% validation rate[173]. In another TFBS-based study in heart by Narlikar and colleagues, the classifier, where its database relied on predicted and validated TFBS, was generated to select the putative CRMs from the non-functional DNA[178]. This prediction allowed them to distinguish 40,000 CRMs from genome and the validation rate was relatively considerable in comparison to the epigenetic approach[178]. This suggests the need of additional further study on biochemical pattern prediction to cover the missing CRMs. Using experimental and computational study, scientists are able to collect the extensive information about TFBSs, epigenetic modification and conservation of DNA among species. This data has been widely deposited in many open-access database websites, which become the significant information resources for further CRM identification[179]. The Ensembl Regulatory Build is recently developed to integrate the previous discovery of epigenetic marks and occupancy of transcription factors from different projects and build the better-defined regulatory regions in human genome[180]. Another commonly used database website is the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome Browser Database, which provide all aspects of information for CRM prediction including experimental (DNase hypersensitivity clusters, epigenetic marks of histone proteins, and binding of transcription factors from ChIP seq) as well as computational (conservation level among vertebrates from DNA sequence alignment) study [181]. This aids the feasibility of enhancer prediction since the use combinatorial information would suggest more significant CRM outputs with higher validation rate[182-184]. For example, the sophisticated protocol designed by Nair and team to identify the liver-specific CRM was derived from the integration of experimental study from UCSC genome browser and the putative TFBS motifs from computational analysis[182]. To obtain predicted liver-specific TFBS motifs, the presumptive promoters, which are 1000-bp DNA sequences located upstream of transcription start sites, from highly-expressed genes were initially compared to ones from low-expressed genes in the liver, followed by computing the potential TFBS motifs which are likely to associate with liver-targeted gene induction based on distance difference matrix (DDM) and multidimensional scaling (MDS)[182, 185]. The DDM was primarily used to identify the difference between two protein structures by calculating the distance differenc e values from low distance matrices[186]. Ultimately the predicted TFBS motifs were mapped to the corresponding DNA sequences of liver-specific genes in UCSC genome browser where the experimental data of such genes was previously described[182]. The ideal CRMs were expected to show the coexistence of predicted motifs together with dense DNase clusters, high conservation level in vertebrates, and explicit histone modification patterns. In addition, the putative motifs should be consistent to the transcription factor lists from ChIP-seq experiment. The promising liver-specific transcriptional module from prediction was further validated and showed the remarkable activity to up-regulate hFIX expression up to 15 fold compared to control, reflecting the robustness of the prediction method[182]. The same approach has also been applied to design the CRMs targeting other target cells such as cardiomyocytes, and the 10-fold augmented expression of cardiac genes was noted upon validation in m ouse model[183]. Taken together, this suggests the increased power of using multiple parameters to determine transcriptional modules, and the combined data provided in UCSC genome browser is valid; the integrated data is nicely standardized so that the summary of information is reliable. However, the feasibility of combinatorial approach, relying on both computational data and previous experimental study, is the major concern due to the requirement of strong expertise on bioinformatics knowledge for computation of TFBS motifs. One possible alternative to circumvent this limitation would be the direct use of available information on UCSC Genome Browser for CRM selection by taking associated determinants (DNase hypersensitivity, transcription factor binding, histone modification, and conservation level among vertebrate) into consideration. There are several validation assays that have been performed to investigate the potency of CRMs to enhance gene expression. In general, the plasmids containing minimal core promoters and reporter genes such as lacZ, encoding ÃŽ ²-galactosidase, luciferase, and green fluorescence protein (GFP), are the backbone constructs, and the predicted CRM are cloned into certain position based on the validation methods[149]. Usually CRM sequences are inserted at the upstream of the promoters and the increased strength of overall construct expression is assessed after transfection or integration of plasmids[187-196]. In order to develop the downstream process to identify the target cells where CRMs are active, the use of heterologous barcode has been done so that the number of CRM high-throughput screening is up to hundreds or thousands [191-194, 196]. In some studies, the need of barcode is eliminated by targeting at enhancers directly, and the method is called self-transcribing active regulator y region sequencing (STARR-seq) [197]. Both transgenic animal embryos and specific cell lines [187-191, 193-196] are commonly used to study CRM activity. For example, transgenic mouse or fly (D.melanogaster) containing putative CRMs as well as reporter genes are initially generated, and the development of reporter gene signals later observed at the certain parts of embryos is identified depended on tissue specificity of CRMs[198]. To improve time and cost-effectiveness of the current approach, Gisselbrecht and colleagues developed the technique called enhancer-FACS-Seq (eFS), which makes use of the distribution of GFP signaling based on the tissue-specific CRM enhancement, to sort out the GFP-positive cells from the negative population using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)[190]. Validation of the effect of CRMs on gene expression has also been reported in animal models and the delivery methods of CRMs are adjusted to be tissue-specific. AAV is the example of tissue-target ed delivery system since its tropism is relied on the serotype[182-184]. The use of AAV vectors to carry the predicted CRMs to the specific organs has been done in heart and liver enhancers by using AAV9, and the follow-up process was achieved through the reporter hFIX protein expression in the blood. In murine models, to reduce the cost of virus production, HD injection of plasmids containing CRMs in mice can be primarily done for initial screening[182]. This method is distinctive since the model simulates the actual situation of CRM activity in animal body for gene therapy application[182-184]. In addition, another advantage of using this approach is the longevity and the expression level can be observed continuously for long-term study as the mouse sacrifice is not required. Biology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one type of liver cancers which is highly prevalent in many regions such as East Asia, Africa, and United State[199]. Even though the incidence of HCC ranks the sixth in comparison to other cancers the rate of mortality is relatively high[200]. There are several etiological factors describing HCC development including Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HBC) infection, aflatoxin-directed induction, alcohol consumption, accumulation of fat in the liver resulting in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), sex-related influence, unbalance of microbes in gastrointestinal tract, and type II diabetes[201]. Each factor has specific mechanism to cause HCC, but in general most of factors ultimately lead to liver cirrhosis formation and subsequently HCC[202]. A number of staging system to classify HCC disease development stage have been designed for diagnosis; however, the gold-standard for staging remains challenging due to heterogeneity of HCC population[203]. To study the molecular mechanism underlying HCC development, copy number genomic[204-206], exomic[207, 208], whole-genome sequencing[209, 210], and transcriptomic[211, 212] studies have been conducted in liver cancer tissues. In copy number alteration analysis, both deletion (i.e. TNFAIP3, CDKN2C, WRN, PTEN, BRCA2) and duplication (MDM4, BCL9, ARNT, MET) of specific genes are found in HCC genomes[213]. Exome and whole-genome sequencing in HCC allow detailed investigation of genome structures at the levels of mutation in both coding and non-coding regions[213, 214]. For example, mutation of NFE2L2-KEAP1 and MLL genes were identified from 87 cases with HCC development using exomic approach[214]. Transcriptomic study gives another insight into HCC regarding the change of expression profiling compared to normal hepatocytes. Using in combination with whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome revealed the RNA editing mechanism implicating in up-regulation of gene expression in cancer developm ent[215, 216]. Taken together, the aberrant genes found in HCC are mapped to cellular pathways to explain the molecular mechanisms underlying disease development. The pathways which are postulated as the keys for hepatocarcinogenesis include cell cycle regulation (i.e RB[217], CDKN2A[218]), WNT pathway (i.e. APC[219], AXIN1[220, 221]), chromatin remodeling (i.e. ARID2[208, 210], MLL[222]), tyrosine kinase signaling (i.e. SOCS-1[223], IGF[224]), and NOTCH[225, 226] pathways. Apart from structural genes, miRNAs, small non-coding RNAs which control gene expression at post-transcriptional level through hybridization with the mRNA templates and subsequently leading to translation inhibition or RNA degradation[227], are implicated in HCC progression due to the evidences on differential miRNA expression between HCC and normal hepatocytes[228, 229]. In general, miR-92, miR-18 and miR-20 are significant in HCC stage progression[229]. Some altered miRNA expression is associated with etiological factors. For[MC1] instance, there is correlation between miR-126 down regulation and alcohol consumption[230]. The functions of miRNA in HCC pathogenesis are divided into two groups; oncogenic miRNAs and tumor-suppressor miRNAs. For oncogenenic miRNAs, three miRNAs including miR-221, miR-224 and miR-21 have been showed to enhance hepatocarcinogenesis. The miR-221 plays role in cancer invasion using two mechanisms; increasing cell proliferation targeting CDKN1B/p27 expressi on[231], and enhancing cell migration through AKT signaling[232]. The invasion of HCC is also supported by miR-224, but its mechanism of action is involved with homeobox D10 downregulation and induction of inflammatory pathway[233]. Another oncogenic miRNA miR-21 is reported to suppress expression of program cell death 4 (PCD4) [234, 235]protein which functions as tumor suppressor protein, and to increases cell proliferation through the regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase-kinase 3 (MAP2K3) activity[236]. Apart from individual miRNAs, certain clusters of miRNA have been identified to contribute to HCC progression. For instance, the up-regulation of miR-17-92 cluster, which is composed of miR-17, miR-18a, miR-19a, miR-20a, miR-19b-1, and miR-92a-1[237], was found in HCC, and the attenuation of its expression diminished the ability of malignancy transformation[238]. The activity of miR-17-92 cluster affects the expressions of certain genes usually found in HCC such as PTEN, E2F1, and E-cadherin[239]. However, the individual miRNA members may function in the different ways. For example, up-regulation of miR-19 suppressed the formation of liver fibrogenesis through TFF-ÃŽ ² signaling[240]. A number of tumor suppressive miRNAs have also been discovered to diminish HCC development. The miR-122 function is to control the genes associated with tumor formation and metastasis including VEGF[241], RHOA[241], PKM[242] whereas miR-375 exerts its activity by suppression of ATG7 expression to block autophagy[243], the essential mechanism of cancerous cells to survive under hypoxic environment. The miR-125b prevents cancer proliferation by activation of p21(WAF1/Cip1) G1/S cell cycle arrest as well as repression of SIRT7 gene induction[244]. G1/S transition of cancer cells is also controlled by miR-26a activity[235]. The overall functions of HCC-associated miRNAs are implicated in STAT3, by modulating Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 functions, and NF-ÃŽ ºB inflammatory pathways, le ading to hepatocacinogenesis[245].

Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia :: Causes of Anorexia, Bulimia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. Anorexia usually begins in young people around the onset of puberty. Individuals suffering from anorexia have extreme weight loss. Weight loss is usually 15% below the person's normal body weight. People suffering from anorexia are very skinny but are convinced that they are overweight. Weight loss is obtained by many ways. Some of the common techniques used are excessive exercise, intake of laxatives and not eating. Anorexics have an intense fear of becoming fat. Their dieting habits develop from this fear. Anorexia nervosa is not associated with any pre-existing physical illness. It is on the increase in adolescent girls and younger women, although the incidence is also increasing in young men. It is often associated with depression and low self-esteem, and sometimes with a resistance to growing up, or problems with sexuality. Many medical workers and others claim that the emphasis in Western society on thinness as being central to the concept of beauty is a prime reason for the increase in anorexia nervosa. Because many individuals with anorexia nervosa never seek medical treatment, the exact prevalence of the condition is unknown. People with anorexia continue to think they are overweight even after they become extremely thin, are very ill or near death. Often they will develop strange eating habits such as refusing to eat in front of other people. Sometimes the individuals will prepare big meals for others while refusing to eat any of it. The disorder is thought to be most common among whites, people of higher socio-economic classes, and people involved in activities where thinness is especially looked upon, such as dancing, modelling, and distance running. If you have a family member that with an eating disorder, they need a lot of support. Suggest that your family member see an eating disorder expert. Be prepared for denial, resistance, and even anger. A doctor and/or a counsellor can help them battle their eating disorder. There are many symptoms for anorexia, some individuals may not

Inevitability Essay examples -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Snap! In an instant a disagreement has gotten out of hand. In one second beliefs have clashed. In a flash an argument has boiled over†¦In a single moment, your country has gone to war. Since the dawn of man there have been wars. There has been condescension, discontent, and greed. Since the beginning of time there have been instances of â€Å"good versus evil†. War takes lives. It kills fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, daughters and sons. War is scary, but it is as necessary as it is inevitable. It is a simple fact that people disagree. Not everyone thinks the same way, everyone has their own individual opinion on topics, whether they be trivial or vital. People have debates and debates can get out of hand. When words can no longer solve a problem violence enters the picture and when the quarrel is between large groups of like minded people war erupts. People must not dismiss war as entirely evil. However bad war may seem, war gives people jobs. Without war soldiers would not be soldiers, our military branches would be obsolete, people who work in factories that make ammo, guns, Kevlar and all other equipment would be out of the job. Without war there would be no need for people who study for years and years to design new vehicles and weapons. Believe it or not war is a vital part of our economy. But war is not just about money. It’s not just about jobs and economy. War is how dreams of better things can become a reality. War is how freedom is earned and rights are given. It is through war that I’m able to write this paper expressing myself how I wish. It is through war that the United States of America has become the most powerful nation on earth with the highest standard of living. It is through war that angry moms can bash their own president. It is through war that brothers, sisters, fathers, sons and daughters can curse their own country. I cannot stand idly by while our country is divided as an effect of war. Everyday more and more people speak out against their own country and president. Painters paint pictures, singers sing songs, writers write stories and all the while their messages are absorbed by those around them. It has gotten to the point that today’s youth has grown hatred towards that which they should proud to be part of. My own sister, on a daily basis, resents her own school. She constantly speaks of ... ...anything can happen. Whenever I turn on the television all I ever see are artists, actors, singers, performers, and other public figures of an influential social stature arguing, for all to see, over subjects they know little about. Constantly there are individuals denouncing the president, and then there are others who follow his decisions blindly. As a people we are obligated to form our own opinions. We must not follow simply because we are told to. Likewise, we mustn't not follow simply to be contrary. War destroys towns and builds cities. It divides races and unites nations. War demolishes countries and forges empires. â€Å"There was a silly damn bird back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up. [†¦] But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again. And it looks like we’re doing the same thing, over and over†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ray Bradbury). War can create as much or more than it destroys. At the same moment a life is being taken another life is birthed. War is inevitable and once that is realized maybe then we can unite so that we may preserve that same freedom which allows us to choose whether we unite or not.

Revenge is sweet!

On October the 13th she took her last breath, on November the 6th we buried her. On November the 21st I heard her call on me for the first time, and on December the 13:th it was my turn to take my last breath. Around one and a half-month ago, my little sister was killed. She was only ten years old. The police are still searching for the murderer, but they believe that it was a robber, because her mobile phone and her money had been taken away when they found her. Everybody tries to make me forget what has happened, but I can't. It was a Sunday morning when I heard her for the first time. â€Å"I miss you so much, why can't you be with me?† Is it you Minnie; is it my dear sister? â€Å"I feel so alone in here, come and be with me.† The voice was faint and husky. â€Å"Minnie, can you hear me? Are you all right?† â€Å"I can hear you, I'm not alright, it is a terrible stench in this little coffin, and I feel so alone. Come to me, come to me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Who did you talk to?† â€Å"Mum, it was Minnie, she told me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Minnie? Stop kidding with me.† â€Å"I promise, it was Minnie, and she told me that she felt alone.† â€Å"Honey, I know you think that this is hard, it is hard for all of us, but she is dead, you did not hear her. I dream about her too, and the dreams seem to be real, but then suddenly I wake up, and realize that it's just a dream.† I was just quiet. I knew that there wasn't an idea to try to make mum believing me. Maybe she was right, maybe it wasn't Minnie. But it sounded so real†¦ The dark has always made me scared. Every scary thing happens in the dark, were none can see what's happening. So when I, a couple of days after I heard Minnie for the first time, was I going to sleep, I felt a bit afraid. I don't know why, I just got an unpleasant feeling. The darkness seemed to be everywhere. Both inside and outside me. Suddenly I felt a cold wind. The window was closed, and it has never been any draught here before. I draw the duvet close to me. Then I heard her for the second time. â€Å"It is cold in here. Do you think of me while your laying in your bed with you warm duvet† â€Å"Oh Minnie, I'm thinking of you every second, every minute, every hour. I miss you so much.† â€Å"So why don't you come down to me, I'm not that deep down.† â€Å"Oh Minnie I wish I could. I'll make a plan, I promise, but mum will think I'm crazy if she saw me digging on the burial-ground.† â€Å"Come to me soon, I feel so alone in here†¦Ã¢â‚¬  †I†m coming soon. Soon.† The burial-ground was desolated, and the lights were not turned on yet. The sky was gray and everything looked dusky. I felt like all the tombstones stared at me, wondering why I was here. I†ve always thought that it is nice to walk at the burial-ground at all saints day, because there is so many candles on the tombs, and I thinks that the candles shows that people care and not forget the dead humans. But now everything felt dark and forgotten. I walked to Minnie's tombstone, it was a white tombstone, and it looked quite new in opposite of the other graves. Everything was so quiet; I just heard the wind blow. I felt like I was watched on, and turned around. Behind me stood an old man, with a long white beard. He's eyes was blue, and observed me from my head to my shoes. â€Å"Feeling alone?† â€Å"No. Just thinking.† It wasn't true, I felt alone. However, I didn't want his company. â€Å"Your sister down there?† â€Å"Yes. How did you know?† â€Å"I know her.† â€Å"How do you know her? I meant knew her.† â€Å"Know her. I've seen her. She is very pale, but those coffins isn't to nice.† This man is crazy. â€Å"Err, okay.† â€Å"You don't believe in me, right?† I didn't know what to say. â€Å"You'll see that I'm right, but trust me, do the things Minnie tells you to, or you'll end up like those.† He pointed at the names at the tombstones. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, he was gone. I thought of what he had said. Do the things Minnie tells you to? Has she told me anything? I won't dig her up, I don't even know if I've heard her, or if it is just my mind that makes it up. Well. The man was an old crazy idiot; there's no reason to listen at him. When I was lying in my bed that night, I heard her again. â€Å"Why didn't you come down to me today? I heard you; you spooked to the old man at the burial-ground. Why didn't you start to dig when he was gone?† â€Å"Minnie, I don't even know if it is you who speaks to me.† â€Å"It is me, but I can prove it if you want to.† â€Å"How can you prove it?† â€Å"You'll se tomorrow. If I prove it, do you promise to go down do me then?† â€Å"Minnie, I don't know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Promise, or I'll leave you forever†, she sounded a bit angry, and I was afraid that she would leave me unknowing if she were Minnie or not. â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"Se you tomorrow then.† Everything was quiet. She was gone. When I woke up next morning and thought about what Minnie had said, I felt insecure. What if she proved it? Should I go to her then? No, impossible. She can't prove it. She's dead. And if she against all odds will prove it, I won't go to her. Not yet anyway. However, she won't prove it. But she did. When I came to school I got a big shock. All over the roof there was painted; I watch every single step you take, is this evidence enough? I didn't know what to do. In school there was a lot of talk about who did it, they thought that it was one of the gangs in town. But I knew. I said to my teacher that I was sick, and that I wanted to go home. Then I walked to the park beside the burial-ground. I had been there for approximately ten minutes when she started to talk to me. â€Å"What are you waiting for? Go and dig me up.† Her voice sounded angry and ordering. I was just quiet. Maybe she would think that I didn't here her if I just ignored her. â€Å"I know that you hear me. You're in the park. Why don't you dig me up? Are you afraid? You promised me to dig me up. If you don't dig me up, everything will be worse for you.† I was afraid. How could she know where I was? And what would happen if I didn't do as she said. But I didn't say anything. She would give up, and what could she do? She was dead. â€Å"I know what you're thinking, but I can do a lot. I can destroy your life, 'cause I'm manipulating it. I can promise that you'll dig me up sooner or later.† Her voice was ecstatic, and it scared me. I started to walk away, but she didn't want to stop talking with me. She screamed: â€Å"I'm manipulating your life, I manipulating your life, so you better dig me up soon.† Her voice tormented me all day, and when I at last fell asleep I had nightmares. I dreamed that the old man at the burial-ground haunted me, and that Minnie laughed at me when I stumbled. And when I had stumbled, I couldn't stand up again. Everything turned into different red coulors, and Minnie's laugh became higher and higher. When I finally woke up, I felt like I hadn't slept at all. I went to school, and tried to not look at the roof with Minnie's message. I went in to my classroom. The first lesson was math. I hate math, so when my teacher told me to go to the front of the classroom, I felt afraid. Would she give me a hard question? â€Å"Okay everybody, quiet please. We all know that somebody painted a sentence on the roof. We don't know what the culprit wants to tell us, we didn't even know who was the culprit. But now I know. I know it, 'cause the culprit by herself called to me yesterday and admit that she painted it. She said that she wanted to tell the class why she did it. So, can you tell us why?† She looked at me. I didn't understand anything. â€Å"Angelica, can you tell us?† â€Å"But it wasn't me.† I felt like a fool. Damned Minnie, if it is you who have done this, you can forget every hope about that I will dig you up. â€Å"Well. We all know who's the culprit now, and if you won't tell us Angelica, you can go straight away to the porter, and he'll give you the things you'll need to clean the roof.† â€Å"But it wasn't me.† â€Å"GO!† I started to walk away. I was so mad at Minnie. It wasn't me, it was Minnie, so why did I have to clean the roof? However, how could she call to my teacher? And didn't my teacher recognize that it wasn't my voice that she heard? I became more and more afraid, what would she do next? She spoke to me every single minute, and her voice sounded more and more frightening. She was totally convinced that I would dig her up, and she repeated again and again that she manipulated my life. Sometimes I believed in her, because I couldn't do anything with her voice in my head. And I did a lot of things that she told me to do, I was afraid that she would do anything worse if I didn't. However, I wouldn't dig her up. The things that she got me to do was just stuff as clean her room, put her photos in a frame or say good things about her. She repeated that it would just be worse if I didn't dig her up soon. And it should, much worse. I had stopped going to school, 'cause everybody avoided me. My teacher was mean to me, and derided me when I did something wrong. At December the 11th it was time for the next thing to happen. Mum was mad at me because I didn't walk to school. But she couldn't make me change my mind. We had just had a fight, and she screamed to me that she would go to her job and do some good instead of just sit and cry. I was mad at her and at the whole world, because nobody seemed to understand anything. I walked out of the door and went to the supermarket to buy some chocolate. I had nearly accepted Minnie's voice, but today it was scarier then ever. â€Å"I'm sorry to say this Angelica, but today will I hurt other people to get you dig me up.† â€Å"If you do that, I'll kill you.† â€Å"Good luck, I am already dead.† â€Å"I won't dig you up.† â€Å"Well, go home and se if you change your mind when you se what I've done.† She sounded satisfied, and that made me scared. I ran home, and what I'll never forget what I saw. The first thing I saw was just that the door was red. I stared at the door a few seconds before I realized that the red thing was blood. I flung the door open, and inside I found a tail. I started to shiver. If she had†¦ I didn't even wanted to think about it. â€Å"CHARLIE!† I screamed frightened. But our dog Charlie didn't come. I ran in to the living room, and there I saw Charlie. Anyway, I saw a part of him. But his head and his paws were gone. I started to scream and cry; I didn't know what to do. My thoughts was just a mess, Why do you does this to me Minnie? You loved Charlie so much, how could you ever kill him? Why do you want me to dig you up? If you are dead, why do you want me to be with you? Oh Minnie, why? I called mum. She came home as fast as she could, and we were both struck dumb. She asked me if I knew who had killed him, and I said that I didn't know. She cleaned the living room, and I walked up to my room. Minnie started to talk to me again. â€Å"Do you dig me up now?† â€Å"No, I won't. You are terrible, I hate you.† â€Å"I know that you hate me, but if you don't dig me up soon, I'll have to do something worse than this. If you haven't dig me up in 24 hours, It'll be time for another harmless to die.† Later that day when I was going to use the toilet I heard mum and dad talking to each other. I didn't believed what I heard. â€Å"I'm worried about Angelica. It is terrible what has happened to Charlie, but in fact I'm wondering if it can be Angelica who has killed him. I know it sounds weird, but she has change a lot since Minnie died. I guess that that's normal, but†¦ I don't know; she has always loved school, and now, she hates it. Her teacher called to me and told me that she had written a form of message on the roof, and that she had admit that it was her who did it once, but said that it wasn't she later. I don't know, maybe I'm just too worried. But she has been so introspective.† â€Å"I guess she's just shocked about Minnie's death. But I'm worried about Charlie's death too. Maybe it is she who killed him, I'll speak to her this weekend.† I was terrified. How could they even think about it? That I killed Charlie? Why can't anyone believe me? The 24 hours ran away. I didn't dig Minnie up. I'll never do it. I hate her and I won't do anything that she want's me to do. 12 hours later I had changed my mind. I can hardly think about what happened. But I'll try to tell. I had been on the burial-ground, when Minnie started to talk to me. â€Å"Well, you didn't dig me up, and I've made my choice. I'm sorry that I have to do this.† â€Å"Do what?† â€Å"Go home and se for yourself.† Her voice sounded honestly sad. I ran home and the first thing I smelled was a terrible stench. Then I smelled blood. I heard how daddy screamed and I ran in to the house. Inside I found dad paralyzed. And I found mum. On the floor. And I found Charlie's head. In the place where mum's head should be. â€Å"Dad what has happened?† â€Å"I don't know. I was in the kitchen, and I heard her scream. I went in to the living-room, and I found her.† â€Å"Oh dad. It's all my fault. I have to do a thing. Dad, I love you. I went down to the cellar and brought a spade and ran to Minnie's grave. I have never been that angry before. â€Å"Are you satisfied now Minnie?† â€Å"You haven't dug me up yet.† Her voice was very weak. I dug as fast as I could. After a few seconds I saw the coffin. I opened it. â€Å"Lay down.† I did as she told me to. Nothing to lose anymore. Exactly when I lay down, the coffin's lid smashed down. I heard scratch from a spade, and I couldn't open the lid. I screamed for my life, but noon heard. I guess that I screamed for hours. At last I had no voice left. I started to investigate the coffin, and I found the head of my mother, and Charlie's paws. The last time I watched my clock it showed: Friday the 13th 13:00. The last time I heard Minnie she said: â€Å"Revenge is sweet.†