Essay about A Comparison of Communism versus Capitalism

A Comparison of Communism versus Capitalism Communism versus Capitalism is a debate that has raged on for over two centuries. Whether to allow everyone equal opportunities and to do with those opportunities as they please or to mandate class equality in order to keep peace has in itself been the cause of wars. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels saw the working class of the world--the proletariat--being squashed by the greedy business owners--the bourgeoisie. In their view, the bourgeoisie owned too much and the proletariat had no chance to make their own fortunes. In Marx and Engels Communist Manifesto, they propose doing away with private property, nationality, and even countries in order to take power away from the bourgeoisie.†¦show more content†¦the oppressed. Smiles believes that the spirit of self-help is the main cause for success in individuals and is the source for the strength of nations. Marx and Engels would disagree. In their opinion the working class have no country because it is all owned by the bourgeoisi e. Smiles sees a world in which every citizen, with hard work and determination, can become as successful as they want to be. He even points out that some will naturally succeed more than others and that everyone may not rise equally. To Smiles this is due to a person’s ability, not the upper class making it impossible. To Marx and Engels, it is exactly the opposite. Marx and Engels believe that the members of the working class are slaves to the bourgeoisie and that the working class had their opportunities for success taken away by industrialization. Perhaps the largest part of Smiles ideas that Marx and Engles would have a problem with would be his thoughts on the poor. To Smiles, the reason the poor are poor is that they are lazy and that they have given up and resigned themselves to their fate. In Smiles eyes, they make no plans for the future and have no hope of ever working their way out of poverty. The poor do not take advantage of the opportunities offered to them by civilization. The ignorance and self-indulgence of the lower classes has in itself been the cause of social degradation and misery. SmilesShow MoreRelatedThemes in Science Fiction Essay example1414 Words   |  6 Pagesin the books, helping to develop some of the themes. The ideas and themes that appear in media are often based on events that occurred during the time in which the work was created, as well as the creator’s own ideals. As a result, through the comparison of the original novels by Wells and their film adaptations, it is possible to see how society as a whole has changed over a century’s time, and how the themes present in these works of science fiction have changed as well. In the novel The TimeRead MoreSmith vs. Marx - a Comparison Essay1247 Words   |  5 PagesSmith versus Marx Ââ€" A Comparison S. Glen Balanoff July 04, 2004 Smith versus Marx Ââ€" A Comparison Modern economic society can be described as a combination of certain points from several theories combined into one. Changing dynamics and economic needs of nations has spawned a development of various, and contrasting, economic systems throughout the world. Perhaps the two most contrasting philosophies seen in existence today are that of capitalism and communism. The two philosophers most notablyRead MoreAmerican Anticommunism During the Cold War Essay926 Words   |  4 Pagesto the conclusion of the treacherous Second World War, America prepared itself for a period of peace. This peacetime was short-lived, as America’s tolerance for communism receded this issue became the forefront for American concern. 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He believed that the accumulation of capital shaped the social (caste) systemRead MoreFashion in the Cold War2197 Words   |  9 Pagesaffected the lifestyles of the United States, Soviet Union, China and Europe; however, the Cold War played a major role in fashion history. Fashion during the Cold War gave people the opportunity to express themselves through what they wore. Due to Communism in other countries such as China, people were neither able to wear what they wanted nor embrace themselves in the latest fashion trend of that season or even year. In a Communist world, people lived in very basic conditions and cared little about

Franklin Roosevelt And The New Deal - 881 Words

Franklin Delano Roosevelt had no clue on politics until his campaign for presidency in 1932. He won the election by landslide that â€Å"captured a thundering 58 percent of the popular vote† (Davidson 688). His inaugural speech, â€Å"I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people† (Library of Congress, 1), made America to believe in him so there could be a change in the United States. The start of the new deal was when Roosevelt proposed a record of 15 bills to congress within the first 100 days of office. (Library of congress, 2). During the first days of Roosevelt administration saw the passage of banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs. Later on a second new deal was to evolve that included Union Protection programs, the Social Security Act, and programs that aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. From FDR’s new deals it created this programs in order to reform the economy to preven t a depression of the scale from happening again. The New Deal was a series of acts that was designed to pull the country out of economy disunion. The Emergency Banking Act was when FDR passed the act in his first days of presidency. This act made the federal government to have an official bank holiday, in which all banks would be shut down for a period of time and where permitted to open within the government approval. (Davidson 691) After that trust in the Banking System was restored, Roosevelt made towards to theShow MoreRelatedThe New Deal: Franklin Roosevelt879 Words   |  4 Pages The term, The New Deal, comes from Franklin Roosevelt’s 1932 democratic presidential nomination acceptance speech, Roosevelt says, I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.(Referring to the great depression) Roosevelt explains the New Deal as a use of the authority of government as an organized form of self-help for all classes and groups and sections of our country. The New Deal program was born in a Brain Trust meeting prior to Roosevelt’s inauguration. (Anonymous)Read MoreFranklin Roosevelt And The New Deal2088 Words   |  9 Pagesmost interest in was The New Deal. From my knowledge the underlying issue was the Great Depression. Franklin Roosevelt won the presidency election in 1932 due to his idea of The New Deal. The New Deal was his solution to help the awful crisis happening in America. Franklin Roosevelt and the government were in search of a variety of means to restore the economy and the hope of the American people. I will discus s the events that lead to the New Deal and the legacy of The New Deal along with some of itsRead MoreFranklin D. Roosevelt And The New Deal1116 Words   |  5 PagesHyde Park, New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921. He became the 32nd US president in 1933, and was the only president to be elected four times. Roosevelt led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II, and greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal. Roosevelt died in Georgia in 1945. President Roosevelt’s parents made a living both on real estate and trade. Roosevelt was schooledRead MoreFranklin Roosevelt And The New Deal Program1055 Words   |  5 Pagesfear is fear itself, stated by one of America s greatest presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. January 30, 1882, Franklin Roosevelt was born and would later on become one of America s most loved presidents. Roosevelt became the 32nd president of the United States in 1933 and was elected president four times(Biography). He is the only president who will ever be elected four times to office. Throughout his presidency, Roosevelt carried out many outstanding programs to help rebuild America throughRead MoreFranklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal1289 Words   |  5 PagesFranklin D. Roosevelt was one of the most powerful and influential democratic presidents that the United States has ever put into office. Though he was diagnosed with polio and had to be confined to a wheelchair, for many years Roosevelt tri ed to regain the ability to walk by swimming . He still managed to lead this country out of the worst economic depression the country had seen in its young life. Many Americans were out of work with the depression going on and banks were closed because peopleRead MoreFranklin D. Roosevelt And The New Deal1827 Words   |  8 PagesJahdiel Evans April 18, 2017 History 1302 Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal Throughout the history of our great nation, certain presidents have been known to stand out from the rest. These prominent leaders are well known for their lasting, if not positive, impact on American society. One such president that fits this category is Franklin D. Roosevelt. In Allan M. Winkler’s biography Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Making of Modern America, the author provides an in-depth examination of Roosevelt’sRead MoreFranklin Delano Roosevelt And The New Deal1987 Words   |  8 Pages Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park on January 30, 1882. Roosevelt, at age 28, ran for New York State senate where he fought political machines. He became the thirty second president of America in the year 1933, the worst year in the Great Depression. Roosevelt became president as a democrat. He was also president during World War II. 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I will do this by first looking at how the ferderal system was initally set up and contrasting that to how it was after the New Deal or Deals were passed. What powers that granted and in what areas, how this effected federal government’s role on a local level, the implications of such changes as well as some of the controvercies and issues that aroseRead MorePresident Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deals1681 Words   |  7 Pagessocial blow to the American people, people were out of job, food, money and homes while society turned everyone against each other it was everyman for himself. President Franklin D. Roosevelt new deals were effect in providing jobs to the men of the families starting from the oldest to the youngest men in the family. The New Deal improved both the economic and social lives of the American people. The Great Depression caused a deafening blow in the economy of America as people raced to the banks to

Chinese Cinderella Extended Response Free Essays

The novel ‘Chinese Cinderella’ is an autobiography written by Adeline Yen Mah, describing her childhood and younger teenage years as an unwanted daugther. Unlike most children, Adeline had a difficult time growing up. All throughout her life she was bullied and looked down upon by most of her family. We will write a custom essay sample on Chinese Cinderella Extended Response or any similar topic only for you Order Now At a young age Adeline is constantly being left behind by her family, leaving her to feel like the unwanted daughter. Throughout the whole novel, Adeline is looked down at and is never acknowledged for her hard work â€Å"Nobody was there to pat my head or congratulate me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  page 17. Adeline’s Father, who is a wealthy businessman, has a small role in the book. This is because Niang seems to be the ‘head of house’. Whenever he is involved, he seems to not care, he is often forgetful or simply uninterested about her, admitting to Adeline â€Å"I have forgotten your Chinese name†¦ † page 140. Even by her siblings Adeline is abused or mistreated, â€Å"But then Mama died giving birth to you. If you had not been born, Mama would still be alive. She’ died because of you. â€Å"You are bad luck. † page 3. †¦He took my right arm under the table and gave it a quick hard twist. † page 10. Although Adeline tries her best to please her father and siblings she is continually being rejected by them. Adeline was looked down on and hated by her family, especially by Niang, who was the hardest to please, throughout Chinese Cinderella, it shows that Niang was never happy with Adeline â€Å"You don’t deserve to be ho used and fed here. Girls like you should be sent away† page 113. Niang physically abuses Adeline by hitting her, kicking her, slapping her. Adeline is always left miserable, lonely and feeling helpless and afraid. One day, Adeline’s classmates had discreetly followed her home, hoping to give her a surprise party. Instead, they heard Niang beating and screaming at her, â€Å"Liar! You planned it, didn’t you, to show off our house to your penniless classmates. How dare you! † page 127. â€Å"I realised Niang’s blows must have caused a nosebleed, and that my face was probably smeared with a mixture of blood, mucus and tears†¦I felt naked and ghastly and vulnerable. † page 129. Niang continues abuse Adeline despite her doing nothing wrong she was unloved by Niang and alone with nobody there to support her. Adeline was different. Her family were the ones who put a label on her and her friends all realised that she was different. She is an unwanted daughter â€Å"†¦despised daughter publicly rejected by her parents. † page 133. Although Adeline is a smart girl going to expensive schools, she does not fit in very well with her classmates. This is because Adeline â€Å"†¦neither receives eggs or visits† â€Å"†¦rushing around in that infantile brown dress. page 194. In chapter 18 is shows that Adeline hates being â€Å"the object of anyone’s charity or pity† Page 195. Even though it is clear Adeline and her classmates were never really on the same level of friendship. Back in the primary school in Shanghai, Adeline where tried hard to fit in with her classmates, She befriended Wu Chun-Mei who quickly became her best f riend, the only one she had during primary. In conclusion all through Adeline’s life Niang shows multiple times through the book that Adeline is not a loved child in her family. How to cite Chinese Cinderella Extended Response, Essay examples

Comparative Business Ethics and Social Responsibility OR Stakeholder

Questions: 1. Which is the national advertising division's most important stakeholder, businesses or consumers? 2. Do you believe the BBB can be truly impartial given its financial dependence on business? 3. What actions would you take to ensure an ethical misconduct disaster such as the pay-for-pay scheme does not happen again? Answers: Introduction: Within the United States, the National Marketing Division, Better Business Bureau is quite renowned as a self-regulatory trade association. The key objective of this association is developing an environment where all buyers as well as sellers grow mutual trust. The organization is one of the most effective watchdog groups that introduces a famous scheme called pay for play. Here in the scheme, rating A is given to individuals for paying membership fees(Fischer, 2004). Rating F is given to individuals as a penalty to those who do not pay. The rating shows that it would not be worth for the clients and may be identified as misleading. This is related to lack of honesty as well as trust, and that anyone may lodge complaints against the operations of Better Business Bureau. All operations of the organization are financed by the fees that business firms usually pay during enrolment (Ibrahim, Angelidis and Howard, 2006). Most ethical aspects arise on account of the financial influences wit hin the rating framework. Thus, this report would analyze the ethical aspects as well as misconducts pursued by the organization Better Business Bureau (BBB), along with the impacts upon the organizational stakeholders. Besides, it would also recommend of mitigating unethical practices that often lead to negative outcomes of all stakeholders. Involved Stakeholders: Stakeholders are the elements who get influenced whether directly or indirectly in positive or negative manner by organizational decisions. Stakeholders usually involve organizational employees, shareholders, employers, customers, government, suppliers, community, and ecosystem. For Better Business Bureau, commonly all renowned organizations have definite set of policy related to payment of membership fees for joining the association(Korhonen, 2003). This would be in order to generate advantages of increased rating within comparing with other businesses. It has been identified that the scheme of pay to play has a negative outcome upon the businesses. The unreliable procedure of rating of the firm confirms higher ratings to firms that pay fees and low ratings to the ones that have not paid. For non-accredited business, rating process is quite significant (Matten and Moon, 2004). The process of rating impacts the purchase decisions of the clients. The scheme has impacted upon the clien ts in selection of the accredited business instead of non-accredited ones. As a result, non-accredited firms lose their customers despite offering enhanced quality of products and services. This organization Better Business Bureau needs some business firms as joiners for providing improved services to customers. From evidences it is clear that the association may not successfully develop trust in absence of active participation from business firms. Thus, naturally business organizations are essential stakeholders of BBB. As identified, BBB has formed a developed platform whereby customers may easily access the organizational website without paying any fees. The clients may check out all ratings of organizations accredited by BBB. It is important to note that clients usually rely on BBB more than that if the Federal Trade Commission. Organizations increasingly support BBB for enhancing their brand image as well as recognition. When clients do not attach adequate importance to BBB, the organizations would not invest anymore upon BBB. Thus, it may be said that clients are the most important stakeholders of Better Business Bureau. Ethical considerations enable confirmation of the correctness or misdirection of specific firms that operates freely irrespective of the stakeholder liabilities. Market orientation may be thought as an important portion of marketing approaches (Matten and Moon, 2004). However, the roles and responsibilities of the clients within improvements of ethical activities and even in social obligation are yet dicey. Business organizations participate in competitive market, and thus market orientation as well as consumer focus are identified as key factors to determine performances of market activities. Excessive competition promotes business organizations for adopting unethical practices (Moore and Jie Wen, 2008). When BBB generates unjustified rating, clients often get misguided. They become more interested in paying for some items or services which a licensed business may provide as compensation for the paid amount to Better Business Bureau for increasing cost. The key responsibility of the organization is to impart strengthening legal protection to clients. This would be supportive in developing mutual expectation. This also builds trust and help in dealing fairly. The model of Moral Management states that ethical code of conduct, legal orientation, and organizational objectives are key factors that contribute in maintaining ethical standards in case of customers. As per this model, management must emphasize upon achieving success by means of ethical practices. Thus, ethical leadership is very important. This approach supports organization in identifying most preferred direction of all organizational activities. This model emphasizes upon adopting ethical standards since this acts as an integral strategy, thereby ensuring organizational success. Ethical values are helpful in restructuring management and also providing opportunities to make effective decisions. Besides, these develop an effective system within the organizations (Moore and J ie Wen, 2008). The organization Better Business Bureau should stress on ethical issues to create a rating framework. Such an integrated method of BBB would support organization in choosing common point of references and impart better services. This manner would improve the rating system of BBB. Better Business Bureau: Is it partial? This organization has confronted some key controversial matters relating to its rating policies. Major concerns about ethics have impacted its reputation as well as recognition. A controversy started while a renowned restaurant named Ritz Carlton Hotel got F rating from BBB, though it never received complaints. All clients were quite confused since they could not make out how can such a famous restaurant gets poor rating like that(Schaefer, 2007). Later, it was identified that all organizations paying higher charges to the association received a higher rating. Also, companies not paying any charge to the association received poor ratings. This led to severe criticisms of Better Business Bureau. The concept of pay for play was quite fraudulent in nature that rates higher for money. This unethical practice of BBB was severely criticized. The customers were misguided thoroughly. This occurred at the Los Angeles branch of BBB. Thus, many firms lodged complaints against the unfair rating system. Another concerning issue was identified with BBB. They were quite friendly with the business firms. When clients lodge complaints against the association, BBB asked clients to fill up some additional information within the complaint form(Shaw, 2008). Thus, these were sold to the organizations for helping them identify all their weaknesses to work upon those. Customers were quite upset with behavior of BBB. Besides this, it was also identified that the association was engaged in partnership with other firms to ensure profit for both. As per non-accredited organizations, BBB avoided the organizations that did not pay charges. It had completely ignored the ethical responsibilities. This had affected its reputation by lowering its value towards customers (Shi and Sun, 2014). On analyzing important issues of BBB, it was identified that stakeholders need to be emphasized immensely by the association. Theory of stakeholders helps management of any firm to facilitate investigation for identifying best suited approach to fit organizations firmly in the environment. Also, it enables identification of work mechanisms that creates positive impacts upon the stakeholders. As per the theory of Freeman, avoiding stakeholders is an unethical practice and leads to negative impacts upon the firm (Trong Tuan, 2012). On other side, concept of corporate social responsibility identifies four major areas: economic, legal, social, and ethical responsibility. As per the theory, the firm must emphasize upon achieving profit by means of corporate activities in ethical manner. Certainly, BBB did not succeed in this matter. Revenues for BBB are generated from fees of membership that are gathered from organizations interested in. The association does not receive any funds from governmental agencies. Again, the association also lags in the area of legal responsibilities. This would mean that organizations need to adhere to legal rules and regulations that BBB does not. This enables building of trust amidst customers and stakeholders. It failed to maintain any particular procedure of rules or regulations (Whelan, 2013). The branch of BBB had reduced personnel expenses that excluded any sort of rudiments which will allow the association to judge right complaints of businesses. Several firms have faced the consequences of decisions taken by unprofessional personnel. Besides, factor of ethical responsibility that deals with incorporating right things ensure success of BBB. This reflects the cultural side of the firms. As per this theory, business must be perceived as societal citizen by BBB but it lacked transparency. Also, quality was a concern in case of BBB. This had created a lot of trust issue amidst the customers. The association had built a highly confusing rating system in its environment. Also, complaint system was defective in nature since clients could hardly read out issues. This led to enough confusion about its genuineness. Recommendations about ethical misconduct: The key issues with the rating system pay for play framework of BBB is that of selling of membership. It forms an ethical misconduct on behalf of the association. To ensure that such misconduct is not repeated, the association must emphasize on four key factors effectiveness, context, values, and leadership (Bures, 2014). Practicing ethical issues must be guided by definite values. Some employees of BBB had agreed to counteract the greedy acts and breaking of laws. Thus, understanding organizational ethics is very important. Ethical considerations enable confirmation of the correctness or misdirection of specific firms that operates freely irrespective of the stakeholder liabilities. Market orientation may be thought as an important portion of marketing approaches. However, the roles and responsibilities of the clients within improvements of ethical activities and even in social obligation are yet dicey. Further, as perceived by leaders, all employees at BBB lacked in decision-making skills and leadership skills(Attig and Cleary, 2014). Business leaders need to be effective in their communication and managing skills for motivating others to pursue ethical standards. Some of the employees at BBB who have earlier broken the laws at the association were made to pay penalties for that. Although the association had followed increased idealistic beliefs as well as standards, it failed to support the company. So, following improved standards, giving rewards to the customers, and bestowing with penalties may hel p BBB in improving ethics. The association needs to ensure that it is thoroughly aware of all ethics related practices within BBB environment (Bures, 2014). For preventing misconducts within BBB and assuring no existence of confusion amidst customers regarding the scheme of pay for play, it must adopt some key measures: It must create a favorable workplace policy that must align with company philosophy, mission statement, and code of conduct. Utilizing the policy of the association along with management performance to hold employees accountable for deeds and acknowledge them about roles in professional standards. Effective feedback may help BBB in confirming successful ethical practices(Debeljak and Krkac, 2008). BBB must introduce training sessions to train employees about workplace ethics that may enable them to stay aware of the organizational ethics. The association may lose huge opportunities of business if it fails to abide by the rules and regulations. BBB may implement confidential hotlines that would enable employees to communicate with the management whenever any misconduct is witnessed internally. This may restrict the practice of unethical behavior (Alnder, 2011). It may apply developed workplace policy on a constant basis to address ethical aspects associated to workplace. BBB needs to communicate its ethical expectations to every employee level from top to bottom and this can ensure that all employees are well aware of the ethical standards of the association (Whelan, 2013). BBB needs to manage risks proactively. It must introduce an effective reporting system which would support examining of issues which BBB faces in its environment. It may even use the six sigma process for making the reporting system highly effective. It needs to confirm that every reporter responsible for specific task gives authentic details. Also, it may select third party vendor to ensure reliable resources. Conclusion: As conclusion, reports describe all ethical matters faced by BBB on account of unethical system of rating. It states that the scheme of pay for play proved to be unethical for clients and businesses. For resolving these issues, it is necessary to understand the wants and objectives of the related stakeholders. The report also focuses on important stakeholders of NAD division, both customers that were indirect stakeholders and that of the businesses that were direct stakeholders (Shi and Sun, 2014). As a myth it is believed that BBB processes were impartial other than the scheme of pay for play that created discrimination amidst accredited as well as non-accredited business by means of collecting fees. It has been identified that the scheme of pay to play has a negative outcome upon the businesses (Whelan, 2013). The unreliable procedure of rating of the firm confirms higher ratings to firms that pay fees and low ratings to the ones that have not paid. For non-accredited business, rat ing process is quite significant. The process of rating impacts the purchase decisions of the clients(Attig and Cleary, 2014). The scheme has impacted upon the clients in selection of the accredited business instead of non-accredited ones. On other side, concept of corporate social responsibility identifies four major areas: economic, legal, social, and ethical responsibility. As per the theory, the firm must emphasize upon achieving profit by means of corporate activities in ethical manner. Certainly, BBB did not succeed in this matter. Also, quality was a concern in case of BBB. This had created a lot of trust issue amidst the customers. The association had built a highly confusing rating system in its environment. Also, complaint system was defective in nature since clients could hardly read out issues. This led to enough confusion about its genuineness. References Alnder, M. (2011). Corporate Social Responsibility as Subsidiary Co-Responsibility: A Macroeconomic Perspective.Journal of Business Ethics, 99(1), pp.115-128. Attig, N. and Cleary, S. (2014). Managerial Practices and Corporate Social Responsibility.Journal of Business Ethics. Bures, O. (2014). Political Corporate Social Responsibility: Including High Politics?.Journal of Business Ethics. Debeljak, J. and Krkac, K. (2008). Ethics and morality in business practice.Social Responsibility Journal, 4(1/2). Fischer, J. (2004). Social Responsibility and Ethics: Clarifying the Concepts.Journal of Business Ethics, 52(4), pp.381-390. Ibrahim, N., Angelidis, J. and Howard, D. (2006). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Comparative Analysis of Perceptions of Practicing Accountants and Accounting Students.Journal of Business Ethics, 66(2-3), pp.157-167. Korhonen, J. (2003). On the Ethics of Corporate Social Responsibility Considering the Paradigm of Industrial Metabolism.Journal of Business Ethics, 48(4), pp.301-315. Matten, D. and Moon, J. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility.Journal of Business Ethics, 54(4), pp.323-337. Moore, S. and Jie Wen, J. (2008). Business ethics? A global comparative study on corporate sustainability approaches.Social Responsibility Journal, 4(1/2), pp.172-184. Schaefer, B. (2007). Shareholders and Social Responsibility.Journal of Business Ethics, 81(2), pp.297-312. Shaw, W. (2008). Marxism, Business Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility.Journal of Business Ethics, 84(4), pp.565-576. Shi, G. and Sun, J. (2014). Corporate Bond Covenants and Social Responsibility Investment.Journal of Business Ethics. Trong Tuan, L. (2012). The linkages among leadership, trust, and business ethics.Social Responsibility Journal, 8(1), pp.133-148. Whelan, G. (2013). Political Corporate Social Responsibility: Some Clarifications.Business Ethics Journal Review, pp.63-68.

Return Of The Native By Hardy Essays - Thomas Hardy, Egdon Heath

Return Of The Native By Hardy Thomas Hardy feels that Edgon Heath, the setting of the novel The Return of the Native is a powerful, scary, dark and dreary place. He uses various techniques to express this attitude. Some of the techniques he used to convey this thought are diction, imagery, syntax, and tone. The diction he choose was specific and concrete, presenting an actual place that was depressing. The words he used attempted to present a specific, concrete perception of things. Such as when he writes, "approaching the time of twilight and the vast tract of unenclosed ild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment". This presents a specific place, time and a specific insight which leaves with the thought of a darkening, scary place. Imagery played a very important role in Harding's portrayal of the heath as a powerful, scary, live place. The imagery develops a light and dark imagery. The heath, earth is the dark and gloomy image, while the surrounding nature is light and good. He refers to the heath's color as, "embrowned itself moment by moment," and says that the "hollow stretch of whitish cloud shutting over the sky." He refers to the heath as dark on many occasions, he says the "earth with the darkest vegetation... In such contrast the heath wore the appearance of an installment of night... darkness had to a great extent arrived hereon... the heath exhaling darkness." These references of the heath as dark, give us a gloomy, somber feel of the heath. Harding also uses metaphors to make us aware of the power and life that Edgon Heath has. As in when he says "the face of the heath by its mere complexion added half an hour to evening... the place became full of a watchful intentness now: for when other things sank brooding to a sleep the heath appeared slowly to awake and listen." These metaphors and personifications allow us to see that the heath is more than a hunk of dirt, it has a life and energy. Syntax is also used to enhance the power of the heath. Harding uses a combination of medium length and long and involved length sentences. These lengths enhance the feeling of power that Harding wants to express, because they are lengthy and have a body. They aren't short and quick, each sentence says what it has to say and delivers it. These sentence exemplifies the strength and ability that the heath has. The sentence length is effective because each sentence allows Harding to go into detail about a specific detail about the heath, such as the power and strength it has. Harding also used more than 6 compound sentences in the description of the heath. This is so he can elaborate on a specific characteristic of the heath, as in "The face of the heath by its mere complexion added half an hour to evening: it could in like manner retard the dawn, sadden noon, anticipate the frowning of storms scarcely generated, and intensify the opacity of a moonless night to a cause of shaking and dread...." Harding also used it to compare the heath as in, "Looking upwards, a furze- cutter would have been inclined to continue work; looking down, he would have decided to finish his faggot and go home. The tone of the description of the heath is morose, somber and gloomy. In the description, Harding only describes the heath as dark and scary. He chooses to illustrate these things and gives the story a morose feeling. His somber and gloomy tone is reflected in his attitude toward the heath. The tone makes the heath appear seem scarier and more powerful. Thomas Hardy delivers a powerful and firm attitude towards Edgon Heath. He feels that it is a dark, scary and living place. He uses and combines various literary techniques in order to achieve his goal of convey his feelings towards the heath to his readers.

List of French Homophones and Meanings

List of French Homophones and Meanings Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings and, sometimes, spellings. Therefore, French homophones can cause difficulties in oral comprehension and spelling. These pages should help you to understand the difference between the most common French homophones. French Homophones: O o, oh - see auon (indefinite subject pronoun) - one, we, they  Ã‚  Ã‚  On y va ? - Are we going?ont - third person plural conjugation of avoir (to have)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ils ont des questions - They have some questionsorange - (invariable adjective) orange  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jai trois chemises orange - I have three orange shirtsune orange - orange (fruit)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jai achetà © trois oranges - I bought three orangesou, oà ¹ - see aoà »t French Homophones: P la paie - payla paix - peacele pet - (familiar) fartle pain - bread  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je dois acheter du pain - I need to buy some breadle pin - pine  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je crois que cest un pin - I think its a pine (tree)pair (adjective) - even  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest un nombre pair - Its an even numberle pair - peer  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il est acceptà © par ses pairs - He is accepted by his peersla paire - pair  Ã‚  Ã‚  une paire de ciseaux - a pair of scissorsle pà ¨re - father  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest mon pà ¨re - Its my fatherpar (preposition) - by/with  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cette histoire a à ©tà © à ©crite par un enfant - This story was written by a childpars - first and second person singular conjugation of partir (to leave)  Ã‚  Ã‚   quelle heure pars-tu ? - What time do you leave?part - third person singular conjugation of partirune part - part, portion  Ã‚  Ã‚  la part du lion - the lions shareparce que (conjunctive phrase) - because  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je lai fait parce que javais peur - I did it because I was scaredpar c e que - preposition par indefinite relative pronoun ce que  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je suis surpris par ce que vous dites - Im surprised by what you are sayingparti - past participle of partir (to leave)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il est dà ©j parti - He already left. un parti - (political) party; option, course of actionune partie - part, amount  Ã‚  Ã‚  Divisez-le en quatre parties - Divide it into four parts.la pà ¢te - pastry, dough, pasteles pà ¢tes - pastala patte - pawla peau - skin  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les soins de la peau sont trà ¨s importants - Skin care is very importantle pot - jar, pot, can  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jai achetà © un pot de confiture - I bought a jar of jam(un) peu - (a) little  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jai un peu dargent - I have a little moneypeux - first and second person singular conjugation of pouvoir (can, to be able)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je peux le faire - I can do itpeut - third person singular conjugation of pouvoirphare - see fardphiltre - see filtreplus tà ´t - sooner, earlier  Ã‚  Ã‚  On doit commencer une heure plus tà ´t - We need to start an hour earlierplutà ´t - (adverb) rather, instead  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je prà ©fà ¨re plutà ´t la chemise rouge - Id rather have the red shirtle poids - weightle pois - pea, dotla poix - tar, pitchle poing - fistà ‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il ma montrà © le poing ! - He shook his fist at me!le point - point, place; stitch  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quel est son point de congà ©lation ? - What is its freezing point?le porc - pig, pork  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je ne mange pas le porc - I dont eat porkle port - port, harbor  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il est sorti du port - He left portle pouce - thumbla pousse - sproutprà ¨s (adverb) - near, nearby  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jhabite tout prà ¨s - I live nearbyprà ªt (adjective) - ready  Ã‚  Ã‚  Es-tu prà ªt ? - Are you ready?pu - past participle of the French verb pouvoir (to be able)pue(s) - singular conjugations of the French verb puer (to stink)puent - third person plural conjugation of puerla pub (apocope of publicità ©) - ad, advert, advertising  Ã‚  Ã‚  As-tu vu leur nouvelle pub ? - Have you seen their new ad?le pub - bar, pub  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest mon pub prà ©fà ©rà © - Its my favorite bar French Homophones: Q q  - see  culquand  - when  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quand vas-tu partir ?  - When are you going to leave?quant  - as for  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quant tes idà ©es†¦Ã‚  - As for your ideas†¦quen  -  contraction  of  que  Ã‚  en  (adverbial pronoun)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quen pensez-vous ?  - What do you think about it?le  camp  - camp, side  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il a changà © de camp  - He changed sidesquart  - see  carque  (interrogative pronoun) - what  Ã‚  Ã‚  Que veux-tu ?  - What do you want?que  (relative pronoun) - than, that  Ã‚  Ã‚  Voici le livre que jai à ©crit  - Here is the book that I wrotela  queue  - line, tail  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il faut faire la queue  - We have to stand in linequeux  -  contraction  of  que  Ã‚  eux  (stressed pronoun)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jai plus didà ©es queux  - I have more ideas than they doNote:  The vowel sound in  que  is slightly different than in the other two, but for non-native speakers these are likely to sound like h omophonesquel(le)(s)  - (interrogative adjective) which  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quel livre vas-tu acheter ?  - Which book are you going to buy?quelle  -  contraction of  que  Ã‚  elle  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tu es plus jolie quelle  - You are prettier than she isquelque(s)  - some  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il y a quelques problà ¨mes  - There are some problemsquel(le)(s) que  -  whatever  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quels que soient les problà ¨mes†¦Ã‚  - Whatever the problems may be†¦quelquefois  - sometimes (adverb)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ãƒâ€¡a marche quelquefois  - It works sometimesquelques fois  -  a few times  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jy suis allà © quelques fois  - Ive gone there a few timesquil  - contraction of  que  Ã‚  il  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je pense quil est l  - I think hes therequils  - contraction of  que  Ã‚  ils  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je pense quils sont l  - I think they are therequoique  (subordinating conjunction) - although  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quoique je suis malade†¦Ã‚  - Although I am sick†¦quoi que  (conjunctive phrase) - whatever  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quoi que tu penses†¦Ã‚  - Whatever you may think†¦ French Homophones: R r  - letter of the  French alphabetair  - (masculine noun) air; appearance  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il a lair malade  - He looks sickune  aire  - area, zone, eyrie  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je cherche une aire de jeux  - Im looking for a playgroundune  Ãƒ ¨re  - era  Ã‚  Ã‚  En lan 1999 de notre à ¨re  - In 1900 ADla  reine  - queenle  renne  - reindeerla  rose  - rose  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jaime bien les roses  - I really like rosesle  rose  -  pink  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je prà ©fà ¨re la chemise rose  - I prefer the pink shirtla  roue  - wheel  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je sais changer une roue  - I know how to change a tirele  roux  -  red(-head), roux  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il a les cheveux roux  - He has red hairFor the difference in pronunciation between  roue/roux  and  rue, see my lesson on  OU vs U French Homophones: S s  - letter of the  French alphabetà ¨s  - in (a certain subject)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il a une licence à ¨s ingà ©nierie  - He has a BS in engineeringsa  - see  Ãƒ §asain  - healthy, sound, wholesome  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il est sain et sauf chez lui  - Hes safe and sound at homesaint  - holy, saintly  Ã‚  Ã‚  le vendredi saint  - Good Fridayun  saint  - saintun  sein  - breastsais,  sait  - see  csang,  sans,  sen  - see  cenun  saut  - jump, leap  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il sest levà © dun saut  - He jumped to his feetun  sceau  - seal, stamp, mark  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest marquà © dun sceau  - Its marked with a sealun  seau  - bucket, pailsot  - silly, foolish, stupidscie  - see  cise  - see  cele  sel  - saltla  selle  - saddlecelle  (demonstrative pronoun) - this/that one  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je prà ©fà ¨re celle-ci  - I prefer this onesen,  sens,  sent  - see  censensà ©Ã‚  - see  censà ©sept,  sest vowel,  Sà ¨te  - see  cest vowelses,  sest  - see  csà ©tait,  sà ©taient  - see  cà ©taitsi,  six  - see  cisigne  - see  cygnesoi  - oneself  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il faut avoir confiance en soi  - One must be self-confidentle  soi  - self, id  Ã‚  Ã‚  Le soi, le moi et le sur-moi  - The id, the ego, and the superegosois  - first and second person singular  subjunctive  of  Ãƒ ªtre  (to be)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il faut que tu sois l  - You have to be therela  soie  - silk  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest un chemisier en soie  - Its a silk blousesoient  - third person plural subjunctive of  Ãƒ ªtresoit  - third person singular subjunctive of  Ãƒ ªtrele  sol  - ground, floor, siltla  sole  - sole (fish)la  somme  - sum, amountle  somme  - snooze, napson  (possessive adjective) - his, her, its  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cà ©tait son idà ©e  - It was his ideale  son  - sound, bran  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest un ingà ©nieur de son et il naime pas la farine de son  - Hes a sound e ngineer and he doesnt like bran floursont  - third person plural conjugation of  Ãƒ ªtre  (to be)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ils sont en retard  - They are lateun  sou  - centsous  - undersur  - sour (adjective)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest un peu sur  - Its a little soursur  (preposition) - on  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il ny a rien sur la table  - Theres nothing on the tablesà »r  - sure, certain  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oui, jen suis sà »r  - Yes, Im suresy  - see  ci French Homophones: T t  - letter of the  French alphabetle  thà ©Ã‚  - tea  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je prà ©fà ¨re le thà © vert  - I prefer green teata  (possessive adjective) - your  Ã‚  Ã‚  Voici ta valise  - Heres your suitcaseta  -  contraction  of  te  (object pronoun) third person singular conjugation of  avoir  (to have)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il ta dà ©j dit  - He already told youtant  - so (many/much)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il travaille tant !  - He works so much!le  temps  - weather, time  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quel temps fait-il ?  - Hows the weather?ten  -  contraction  of  te  Ã‚  en  (adverbial pronoun)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je ten donne deux  - Im giving you two of themtend(s)  - singular conjugations of the French verb  tendre  (to strain, tighten)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tend la main et je te le donnera  - Hold out your hand and Ill give it to youtes  (possessive adjective) - your  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oà ¹ sont tes stylos ?  - Where are your pens?tes  -  contraction  of  te  (reflexive p ronoun) second person singular conjugation of  Ãƒ ªtre  (to be) [in the  passà © composà ©Ã‚  of a  pronominal verb]  Ã‚  Ã‚   quelle heure tes-tu rà ©veillà © ?  - What time did you get up?test  - contraction of  te  (object pronoun) third person singular of  Ãƒ ªtre  Ã‚  Ã‚  Quest-ce qui test arrivà © ?   - What happened to you?le  thon  - tuna (fish)ton  (second person singular  possessive adjective) - your  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oà ¹ est ton sac ?  - Wheres your bag?un  ton  - tone, pitch  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il parle sur un ton grave  - He speaks in a serious tonetond(s)  - singular conjugations of the French verb  tondre  (to shear, mow)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je tonds le gazon le samedi  - I mow the lawn on Saturdaytont  -  contraction  of  te   third person plural conjugation of  avoir  (to have)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ils tont menti  - They lied to youle  tic  - tic, twitch  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il a un tic nerveux  - He has a nervous ticla  tique  - tick  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mon chien a des tiques  - My dog has ticksla  tour  - towerle  tour  - tour, turntout  - all, everythingle  toux  - coughtu  - youtu  - past participle of the French verb  se taire  (to be quiet)tue(s)  - singular conjugations of  tuer  (to kill)tuent  - third person plural conjugation of  tuer French Homophones: U u  - see  eu French Homophones: V vain  - empty, superficial  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ce sont de vains mots  - Those are empty wordsle  vin  - winevingt  - twentyvins  - first and second person  passà © simple  of  venir  (to come)vint  - third person singular passà © simple of  venirvend  - third person singular conjugation of  vendre  (to sell)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il vend sa maison  - Hes selling his housevends  - first and second person singular conjugation of  vendrele  vent  - wind  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il y a du vent  - Its windyun  ver  - wormun  verre  - glassvers  (preposition) - towardun  vers  - versevert  - greenvoie  - first and third person singular  subjunctive  of  voir  (to see)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il faut quelle voie son frà ¨re  - She has to see her brotherla  voie  - way, route  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest une voie privà ©e  - Its a private roadvoient  - third person plural indicative and subjunctive of  voirvoies  - second person singular subjunctive of  voirvois  - first and second person singular indicative of  voir  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je ne le vois pas  - I dont see itvoit  - third person singular indicative of  voirla  voix  - voice  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ils parlent voix basse  - They are speaking in low voicesvoir  - to see  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je ne peux pas voir là ©cran  - I cant see the screenvoire  - indeed, or even, if not  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cest une bonne idà ©e, voire excellente  - Its a good, or even excellent, ideavu  - past participle of  voir  (to see)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Je lai vu hier  - I saw him yesterdayvu  (presentative) - given, considering  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vu notre situation†¦Ã‚  - Given our situation†¦la  vue  - sight  Ã‚  Ã‚  Il perd la vue  - Hes losing his sight French Homophones: Y y  - see  i

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Properly Format An Apa Style Paper English Language Essay In this paper we will explore how to properly format an APA style paper. This example will be of use to introductory psychology students who have never had any exposure to APA format. For senior students, this paper may serve as a useful reminder of the key elements of APA style. Learning APA Format for Psychology Students Frequently, students are required to write psychology papers. However, in doing so, there are two broad skills that need to be learned. The first skill is related to the content of the paper. For example, a student writing a paper about dreaming is likely to incorporate the ideas of Freud (1953) or even Hobson and McCarley (1977). The second skill is tied to properly formatting the paper. In psychology, we make use of the format developed by the American Psychological Association (APA: 2001). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the various aspects of APA format for psychology students. In psychology, there are two types of APA style papers. One format, which I call the quantitative paper, includes a method, results and discussion section. In statistics and research methods courses, you will tend to adopt the quantitative approach. I have published a number of articles in this format (e.g., Dyce OConnor, 1994). In this course you are not collecting and analyzing data, therefore, you do not include subtitles for the methods, results and discussion sections. The paper that you are going to write is a qualitative paper. This style of paper does not involve statistical analyses, rather, it involves a synthesis of ideas (e.g., Dyce, 1994). 1) Title Page The first thing students need to learn how to master in APA format is the title page. First, you will notice that the title page is numbered in the upper right corner. In fact, all page numbers are marked in the upper right hand corner. Please note the margins are one inch all the way around and the entire content is double spaced with 12 point font. As well, a good suggestion is to use Times New Roman for the text font. Second, you will notice something called Running head. To access the header in Microsoft Word 2007, at the top of Word select Insert. Under the tab Insert you will find something called Header. Select Header and click on the first option called BLANK. Click on the greyed area and then type in the following Running head: LEARNING APA FORMAT. However, when you get to page two of your document, click on the head in the document. When you do so, look to about the center of tab section of Word and find DESIGN. Under this tab, select Different first page. Then type the words LEARNING APA FORMAT (of course, your words will be differentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) and click on the red X in the upper right hand corner of the document. If you do so, this will bring you back to your regular document. Finally, on the title page of your article, your name, and institution are located in the center. In my case, the title of the paper is Learning APA Format for Psychology Students. Just below the title you will put your name. For many academic papers, there are multiple authors. The question isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ who goes first? A natural answer to this question would be to put the names in alphabetical order. However, in academic papers, the individual who does most of the work is often the lead author. Below your name, you will put your institution, and in our case it will be Universal University. 2) Abstract The second page is called the Abstract. The word abstract is centered and placed at the top of the page. The abstract itself is a short summary of the paper. In fact, you might be wise to write the abstract after you have finished your paper. The publication manual suggests that the abstract has a number of characteristics. The abstract is accurate as it does not include information that does not appear in the body of the paper. It is concise (i.e., 120 words or less). The purpose of the abstract is to report, not to evaluate. A well-prepared abstract can be the most important paragraph in your article (APA, 2001, p. 12). 3) Body of the Paper The third page is where you start the body of your paper. The title that you used on the first page of your paper is also used at the very top of the third page. In fact, the titles that appear on the first and third page are exactly the same. The title is centered. In the first paragraph, you will want to broadly introduce your topic. Authors often begin with the broad strokes of the research area they are about to describe. Next, you describe more specifically what you are going to talk about. You may take a paragraph or two to introduce your topic. On the third and subsequent pages of the paper, there will be numerous opportunities to discuss other authors ideas. Simply stated, you do not necessarily need to have an entirely original idea for a psychology paper (particularly a student paper). Making reference to another authors ideas can be done in two ways. You can either paraphrase an idea or cite the author directly. When you paraphrase, you are taking another individuals ideas and then putting them into your own words. If you paraphrase, you will have to indicate where the idea came from. For example, lets consider the following paragraph. There many views on dreaming. On the one hand, there is the Activation Synthesis Hypothesis (ASH: Hobson McCarley, 1977). Proponents of the ASH believe that dreams are largely physiological, starting with bursts of electrical energy from the pons, with the cerebral cortex later trying to make sense of this energy. In sum, Hobson and McCarley (1977) do not believe that dreams are meaningful. On the other hand, individuals such as Freud believe that dreams are loaded with meaning. Freud (1953) suggested that there are two components to dreams. The manifest content is the storyline, whereas the latent content is the underlying meaning. According to Freud, blah blah blah (1900, p. 52). You will notice that in this paragraph, I am paraphrasing and directly quoting authors. To avoid plagiarism, you will need to use one or more of these strategies. For example, in the above paragraph I paraphrase the ideas of Hobson and McCarley. In doing so, I do not directly lift these authors ideas (i.e., I am not using their ideas word for word). In brief, when using an idea from some source, you need to indicate where this idea came from. Not only is this proper formatting, but it also gives readers the opportunity to check the original source for themselves. You may be saying to yourself, how do readers know where to look? This is why we have a reference section that is found at the very back of the paper (we will talk more about this in a moment). You will also notice that in the bolded paragraph that I directly quote Freud. I am sure Freud never said blah blah blah but you get the idea. Whenever you directly (exactly) use someone elses ideas, you need to indicate the author, the year that the article/book was published and the page number from where the idea came from. It is very important to master this formatting otherwise you might be accused of plagiarism. Consider these factitious examplesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Freud (1900) suggests that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (p. 25). Dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (Freud, 1900, p. 25). Freud suggested that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (1990, p. 25) You will note that in all three examples, the quote is exact, and the author, year and the page number are listed. If an article/book has multiple authors, the authors names must appear in the body of the paper in the order that they are listed in the original work. Consider these factitious examplesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Freud and Dyce (1900) suggest that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (p. 25). Dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (Freud Dyce, 1900, p. 25). Freud and Dyce suggested that dreaming is the royal road to the unconscious (1990, p. 25) Notice the difference between the use of and and. The (shift 7 on your keyboard) is called ampersand. Ampersand is used when you source or quote within parentheses, whereas the word and is used outside of parentheses. For example, in the first example above, I use Freud and Dyce (1900) whereas in the second example I use Freud Dyce, 1900, p. 25. Lets suppose you want to paraphrase my lecture ideas (or email) in your paper. The way to do so is as followsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It has been suggested that classical conditioning was developed by Pavlov in the early 1900s (J. A. Dyce, personal communication, October 5, 2005). However, personal communications will not appear in the reference section. In fact, it is one of the few exceptions where a cited author does not appear in the reference section. In general, an author that is listed in the body of paper must appear in the reference section, and vice versa. Use personal communications when the data is not recoverable. I have noticed in recent years that many students use YouTube for presentations. If you use this kind of source for your paper, list it as follows in the body of your paperà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The date (2009, October 10) refers to the date when the video was watched. Dyce (2009, October 10) indicates thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 4) References The final page of your paper is the reference page, and it occurs on an entirely new page. The reference page lists all of the references that you used in your paper. The word References appears at the top and is centered (see my example at the end of this paper). The authors are listed in alphabetical order according to the first author of the paper. For example, consider these factious articles. Freud, S., Dyce, J. (2001) Flinstone, F., Rubble, B. (2001) Cat, T., Dogs, J., Fish, T. (2001) With this particular collection, the Cat article would appear first, then Flinstone and then Freud. You would not reverse the names in the references list. For example, it might be tempting to reverse the names Freud and Dyce, because they are in improper alphabetical order. However, for a single article, the order must remain the same way as it does in the original article. The lead author must remain the lead author. The various sources that you use can take the form of books, journal articles, or a chapter from a book. The following are some examples of formatting that are loosely taken from the APA manual. One author, journal article Dyce, J. A. (2000). The psychology of rats, cats, and wild dogs. Journal of Animal Behavior, 34, 35-45. Two authors, journal article Dyce, J. A., Kulak, A. (2000). The psychology of selling a house. Journal of Selling, 50, 56-89. Magazine Article Dyce, J. A., Kulak, A. (2000, October 10). Whats another word for thesaurus? Science, 450, 445-446. Newspaper article Dyce, J. (2005, October 1). The marital benefits of the expression You are right and I am sorry. The Washington Post, pp. A4. Book Dyce, J. (1900). How to live more than 100 years and not show your age. Washington, DC: American Publication Press. Encyclopedia Dyce, J. (1980). The merits of procrastination. In the new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 25, pp. 50-51). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. YouTube Dyce, J. A. (2009, October 10). What is psychology? [Video file]. Retrieved from You will notice for these references that the first line is flush to the left, and every other line is indented. In other words, the first line overhangs the other lines. You will also notice that there are a variety of ways in which material can be cited. Pay close attention to the location of periods and spacing. There are other sources that you could use for your paper, and the APA manual is filled with different ways in which material is cited (see chapter 4 of the 5th edition). If you have other questions about APA format, you could take a look at the manual. As of 2009, the 6th Edition has been published. In my opinion, the 6th edition is better organized than the 5th edition. Alternative, you might conduct a Google search using the key words APA format and see what you come up with. Although there are many nuances to APA format, following the examples in this paper should give you a very good start on how to write a psychology paper. 5) Final Comments K.M.S Throughout this paper, I have discussed the basics of APA style. However, formatting is only one part of proper writing skills. More importantly, students need to learn how to write. Learning how to write academic papers is not an easy task and takes years to master. The three most important words for good writing are edit, edit, edit. The goal of which is to be as clear and concise as possible. Often when composing something, it is difficult see our mistakes, and we often blur by them when reviewing. For this reason, it is useful to put your paper down for a day and then reread your work (alternatively, get a friend to proof your paper). Allow yourself enough time to write as rushed work is easily identifiable. As an example, it took about one day to put this sample paper together. If you consider that I am familiar with APA style and write fairly well, the process of putting your paper together is likely to take longer. Heed this advice and you should receive a good grade on your paper. Additions provided by A.E. Finally, if you feel that more needs to be added to this paper or there are mistakes, I would ask that you download the paper, make the changes, initial the changes with a textbox (see below), and then email the paper back to me ([emailprotected]). I will then repost the sample paper to the website.

Indifference to War in Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front Essay

Indifference to War in Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front In Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, characters such as Paul and his friends become indifferent to shocking elements of war through constant exposure to them. For example, the characters are unconcerned about the dangers of the front because they are accustomed to being on the front. In another instance, Paul’s friends show no emotions when they witness snipers killing enemy soldiers. Also, Kat finds the unusual effects of mortar shells amusing. These examples prove that through war, characters of the book have become indifferent to things that they would normally find shocking. Many characters on the front are indifferent to the dangers of the front. They are not concerned about near death e...

Literature-based discovery of diabetes

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known mediators of cellular damage in multiple diseases including diabetic complications. Despite its importance, no comprehensive database is currently available for the genes associated with ROS. Methods We present ROS- and diabetes-related targets (genes/proteins) collected from the biomedical literature through a text mining technology. A web-based literature mining tool, SciMiner, was applied to 54 biomedical papers indexed with diabetes and ROS by PubMed to identify relevant targets.Over-represented targets in the ROS-diabetes literature were obtained through comparisons against randomly selected literature. The expression levels of nine genes, selected from the top ranked ROS-diabetes set, were measured in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of diabetic and non-diabetic DBA/2J mice in order to evaluate the biological relevance of literature- derived targets in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Results SciMiner identified 1,026 ROS- and diabet es-related targets from the 54 biomedical papers (http://Jdrf. eurology. med. umich. edu/ROSDiabetes/ webcite). Fifty-three targets were significantly over-represented in the ROS-diabetes literature ompared to randomly selected literature. These over-represented targets included well-known members of the oxidative stress response including catalase, the NADPH oxidase family, and the superoxide dismutase family of proteins. Eight of the nine selected genes exhibited significant differential expression between diabetic and non-diabetic mice.For six genes, the direction of expression change in diabetes paralleled enhanced oxidative stress in the DRG. Conclusions Literature mining compiled ROS-diabetes related targets from the biomedical literature and led us to evaluate the biological relevance of selected targets in the athogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the body does not produce or properly respond to insulin, a hormone required to convert ca rbohydrates into energy for daily life. According to the American Diabetes Association, 23. million children and adults, approximately 7. 8% of the population in the United States, have diabetes [1]. The cost of diabetes in 2007 was estimated to be $174 billion [1]. The micro- and macro-vascular complications of diabetes are the most common causes of renal tailure, blindness and amputations leading to significant morta y, morbidity poor quality of life; however, incomplete understanding of the causes of diabetic complications hinders the development of mechanism-based therapies.In vivo and in vitro experiments implicate a number of enzymatic and non-enzymatic metabolic pathways in the initiation and progression of diabetic complications [2] including: (1) increased polyol pathway activity leading to sorbitol and fructose accumulation, NAD(P)-redox imbalances and changes in signal transduction; (2) non- enzymatic glycation of proteins yielding â€Å"advanced glycation end-productsâ €  (AGES); (3) ctivation of protein kinase C (PKC), initiating a cascade of intracellular stress responses; and (4) increased hexosamine pathway flux [2,3].Only recently has a link among these pathways been established that provides a unified mechanism of tissue damage. Each of these pathways directly and indirectly leads to overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [23]. ROS are highly reactive ions or small molecules including oxygen ions, free radicals and peroxides, formed as natural byproducts of cellular energy metabolism. ROS are implicated in multiple cellular pathways such as mitogen-activated protein kinase MAPK) signaling, c-Jun amino-terminal kinase ONK), cell proliferation and apoptosis [4-6].Due to the highly reactive properties of ROS, excessive ROS may cause significant damage to proteins, DNA, RNA and lipids. All cells express enzymes capable of neutralizing ROS. In addition to the maintenance of antioxidant systems such as glutathione and thioredoxins, pri mary sensory neurons express two main detoxifying enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD) [7] and catalase [8]. SOD converts superoxide (02-) to H202, which is reduced to H20 by glutathione and catalase [8].SODI is the main form of SOD in the cytoplasm; SOD2 is located within the itochondria. In neurons, SODI activity represents approximately 90% of total SOD activity and SOD2 approximately 10% [9]. Under diabetic conditions, this protective mechanism is overwhelmed due to the substantial increase in ROS, leading to cellular damage and dysfunction [10]. The idea that increased ROS and oxidative stress contribute to the pathogenesis of diabetic complications has led scientists to investigate different oxidative stress pathways [7,11].Inhibition of ROS or maintenance of euglycemia restores metabolic and vascular imbalances and blocks both the initiation and progression of omplications [1 2,13]. Despite the significant implications and extensive research into the role of ROS in diabetes, n o comprehensive database regarding ROS-related genes or proteins is currently available. In the present study, a comprehensive list of ROS- and diabetes-related targets (genes/proteins) was compiled from the biomedical literature through text mining technology.SciMiner, a web-based literature mining tool [14], was used to retrieve and process documents and identify targets from the text. SciMiner provides a convenient web-based platform for target-identification within the biomedical iterature, similar to other tools including EBIMed [1 5], ALI BABA [16], and Polysearch [1 7]; however, SciMiner is unique in that it searches tull text documents, suppo free-text PubMed query style, and allows the comparison of target lists from multiple queries.The ROS-diabetes targets collected by SciMiner were further tested against randomly selected non-ROS-diabetes literature to identify targets that are significantly over- represented in the ROS-diabetes literature. Functional enrichment analyses were performed on these targets to identify significantly over-represented biological unctions in terms of Gene Ontology (GO) terms and pathways. In order to confirm the biological relevance of the over-represented ROS-diabetes targets, the gene expression levels of nine selected targets were measured in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) from mice with and without diabetes.DRG contain primary sensory neurons that relay information from the periphery to the central nervous system (CNS) Unlike the CNS, DRG are not protected by a blood-nerve barrier, and are consequently vulnerable to metabolic and toxic injury [19]. We hypothesize that differential expression of identified targets in DRG would confirm heir involvement in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Defining ROS-diabetes literature To retrieve the list of biomedical literature associated with ROS and diabetes, PubMed was queried using (â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] AND â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH]).This que ry yielded 54 articles as of April 27, 2009. SciMiner, a web-based literature mining tool [14], was used to retrieve and process the abstracts and available full text documents to identify targets (full text documents were available for approximately 40% of the 1 , 1 54 articles). SciMiner-identified targets, eported in the form of HGNC [HUGO (Human Genome Organization) Gene Nomenclature Committee] genes, were confirmed by manual review of the text. Comparison with human curated data (NCBI Gene2PubMed) The NCBI Gene database provides links between Gene and PubMed.The links are the result of (1) manual curation within the NCBI via literature analysis as part of generating a Gene record, (2) integration of information from other public databases, and (3) GeneRlF (Gene Reference Into Function) in which human experts provide a brief summary of gene functions and make the connections between citation PubMed) and Gene databases. For the 54 ROS-diabetes articles, gene-paper associations we re retrieved from the NCBI Gene database. Non-human genes were mapped to homologous human genes through the NCBI HomoloGene database.The retrieved genes were compared against the SciMiner derived targets. Any genes missed by SciMiner were added to the ROS-diabetes target set. Protein-protein interactions among ROS-diabetes targets To indirectly examine the association of literature derived targets (by SciMiner and NCBI Gene2PubMed) with ROS and diabetes, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) mong the targets were surveyed This was based on an assumption that targets are more likely to have PPIs with each other if they are truly associated within the same biological functions/pathways.A PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets was generated using the Michigan Molecular Interactions (MIMI, http://mimi. ncibi. org/ webcite) database [20] and compared against 100 PPI networks of randomly drawn sets (the same number of the ROS-diabetes target set) from HUGO. A standard Z-test and one sample T-test were used to calculate the statistical significance of the ROS- diabetes PPI network with respect to the random PPI networks.Functional enrichment analysis Literature derived ROS-diabetes targets (by SciMiner and NCBI Gene2PubMed) were subject to functional enrichment analyses to identify significantly over-represented biological functions in terms of Gene Ontology [21], pathways (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG, http://www. genome. ]p/kegg/ webcite) [22] and Reactome http://www. reactome. org/ webcite[23]). Fisher's exact test [24] was used to calculate the statistical significance of these biological functions with BenJamini-Hochberg (BH) adjusted p-value ; 0. 5 [25] as the cut-off. Over-represented ROS-diabetes targets Defining background corpora To identify a subset of targets that are highly over-represented within the ROS- diabetes targets, the frequency of each target (defined as the number of documents in which the target was identified divided by the n umber of total documents in the query) was compared against the frequencies in randomly selected background corpora.Depending on how the background set is defined, over-represented targets may vary widely; therefore, to maintain the background corpora close to the ROS and diabetes context, documents were selected from the same Journal, volume, and issue f the 54 ROS-diabetes documents, but were NOT indexed with â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] nor â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH]. For example, one of the ROS-diabetes articles (PMID: 18227068), was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 283, Issue 16. This issue contained 85 papers, 78 of which were not indexed with either â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] or â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH] indexed.One of these 78 papers was randomly selected as a background document. Three sets of 54 documents were selected using this approach and processed using SciMiner. Identified targets were con firmed by manual review for accuracy. Identifying significantly over-represented targets ROS-diabetes targets were tested for over-representation against targets identified from the three background sets. Fisher's exact test was used to determine if the frequency of each target in the ROS-diabetes target set was significantly different from that of the background sets. Any targets with a BH adjusted p-value < 0. 5 in at least two of the three comparisons were deemed to be an over-represented ROS- diabetes target. Functional enrichment analyses were performed on these over- represented ROS-diabetes targets as described above. Selecting targets tor real-time R A subset of targets were selected for RT-PCR from the top 10 over-represented ROS- diabetes targets excluding insulin and NADPH oxidase 5 (NOX5), which does not have a mouse ortholog. Nitric oxide synthase 1 (NOSI), the main generator of nitric oxide, ranked at the 1 5th position and was additionally selected for inclusion in th e test set.Differential gene expression by real-time RT-PCR Mice DBA/2J mice were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). Mice were housed in a pathogen-free environment and cared for following the University of Michigan Committee on the Care and Use of Animals guidelines. Mice were fed AIN76A chow (Research Diets, New Brunswick, NJ). Male mice were used for this study. Induction of diabetes Two treatment groups were defined: control (n = 4) and diabetic (n = 4). Diabetes was induced at 13 weeks of age by low-dose streptozotocin (STZ) injections, 50 mg/kg/day for five consecutive days.All diabetic mice received LinBit sustained release insulin implants (LinShin, Toronto, Canada) at 8 weeks post-STZ treatment. Insulin implants were replaced every 4 weeks, at 12 and 16 weeks post-STZ treatment. At 20 weeks post-STZ treatment, mice were euthanized by sodium pentobarbital overdose and DRG were harvested as previously described [26]. Real-time RT-PCR The gene expression o f the selected nine literature-derived ROS-diabetes targets in DRG was measured using real-time RT-PCR in duplicate.The amount of mRNA isolated from each DRG was normalized to an endogenous reference [Tbp: TATA box binding protein; A cycle threshold (CT)]. Identification of ROS-diabetes targets A total of 1,021 unique targets were identified by SciMiner from the 1,154 ROS- diabetes papers defined by the query of (â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] AND â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH]) and confirmed by manual review. Table 1 contains the op 10 most frequently mentioned targets in the ROS-diabetes papers. Insulin was the most frequently mentioned target, followed by superoxide dismutase 1 and catalase. Table 1 .Top 10 most frequent ROS-diabetes targets The NCBI Gene2PubMed database, containing expert-curated associations between the NCBI Gene and PubMed databases, revealed 90 unique genes associated with the 54 ROS-diabetes papers (Additional File 1). SciMiner identified 85 out of these 90 targets, indicating a 94% recall rate. Five targets missed by SciMiner were added to the initial ROS-diabetes target set to result in 1,026 unique targets (Additional File 2). Additional tile 1. The list ot 90 genes trom the NCBI Gene2PubMed database tor the ROS-Diabetes literature (1 , 1 54 papers).Format: XLS Size: 35KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 2. The list of 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 229KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets The PPI network among the ROS-diabetes targets was evaluated using MIMI interaction data. This was based on the assumption that targets commonly related to certain topic are more likely to have frequent interactions with each other.One hundred PPI networks were generated for comparison using the same number of genes (1,026) randomly selected from the complete HUGO gene set (2 5,254). The PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets was significantly different from the randomly generated networks indicating their strong association with the topic â€Å"ROS and Diabetes†. Table 2 demonstrates that the mean number of targets with any PPI interaction in the randomly generated target sets was 528. 9 (approximately 52% of 1,026 targets), while the number of targets with any PPI interaction in the ROS- iabetes target was 983 (96%).The number of targets interacting with each other was also significantly different between the random networks (mean = 155. 4) and the ROS-diabetes network (mean = 879). Figure 1 illustrates the distributions of these measurements from the 100 random networks with the ROS-diabetes set depicted as a red vertical line. It is obvious that the PPI network of the ROS-diabetes targets is significantly different from the random networks. Table 2. Summary of 100 randomly generated PPI networks thumbnailFigure 1 . Histograms of randomly gene rated PPI networks.The histograms llustrate the distributions of 100 randomly generated networks, while the red line indicates the ROS-diabetes targets. The network of the ROS-diabetes targets is significantly different from the 100 randomly generated networks, indicating the overlap of ROS-diabetes targets with respect to the topic â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species and Diabetes†. Functional enrichment analyses of the ROS-diabetes targets Functional enrichment analyses of the 1,026 ROS-diabetes targets were performed to identify over-represented biological functions of the ROS-diabetes targets.After BenJamini-Hochberg correction, a total of 189 molecular functions, 450 biological rocesses, 73 cellular components and 341 pathways were significantly enriched in the ROS-diabetes targets when compared against all the HUGO genes (see Additional Files 3, 4, 5 and 6 for the full lists). Table 3 lists the top 3 most over-represented GO terms and pathways ranked by p-values of Fisher's ex act test: e. g. , apoptosis, oxidoreductase activity and insulin signaling pathway. Additional file 3. The enriched Molecular Functions Gene Ontology Terms in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets.Format: XLS Size: 91 KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 4. The nriched Biological Processes Gene Ontology Terms in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 95KB Download file This tile can be viewed wit Microsott Excel Vieweropen Data Additional tile enriched Cellular Components Gene Ontology Terms in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 61 KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 6. The enriched pathways in the 1,026 ROS-Diabetes targets.Format: XLS Size: 104KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Table 3. Enriched functions of 1,026 ROS-diabetes targets Identification of over-represented ROS-diabetes targets To identify th e ROS-diabetes targets highly over-represented in ROS-diabetes literature, three sets of background corpora of the same size (n = 1 , 1 54 documents) were generated using the same Journal, volume and issue approach. The overlap among the three background sets in terms of documents and identified targets are illustrated in Figure 2.Approximately 90% of the selected background documents were unique to the individual set, while 50% of the identified targets were identified in at least one of the three background document sets. The frequencies of the identified targets were compared among the background sets for significant differences. None of the targets had a BH adjusted p-value ; 0. 05, indicating no significant difference among the targets from the three different background sets (See Additional File 7). thumbnailFigure 2. Venn diagrams of document compositions and identified targets of the randomly generated background sets.Approximately 90% of the selected background documents we re unique to individual set (A), while 50% of the identified targets were identified in at least one of the three background document sets (B). Additional file 7. Comparisons of target frequencies among three background sets. Format: XLS Size: 22KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Comparisons of the ROS-diabetes targets against these background sets revealed 53 highly over- represented ROS-diabetes targets as listed in Table 4.These 53 targets were significant (p-value ; 0. 05) against all three background sets and significant following BenJamini-Hochberg multiple testing correction (BH adjusted p-value ; 0. 05) against at least two of the three background sets. SODI was the most over-represented in he ROS-diabetes targets. Table 4. 53 targets over-represented in ROS-diabetes literature Functional enrichment analyses of the over-represented ROS-diabetes targets Functional enrichment analyses of the 53 ROS-diabetes targets were performed to identify over- represented biological functions.Following BenJamini-Hochberg correction, a total of 65 molecular functions, 209 biological processes, 26 cellular components and 108 pathways were significantly over-represented when compared against all the HUGO genes (see Additional Files 8, 9, 10 and 11 for the full lists). Table 5 shows the top 3 ost significantly over-represented GO terms and pathways ranked by p-values of Fisher's exact test. GO terms related to oxidative stress such as â€Å"superoxide metabolic process†, â€Å"superoxide release†, â€Å"electron carrier activity† and â€Å"mitochondrion† were highly over-represented 53 ROS-diabetes targets Additional file 8.The enriched Molecular Functions Gene Ontology Terms in the Over- represented 53 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 46KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 9. The enriched Biological Processes Gene Ontology Terms in the Over-represented 53 ROS- Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 95KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 10. The enriched Cellular Components Gene Ontology Terms in the Over-represented 53 ROS-Diabetes targets.Format: XLS Size: 66KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Additional file 1 1 . The enriched pathways in the Over-represented 53 ROS-Diabetes targets. Format: XLS Size: 75KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data Table 5. Enriched functions of the 53 over-represented targets in diabetes Gene expression change in iabetes Two groups of DBA/2J mice exhibited significantly different levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (%GHb). The mean ? ± SEM were 6. 2 ? ± 0. for the non-diabetic control group and for 14. 0 ? ± 0. 8 for the diabetic group (p-value < 0. 001), indicative of prolonged hyperglycemia in the diabetic group [26]. DRG were harvested from these animals for gene expression assays. Nine genes were selected from the top ranked ROS-diabetes targets: superoxide dismutase 1 (Sodl), catalase (Cat), xanthine dehydrogenase (Xdh), protein kinase C alpha (Prkca), neutrophil cytosolic factor 1 Ncfl), nitric oxide synthase 3 (Nos3), superoxide dismutase 2 (Sod2), cytochrome b-245 alpha (Cyba), and nitric oxide synthase 1 (Nosl).Eight genes exhibited differential expression between diabetic and non-diabetic mice (p-value < 0. 05) as shown in Figure 3. Cat, Sodl, Sod2, Prkca, and NOSI expression levels were decreased, while Ncfl , Xdh, and Cyba expression levels were increased in diabetes. thumbnailFigure 3. Gene expression levels of selected ROS-diabetes targets in DRG examined by real-time RT-PCR. Expression levels are relative to Tbp, an internal control (error bar = SEM) (*, p < 0. 05; **, p < 0. 01; ***, p < 0. 01). Eight (Cat, Sodl, Ncfl , Xdh, Sod2, Cyba, Prkca, and Nosl) out of the nine selected ROS-diabetes genes were sign ificantly regulated by diabetes. Discussion Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are products of normal energy metabolism and play important roles in many other biological processes such as the immune response and signaling cascades [4-6]. As mediators of cellular damage, ROS are implicated in pathogenesis of multiple diseases including diabetic complications [27-30].With the aid of literature mining technology, we collected 1 ,026 possible ROS-related targets from a set of biomedical literature indexed with both ROS and diabetes. Fifty-three targets were significantly over-represented in the ROS-diabetes papers when compared against three background sets. Depending on how the background set is defined, the over-represented targets may vary widely. An ideal background set would be the entire PubMed set; however, this is not possible due to limited access to tull texts and intense data processing.An alternative method wou d be to use only abstracts in PubMed, but this may not fully represen t the literature. Using only the abstracts, our target identification method resulted in 21 (39%) of the 53 key ROS- iabetes targets (Additional File 12), suggesting the benefit of rich information in full text documents. In the present study, background documents were randomly selected from the same Journal, volume, and issue of the 54 ROS-diabetes documents, which were not indexed with â€Å"Reactive Oxygen Species†[MeSH] nor â€Å"Diabetes Mellitus†[MeSH].This approach maintained the background corpora not far from the ROS and diabetes context. Additional file 12. The Key 53 ROS-Diabetes Targets Identifiable Using Only the Abstracts. Format: XLS Size: 23KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Vieweropen Data The gene expression evels of nine targets selected from the 53 over-represented ROS-diabetes targets were measured in diabetic and non-diabetic DRG. Our laboratory is particularly interested in deciphering the underlying mechanisms of diab etic neuropathy, a major complication of diabetes.Data published by our laboratory both in vitro and in vivo confirm the negative impact of oxidative stress in complication-prone neuron tissues like DRG In an effort to obtain diabetic neuropathy specific targets, SciMiner was employed to further analyze a subset of the ROS-diabetes papers (data not shown). Nerve growth factor (NGF) was identified as the most over- epresented target in this subset when compared to the full ROS-diabetes set; however, NGF did not have statistical significance (BH adjusted p-value = 0. 06). The relatively small numbers of papers and associated targets may have contributed to this non-significance.Therefore, the candidate targets for gene expression validation were selected from among the 53 over-represented ROS-diabetes targets derived from the full ROS-diabetes corpus. Among the tested genes, the expression levels of Cat, Sodl , Sod2, Prkca, and NOSI were decreased, while the expression levels of Ncfl , Xdh, and Cyba were increased nder diabetic conditions. Cat, Sodl , and Sod2 are responsible for protecting cells from oxidative stress by destroying superoxides and hydrogen peroxides [8-11]. Decreased expression of these genes may result in oxidative stress [32].Increased expression of Cyba and Ncfl , subunits of superoxide-generating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase complex [30], also supports enhanced oxidative stress. Xdh and its inter-convertible form, Xanthine oxidase (Xod), showed increased activity in various rat tissues under oxidative stress conditions ith diabetes [33], and also showed increased expression in diabetic DRG in the current study. Unlike the above concordant genes, protein kinase C and nitric oxide synthases did not exhibit predicted expression changes in diabetes.Protein kinase C activates NADPH oxidase, further promoting oxidative stress in the cell [34,35]. Decreased expression of Prkca in our diabetic DRG is not parallel with expression levels of other enzymes expected to increase oxidative stress. Between the two nitric oxide synthases tested in the present study, NOSI (neuronal) expression was significantly decreased (p-value < 0. 01) in diabetes, while Nos3 (endothelial) expression was not significant (p-value = 0. 06). The neuronal NOSI is expected to play a major role in producing nitric oxide, another type of highly reactive free radical.Thus, with some exceptions, the majority of the differentially expressed genes in DRG show parallel results to the known activities of these targets in diabetes, suggesting enhanced oxidative stress in the diabetic DRG. Assessment of antioxidant enzyme expression in diabetes has yielded a variety of results [36-40] depending upon the duration of diabetes, the tissue studied and other factors. In diabetic mice and rats, it is commonly reported that superoxide dismutases are down-regulated [37-40], where data regarding catalase are variable [36,40].PKC is activated i n diabetes, but most papers that examined mRNA demonstrated that its expression is largely unchanged [41]. Among the 53 over-represented ROS-diabetes targets, SODI was the most over- represented and was differentially expressed under diabetic and non-diabetic conditions. To the best of our knowledge, no published study has investigated the role of SODI in the onset and/or progression of diabetic neuropathy. Mutations of SODI have long been associated with the inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) [42] and the theory of oxidative stress-based aging [43].Early reports indicate that knockout of the SODI gene does not affect nervous system development [44], although recovery following injury is slow and incomplete [45,46]. With respect to diabetes, SODI KO accelerates the development of diabetic nephropathy [47] and cataract formation [48]. Thus, examining the SODI KO mouse as a model of diabetic neuropathy would be a reasonable follow-up study. One limitation of the cur rent approach using literature mining technology is incorrect r missed identification of the mentioned targets within the literature.Based on a performance evaluation using a standard text set BioCreAtlvE (Critical Assessment of Information Extraction systems in Biology) version 2 [49], SciMiner achieved 87. 1% recall (percentage identification of targets in the given text), 71. 3% precision (percentage accuracy of identified target) and 75. 8% F-measure (harmonious average of recall and precision = (2 x recall x precision)/(recall + precision)) before manual revision [14]. In order to improve the accuracy of SciMiner's results, each target was anually reviewed and corrected by checking the sentences in which each target was identified.Approximately, 120 targets (†10% of the initially identified targets from the ROS-diabetes papers) were removed during the manual review process. The overall accuracy is expected to improve through the review process; however, the review process did not address targets missed by SciMiner, since we did not thoroughly review individual papers. Instead, 5 missed targets, whose associations with ROS-diabetes literature were available in the NCBI Gene2PubMed database, were added to the final ROS-diabetes target list (Additional File 2).