Power subsystem Microsatellite

Power subsystem Microsatellite This subsystem is responsible for supplying power to the entire satellite, converting solar cell energy to on-board battery energy, and distributing power to various other subsystems. The power subsystem of the microsatellite is designed for a remote sensing mission to carry out on sun-synchronous orbits at 700 km altitude at an inclination of 98.19 degrees. The payload of the microsatellite includes a multispectral remote sensing camera which takes picture of polar region in a visible spectrum and a surrey GPS receiver especially designed for low earth orbit. Microsatellite payload weighs 5 kg and with a mean power consumption of 9W. Sub-system power budget is estimated according to the payload power requirement with 15 percent margin. Total estimated power requirement for the microsatellite is 70W. Microsatellite subsystem Power Allocation :- End Of Life Estimated Microsatellite Power 70 W Subsystem % of Operating Power Power (W) Payload 15 10.5 LSTS Bus Propulsion 0 0 Thermal Control 10 7 Attitude Control 15 10.5 Power 15 10.5 Communications 20 14 C D Handling 10 7 Structure 0 0 Margin 15 10.5 Total 100 70 The power subsystem of the microsatellite is designed for Low Earth Orbit for five years period. The power estimated for subsystem has a 15% contingency margin. Primary power source for the satellite is the solar array that is body mounted on the microsatellite. The satellite is in near polar sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 km, total orbital period of the satellite is 98.77 min. The microsatellite experience eclipse for about 35.29 min. Solar array for the microsatellite is designed according to the mission requirement. Batteries are secondary power source during the eclipse when no sun light is available. The selection of the solar cell and batteries are made according to power required end of life of the satellite and trade study between different solar cell and batteries but decision is made to satisfy the estimated mass size and power budget of the satellite. As the satellite is a cube shaped and spins stabilized body mounted solar panels to places on all the four sid es of the satellite for a uninterrupted supply of power to the subsystems. Altitude 700.00 km Earths Radius 6,378.00 km Total Power Requirement (const. day and night) 70.00 Watts Earths Gravitational Constant 3,98,600.00 km2/s2 Power transfer efficiencies:- Xd 0.85 Xe 0.75 Inherent Degradation Id 0.80 Worst Case(ÃŽ ¸ deg) 23.00 (deg) Mission Life (yrs) 5.00 (Yrs) Life time Degradation (Ld) 0.98 Angle ÃŽ ± (rad) 1.12 (rad) Angle ÃŽ ± (deg) 64.30 (deg) Orbital Peroid (P) (sec) 5,926.21 (sec) Maximum Eclipse Peroid (Tn) (sec) 2,117.08 (sec) Minimum Power Sunlight (Td) (sec) 3,809.12 (Sec) Average Solar array power (Psa) (W) 134.23 W Multijunction Solar (GainP/GaAs) Po 301.00 W/m2 BOL Power (Pbol) 221.66 W/m2 EOL Power Requirement (Peol) 216.17 W/m2 Solar array Area (m2) 0.62 m2 Mass of Solar Array (kg) 3.36 kg Solar array weight ( body mounted so Msa x 4 ) 13.42 kg The primary power source of the microsatellite is chosen to be Multijunction Solar cells (GainP/GaAs). These solar cells have an efficiency of 23 percent and most advanced for their category. The required solar panel area of the microsatellite to sufficiently support the power requirement of the microsatellite subsystem is 0.62 m2 but for a body mounted microsatellite, all the four faces of the cube shaped satellite will have the following area. The estimated weight of the solar panels is 3.4 kg and the total weight of all the panels on the satellite is 13.5 kg. The main advantage of the body mounted solar panels is such that they have more life expectancy as they are not exposed to radiation for a long time, but it is compensated with the additional weight of the solar panels. The primary power source should be able to generate 135 Watts of power to sustain the power requirement of the subsystems as well as enough to charge the batteries as they are the secondary power source of the mission. For Given Ni H cell Assuming Data for 700 km altitude Energy Density 100.00 W.h/kg DOD 1.60 0.27 log10 [cycles] Power during Eclipse 70.00 W Altitude 700.00 km Battery Voltage 28.00 Volts Xb-l 0.90 No .of eclipes per day 15.00 5 year Mission Orbital Peroid (P) (sec) 5,926.21 Sec Time of Night (Tn) (sec) 2,117.08 Sec Eb (energy supplied during eclipse) (W.h) 45.74 W.h Cycles 26,607.25 Depth Of Discharge (DOD) 0.41 1a)Ebcap (energy battery capacity required) (W.h) 112.87 W.h 1b) Battery Capacity (A.h)(assuming voltage is 28 v) 4.03 A.h 2. Total Battery Mass (kg) 1.13 Kg The secondary power source is required to generate power during eclipse in the orbit to sustain microsatellite subsystems. The secondary power source for the mission is chosen to be NiH batteries as they are good for long cycle life and they have advantage of mass and volume over most of the current batteries available. They have good specific energy density of 50 W.hr/kg. The main advantage of these batteries is such that they are widely used in space mission and constantly updated with new technologies. They have depth of discharge of 40% that is good for this kind of mission. Total secondary power source weight is 2.3 kg. (((((((((( References SMAD and System Integration Aegis)))))))) Communication subsystem The communications subsystem is the lead for the interface between the satellites and the ground stations. The communications subsystem helps in demodulating the received uplink signals and transmitting downlink signals .The subsystem also helps us to maintain a track over the satellite by transmitting received range tones and by acting as logic between receive and transmitted signals. Data Rate The remote sensing microsatellite is designed for a Low Earth orbit at an altitude of 700 km. The payload of the satellite is a multispectral camera that takes picture of the poles in visible spectrum. The 20 degrees minimum elevation angle and a resolution of 50 is assumed for the satellite and the data rate is calculated for the satellite. Altitude (km) 700.00 Radius of Earth (km) 6378.14 Orbit Peroid (mins) 98.77 Ground Velocity ( km/s) 6.76 Node Shift (∆L = S) (deg) 24.76 ÃŽ µ (deg) 20.00 ÃŽ · (deg) 57.86 Zc 27818.52 Za 133.06 Z 3701467.63 DR (Visible)(bps) 37014676.33 Maximum Time in View (min) 6.66 The data rate calculated is 37Mbps adding 10 percent margin data required to send back to ground station is estimated to 40Mbps. Band Link Technology For the current microsatellite mission an S-Band telecommunication system is researched, analyzed, and chosen as the best system for establishing communication between satellite and the ground station. Application Specifications Downlink Rate Max 2.5Mbps Power RF Output .4W Power Consumption 3.4W Weight 420g Volume 190X135X22 mm3 The table above shows the specification if the Surrey Satellite S band communication system transmitter details. This has an advantage of low mass, power and data rate which completely satisfy the mission constrains. The above transmitter system also has a S-Band antenna for this transmitter which has specifications as follows.(((((((((((((((((((memo com2 // surrey satellite)))) Specifications Number of Antennas Needed 4 3dB Beamwidth  ± 35 ° Weight 80g Volume 82X82X20 mm3 Link Budget Link budget for the system S band communication system is designed considering the factor to transmitting the data rate of 40Mps within 6.5mins or 400 sec. The link budget is a process of accounting all the possible gains and losses during transmitting and receiving the signals from transmitter to receiver. The equations below are used to determine link budget: Total spacecraft received power (uplink budget) Uplink Signal to Noise ratio (Will help determine probability of bit error) Total Ground Station received Power (downlink budget) Downlink Signal to Noise ratio (Will help determine probability of bit error) 2.4.1 Slant Range The Slant range was calculated as follows for a 5 degree elevation angle. 2.4.2 Attenuation of the Signal The biggest contributor to the attenuation of the signal is free space loss. There are many other losses such as cable loss, polarization loss, cloud, rain, etc. The frequency used for the S-Band calculation is 2.2GHz. Atmospheric loss is caused by absorption due to such factors as oxygen and water vapor in the atmosphere. Atmospheric, rain, clouds and ionosphere scintillation were assumed to be 0.5dB for 2.2GHz. Further investigation into these effects needs to be completed next semester. With X-Band the total loss due to these factors was calculated to be 0.76dB. S-Band is expected to have a much lower loss. Polarization loss was estimated from [9] 2.4.3 Calculating EIRP There will be passive losses in the equipment such as losses in the coax cables. This number was used from the previous year. Power transmitted was obtained from the specification on the Surrey transmitter as 0.4 Watts. Looking at the Co-Polar gain on Figure 2 it is seen that there is a gain of at least 0dB for angles between +/- 70 °. 2.4.4 Ground Station Antenna Gain Using an antenna that is 4.5m in diameter with efficiency of 0.55 the gain is calculated as follows: 2.4.5 Signal to Noise Calculation The signal to noise ratio will determine the Bit Error Rate (BER), as determined from the following graph [8]. From this graph it can be seen that to obtain a Bit Error Rate of 10-5 which is typical of space missions, a signal to noise ratio of 4.4 dB is needed. The Link Budget calculations will determine if the system will meet the 4.4 dB of signal to noise ratio at the ground station. System Noise is a function of temperature and was determined from table 13-25 [2]. 4.8dB is above the minimum 4.4dB theoretical signal to noise ratio required. This leaves only a 0.4dB margin which needs to be approved upon. The output RF power could easily be increased from 0.4Watts by using an amplifier, but would be at the expense of the satellite power budget. The Surrey Satellite equipment is a viable solution. Thermal Subsystem The thermal control subsystem is the integral part of the satellite design. It helps out all the components that are exposed to thermal environment are not affected badly. Thermal control subsystem accomplish safe working of all the satellite subsystems and their components by constituting a thermal model.The following process includes inputs from different subsystem of the satellite by identifying the thermal loads that will acting on them during the mission lifetime as well as their operating tempertature for the smooth running of the mission. Thermal Loads The satellite experience or exposed to thermal enviroment during gound testing, transportation, launch , orbit transfer and operational orbits. The thermal environment concerned is during its operation in space. There are four main loads acts on the satellite during its mission.(smad) Direct Solar Radiation: The main source of direct solar radiation is the Sun. It is major source of environmental heating on the satellite, it is a stable energy source and it constant to the fraction of second. The intensity of the sunlight on the earths mean distance of 1 Astronomical unit (AU) is 1367 W/m2. Earths Albedo: Albedo is the reflected sunlight reflected from earth . It is highly as it is the fraction of incident sunlight that is refected back to space. Refletivity increases over land rather than in oceans. Reflectitivy increases with decreasing local solar -elevation angle. Earths Infrared Energy: It is also refereed as blackbody radiation, all incident sunlight do not reflected back as abledo rather earth absorbs it and re-emit it as IR (infrared Energy ) or blackbody radiation. Free Molecular heating: This load is result of the bombardment of the individual molecules present in outer reaches of the atmosphere. It affects during the launch ascent of the satellite. The thermal control susbsystem is designed for a sun synchronous Low Earth Orbit at an altitutde of 700km and at an inclination of 98.19 degrees.The main aspect in designing the thermal control system is to first define the worst case hot (maximum loads) and worst case cold (minimum loads ) acting on the satellite in the orbit and the opertonal temperature operational and survival temperature of each component installted

Sms Banking Marketing Plan

Sms Banking Marketing Plan BankMuscat is I well known bank in Oman and consider the best financial organization and the winner of 8 in raw as Bank of the year (Times of Oman 2010). It provides large banking services which fulfills most country demands including consumers, businesses and government. The main divisions of the bank are retail banking and wholesale banking. Within these divisions there are E-channels which are call center, ATM, CDM, cards, Internet and mobile banking. The demand for electronic banking services is increasing since Oman strategic is to convert the conventional system to E-government (e.oman 2010). While these changes in country is ongoing, most of organizations adapting to go electronically in order to compete in the market. BankMuscat is one of the leaders to adapt new innovative technologies which make them step ahead from other banks. An opportunity exists for SMS banking for two reasons: None of other banks yet provided transactions over SMS while BankMuscat SMS banking existing system support this feature. Expand the language to Arabic in SMS banking to cover existing BankMuscat customer of non-users of SMS banking. All other banks local not offering this type of services and they only were providing informative SMS banking rather than interactive transaction (Ecommerce Journal 2009). Our new service in existing SMS banking will lead the market since BankMuscat has a large portion of market share of customers. The current stats show a large usage in electronic services and people become more technology aware. The stats shows also huge increase in the number of registered customers with SMS banking and comparing total registration in 2009 by 110,099 while in 2010 the total registration as of month of November is 134,926 (appendix 1,2). Moreover, the increase also occurs in the usage of the service comparing it by last years and also comparing it with monthly transactions, 1,118,826 request in 2009 and 1,430,399 requests in 2010 (appendix 1,2). With all this increase if we applied the new services like transactions over SMS and Arabic enabled interface we will lead the market for years. This also will increase our commission profit for each SMS sent by customer and will attract more service providers to use our SMS banking service as a channel for bill payment. Our target customers will be all type of customers capable of using mobile phones to send SMS. The rapid increase in cell phone market with cheap prices and good rates of service providers is our key of success. Also the growth in Oman and increase the percentage of roads traffic is changing the habit of customers of paying for their bills and prefer to do all this at their home at own suitable time. Situation Analysis In order to build good relationship with our all stake holders we have to understand our environment forces around all our relationships. In the next section I will describe BankMuscat Internal and external environments along with their analysis. External environment (Mic, Mac) As a bank its obvious other local banks are our competitors and the main force and we will analysis this with Porters Five forces analysis. Porters Five forces Competitive Rivalry: our rivalry banks are HSBC because its an international well known bank and locally NBO which the second successful bank in Oman. Both are very adaptive to the technology and always competing. Threat of entry: misuse of SMS banking services may raise law issues which interferes the service as what happened to the NAWARS tel. bill payment portal shutdown by force of law. Also there is threat of leaks this new service to our competitors before launching will make a bad image of BankMuscat is imitating others initiatives. The power of buyers: Our customer will intend to use the SMS banking service a lot because they are directly transfer amount from their account to utility bills which is easer from withdrawal money from bank and then visiting utility providers outlet to pay their bills. The power of suppliers: since our utility providers are a few companies so there is limited of suppliers which will offer to market for their utility payments exclusively to BankMuscat because of the huge number of customers dealing with. The Threat of substitutes: the major threat is using the other channel which internet banking since its become more popular because the government encourages this initiative by name of E-government. Since we analyzed the microenvironment by using Porters analysis we also require doing another analysis in macro environment by using PEST analysis. PEST analysis Political Factors: Telecommunication Regulatory Authority may set rules and standards in order to protect the users from fraud by which will make the process of using SMS banking more complicated for users. Economical Factors: after the recession which happened during end of 2008 the market growth increases again in 2009 recovery stage and in 2010 most of companies started to gain profits (Oman Observer 2010). This increased the salaries and buying power from customers. In other hand, BankMuscat makes good profit in the three quarters of 2010 by increase in 26% (Sharif 2010) which allowed increasing the budget for department for development. Social Factors: The resist of change is one of the culture factors that are facing the banking developments. Some of interior customers still prefer to pay their bills by visiting the utility providers. But the good thing is our Arabic based SMS banking will capture those who dont want to use other language to do their transactions. The go green campaign which sponsored by many environment organizations and with support of government is focusing in reduce papers in businesses and here comes SMS banking as free papers service which is widely accepted as eco-friendly. Technological Factors: SMS banking has good opportunity because the bank strategies are to change the attention from visiting branches to do banking services remotely (BankMuscat 2009). Most companies prefer to do their transactions without using papers and this good sign change customers behavior towards our new electronic services. The availability of mobile coverage and the range of choice with cheap prices all adding value for using SMS banking as first alternative. SWOT analysis After we captured the information for from external environment we will use it in our SWOT analysis as opportunities and threats. Strengths Current system already has the function for bill payments Current system is the latest in market Current system has the capability to add additional languages Management are very adaptive for new changes Low cost upgrade Weaknesses Limited IT staff for implementation Third party software needs support from vendor Other departments not support in marketing of other products Opportunities Fastest bills payment with one step from account to utility provider. Easy to capture more utility providers because of large base of customers in BankMuscat Gain the market of non-English users Government support and collaboration for new technologies Threats International banks are more advanced in technology Law enforce in case of misuse of this service by customers Internet banking may attract big portion of SMS banking customers Marketing Objective BankMuscat vision statement Over one million satisfied customers by 2010 through continuous enhancement of stakeholder value. In pursuit for customer satisfaction and comply with BankMuscat vision our new SMS banking system will fill the thirst of customers who deserve to get unique services at any time anywhere with no hassle of waiting. Target Market To get deep inside to our target market we will be using market segmentation process analysis. 1-Segmentation Variables Geographic: since SMS banking is mobile technology based service, so there is no limits because it depends on the coverage of mobile network operator even its support international rooming. The Arabic based SMS is targeting customers especially in rural areas which they are not able to deal with English language. Demographics: Targeted market customers with age range 18-65 years old both genders who are working in job or having business with all range of income with small level of knowledge in using mobile devices. Psychographic: Targeted market customers can be any lifestyle orientations with personality open minded Behavioral: Common variables of this segment are customers prefer easy and fast way of bill payment for medium usage in monthly rate and heavy usage for account enquiry. The user status can be ex-user, nonuser, potential user and existing user. 2- Market segment profile After analyzing the market variables we will now gather the common share of who, what and why to build segment profile. Our customer looks like any gender between 18-65 years old living anywhere having account in BankMuscat and using text messaging of our local mobile operators with sufficient knowledge in using mobile devices. Our customers appeals to do their bill payments at any time faster than any service with both local and English languages. Customers who want to make their bill payment easier and faster on monthly basis in case of bill payments and frequently in case of account quires. Our customer needs are to provide them with fastest one-click anytime and anywhere with free of charge bill payments service, also at their convenient language. 3-Targeting strategy Our marketing strategy will use a mix of undifferentiated and concentrated strategy. SMS Bill payment will satisfy any BankMuscat account holders who is having local mobile operator. But also our strategy will concentrate on special targeted customers who want to use SMS banking in Arabic version. 4-Evaluate of market segments Currently the total registered customers for year 2010 are 110099 by comparing to 2009 was 981120 which we estimate the increase by 25% because of the new service and additional language. There is no comparison with other banks because this is new service to market. The cost will only occur in implementation stage because of the system upgrade, Ads, brochures and banners. 5-Selecting target market Based on the overcome of the targeting strategy and along with BankMuscat vision we will use the mix of undifferentiated and concentrated marketing strategies to increase the usage between existing customers and to capture potential customers of our competitors to reach and exceeds the satisfactory levels. 6-Market positioning We are offering our new service to our main two segments, existing and new customers who will use their mobiles SMS for the first time to do transactions which no other banks in Oman provide such service for their customers. The second segment is to provide existing SMS banking service and SMS bill payment service in Arabic-based for remaining BankMuscat account holders. Like before this is new service which our customers will experience exclusively. 7-Developing marketing mix The next section we will be describing the marketing mix Marketing Strategies, 7Ps -Product: Our product is upgraded SMS banking service for account query and bill payments with both English and Arabic interface. -Place: SMS banking service can be accessed by any BankMuscat accounts holders using their mobile phones through our local mobile operators locally or international rooming. -Promotion: Ads will be announced in newspaper radio stations and BankMuscat web site before launching to keep the customer informed for the new service launching and after launching. Brochures and banners will be distributed to all branch channels and ATM/CDM. -Price: SMS banking will remain free of charge service and only customer cost is for SMS as normal cost rate of sending SMS from mobile phone to another. -Physical evidence: Customer will get confirmation SMS after the transaction with transaction code for reference. Customer can use their account statement as a record for their transactions. -Participants: Customers will get support by direct interaction with call center agents and branch staff. -Process: The service will be monitored by usual function in the bank core system with status of the customer. SMS banking team and billing team will have the access to daily reports of the transactions. Budget The budget for the project will divide into upgrading the system and marketing for the service. The system upgrade will cost OMR 55,000 including support from vendor. The second part is for publishing Ads through media newspapers and radio stations and this will cost OMR 13,000. Last part is for printing brochures and banners, which will cost around OMR 25,000. There will be yearly budget for the rewards of the best selling branch. Part of the budget we will get it after the approval from the management. We have good confidence in our management to support the new project as Sheik Abdul Malik Chairman of Bankmuscat described that BankMuscat is welcoming any opportunity to develop pioneered products and services meeting the market changes (Letha 2010). Implementation The action plan is represented in a timeline schedule in next page and will shows each activity time and assigned department with the managers of that activity Evaluation and recommendation Once we end with timeline of the project we will take deep insight view of how our new system is effectively meeting our goals. As we are providing a service we will have to depend on the reports of the system providing. The system will allow us to see for each branch how much registration they made in point of time. We will compare these reports by same month of the previous year to see the percentage of increase. Monthly we will extract reports of the number of bill payments starting from the launching moth of July and onward to see if the increase is happening from month to month. We will also check the payments of each of bill type and to see where the bill type is needs more attention to boost the sale of it. In case there is system failure easily our IT team are ready to switch the system maintenance mode which will stop any interaction with customers SMS and will send default replay as the system under maintenance please try again later. If the problem is persist in bill payme nt facility then we can disable this feature temporary and keep the normal account query facility working until we fix the problem. The bill payments complaint will be handled by bills team and to update any payments with utility provider. So the customer will not need to contact both the bank and the utility provider since we will do all the necessary actions to solve the customers issue. Reference: Times of Oman (2010) BankMuscat wins top Banker award. Times of Oman [online] 14 December 2010. Available from [23 December 2010]. ITA (2010) ITA Vision [online] available from [23 December 2010] Ecommerce Journal (2009) Electronic banking in the Sultanate of Oman Ecommerce Journal [online] available from [23 December 2010] Oman Observer (2009) Omans economic fundamentals remain strong. Oman Observer [online] 05 July 2010. available from [23 December 2010] Sharif,A. (2010) Bank Muscat Third-Quarter Net Income Increases 26% on Lending. Business Week [online] 14 October 2010. Available from [23 December 2010] BankMuscat (2009) BankMuscat widens reach of easy-to-use mobile banking service [online] available from [23 December 2010] Letha,J. (2010) True leader. Business Today [online] 01 Jun 2010. Available from [23 December 2010]

Toll like receptors and their therapeutic potential Essay -- essays re

Cellular Basis Of Disease: Why has the discovery of Toll-like receptors revolutionised our understanding of how the innate immune system works, and what is the therapeutic potential? The body has two immune systems: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. Adaptive, or acquired, immunity refers to antigen-specific defence mechanisms that take several days to become protective and are designed to react with and remove a specific antigen. This is immunity develops throughout life. Innate immunity refers to antigen-nonspecific defence mechanisms that a host uses immediately or within several hours after exposure to an antigen. This is the immunity that you are born with, and is the initial response by the body to eliminate microbes and prevent infection. It is in the innate immune system that Toll-like receptors are important in helping our understanding. The most important role of the innate immune system is to react rapidly to infectious agents with the initiation an inflammatory response, and to shape the subsequent adaptive immune responses. There are currently two different models for immune system induction. The first model predicts the recognition of non-self determinants on pathogens, and the other, more controvertial, model predicts that there is recognition of damage or danger to self-tissues. In the first model, pathogens are recognised by either specific or general components of their structure. A system referring to the patterns that are recognised are the pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and the receptors recognising them are pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). The second model, put forward by Matzinger, is that it is the danger itself that is sensed. It is argued that it is tissue damage or cellular debris from necrotic cells that sends the signal for the immune system to initiate a response. The presence of DNA or RNA, that shouldn't be outside of the cell, may cause an alarm signal. Heat shock proteins released from the cell, or mannose that is normally cleaved off, may also serve as an alarm signal. It is suggested that the PRRs are there to recognise these endogenous signals from ruptured cells, and not to recognise pathogens as proposed in the first model. It is the first model that is most widely accepted in the scientific community, and it is this model of events that I shall describe. Activation of the ... ...77(9):7059-65 9. Horng T. et al., 2002. The adaptor molecule TIRAP provides signalling specificity for Toll-like receptors. Nature. 420(6913):329-33 Takatsuna H., et al. 2003. Identification of TIFA as an adapter protein that links TRAF6 to IRAK-1 in IL-1 receptor signaling. J Biol Chem. 2003 Yang L, Blumbergs PC, Jones NR, Manavis J, Sarvestani GT and Ghabriel MN (2004). Early expression and cellular localization of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in human traumatic spinal cord injury. Spine. 29: 966-71 Therapeutic targeting of Toll-like receptors for inflammatory and infectious diseases. O'Neill LA. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2002 Oct;1(10):797-807 Role of toll-like receptors and their adaptors in adjuvant immunotherapy for cancer. Seya T, Akazawa T, Uehori J, Matsumoto M, Azuma I, Toyoshima K. Anticancer Res. 2003 Nov-Dec;23(6a):4369-76 Toll-like receptor signaling in anti-cancer immunity. Okamoto M, Sato M. J Med Invest. 2003 Feb;50(1-2):9-24 H. Hemmi, et al., "A toll-like receptor recognizes bacterial DNA," Nature, 408(6813):740-5, 7 December 2000. bst.portlandpress.com/ bst/031/0637/bst0310637.htm

gatcolor Great Gatsby Essay: Imagery of Colors :: Great Gatsby Essays

The Great Gatsby:   Imagery of Colors  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   F. Scott Fitzgerald used the imagery of colors in his masterpiece The Great Gatsby.   The colors are used very frequently as symbols, and the hues create atmosphere in different scenes of the book.   White is a clean and fresh color, but the author shows how it can be tainted as well.   Next, yellow illustrates the downfall of moral standards of the people of West Egg.   Lastly, green, the most dominant color in the book, symbolizes wealth and Gatsby's unattainable dream. To Gatsby, Daisy represents innocence and purity; however, Fitzgerald uses different shades of white to veil her corruption.   Daisy is solely described as "dressed in white", she powders her face white, and she mentions her "white girlhood".   The millionaire describes this perfect princess figure to be "high in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl."   On the other hand, Fitzgerald portrays the way of life in West Egg as a wretched place when "four solemn men dressed in suits are walking along the sidewalk with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in a white evening dress.   Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels.   Gravely the men turn it at a house - the wrong house.   But no one knows the woman's name, and no one cares." Yellow stands out as a symbol of corruption and decay.   Materialism has corrupted the citizens of East and West Egg because they center everything on money. When Gatsby entertains this wealthy class, the orchestra plays "yellow cocktail music".   Even Gatsby believes that he can win Daisy back with his money - thus he is described as wearing a "caramel-colored suit" when he lies about his past to Nick.   The most important symbol, however, is Gatsby's car.   The car becomes the main topic of conversation among the townspeople after it kills Myrtle and a witness specified this "death car" to be yellow. Fitzgerald used green most frequently to symbolize Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchanan.   Daisy rejected Gatsby because "rich girls don't marry poor boys", so her philosophy compelled him to become wealthy.   Gatsby described Daisy's voice as "full of money" and he acquired millions of green dollars in the hope that Daisy would love him again.   Also, Gatsby moved into his mansion so that he could live near the Buchanans, and at night the millionaire watches "a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock.

Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India ABSTRACT: I examine the role of Justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, I focus on the Goddess Justice and her relationship to the Great Mother as the divine creator and final judge of all reality. I begin by tracing out the historical parallels in the development of ancient Greek and Indian conceptions of Justice and end by working out their philosophical similarities. After giving an historical account of the earlier Greek matriarchal religions, I show how Justice becomes transformed from a living force, alive and divine, to a philosophical concept and, finally, to a mere social function within the polis. I focus on the pre-Socratic notion of Justice as a cosmological and ontological necessity, inherent not simply within human affairs, but within the structure of the universe itself, as Nature. Here, I draw out further comparative points between the ancient Greek and Indian conceptions by discussing the Vedic and early Buddhist notion of Justice as dharma/karma, as a living-ethical Force inherent in the structure and creation of the universe. I also examine how in the Eastern schools of Non-dualism, Maya is understood as the "Mother of all Life energy." In all of this, special attention is given to the nature of Justice as the embodiment of the Great Mother manifested as creative energy and as the discerner and judge of all Being. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the role of justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, my paper will focus on the relationship of justice to the Great Mother as the Divine Creatrix and final judge of all Reality. It is my thesis that there were really two notions of justice which began to emerge in the ancient world. The older view (the one that we have almost forgotten) was rooted in the early Goddess religions where Justice was seen as the avenging/mediating force of the Great Mother. The other view developed later in the dominant patriarchal Aryan culture of norms and laws, and provides the basis for our modern day conception of justice as an abstract principle. Before commenting on these various images of justice, it might be helpful to outline its emergence and subsequent transformations. The notion of justice as a dynamic, cosmic principle, alive and divine, and manifest in nature is part of the great mythical and historical heritage of both ancient Greece and India. Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays Justice in the Mythic and Philosophical Traditions of Ancient Greece and India ABSTRACT: I examine the role of Justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, I focus on the Goddess Justice and her relationship to the Great Mother as the divine creator and final judge of all reality. I begin by tracing out the historical parallels in the development of ancient Greek and Indian conceptions of Justice and end by working out their philosophical similarities. After giving an historical account of the earlier Greek matriarchal religions, I show how Justice becomes transformed from a living force, alive and divine, to a philosophical concept and, finally, to a mere social function within the polis. I focus on the pre-Socratic notion of Justice as a cosmological and ontological necessity, inherent not simply within human affairs, but within the structure of the universe itself, as Nature. Here, I draw out further comparative points between the ancient Greek and Indian conceptions by discussing the Vedic and early Buddhist notion of Justice as dharma/karma, as a living-ethical Force inherent in the structure and creation of the universe. I also examine how in the Eastern schools of Non-dualism, Maya is understood as the "Mother of all Life energy." In all of this, special attention is given to the nature of Justice as the embodiment of the Great Mother manifested as creative energy and as the discerner and judge of all Being. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the role of justice as it emerges in the early mythic and philosophical traditions of ancient Greece and India. Specifically, my paper will focus on the relationship of justice to the Great Mother as the Divine Creatrix and final judge of all Reality. It is my thesis that there were really two notions of justice which began to emerge in the ancient world. The older view (the one that we have almost forgotten) was rooted in the early Goddess religions where Justice was seen as the avenging/mediating force of the Great Mother. The other view developed later in the dominant patriarchal Aryan culture of norms and laws, and provides the basis for our modern day conception of justice as an abstract principle. Before commenting on these various images of justice, it might be helpful to outline its emergence and subsequent transformations. The notion of justice as a dynamic, cosmic principle, alive and divine, and manifest in nature is part of the great mythical and historical heritage of both ancient Greece and India.

Assess the usefulness of Marxist approach to an understanding of crime and deviance’ Essay

There are numerous Marxist theories that help us to understand crime and deviance in different ways, however they are all based around the same ideas. They believe capitalism causes crime in three different ways including, selective law enforcement, criminogenic capitalism and ideological nature of the law. Traditional Marxists believe that crime is inevitable in all societies because capitalism is criminogenic suggesting that it is societies very nature that causes crime. According to traditional Marxists society causes capitalism in different ways. One of which is due to poverty. The lack of social mobility means that people find it difficult to move up the social classes . And therefore those in poverty that cannot afford necessities such as food result in utilitarian crimes (crimes with a purpose) for example theft In order to survive. Another way that capitalism causes crime is due to capitalism advertising products encouraging the false need and desire for consumer goods. A false need makes an individual believe that they need a product when in reality they don’t, for example cars, phones etc. They can achieve this through the media for example TV advertisements and billboards, because people believe this is what they need if they cannot afford it legitimately then they may turn to crime. Thirdly capitalism can cause crime through alienation (individuals feeling isolated from the rest of society) as a lack of control of their lives may lead to crimes of violence and other non utilitarian crimes without a purpose for example domestic violence etc. This could occur whereby a partner feels frustrated with his social position and therefore takes it out on members of the family etc. Finally capitalism encourages a dog-eat-dog world therefore regardless of social class people always want more. This leads to crimes from all different classes. The wealthy commit crimes such as fraud and tax invasion, statistics just don’t show this as much. David Gordon 1976 explained this as he said crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and is found in all social classes, even though statistics make it look as though it is concentrated amongst the working class. Here David Gordon is explaining that crime is just a response to the way society is run, that it is the capitalist structure of society that creates these crimes, and that even though statistics represent more working class as the criminals, in reality all classes are guilty of crime. Traditional Marxists also proposed the theory that law making and law enforcement can have an effect on crime in society as law making and enforcement serves the interests of the capitalist class. The ruling class have the power to change laws, prevent laws and enforce laws. An example of when we have seen how quickly laws can be enforced by the ruling class was during the summer riots in 2011 when laws were quickly passed through parliament to give police powers to force individuals to remove headwear. This shows that it is the ruling class that have power and therefore laws are based on the ruling class views not considering the working class opinions. As well as this Marxists also argue that certain types of crime are likely to be dealt with more rigorously than others. For example street crimes such as assault and theft are more likely to be pursued by the police than white collar crimes such as fraud. The English government have only made some attempts to deal with white collar crimes however the USA targets the offence more seriously. As well as this certain groups are more likely to be on the receiving end of law enforcement. For example in inner city areas the police patrol more therefore working class are more likely to get caught because working class are more likely to live in the city. David Gordon argues that the selective enforcement of the law benefits capitalism in three main ways. By punishing the working class which protects the capitalist system which is responsible for the crime. As well as defining individuals as ‘social failures’ directing the blame away from the system. And thirdly defining criminals as ‘animals’ and ‘sick’ for example, justifying putting them in prison. Keeping these individuals out of the public eye allows us to forget why the crime occurred needed to help us solve the problems. Traditional Marxists also explore the ideological nature of the law; this function is valuable in allowing the ruling class to maintain their position of wealth. This process is what Althusser named the ideological state apparatus. This includes the school and the variety of forms of media, and it is through these that the ruling class is able to socialise individuals into accepting ruling class ideology. ISAs are responsible for promoting ruling class values of self interest and competition and as a result create a society in which basic values support the capitalist political and economic system. Marxists also believe that crime and the law can perform an ideological function by essentially brain washing individuals. For example some laws may appear to benefit the working class for example the health and safety laws at work, but these, according to a Marxist FrankPearce are only there to benefit the capitalists by ensuring a fit and healthy work force. In addition to this by prosecuting a large proportion of the working class it makes it look like the capitalists are caring for its citizens, it also helps divide the working class so many blame each other for crime rather than capitalism. There are many positives and negatives of traditional Marxist theory in helping us to understand crime and deviance. A large strength is that the theory successfully explains how crime cuts across all social class lines, as it shows evidence of all classes committing crimes. Therefore it is a macro-theory and can be applied to the whole of society making it generalisable. Another strength is that there is a lot of evidence to show the presence of law enforcement, for example it was illustrated through news showing law making over night during the summer riots. However weaknesses of the theory include the fact that the Marxism view underestimates the free will of a criminal by blaming the system, it is too deterministic by over predicting the amount of crime present especially in the working class. Not all those in poverty are committing crime and would never turn to committing crime. Marxism does not explore this factor efficiently. Another weakness is that it largely ignores the relationship between crime and important non class based inequalities for example gender and ethnicity. Neo-Marxists who are considered new Marxists support some traditional Marxists views however some views vary and It is important to explore these different views in order to understand crime and deviance. Neo Marxists focus on ideology. So where by traditional Marxist Althusser believed in brain washing. A Neo-Marxist Antonio Gramsi came along and put forward the ideas that people do realise they’re being exploited. He presented us with the term relative autonomy of the state (self power and self control) and put forward the ideas that people do realise they’re being exploited. Another New-Marxist theorist Taylor et all challenged the Marxist theory by stating that workers are not driven to crime through economic necessity. They believe that this theory was too deterministic and doesn’t question an individual’s free will. They also go against the interactionist theory and state that young males do not commit crime because they have been labelled. As well as challenging the sub cultural theory by arguing that young males do not commit crime because they are part of a subculture. Instead Taylor suggested his own theory as to why people are lead to committing crimes. He states that people commit crime often because they are angry at capitalism. They express their anger through crime rather than politics. This suggests that individuals are committing crimes on the basis of being frustrated with the structure of society that they live in and express this frustration through committing crimes, maybe because they don’t feel they will ever be heard through politics etc due to the ruling class having power? Taylor put forward the new criminology theory: a fully social theory of deviance. This includes six main parts. Firstly, the wider origins of the deviant crime. This is in the unequal distribution of wealth and power in capitalist society. A strength of this is that it doesn’t look at a micro situation, it looks at the whole of society. Secondly, the immediate origins of the deviant crime, this is the particular context in which the individual decides to commit the act. For example in the summer riots people looting due to the immediate origins being anger due to recession, cuts in public benefits of society being closed down for example youth clubs and libraries. Thirdly the act itself and its meaning for the individual e.g. rebellion against capitalism. Fourthly, the immediate origins of social reaction, so the reactions of those around the deviant, for example the police and the family and their reactions to discovering deviance. Next are the wider origins of social reaction in the structure of capitalist society, questioning who has the power to define actions as deviant? And lastly the effects of labelling on the deviants future actions, for example getting a job. A strength of the Neo-Marxism theory is that critical criminology has forced sociologists to look at the wider social, economic and political factors and it has offered a new approach to how crime is shaped by the individual’s actions within an unfair criminal justice system. However a weakness of the theory is that it is too general to explain crime and to idealistic to be useful in tackling crime. There are numerous similarities and differences between traditional Marxists and neo-Marxists which are useful in helping us to understand crime and deviance. Similarities include the fact they see capitalist society based on inequalities between the social classes and this is a key to understanding crime. They both agree that the state makes laws and enforce laws in the interests of the capitalist class which is important when considering how classes are represented within decisions of the law and how these decisions can have a different effect on both classes. And they both believe that to prevent crime capitalism should be replaced by a classless society. However differences between the theories are that neo-Marxists believe that criminals are not passive puppets who’s behaviour is shaped by capitalism this is important in assessing how valuable the Marxist theory is as it puts forward the idea that although a criminogenic capitalist society does effect crime and deviance there are other factors as well. Another difference is that Neo-Marxists use interactionist ideas to see how the behaviour of the victim, offender, media and criminal justice system all interact to influence how the situation developed. Therefore this too exploring other possibilities as to why the crime was committed. Overall the Marxist theory as whole is valuable in explaining why crime is committed as it looks at the problems in society as to why individuals within our society commit crime. It explores how the very nature of our society can cause these crimes by looking at all different perspectives for example through the criminal justice system, poverty, media and advertising etc. It also has explanations for both utilitarian and non utilitarian crimes and can be applied to the whole of society as it also explores white collar crime and not just crimes committed by the working class. Therefore the fact that it is a macro-theory makes it very useful as it is easily generalised. Overall the theory as a whole is very strong in helping our understanding as why crime exists.

Rh Bill

St. Jude College School of Art Science and Education Manila A Term Paper Submitted as a Requirement For the Subject: Philippine Government and Constitution Submitted By: Jim Waine C. Averilla Karissa Helene B. Salvador Submitted To: Diosdado B. Lopega March 27, 20 HISTORYAccording to the Senate Policy Brief titled Promoting Reproductive Health, the history of reproductive health in the Philippines dates back to 1967 when leaders of 12 countries including the Philippine’s Ferdinand Marcos signed the Declaration of Population The Philippines agreed that the population problem should be considered as the principal element for long-term economic development.Thus, the Population Commission was created to push for a lower family size norm and provide information and services to lower fertility rates. Starting 1967, the USAID started shouldering 80% of the total family planning commodities (contraceptives) of the country, which amounted to US$ 3 Million annually. In 1975, the United States adopted as its policy the  National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200). The policy gives â€Å"paramount importance† to population control measures and the promotion of contraception among 13 populous countries, including the Philippines to control rapid population growth which they deem to be inimical to the socio-political and economic growth of these countries and to the national interests of the United States, since the â€Å"U. S. conomy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad†, and these countries can produce destabilizing opposition forces against the United States. It recommends the US leadership to â€Å"influence national leaders† and that â€Å"improved world-wide support for population-related efforts should be sought through increased emphasis on mass media and other population education and motivation programs by the UN, US IA, and USAID. Different presidents had different points of emphasis.President Marcos pushed for a systematic distribution of contraceptives all over the country, a policy that was called â€Å"coercive,† by its leading administrator. The Cory Aquino administration focused on giving couples the right to have the number of children they prefer, while the Ramos presidency shifted from population control to population management. Estrada used mixed methods of reducing fertility rates, while Arroyo focused on mainstreaming natural family planning, while stating that contraceptives are openly sold in the country.In 1989, the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) was established, â€Å"dedicated to the formulation of viable public policies requiring legislation on population management and socio-economic development. † In 2000, the Philippines signed the Millennium Declaration and committed to attain the MDG goals by 2015, including p romoting gender equality and health. In 2003, USAID started its phase out of a 33-year-old program by which free contraceptives were given to the country.Aid recipients such as the Philippines faced the challenge to fund its own contraception program. In 2004, the Department of Health introduced the Philippines Contraceptive Self-Reliance Strategy, arranging for the replacement of these donations with domestically provided contraceptives. In August 2010, the government announced a collaborative work with the USAID in implementing a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy in favor of family planning called â€Å"May Plano Sila. † Summary of criticismOpponents of the bill argue that: (1) â€Å"The world's leading scientific experts† have resolved the issues related to the bill and show that the â€Å"RH Bill is based on wrong economics† as the 2003 Rand Corporation study shows that â€Å"there is little cross-country evidence that population growth im pedes or promotes economic growth†. (2) The bill takes away limited government funds from treating many high priority medical and food needs and transfers them to fund objectively harmful and deadly devices.The latest studies in scientific journals and organizations show that the ordinary birth control pill, and the IUD are abortifacient to 100-celled human embryos: they kill the embryonic human, who as such are human beings equally worthy of respect, making the bill unconstitutional. (3) US National Defense Consultant, Lionel Tiger, has shown empirical evidence that contraceptives have deleterious social effects (abortion, premarital sex, female impoverishment, fatherless children, teenage pregnancies, and poverty).Harvard School of Public Health scientist Edward Green observes that ‘when people think they're made safe by using condoms at least some of the time, they actually engage in riskier sex', in the phenomenon called â€Å"risk compensation†. There is evid ence for increased risk of cancer (breast, cervical, liver) as well as significant increase of risk for heart attack and stroke for current users of oral contraceptives. The increased usage of contraceptives, which implies that some babies are unwanted, will eventually lead to more abortion; the orrelation was shown in a scientific journal and acknowledged by pro-RH leaders, (4) People's freedom to access contraceptives is not restricted by any opposing law, being available in family planning NGOs, stores, etc. The country is not a welfare state: taxpayer's money should not be used for personal practices that are harmful and immoral; it can be used to inform people of the harm of BCPs. (5) The penal provisions constitute a violation of free choice and conscience, and establishes religious persecution.President Aquino stated he was not an author of the bill. He also stated that he gives full support to a firm population policy, educating parents to be responsible, providing contracep tives to those who ask for them, but he refuses to promote contraceptive use. He said that his position â€Å"is more aptly called responsible parenthood rather than reproductive health. Economic and demographic premises The Philippines is the 39th most densely populated country, with a density over 335 per squared kilometer, and the population growth rate is 1. % (2010 Census), 1. 957% (2010 est. by CIA World Fact Book), or 1. 85% (2005–2010 high variant estimate by the UN Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision) coming from 3. 1 in 1960. The 2010 total fertility rate (TFR) is 3. 23 births per woman, from a TFR of 7 in 1960. In addition, the total fertility rate for the richest quintile of the population is 2. 0, which is about one third the TFR of the poorest quintile (5. 9 children per woman). The TFR for women with college education is 2. , about half that of women with only an elementary education (4. 5 children per woman). Congressman Lagman states that the bill â€Å"recognizes the verifiable link between a huge population and poverty. Unbridled population growth stunts socioeconomic development and aggravates poverty. † The University of the Philippines' School of Economics presented two papers in support of the bill: Population and Poverty: the Real Score (2004), and Population, Poverty, Politics and the Reproductive Health Bill (2008).According to these economists, which include Solita Monsod, Gerardo Sicat, Cayetano Paderanga, Ernesto M. Pernia, and Stella Alabastro-Quimbo, â€Å"rapid population growth and high fertility rates, especially among the poor, do exacerbate poverty and make it harder for the government to address it,† while at the same time clarifying that it would be â€Å"extreme† to view â€Å"population growth as the principal cause of poverty that would justify the government resorting to draconian and coercive measures to deal with the problem (e. g. denial of basic services and subsidies to families with more than two children). † They illustrate the connection between rapid population growth and poverty by comparing the economic growth and population growth rates of Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, wherein the first two grew more rapidly than the Philippines due to lower population growth rates. They stressed that â€Å"the experience from across Asia indicates that a population policy cum government-funded [family planning] program has been a critical complement to sound economic policy and poverty reduction†.In Population and Poverty, Aniceto Orbeta, Jr, showed that poverty incidence is higher among big families: 57. 3% of Filipino families with seven children are in poverty while only 23. 8% of families who have two children live below the poverty threshold. Percentage of population living below poverty line (2003). Darker areas mean more poverty. Proponents argue that smaller families and wider birth intervals resulting from the use of contraceptives allow families to invest more in each child’s education, health, nutrition and eventually reduce poverty and hunger at the household level.At the national level, fertility reduction cuts the cost of social services with fewer people attending school or seeking medical care and as demand eases for housing, transportation, jobs, water, food and other natural resources. The Asian Development Bank in 2004 also listed a large population as one of the major causes of poverty in the country, together with weak macroeconomic management, employment issues, an underperforming agricultural sector and an unfinished land reform agenda, governance issues including corruption. Criticism of premisesOpponents refer to a 2003 study of Rand Corporation, which concluded that â€Å"there is little cross-country evidence that population growth impedes or promotes economic growth†¦ population neutralism has in fact been the predominant school in thinking among academ ics about population growth for the last half-century. † For example, the 1992 study of Ross Levine and David Renelt, which covered 119 countries over 30 years (vs UP study of 3 countries over a few years). The RAND study also said that a large population can promote growth given the right fundamentals.Thus, they refer to the HSBC 2012 projection for 2050 that the Philippines will be 16th largest economy due to its large growing population, and those whose populations are decreasing will suffer decline. In his Primer which critiques the bill, Economist Roberto de Vera refers to Nobel prize winner Simon Kuznets's study which concludes that â€Å"no clear association appears to exist in the present sample of countries, or is likely to exist in other developed countries, between rates of growth of population and of product per capita. Julian Simon compared parallel countries such as North and South Korea, East and West Germany whose birthrates were practically the same but whose economic growth was entirely different due to different governance factors. De Vera says that â€Å"similar conclusions have been arrived at by the US National Research Council in 1986 and in the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Consultative Meeting of Economists in 1992† and the studies of Hanushek and Wommann (2007), Doppelhoffer, Miller, Sala-I-Martin (2004), Ahlburg (1996), etc.The other Nobel Prize winner who expressed the same view is Gary Becker. De Vera also states that from 1961 to 2000, as Philippine population increased almost three times, poverty decreased from 59% to 34%. He stressed that the more probable cause of poor families is not family size but the limited schooling of the household head: 78% to 90% of the poor households had heads with no high school diploma, preventing them from getting good paying jobs.He refers to studies which show that 90% of the time the poor want the children they have: as helpers in the farm and investment for a secure old age. Instead of aiming at population decrease, De Vera stressed that the country should focus through education on cashing in on a possible â€Å"demographic dividend†, a period of rapid economic growth that can happens when the labor force is growing faster than the dependents (children and elderly), thus reducing poverty significantly.In a recent development, two authors of the Reproductive Health Bill changed their stand on the provisions of the bill regarding population and development. Reps. Emerciana de Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan wanted to delete three provisions which state that â€Å"gender equality and women empowerment are central elements of reproductive health and population and development,† which integrate responsible parenthood and family planning programs into anti-poverty initiatives, and which name the Population Commission as a coordinating body.The two party-list representatives strongly state that poverty is not due to over-population but because of inequalit y and corruption. Opponents also refer to the statement of the Federation of Free Farmers that history teaches about the economic advantages of a large population, and the disadvantages of a smaller population. The Wall Street Journal in July 2012 said that Aquino's â€Å"promotion of a ‘reproductive health' bill is jarring† since it could lead to â€Å"a demographic trap of too few workers.The Philippines doesn't have too many people, it has too few pro-growth policies. † Opposing the bill, Former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo wrote that it is â€Å"truly disingenuous for anyone to proceed on the premise that the poor are to blame for the nation’s poverty. † He emphasized that the government should apply the principle of first things first and focus on the root causes of the poverty (e. g. poor governance, corruption) and apply many other alternatives to solve the problem (e. g. giving up pork barrel, raising tax collection efficiency).They a lso point to the five factors for high economic growth and reduction of poverty shown by the 2008 Commission on Growth and Development headed by Nobel prize winner Michael Spence, which does not include population control. Status Legislature On 31 January 2011, six different bills were consolidated into a single RH Bill which was then unanimously approved for plenary debate by the House Committee on Population and Family Relations. On 7 February 2011, the bill was scheduled to go before the House Appropriations Committee. 6 February 2011 the bill was endorsed by the House Appropriations Committee with amendment and referred back to the Population Committee for finalizing the language. President and Cabinet President Noynoy Aquino during the presidential campaign said that it confounds him why he is always associated with the RH Bill and reiterated that he is neither an author nor a co-author, much less did he sign the committee report regarding the bill. He said that â€Å"he will fully support the crafting of a firm policy that will address the serious problem on population. At the same time, Aquino said that â€Å"artificial contraception was a matter of choice and conscience and that health professionals who fool people into using artificial contraceptives should be penalized. As a Catholic, Aquino said he himself was not promoting artificial contraception but believes that the government should be able to provide it to Filipinos who ask for it. † Aquino stressed: â€Å"I’m a Catholic, I’m not promoting it. My position is more aptly called responsible parenthood rather than reproductive health.According to Rina Jimenez David who is pro-RH, during the â€Å"Women Deliver Philippines† Conference held September 2010, Dinky Soliman, Aquino's Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, said that â€Å"choice and access† constituted the keystone of the Aquino government’s policy, reiterating the administration’s support for the pending reproductive health bills. On December 2010, the Cabinet and the CBCP agreed to have a joint campaign providing full information on the advantages and risks of contraceptives, natural and artificial family planning and responsible parenthood.They have established a technical working group for this purpose. They also agreed that government will not be an â€Å"instrument to enforce or violate the conscience of the people about these issues. † However, by April 2011 the President has given his full support to the entire RH Bill in a speech at the University of the Philippines and promised to push for its passage even at the â€Å"risk of excommunication. † Compromise and alternativesSenate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Congressman Roilo Golez and Buhay party-list separately filed bills that seek to restrict abortion and birth control use. These bills have been seen either as a nullification of the RH Bill, its alternative, or as a way of achieving unity among the populace, since the RH Bill proponents have stated their concern in preventing abortion. Presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro or Gibo suggested a cash transfer from the government to individuals wanting access to family planning methods, whether natural or artificial.The individuals can then make use of the cash they receive to purchase birth control devices they may choose, thus guaranteeing freedom of choice. The Loyola School of Theology and the John J. Carroll Institute on State and Church Issues issued 9 â€Å"Talking Points† on the RH Bill. Among other points, they proposed a study on the meaning of conception in the Constitution, and if it means fertilization, abortifacients â€Å"are to be banned even now and regardless of whether the RH Bill is passed†.They also proposed â€Å"parallel programs for providing information and training, one for Natural Family Planning (NFP) and another for artificial methods of family planning†. Columnis t Jose Sison of the Philippine Star criticized this: â€Å"a Catholic School of theology has actually proposed in public, the use of tax payers’ money to train Filipinos to employ methods that are objectively and intrinsically evil† and cites â€Å"empirical evidence and scientific proofs confirming the harmful and evil effects of contraceptives to individuals and to society. † Recent eventsIn September 2010, Aquino during this visit to the US reiterated his stand that he is in favor of responsible parenthood and respects the decision of each couple as to the number of children they want, and if they need the government support for contraception, then the government will provide it. This statement has created a furor as Catholic church leaders say that Aquino has sold out the Filipino soul in exchange for some â€Å"measly† aid from the United States. The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference said that there can possibly be an excommunication of th e President if he continues on with his stance.Pro RH Bill Senators encouraged the President to be steadfast to do his duties towards the state. The President's spokesperson Edwin Lacierda explained that the President â€Å"has not changed his stand† and is reaching out to the prelates and said that the President himself has not made any decision in support of the Reproductive Health Bill as he is still studying the document. Lacierda said that the Executive Branch â€Å"is not involved in the passage of the RH bill, saying the measure's fate rests solely on the legislative branch. â€Å"Filipino Freethinkers, an association of agnostics, atheists, progressives, etc. , who have been very active in the fight in favor of the RH bill, stepped up the pressure, creating more controversy that fired up renewed interest in the bill on both sides. On 30 September 2010, one of the freethinkers, Carlos Celdran staged a protest action against the Catholic Church, holding a sign which r ead â€Å"DAMASO† – a reference to the villainous, corrupt clergyman Father Damaso of the novel Noli Me Tangere by Filipino revolutionary writer Jose Rizal – and shouting â€Å"stop getting involved in politics! A fan page, Free Carlos Celdran was created in Facebook, which generated 23,808 fans in 24 hours. Francisco Montalvan of the Inquirer said that in the end the Damasos are the scheming, corrupt and deceptive people, implying that the â€Å"pro-death advocates† are these, while the Cardinal Rosales who started a nationwide fund for the poor is very far from Damaso. Meanwhile, the Imam Council of the Philippines, the top leaders of the Moslem population which at 4. M constitutes 5% of the Philippine population, declared that they are against contraceptives since using them â€Å"underestimates God,† and â€Å"makes one lose morality in the process. † During the first public hearing on 24 Nov, the chair of the Committee on Population ha ndling the bill said that there is no instruction from the Speaker of the House to expedite the bill. Upon the call of anti-RH congressmen, the Committee Chair decided to refer the bill also to the Committee on Health, since the bill is about Reproductive Health.Leader of the pro-RH group, Elizabeth Ansioco, said that the bill is doomed if it is referred to the Committee on Health. Anti-RH Deputy Speaker Congressman Pablo Garcia said the members of the Committee on Health know of the WHO announcement on the carcinogenicity of combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives. House Speaker Belmonte said that Congress is not likely to rush the legislation of the bill and will tackle it in plenary early next year. Belmonte said it is better that highly contentious bills be given more attention.On 3 December, the Senate cut the proposed budget of P 880M for contraceptives down to P 8M for condoms since other contraceptives violated the Constitution's ban on abortifacients, and Senator Tito Sotto III said that his constituents never asked for contraceptives. On 27 July 2012, the Speaker of the House decided to put to a vote by 7 August 2012 whether the debates have to be terminated. In response, pro-life groups and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines have decided to call for a â€Å"Prayer Power Rally†, on 4 August 2012 at the historic Edsa Shrine.Meanwhile, 6 co-authors of the bill withdrew support, with the head of the minority group of the house declaring that 8 of their group are withdrawing their previous support for the bill. Congressional approval and presidential assent At 3 in the morning on December 13, 2012, the House of Representatives voted on second reading in favor of the bill with 113–109, while five representatives abstained. In the upper house, the Senate voted on December 18, 2012 to pass the bill on second reading with 13–8, while Senators Sergio Osmena, III and Lito Lapid were absent.On the same day, both ho uses passed the bill on the third and final reading. Members of the House of Representatives voted 133–79, while seven representatives abstained. The Senate registered 13–8, the same result as the second reading. On December 19, 2012, both versions of the bill were passed to the Bicameral Committee to produce a final version to be signed by the President Aquino. The committee quickly passed the bill in just one session.It was transmitted back to the House of Representatives and the Senate, which both ratified the bill, with the Senate voting 11–5 in favor of ratification, and the House of Representatives voting via voice vote. On December 21, 2012, President Aquino signed the bill into law, codifying the bill as Republic Act No. 10354, otherwise known as the â€Å"Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012†. News of the signing was announced by House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II on December 28, 2012. Reactions Averilla, Jim Waine C. Philippine Government & Constitution I used to support the RH bill. But finding out the truth behind it, neither would you. I believe this law will put the Filipinos at risk of extinction because at its very core, the RH law is an extension of a secret, global conspiracy, a western attempt, to apply principles of eugenics on unsuspecting, inferior populations in order to prevent them from the human evolutionary process, at the end of which would, at the highest point, call forth the â€Å"master race†. The truth is in our hearts, we just have to listen to it.At first my interpretation of the RH bill led me to think that it was just a bill meant to help educate the uninformed about ways to prevent them from fornicating their way to a very bad financial situation. My ignorant mind devised some simple points as to why the RH Bill was right. I thought: 1. Minimum wage of a non-agricultural Filipino worker is P404. 2. If there were 20 working days in a month, the average minimum w age earning Filipino would earn around P8000 a month. 3. In average that person ate food on a regular basis, he will spend about around P70/day on food.There are 20 days in a month, so I guess that would equal to P2100 a month. 4. But if this person had a partner, he might want to feed her too. Feeding her would cost another P2100 a month. 5. P8000 – P4200 = P3800 6. If this person and his wife rented a home, or used electricity and bathed from time to time, the amount left from his salary would be significantly reduced. Lets say their utility bills and rend amounted to P1800 7. P3800 – P1800 = P2000 8. P2000 is a lot of money, but I don’t think they should have more than 3 children right?Babies need milk, diapers, toys, immunity injections, baby medicine, etc†¦ 9. From this let’s deduce that babies cost money. If babies cost money, I theorized that having more babies would cost more money. And from this data, I see that a person who spent a lot of m oney on children, but I didn’t earn a lot of money, would soon be broke and unable to provide for both himself and his children. Another word for broke situation is poverty. 10. I believe that a person can avoid being poor by making less babies. So, I thought that steps should be taken to inform people about this very little known fact.I also thought that the government should make contraceptives accessible so that people who don’t earn a lot can properly manage the little resources that they have. That’s why I supported the RH Bill. But now I know that I was wrong. I believe that the issue of the RH Bill is not a religious issue. â€Å"The RH Bill is wrong because it assumes that the Philippines is overpopulated. † -I agree. I, myself, have observed that the Philippines is not overpopulated. In fact, if you use your common sense and think about it, you will realize a few things: 1. We are not overpopulated!Look at the mountains, the jungles, the caves an d the ocean floor. There are no people there! 2. If we were really overpopulated, we would have trouble traveling. But if you go to EDSA, there’s no traffic. When you ride the MRT, it’s not packed with people. 3. Students in public schools are well educated because the teacher to student ratio is very low. In fact, because of our low population the government can basically guarantee that all public school students are provided books, notebooks and other school supplies. â€Å"The RH Bill is wrong because it assumes that contraceptives are good for mankind and women. 1. I agree, the RH Bill/Law is not good for women because it might draw a woman away from her one, true, universal purpose – the uninterrupted production of healthy babies 2. Furthermore, the role of women in society and the universe is to make babies. That’s why God made women. That’s their sole purpose in life. They’re not good for anything else. Ever wonder why there are no w omen in the clergy? Because they’re not good enough. 3. Contraceptives would allow women to enjoy the benefits of physical intimacy while maintaining a successful and productive career, if she so chooses.That is so wrong. Only men should be able to enjoy that privilege. 4. Women should get pregnant every single time they have sex and only immoral women enjoy sex without the possibility of conception. In fact, a better alternative would be for women, in general, to follow the example made by Mother Mary – to learn how to conceive without having sex. â€Å"The RH Bill/Law will put Filipinos at risk of extinction! † 1. Population decline is just bad for nations. Just look at the countries which have a declining population – Italy, Japan and Singapore. They’re in such a bad shape.The Philippines obviously has a better economy and has a higher literacy rate than these countries. In fact, many Italians, Japanese, and Singaporeans go to the Philippines fo r work. That only goes to show that a decline in population is bad for the economy. â€Å"Our population is our biggest asset! † 1. In my opinion, people should make as many babies as they can because the population is not a problem. In fact, the more babies a person has, the more assets he has. Forget real estate properties, stock investments, or Jollibee franchises. The real secret to increased wealth is babies. 2.If you have 15 babies, you’re practically wealthy because babies are assets 3. If you need money, you can sell them 4. If you can keep them alive until they can walk, they can one day beg for money in the streets – they’re going to have to anyway because there’s no way in hell you’ll be able to provide for all of them on your own 5. If ever a person is not able to feed the 15 babies he made, it’s the governments fault, because it’s the governments sole responsibility to make sure that every Filipino baby is fed. 6. The best way a person can contribute to this country is to contribute to its population. The RH Bill/Law is wrong because it assumes that reproductive education and contraceptives will effectively reduce cases of abortion. † 1. Reproductive/contraceptive education will have no effect on the number of abortion cases. In my opinion, these abortion cases will not lessen because women will continue to have abortions regardless of whether they are pregnant or not. 2. Abortions cannot be prevented. It’s just something that women naturally do. Like shopping, for example. â€Å"The RH Bill/Law is wrong because it will make people participate in extra-marital and pre-marital sex. † 1.The RH Bill/Law will practically encourage our people to engage in immoral activities. 2. We must protect our moral values and reject the RH Bill. Because, currently, not a single Filipino engages in pre-marital sex or extra-marital sex. Well at least this is what we believe until to this day . 3. The root cause of extra-marital and pre-marital sex is one’s exposure to contraceptives. There is just something in contraceptives that people find very arousing. 4. In western countries, men lure strange women into bed by shown those condoms. 5. If we ban condoms, absolutely no one would engage in premarital or extra-marital sex. The RH Bill/Law is wrong because it assumes that parents don’t teach their children about sex. † 1. The truth is that parents talk to their children about sex all the time. It’s so not awkward. The dad usually tells his children how he takes off all his clothes, does a sexy Tiger growl and makes sweet, sweet music with their mother’s body. 2. Also, a father usually advises his daughter that if she’s going to have sex with her boyfriend, she should use a condom. Sometimes the father even drives the daughter to the boyfriend’s house and waits for the couple to finish 3.Filipino daughters don’t have sex without the father’s permission. Unwanted pregnancies or teen pregnancies never happen to Filipino girls. That’s why we do not need the RH Law â€Å"The RH Bill is a conspiracy. † It’s all lies, all lies Salvador, Karissa Helene Philippine Government & Constitution It is very much unfortunate, disappointing, and alarming that nobody in the mainstream media talks about the negative, unintended consequences of the fascist Reproductive Health bill, now called Responsible Parenthood bill, on the country’s business sector, particularly small businesses.I reject this legislative proposal primarily because it’s anti-reason, anti-individualism, and anti-capitalism. In other words it is against individual rights, liberty and economic freedom. This is just one of the many aspects of the bill– that it can negatively impact the country’s industry, particularly small business establishments that employ millions of professionals and skil led and even unskilled workers. Let’s take a small cafeteria, canteen, or publishing house near your place. Think about the small establishments and bar and restaurant stools in malls and many places in the metro.These small businesses that put two to ten or so people will be one of the main targets of the RH bill supported by some misguided, mediocre hippies who are mostly schooled and professionals. Yet nobody wants to talk about this issue. It’s as if these pro-RH bill hippies and fanatics think that wealth is created by wishful thinking, that is, by simply passing an intrusive, rights-violating bill purportedly designed to help the poor and women. What these anti-population and pro-regulation advocates don’t know is that the proposed legislative measure is itself a big insult to the poor and women.It is anti-poor and anti-women. The RH bill is a big insult to the poor because it treats them as dependent, parasites, worthless, or a leech who simply rely on ot her people’s extorted money or alms. Authors of the consolidated bill argue that one of the principal objectives of their highly moderate, anti-intellectual measure is to â€Å"help reduce poverty and achieve sustainable human development. † Still, what these political idiots do not and refuse to understand is that the government has no financial capability to deliver the promises of their measure because it is already bankrupt.The government, which is the worst parasite in this country, is not a productive agency or entity. It can only deliver some of the promised public services by using state force, like taxation, regulation, and forcible immolation of some social sectors like businessmen and health care providers. The consolidated RH law is a huge insult to women– and this is what statistician does not understand – because it considers them as inferior, ignorant, weak, having no mental, physical and emotional capability to decide on her own and to pro tect herself.It treats women as ignorant and weak because the law’s advocates believe that they need to pass a highly intrusive, unconstitutional legislative proposal to provide them the information and services they need. Also, the proposal is a big insult to every Filipino family because it treats parents as irresponsible, ignorant, weak, lazy, and having no capacity to make informed, responsible family decisions. It is stated that the law’s primary goal is to â€Å"help give parents the opportunity to exercise their right to freely and responsibly plan the number and spacing of their children. That’s the other way of saying that Filipino parents are not free and badly need the help and assistance of the state so to â€Å"responsibly plan the number and spacing of their children. † The bill’s highly mediocre and ignorant explanatory note adds: â€Å"The bill is truly rights-based. It mandates the provision of all forms of family planning, both modern natural and artificial, to women and couples as long as they are legal and medically-safe, and truly effective. However, the acceptance and adoption is the option and decision of parents and couple, particularly women. If that’s the case, why is there a need to pass the bill? The answer is because this is not what the bill is all about. In truth and in reality, it is about more political power! It’s about putting the entire business industry, medical profession and education sector under the total control and supervision of the state. In general, the bill is a BIG INSULT to the entire Filipino nation that has somehow embraced rational principles and the concept of freedom and individual rights. Those who ignorantly, naively take the consolidated bill at its face value will certainly accept the contradictory slogans.There are two sides of the consolidated bill: the fantasy side and the reality side. The measure’s fantasy side can be readily gleaned from it s highly ignorant explanatory note, which is filled with supportive statistics and some tragic information about the plight of the poor and women. They did not state how except the fact that they enumerated the bill’s nice-to-hear intents and provisions. The reality side of the measure is that all those promised, stated RH services would be covered or delivered by sacrificing, enslaving employers and health care providers.Section 18 states: Employers’ Responsibilities- The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) shall ensure that employers respect the reproductive rights of workers. Consistent with the intent of Article 134 of the Labor Code, employers with more than two hundred (200) employees shall provide reproductive health services to all employees in their own respective health facilities. Those with less than two hundred (200) workers shall enter into partnerships with hospitals, health facilities, or health professionals in their areas for the delivery of rep roductive health services.Employers shall furnish in writing the following information to all employees and applicants: (a) The medical and health benefits which workers are entitled to, including maternity and paternity leave benefits and the availability of family planning services; (b) The reproductive health hazards associated with work, including hazards that may affect their reproductive functions especially pregnant women; and (c) The availability of health facilities for workers.What does this section mean? Section 17 details the bill’s horrible fantastic scheme. So once the fascist bill is approved, any potential or aspiring employer would be covered by it, which means that he/she would be legally regarded as an indirect government employee. The employers or companies who have the capacity (with more than 200 employees) would be mandated by law to â€Å"provide reproductive health services to all employees in their own respective health facilities. This provision me ans that those employers and companies with more than 200 employees need to have their own â€Å"health facilities†, and this means additional expenses on the part of job-creators. On the other hand, employers with less than 200 employees shall enter into â€Å"partnerships with hospitals, health facilities, and/or health professionals in their areas for the delivery of reproductive health services. † Logic tells us that since employers and companies would be legally required to shoulder additional expenses, then they are justified to increase the prices of their products and/or services.Does anyone think of PRICE CONTROL? The state control of the entire medical industry is laid out under Sections 20 (Implementing Mechanisms) and 22(1) on prohibited acts. The penalty that awaits erring, non-compliant employers and health care providers could be imprisonment ranging from one (1) month to six months or fine of P10,000 to P50,000 or both. This means that any employer may be sued by his/her employees for non-compliant with the intents and provisions of the bill.Once the RH bill is approved, anyone who thinks of starting a business, whether big or small, should consider the measure’s punitive provisions, some necessary expenses, and the need to deal with government regulators. In the United States, hundreds companies left the Democratic-infested California because of the state’s too much regulations and anti-business policies. This is why I have been telling my blog readers that the bill is NOT simply about serving the alleged interests of the poor and women; it is PRIMARILY about MORE GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS.The bill is about nanny statism or BIG GOVERNMENT. Already, many foreign investors do not want to invest in the Philippines because of its high tax rates, excessive economic regulations, pro-employee labor courts, leftist-activist court justices, among others. The Doingbusiness. orgrecently ranked Philippines 148th in terms of ease i n doing business and 156th in terms of starting business. In terms of paying taxes, the country has been ranked 124th. Corporations pay a total tax rate (% profit) of 45. 8 percent! If approved, the RH bill would have the following negative impacts on small business: . It would be more difficult to start a new business considering the fact the the bill criminalizes the mere act of doing business and its regulative, interventionist provisions. 2. Employers would be forced to make additional expenses so to cover the RH care needs of their employees. 3. Since they are forced to make additional expenses, they might consider laying off some of their workers for survival. 4. Since they are forced to shell out additional expenses, they might not accept new applicants, a situation that would worsen the country’s unemployment rate. . Since they are forced to shell out additional expenses, they might consider some of the following survival measure: 1) salary cut, 2) less bonus or benef its, 3) cost cutting, 4) no expansion, 5) close business. 6. Since they are forced to shell out additional expenses, they might consider PRICE INCREASE. 7. There would be more informal sectors (unlisted, unregistered businesses) so to avoid paying more taxes and complying with government regulations. 8. Potential and existing employers would be considered a NEW CLASS OF CRIMINALS or ENEMY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE. . Those who have the money and resources would rather invest in a business-friendly economic environment like Hong Kong, India and other Asian countries. 10. Employers would simply shrug. You can help the poor without enslaving and treating businessmen, doctors and some other people as potential criminals or enemies of social progress. Think like a human being, not like a parasite! You don’t help the poor and the marginalized by supporting the RH bill; it’s both the big and small businesses that can truly help them!