Effect of Green and Black Teas Essay Example for Free

Effect of Green and Black Teas Essay Determining the efficiency of various types of teas and its components, and the binding of tea with lipoproteins as for prevention of the occurrence of coronary heart diseases, is the primary objective of the study. Based on established scientific researches, one of the components of tea called phenols, are responsible for producing the antioxidant attributes of tea. Further studies prove that both black and green teas have almost the same phenol content. Thus, their antioxidant strength is also the same, as gauged through the use of the phenol antioxidant index (PAOXI). Moreover, the study establishes the idea that a combination of tea catechins and lipoproteins produce stronger antioxidant qualities. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998a) To accomplish the objective of the study, teas that were used for samples were prepared using the same process. These samples were then compared to other types of antioxidants and other beverages with phenolic content. Moreover, the teas were studied in order to find out the threshold for the production of antioxidant properties, and also the binding of antioxidants with lipoproteins. Vinson Dabbagh, 1998a) The results of the study revealed that green tea produces higher antioxidant activity than the black tea, the green tea and black tea were stronger antioxidants than other beverage samples, the PAOXI of both green and black teas do not exhibit significant differences in terms of antioxidant strength, and the lipoprotein binding for both teas remain the same. Moreover, the catechins found in teas were more effective than vit amins C, E and beta-carotene in binding with lipoproteins to complete oxidation. Therefore, teas are more efficient in lowering the risks of coronary heart diseases. Green teas were found to bind efficiently with lipoproteins of high amounts, and on the contrary, black teas were said to bind efficiently with lipoproteins of low amounts. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998a) Secondary Source The discovery of the connection between oxidation and atherogenesis has incited research studies about the effects of antioxidants found in teas to lipoproteins. Moreover, studies conducted on flavonoids, which is one of the components of tea, and its contributory effects to the prevention of the occurrence of coronary heart disease, has led researchers to speculate that catechins that are found in tea might be instrumental in promoting health and wellness due to the antioxidant attributes produced by teas. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) This particular research study aims to identify the efficiency of teas as a source of antioxidants as compared to other beverages with the same phenolic content, and the maximum threshold of the production of antioxidant mechanisms in teas. Moreover, research was conducted on the effects of binding antioxidant with lipoproteins to an individual with low antioxidant intake. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) The results of the research reveal that catechins that are found in teas are more effective antioxidants as compared to other vitamins that claim to be a good source of antioxidants, such as vitamins E, C and beta-carotene. Moreover, the research also discovered that teas bore the most amount of phenolic content as compared with other beverages that were tested, and that among the tea samples that were tested, green tea bore the most amounts of phenolic content. In addition, antioxidant binding with lipoproteins was most efficient with black teas as compared to other teas, although there was not any significant difference as to the effect when comparing it to the results of other teas. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) In conclusion, the research study reaffirmed the fact that teas are a great source of antioxidant and that they are effective in producing high levels of antioxidants that are needed by the human body. Therefore, an individual’s regular intake of tea prevents the onset of lipoprotein oxidation within the body. (Vinson Dabbagh, 1998b) Personal Opinion about the Topic The results of the study has proved the effectiveness of teas as a source of antioxidant, therefore supporting previous studies conducted about the relationship between catechins and phenolic acid that are found in teas and its binding with lipoproteins as instrumental in the lowering of risks caused by coronary heart diseases. If this is the case, then regular intake of green and black teas should be recommended to people who are at risk for coronary heart disease and should be recommended as part of the average person’s diet in order to avoid the occurrence of the said disease. Although plants where tea comes from are widely grown all over the world, and according to the study, tea is the most popular drink in the world, people still do not realize the importance of its content and the regular intake of tea as a protective instrument against coronary heart disease. Moreover, people are not aware that the beverage that they enjoy the most has health benefits that might save them from suffering heart diseases. Promotion and recommendation of teas that are based on research study results and information dissemination might help in encouraging people to drink tea as part of their diet in order to stay fit and healthy. Aside from advertising and promotional activities, the government should support or fund the horticultural industry in order to produce more sources for green and black teas. Not only will the people benefit from this, but the government will also gain profit for the tea industry and agriculture. Moreover, the government should look into the processes of preparing teas. As the research study suggests, that the amount of phenols within the tea leaves, which are said to be the ones responsible for producing antioxidants, are dependent on the weather and climate, age of the tea leaves that will be used, and the horticultural processes that the leaves underwent. Therefore, the government should further look into the processes from which tea leaves are produced. Desirable and specialized horticultural processes should be employed in growing plants in order to ensure the quality of tea leaves that will be grown from it. In order to accomplish this aim, the government should be able to conduct research studies that would prove to be instrumental in the efficient and productive growth of plants. Moreover, with further studies and in depth research, the government should fund the inclusion of teas in the diet of patients in the public health care system, especially those who are suffering from coronary heart diseases, patients who are at risk, and even all the patients in order to keep strong and healthy. However, further studies should be done independently in order to avoid judgments of researches that are tainted by underlying motives such as advertising. In the research study conducted by Vinson Dabbagh, it was funded by the Lipton Tea Company. Since the Lipton Tea Company is a business organization, which produced tea all over the world, I cannot help but think of the politics between business and advertising that is concealed in the research. Most especially because the results of the research promoted the efficiency of green and black teas among other beverages and its importance as a prevention scheme against coronary heart diseases. In order to invalidate speculations that might arise from the influence of Lipton Tea Company and the research, independent studies should be conducted by professionals and scholars alike from different fields related to the issue such as representatives from the health care industry, agriculture, government, universities, and scientists alike.

The Heresies of Thomas Hardy :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Heresies of Thomas Hardy       Thomas Hardy is widely recognized as a poet who went against the conventions of his contemporaries by calling religion into question. Hardy's writing style is so prone to allow random natural events to decide the course of his novels that he often seems to be asking why God, if he existed, would let such bad things happen to basically good people.    Another philosopher who expressed heretical views about conventional religion during Hardy's era was Auguste Comte, founder of positivism. In his writings on positivism, Comte "set forth a comprehensive theory of the historical development of human knowledge" (Mitchell 619). According to Comte, humanity has thus far moved through three phases: theological, metaphysical and positive. The positive stage, based on scientific reason, had been achieved about the time of the industrial revolution (Mitchell 619-620). "Comte and his followers rejected traditional religion, substituting a religion based entirely on historical and sociological principles" (Mitchell 620). Comte's central principle was the idea that the laws governing human thought and action are a subclass of the laws of nature (Mitchell 620).    Hardy seems to be able more readily to espouse this idea than traditional religion. For Hardy, traditional religion made no sense because there was no proof that God existed, only speculation (Hynes xviii). It seems more logical that if there is a set of laws governing nature, then there should be a set of laws governing how humans think and interact.    Hardy is not able to fully lend his writing to an idea of logical order, however; he seems to believe that often there is no controlling force, and that is why life can seem so cruel. In his novels, we see completely random actions, either of people or nature, which lead to the unhappiness or downfall of characters. In Far From the Madding Crowd Bathsheda sends the valentine to Boldwood merely on a whim (79); this single act, however, contributes to the downfall of the man, which also manifests itself in the random storm which destroys the ricks. In The Mayor of Casterbridge the wife selling (79) is brought about by Henchard's drunken anger; it is the random arrival of Farfrae, on his way to the new world, that eventually leads to the impulsive Henchard's downfall.

Bewitched Analysis

Evaluating Sitcoms – Bewitched Bewitched is a situation comedy, produced in the year 1964 and set in America. The main characters include Samantha and Darrin Stephens. The program Bewitched conveys the premise to not make assumptions about someone instantly – because there may be more to a person then what meets the eye. The pilot of Bewitched begins with the orientation, establishing the status of the newly wed couple. Darrin is portrayed as the breadwinner of the family, and Samantha is presented as the perfect wife, which fulfils all of the criteria of a typical suburban housewife.The complication is then introduced when Samantha reveals she’s a witch. The complication is followed by a series of events, which begin with an invitation to Shelia’s -Darrin’s ex-fiance- house. At arrival they are both greeted with a warm welcome, but soon things begin to get messy. Shelia starts to belittle Samantha’s appearance, making her uncomfortable and a nnoyed; but to make matters worse Shelia begins to flirt with Darrin whilst occasionally glancing over at Samantha, in order to her to make her feel insignificant and envious.Samantha comes into conflict with herself in whether or not to use magic, but she decides using magic is the only way to go –even after promising Darrin no more witch craft – Samantha uses her magic in order to teach Shelia a well learnt lesson, to keep her hands of her man. The complication is soon resolved with Darrin and Samantha returning home to discuss her behaviour and the use of magic. Darrin becomes upset with Samantha for breaking her promise, but as any wife would do, Samantha almost instantly apologises and tells Darrin she won’t use magic again.The coda is illustrated in the end of the episode, despite Darrin’s request Samantha finishes by saying, â€Å"Maybe I can tamper off,† hence staying true to herself and not letting anyone change who she is. There are aspec ts of this storyline, which are plausible where the audience sees the common character/figure of the seductive ex-fiance/girlfriend. The credibility is generated with the behaviour of Samantha and Shelia.In Shelia wanting to make Samantha jealous and herself the centre of attention the plot is made credible, but the audience is then drawn to feel that the plot is more relatable and convincing with Samantha’s response to the situation, feeling annoyed, envious and angry. The relationship between Darrin and Samantha portrayed in the episode is clearly strong and affectionate. The Bewitched pilot reveals numerous characteristics of both Darrin and Samantha. Darrin is seen as the stereotypical husband, with his strong and demanding personality, which demonstrates that he obtains the authority between the two.However the audience becomes aware of the love and affection Darrin has for his new wife, Samantha. Samantha is also portrayed as a stereotypical housewife, who follows her h usband’s expectations of a Good wife, by cooking, keeping the household clean and being Normal. Bewitched reflects the values of the time, including some now-dated ideas about men and women's roles in society. The main characters, Darrin and Samantha are featured as binary opposite characters in the sense that Samantha is not you would call normal, being a witch.However Darrin is just an ordinary typical man, who happened to fall in love with a not so normal woman. Wanting to use a bit of magic once in awhile and hoping for a one-day normal family, are expectation Darrin and Samantha both have for their relationship, which of course are completely different and contradicting. A situation comedy wouldn’t be one without any humour. Humour is an important component of a sitcom and like expected Bewitched definitely has humour.In this episode there are numerous techniques used to generate a humorous response. This is evident in the use of irony when only minutes before She lia had been commenting on Samantha’s appearance, focusing mainly on her â€Å"Hard-to-manage hair† and haughtily referring back to herself as having â€Å"Not a hair out of place† but ironically Shelia’s wig is ripped off and flies into the strong -magic made- winds, to reveal her very impressive hair, the use of the irony in this scene conveys a very humorous response from the audience.Furthermore the use of the visual scenes with Samantha using magic, creates a sense of humour as the audience witness strange happenings as do the characters, but the audience knows the cause of these strange happenings -magic- whereas the characters in the program seem not to. Hence the audience responds to the confused and perplexed state of the other characters with humour. Thus, the pilot uses numerous techniques in order to receive an entertained and humorous response from the audience.Bewitched is a fantastic example of a situation comedy as it obtains and fulfils a ll of a sit-com’s characteristics and criteria, having an orientation, complication, resolution, coda and most importantly family and humour. Bewitched evidently represents concepts referring to family and family relationships, through the status of the couple where the male figure, Darrin is seen to obtain the authority and the female, Samantha to simply be the perfect housewife.Family relationships are represented through affection, kindliness and compassion. The program exhibits ideas about family values, where without these values there would be no family; a family without forgiveness, honesty, generosity, curiosity, communication and respect isn’t a family at all. Thus the family representation in Bewitched obtains all of these values in order to create the perfect household and television sit-com.

List of Government Shutdowns

In United States politics, â€Å"government shutdowns† occur whenever Congress fails to pass or the President of the United States refuses to sign or vetoes legislation funding the operation of some or all government agencies. Under the Antideficiency Act of 1982, the federal government must â€Å"shutdown† the affected agencies by both furloughing non-essential personnel and curtailing agency activities and services that do not directly relate to national security. Key Takeaways Government shutdowns happen when legislation to allocate money needed for the operation of the government agencies fails to be enacted.By law, most government agencies must furlough their non-essential personnel and stop or limit their activities during a government shutdown.While few last very long, all government shutdowns result in increased costs of government and inconvenience for many citizens.   While most government shutdowns are of relatively short duration, they all result in the disruption to government services and increased costs to the government—and thus taxpayers—due to lost labor. According to the financial rating agency Standard Poors, the 16-day shutdown from October 1, to October 17, 2013, had â€Å"taken $24 billion out of the economy,† and â€Å"shaved at least 0.6 percent off annualized fourth-quarter 2013 GDP growth.† The many  government shutdowns have done little to help Congress abysmal approval ratings. There were six shutdowns ranging from eight to 17 days in the late 1970s, but the duration of government shutdowns shrank dramatically beginning in the 1980s. And then there was the government shutdown in late 1995; that lasted three weeks and sent nearly 300,000 government workers home without paychecks. The gridlock came during President Bill Clintons administration. The dispute between the Democrats and the Republicans was over disparate economic forecasts and whether the Clinton White House budget would result in a deficit or not.   Weaponized Shutdowns Occasionally, both Congress and presidents use government shutdowns as a way of accomplishing political goals not directly related to larger budgetary concerns like reducing the national debt or deficit. For example, in 2013, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives forced a lengthy shutdown in an unsuccessful attempt to get Democratic President Barack Obama to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Border Wall Shutdown of 2019 The third shutdown during the Donald Trump presidency began at midnight on December 22, 2018, when funding for nearly a quarter of the federal government ran out. The shutdown was triggered when Congress and President Trump were unable to agree on the inclusion in the spending bill of some $5.7 billion requested by President Trump for the construction of an additional section of immigration security wall or fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico. According to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, the $5.7 billion requested by President Trump would allow for the addition of about 234 miles of steel fencing to 580 miles already in place, leaving about 1,140 miles of the 1,954-mile long border still not fenced. In a televised address to the nation on January 8, 2019, President Trump warned that unless Congress agreed to include the funding, he would declare a national emergency allowing him to bypass Congress by diverting existing funds intended for other purposes to build the wall. However, after a meeting between Trump and House and Senate Democratic leaders on January 9 failed to reach a compromise, the shutdown continued. At midnight on Saturday, January 12, 2019, the 22-day-long shutdown became the longest in U.S. history. An estimated 800,000 federal employees—including Border Patrol officers, TSA agents, and air traffic controllers—were either working without pay or had been sent home on unpaid furlough. Though Congress had passed a bill on January 11 ensuring that unpaid employees would receive full back pay after the shutdown ended, that end remained nowhere in sight. On January 19, the 29th day of the shutdown, President Trump offered Democrats a deal to end it. In return for congressional approval of a $7 billion border security package, including $5.7 billion for the border wall, the president offered to extend for three years the DACA—Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy. DACA is an expired Obama-era policy allowing eligible persons who entered the United States illegally as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the U.S.   Democrats quickly rejected the proposal, arguing that it did not offer a permanent renewal of the DACA program and still included funding for the border wall. Democrats again refused to further talks until President Trump ended the government shutdown. By January 24, the then 34-day-long partial government was costing U.S. taxpayers more than $86 million a day in back pay promised to more than 800,000 furloughed workers, according to Government Executive magazine, based on salary data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Agreement Temporarily Reopens Government In at least a temporary solution, President Trump, on January 25, announced that he had struck a deal with Democratic leaders in Congress to allow the government to reopen until February 15 without including funding for the construction of any additional border barrier. Negotiations of border wall funding were to continue during the three-week period. The President stressed that a border wall remained a necessity for national security and that if Congress did not agree to fund it by the February 15 deadline, he either reinstate the government shutdown or declare a national emergency allowing existing funds to be used for the purpose. Shutdown Averted, but National Emergency Declared On February 15, 2019, President Trump signed a compromise Homeland Security spending bill averting another shutdown However, the bill provided only $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new border fencing, far short of the $5.7 billion he had requested for 234 miles of new solid steel walls. At the same time, the president declared a national emergency redirecting $3.5 billion from the Defense Department’s military construction budget to the construction of new border wall, and signed executive orders redirecting $600 million from the Treasury Departments drug forfeiture fund, and $2.5 billion from the Defense Department’s drug interdiction program for the same purpose.   A Fourth Trump Wall Shutdown Loomed On March 11, 2019, President Trump sent Congress a $4.7 trillion spending proposal for the government’s 2020 budget that included another $8.6 billion for U.S.-Mexico border wall construction. Bringing the threat of a fourth government shutdown of the Trump presidency, Democratic lawmakers immediately vowed to block further border wall funding. In a joint statement, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reminded the president of the â€Å"widespread chaos† that had â€Å"hurt millions of Americans† during the 34-day border wall shutdown from December 22, 2018, to January 24, 2019. â€Å"The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson,† wrote Pelosi and Schumer. By law, Congress had until October 1, 2019, to approve the 2020 budget.   More  Recent Major Government Shutdowns The most recent government major shutdowns before 2018 came in the 1996 fiscal year, during the Clinton administration. The first government shutdown of the Clinton administration lasted five full days from Nov. 13 through Nov. 19, 1995, according to the Congressional Research Service. Some 800,000 federal workers were furloughed during that shutdown.The second government shutdown was the longest government shutdown lasted 21 full days from Dec. 15, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996. Some 284,000 government workers were furloughed and another 475,000 worked without pay, according to the Congressional Research Service. List of All Government Shutdowns and their Duration This list of government shutdowns in the past was drawn from Congressional Research Service reports: 2018-2019 (President Donald Trump): December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 - 34 days2018 (President Donald Trump): January 20 to January 23 - 3 days2018 (President Donald Trump): February 9 – 1 day.2013 (President Barack Obama): October 1 to  October. 17 - 16 days1995-1996 (President Bill Clinton): December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996, - 21 days1995 (President Bill Clinton): Nov. 14 to 19 - 5 days1990 (President George H.W. Bush): October 5 to 9 - 3 days1987 (President Ronald Reagan): December 18 to December 20 - 1 day1986 (President Ronald Reagan): October 16 to October 18 - 1 day1984 (President Ronald Reagan): October 3 to October 5 - 1 day1984 (President Ronald Reagan): September 30 to October 3 - 2 days1983 (President Ronald Reagan): November 10 to November 14 - 3 days1982 (President Ronald Reagan): December 17 to December 21 - 3 days1982 (President Ronald Reagan): September 30 to October 2 - 1 day1981 (President Ronald Reagan): November 20 to November 23 - 2 days1979 (P resident Jimmy Carter): September 30 to October 12 - 11 days1978 (President Jimmy Carter): September 30 to October 18 18 days1977 (President Jimmy Carter): November 30 to December 9 - 8 days1977 (President Jimmy Carter): October 31 to November 9 - 8 days1977 (President Jimmy Carter): September 30 to October 13 - 12 days1976 (President Gerald Ford): September 30 to October 11 - 10 days Updated by Robert Longley