Gem X by Nicky Singer and Genetic Engineering Essay Example for Free

Gem X by Nicky Singer and Genetic Engineering Essay The Science Fiction Book Project is a physics project in which students describe an example of science fiction and the scientific feasibility of the author’s ideas. It promotes the school improvement writing goal by allowing a student to pick a book of their choice read it, research one topic in the book, and write a scientific paper discussing the future of the science of their chosen topic. The book chosen for this project is â€Å"Gem X† by Nicky Singer. In the book, Maxo is a GemX (who1). A GemX is a being who is genetically manipulated to be flawless. Maxo, having the top gene line up and being intelligent and handsome, is the epitome of perfect. He lives in the Polis (where1), a city in the future (when). Maxo finds a crack in his face, which is only supposed to happen to Dreggies, which are the wretched underclass of unenhanced â€Å"naturals.† Maxo begins to search for a cure to the crack in his skin (what1). Maxo is not the only GemX with a crack in his skin; thousands of others in the Polis are experiencing the same horrifying shock as him. The Leaders of the Polis don’t want to give Igo Strang, Maxo’s father and the lead scientist of the Polis, the time that it takes to do the research for why this is happening—the solution is much more dramatic than they think. Maxo tries to save himself and the others from the secrecy and lies of the Polis (why1). On the outside of the Polis where all of the Dreggies live, violence, poverty, and ugliness are routine (where2). There, lives a Dreggie named Gala (who2). Gala is looking for her missing father (what2) who â€Å"disappeared† while volunteering for scientific research in the Polis. Her dying mother’s last request is to see her father (why2). She runs into Maxo on his journey, and he may be the key to finding her father. His father was  the last person to see hers, and she may be able to get information from him. None of them realize that they are all pawns in a bigger game. The city’s Supreme Leader has plans that will leave their lives hanging in the balance. People may develop different opinions about the book, â€Å"Gem X.† The idea and subject of the book give potential in being a great story, but in my opinion it was a poorly written book. Its flow and structure did not appeal. This book is not recommended to those who are picky and read higher quality books. The scientific subject in the book was genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material. Because it is the alteration of genetic code by artificial means, it is different from traditional selective breeding. Genetic engineering includes cloning and genetic selection. An example of genetic engineering is taking the gene that programs poison in the tail of a scorpion, and combining it with a cabbage. These genetically modified cabbages kill caterpillars because they have learned to grow scorpion poison (insecticide) in their sap. There are two types of cloning: therapeutic and reproductive. Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells from an adult for use in medicine and medical research. Reproductive cloning, which is a whole different matter, is creating an identical copy of a human being, and is highly controversial. Reproductive cloning is has not been performed on humans and is illegal in most countries. Gene selection procedures can be applied after a fetus or an embryo is tested through prenatal screening or through Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). PGD tests embryos for genetic sequences associated with specific conditions. A cell is extracted from an embryo at its eighth cell stage and analyzed. Embryos with the selected characteristics can be implanted in a woman’s uterus to develop into a child. Genetic engineering is important because it can help us prevent people from being born with diseases and disorders. It can also change produce such as vegetables from attaining bacteria or being eaten up by bugs. It can also increase their level of nutrition as well. In the past, there have been numerous attempts in genetic engineering, both ending with good and bad results. Scientists have worked on genetically modifying animals and plants, to improve them. One example is changing the genetics in produce animals such as chickens so that they become even bigger than the normal and healthy-sized chicken, to increase income when selling them. PGD was introduced in 1990 and is used to prevent Down’s syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell, Huntington’s chorea, and Cooley’s anemia. They have also attempted at cloning as well. They have only done reproductive cloning on animals, and it never got the desired results. Athletes have always desired better sports performance, and have driven many trainers and athletes to abuse scientific research to try and gain unfair advantage over their competitors. Such efforts involved the use of performance-enhancing drugs originally meant to treat people with disease. This action is called doping, and it frequently involves substances such as steroids and growth hormones. Today, cloning and gene selection are popular science fiction topics in movies, books, and comics. PGD has become controversial as well because some parents want to use it to select their baby’s gender and cosmetic traits such as eye color and type of hair to design their own child. Like in â€Å"Gem X†, they want to have, in their own way, a perfect child. A new variation of PGD, Pre-Implantation Genetic Haplotyping, allows for many more genes to be tested with greater accuracy. A new reproductive technique involving in-vitro fertilization has become possible as well. There are currently also problems of gene doping, which is the nontherapeutic use of cells, genes, or genetic elements to enhance athletic performance, and it takes advantage of the gene therapy that involves the transfer of genetic material to human cells to treat them. It increases the amount of proteins and hormones that cells normally make. Although many people desire the ability to select certain genes to have certain traits or clone themselves, the idea of human  genetic engineering raises numerous ethical and legal questions, and it is very controversial in itself as well as its techniques. Many other people are highly against it because it is against our morals and ethics, and they just think it is wrong. Scientists believe that once we overcome these arguments of ethics and morals, develop the technology required, and retrieve more information, we will be able to perform successful genetic engineering on humans in the future. This includes cloning, and gene selection. Researchers are only beginning to use the genetic technology to unravel the genomic contributions to different phenotypes and as they do so, they are also discovering a variety of other potential applications for this technology. The only limits barring genetic engineering are our imagination and ethical code. In the future, cloning and gene selection will be possible. â€Å"Gem X† is a science fiction book that discusses the topic of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material. It can be both helpful, and hazardous, and it may be possible in the future. Genetic engineering gives scientists the ability to alter the very basis of life. Works Cited Genetic Engineering: What is Genetic Engineering?. Futurist growth strategies keynote speaker Patrick Dixon globalchange.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2012. http://www.globalchange.com/geneticengin.htm. Positive Health Online | Article Genetic Engineering Today: The Promise and the Ethics. Positive Health Online | Homepage Welcome to PositiveHealthOnline USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2012. http://www.positivehealth.com/article/miscellaneous/genetic-engineering-today-the-promise-and-the-ethics. Simmons, Danielle . Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering. Scitable by Nature Education . N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2012. www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetic-inequality-human-genetic-engine

tough choices :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I was asked to think back about something memorable and to write an essay about a life’s lesson learned. In high school, soccer was very important to me. It was my favorite sport. My freshman year I decided to pick and focus on only one of the many sports I had played in the passed. I came to the conclusion that I should play soccer considering it was one I was strongest at. I also enjoyed soccer more than the other sports I had played because it was a tough sport, which was a challenge to me. During the years I played high school soccer I made a decision in which when I look back on, I think I could have handled differently. I never spoke up. I would just do what I was told to do. Whatever I was told to do I did it the best I could. I thought that cooperating, listening and giving it my best shot is what would get me ahead before someone else. But I was wrong and that has cost me dearly. As a freshman I played soccer for Paramus Catholic High School. I started as a forward on their junior varsity team. As the season went on the varsity coach noticed my aggressiveness and moved me up to play with our varsity team. To be picked out of all the girls on the team I can’t tell you of a better feeling of self-pride. Then as a sophomore I transferred to Hackensack High School. There, I again started as a forward for their junior varsity team. Later into the season I was brought up to practice with varsity. I practiced with varsity but only played in a couple of games. Imagine my disappointment, I joined the soccer team to play, not sit on the bench. I worked so hard in practice to prove myself but it got me nowhere, not even a chance. So I asked to be moved back down to junior varsity where I could play. At least on the junior varsity team I was recognized for my efforts. As a junior I tried again and made the varsity team at tryouts. I was excited because we had lost a lot of seniors and I expected to get more playing time. Upperclassmen always played over underclassmen. But I was wrong. Instead I sat the bench and freshmen played over me. tough choices :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I was asked to think back about something memorable and to write an essay about a life’s lesson learned. In high school, soccer was very important to me. It was my favorite sport. My freshman year I decided to pick and focus on only one of the many sports I had played in the passed. I came to the conclusion that I should play soccer considering it was one I was strongest at. I also enjoyed soccer more than the other sports I had played because it was a tough sport, which was a challenge to me. During the years I played high school soccer I made a decision in which when I look back on, I think I could have handled differently. I never spoke up. I would just do what I was told to do. Whatever I was told to do I did it the best I could. I thought that cooperating, listening and giving it my best shot is what would get me ahead before someone else. But I was wrong and that has cost me dearly. As a freshman I played soccer for Paramus Catholic High School. I started as a forward on their junior varsity team. As the season went on the varsity coach noticed my aggressiveness and moved me up to play with our varsity team. To be picked out of all the girls on the team I can’t tell you of a better feeling of self-pride. Then as a sophomore I transferred to Hackensack High School. There, I again started as a forward for their junior varsity team. Later into the season I was brought up to practice with varsity. I practiced with varsity but only played in a couple of games. Imagine my disappointment, I joined the soccer team to play, not sit on the bench. I worked so hard in practice to prove myself but it got me nowhere, not even a chance. So I asked to be moved back down to junior varsity where I could play. At least on the junior varsity team I was recognized for my efforts. As a junior I tried again and made the varsity team at tryouts. I was excited because we had lost a lot of seniors and I expected to get more playing time. Upperclassmen always played over underclassmen. But I was wrong. Instead I sat the bench and freshmen played over me.

Did strategy drive war or did war drive strategy in early modern and modern France?

The question on whether it was strategy that drove the war or war that drove strategy can only be answered by first examining the assertions of the question. In staking the claim that it was indeed strategy that drove the war, the basic assumption is that there was superior strategy that could dictate the outcome of the war. This presupposes that the resulting war was a product of keen strategy. In asserting the second part of the claim, strategy is seen as a component of war in that the unpredictable outcome of war necessitated the employment of strategy for victory.While it seems that neither of these statements can co-exist, the reality is that there was a time when strategy did drive the war in early modern and modern France and there was also a time when it could be gainsaid that war did drive strategy. In modern French warfare, it will be noted that Joffre, the leading French strategist during the First World War, maintained and promoted an offensive strategy with the French ar my.He was convinced that the only way to assure victory was to adopt an offensive strategy and this is what drove the war and brought France to the brink of disaster. His steadfast adherence to his strategy despite his recognition of the changing war scenario made it difficult to pursue any progress. It is through this same example, however, that having war drive strategy becomes clear. If Joffre had not been able to adjust his strategy according to the dictates of war, the French would have surely suffered disastrous losses at the Champagne Offensive.There is no arguing the statement that indeed strategy may sometimes be an illusion. While the statement of Betts may hold true, it overlooks the fact that both states of strategy may exist, as a driver and as driven. In the first case, strategy initially drives any war, before the occurrence it influences the initiative. Once it has begun, however, there is a need to adjust in case the outcome does not conform to the predictions of th e strategy. There is no hard and fast rule for this as the case of Joffre has shown.

Financial Risk Management Consultancy Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1770 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Sometimes companies are faced with tough investment decisions to make. Mostly, these are decisions that affect the future growth or perpetuity of a particular company. Each company would like to know the expected returns in future so that it may plan ahead. However, with the current volatility in the market where prices are fluctuating without warning, it becomes hard to pinpoint what a company will be worth in future or at what price the commodities of the company will be at a certain date in future. This dilemma is faced by QGold Corporation. This company aims to expand. In so doing, it must make sure that its future is stable. Since the company gets its revenue from the sale of gold and gold products, it must have a way of making sure that these prices are stabilized to prevent unforeseen losses in the future. This report investigates the options available for QGold Corporation and recommends the use of hedging through the investment in the futures contracts market. The future contracts market offers price stability by enabling QGold Corporation have a definite expected return figure for when the contracts mature and thereby enabling the management to make viable decisions in the company. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Financial Risk Management Consultancy Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Introduction This report aims at investigating the avenues of risk present in QGold Corporation, the risk factor exposed to QGold Corporation, the current system in use by QGold Corporation in the management and/or mitigation of financial risk in their organization and provide ways and recommendations which QGold Corporation may use to eliminate financial risk in their system. This report will use a number of methods and approaches in the analyses of the financial risk in QGold Corporation. Correlation analysis will be employed as well as discounting of cash flows. Since the company aims at expanding its capital base and scope in the near future, and since the profit or loss realised by the company is solely dependent on the market prices of the gold mined by the company, there is a need to make sure that profitability is guaranteed in future in the volatile gold market. Discounting of the cash flows and futures will be done to be able to analyse this particular case. Correlation will also be used to find the profitability ratio of the gold now compared with the futures prices of the same as given arbitrarily by the Australian financial futures reports. QGold Corporation: Brief history QGold Corporation is a company based in Australia that deals with the mining, processing and sales of gold and gold products. QGold Corporation produces its product from Charter Towers gold field in Northern Australia. This field is deemed to be one of the highest grade fields in all of Australia. The company has a vision of expanding its operations beyond northern Australia. As such, massive capital has been employed in the prospecting of gold. It seeks to be capable of producing up to 50 million ounces. Those expansion policies are already underway as the company has started extracting gold and processing gold products. Financial risk factor in QGold Corporation QGold Corporation gets its revenue from the extraction, processing and sale of gold and gold products. Due to this, the corporationÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢s profit and loss is dependent on the price fluctuations of the gold. As projected by the board of the company, the company is expected to benefit one dollar (USD) for every one cent increment in the price per ounce of gold in November 2012. However, the market for gold in Australia and the world at large is currently very volatile and taking into consideration the massive amounts of money and input, both in personnel and other resources, it is crucial for QGold Corporation to manage its risk factor so as to try and avoid losses. Reasons for want of risk management in QGold Corporation There are quite a number of reasons warranting QGold Corporation to manage their financial risks and their level of exposure to risk. Triantis (2000, p.561) sums some of these risks as follows in the succeeding discussion. The company wants to decrease the probability of it becoming bankrupt, find ways of bettering its terms of transactions with its clients, suppliers as well as its employees. QGold Corporation also seeks to reduce cases of value-decreasing investment decisions such as prospecting mines without having them initially investigated to prove that there is existence of deposits. According to Newland Tanaka (2010, p. 24) entrepreneurial ship requires a degree of ingenuity so as to achieve its targeted revenues. Similarly, QGold Corporation is also aiming at trying to minimize cases that would to the decrease or falling short of projected and targeted returns on investments. Gold price fluctuations as an avenue of risk for QGold Corporation Gold price fluctuations in the market have been a factor that has led to the collapse and sometimes, the rapid rise of many gold mining corporations in Australia. According Wikiposit (2012) the average price of one ounce of gold in 2012 was placed at USD 1658.04. This is an increment from the average price of one ounce of gold in the year 2011 which was placed at USD 1534.22 (Wikiposit, 2012). Evans Brearley (1999, p. 696) claims that the price increase in gold resources and production in 1980s and in the subsequent years have precipitated into the increase in the prices of gold. This increase in production occurred as a result of advancement in technology and use of carbon-in-pulp and carbon-in-leach methods of production in the mining fields (Evans Brearley, 1999, p. 696). QGold Corporation expects the price of gold to increase in the coming months and this is confirmed by the PriceWaterHouseCoopers (2012, p. 6) who conceded in their research that 80% of the executives and key players in this industry were interviewed said that they expected the prices of gold per ounce to keep on rising. However, the volatility factor of prices of gold canÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢t be out ruled. Due to this, the company has decided to caution itself against impending losses by investing in the futures market through derivatives of the futures contract. Hedging strategy and the futures contract as a method of risk mitigation in QGold Co. Dodd (2001, p. 1) defines derivatives as financial contracts that are meant to bring about changes in market prices of a particular commodity without actually bringing about a change of ownership. According to Campbell et. al (2006), hedging is making a particular investment as a way of trying to mitigate the risk of adverse and unpredicted fluctuations in prices of a certain asset. A hedge is a very good way or reduction of risk. This is done by investing in the futures commodities market. According to Wikiposit (2012), the price of gold in October 2012 commodities futures market is given as being USD 1691 per one ounce of gold. The current price of one ounce of gold is given as USD 1674. Wikiposit (2012) also give the margin requirement for September 2012 as being USD 1687.60 per one ounce of gold. This figure, USD 1674, is not guaranteed to rise in future. As much as all the conditions as presented by PriceWaterHouseCoopers (2012) point and predict a rise in the future price of th e ounce of gold, the market could behave otherwise and adverse effects on the prices realized. If this happened, QGold Corporation could find itself exhibiting losses. To cushion the company from such losses in the unpredictable future, hedging should be employed here. QGold should employ the use of derivatives to enable it avoid future losses. However, the use of these derivatives should be well monitored as sometimes their misuse could lead to massive losses. Jo et. al (n.d, p.2) argues that the unethical or unprofessional use of derivatives could lead to a global financial crisis. QGold should take an offsetting position in case it decides to invest in the futures commodities market. Finnerty Grant (n.d) defines offset hedging as the liquidation of a futures position through making a transaction today of an equivalent value thereby getting rid of the futureÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢s delivery requirement. Currently, QGold Corporation has an exposure of a value exceeding 50 million ounces of gold. Data borrowed from CME group (2012) gives two options of futures for gold, that is, for the months October 2012 and December 2012 respectively. QGold Corporation may decide to either invest in both of these futures or one of them depending on their stand regarding risk management. Recommendations After the options available to company QGold have been analyzed in the preceding discussion, some recommendations are done as stipulated in the subsequent paragraphs. Firstly, QGold should look for ways of minimizing the risk exposure inside the firm. Before resources are employed in prospecting for mine fields, an intensive research and study should have been carried out beforehand to ascertain the availability of the said minerals. Sometimes prospecting might be carried out on a mine only to find that there are no mineral deposits thereby resulting into loss of massive resources and time. QGold Corporation should also get a good hedge fund managing company to offer them advisory services on how they will invest in the futures market to avoid losses resulting from unethical use of derivatives. The best futures should be identified and invested in. QGold Corporation should continue with their expansion plans and utilize its size for market advantage. A big company is more capable of exploiting the market better than a small company. Conclusion In conclusion, it has been made evident in matters discussed in this report that QGold Corporation will be able to avoid future losses by engaging itself in hedging through investing in the future contracts market. The volatility of the gold market in Australia and the world in general makes it very hard for companies to predict their future returns. This is because prices may fall leading to a decrease in the returns or they may rise resulting to an increase in the level of returns. Since the future lies unknown and no one knows for certain what will occur, itÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢s better to prepare to the future today. To prevent imminent losses in the future, investing today in a futures market will guarantee a company a specific return to investment regardless of the risks involved or the prices that will be existing at that time. However, QGold Company may also find itself making losses where the market prices that will be existing at the time of maturity of the futures contract exceed the price of the futures. Despite that notion though, investing in the futures contracts would be the best measure for QGold Corporation to take as it totally eliminates all risk, gives definite expected returns in future and allows the corporation the freedom to make other management decisions without fear.