Pluralist and ruling elite accounts of power

Pluralist and ruling elite accounts of power Pluralist Power Political Compare and contrast the pluralist and ruling elite accounts of political power This essay will discuss the above question and analyse the relevance of similarities and differences to the modern political system. It will look at empirical evidence from a number of pluralist and elite writers and explain the weaknesses in both arguments. The differentiation of the distribution of political power between the pluralist and elitist accounts is relatively simple to determine loosely. The elite approach argues that there is one group which dominates in a political system, although that class is not necessarily determined by the economic system. Pluralist theories state that political power should be regarded as analytically distinct from economic power and, in contrast to elitists, power is not concentrated in the hands of a single group, but widely dispersed among a variety of groups and actors.1 The central position of pluralist power is that all citizens have a chance to become politically active through either individual or group action. Views are represented in policy making not only through representative elections but also through the participatory mechanism of group politics. The process of decision making is merely the outcome between different groups, with government institutions acting as a mediator. No group tends to dominate this process because of the plurality of political resources. The diverse base of group power means that if a group has little money, it may call on public opinion to sustain its views in the decision making process. The electoral mechanism assumes that government doesn’t persistently favour one group as bias alienates the government from the rest. The government acts as a broker, independent from interest, and responds to pressure from different sides. The outcome of the policy making process is an even gamble – all win some bets and lose others, in contrast to the elitist view that the odds are stacked in favour of the house.2 Mosca used the term ruling class to denote the permanent group of organised rulers in society, but his use of the term ‘class’ creates an element of confusion in that his ruling class is very different in its function and characteristics from those of the Marxists. Power exercised by Mosca’s ruling class occurs from the organisational capacity of the ruling minority. This is the basis for their power and the characteristics that distinguishes them from the powerless minority.3 Criticism of classical elite theorists by writers such as Meisel centres on the notion that the ruling elite is claimed to be a class.4 It is an important idea in Pareto’s theory and Mosca founds the power of the elite on their greater organisational capacity. The three functions that Meisel identifies Mosca’s elite must have – consciousness, coherence and conspiracy, mean that such an elite should be able to maintain itself purely by its organisational capacity, its ability to adapt to new forces and its dynamic positive relationship expressed through the rule of law. The elite in a modern sense connotes a looser group of individuals, each exercising power and united by one or more factors such as wealth, social origin or achievement. What remains of classical elite theory is the powerlessness of the masses and the rational unifying capacities of the minority groups. Power pluralists such as Dahl and Polsby argue that a pluralist approach is far more rigorous than the elitist model when determining the distribution of power in political systems. Power is defined as an ability to influence policy outcomes rather than having a reputation for power. Studies of power distribution should be analysed using empirical methods finding those groups responsible for the decision making process Dahl contended that ‘although there are many different approaches and theories of power, so long as we can subject the hypothesis contained within these thesis’ to empirical investigation then it will be possible to arrive at an all embracing definition of power’.5 The pluralist approach stresses a need to look at actual decision making. A study by Dahl in 1965 looked at electoral apportionment, urban development and education to see who tended to dominate. The conclusion showed that it was impossible to identify a single powerful elite. Decision making tended to be a complex bargaining process between a plurality of different sectors. Pluralist theory has not been unchallenged by elite theory. Elite theories emphasise the stability and survival of political rule through the visible exercise of power. The difference of perspective results in research methods which are more approximate in their definition of power distribution. ‘Power involves relationships between individuals and groups, both controllers and controlling. It is a relatively constant factor in social relationships with policies as a variable and structured on national and local levels’.6 Elitists argue that expressed or perceived political preferences can be distinguished from objective interests. But this is because of the influence of the dominant class circulating a political formula, as Mosca put it. In this approach such perceived intent is the product of a power relationship rather than the pluralist approach of being the basis for understanding these relationships. In elite theory, where perceived interests differ from objective interests, evidence of the dominant class shaping the values of those whose power is exercised can be seen. Pluralists ignore the concept of objective values as it suggests that group goals can be determined from information of the social or economic nature of the group. They argue that such goals are vague and contradictory and difficult to determine.7 Marxist theories have tended to show a link between economic and political power. The notion that there is a political authority which can be separate from economic relationships is one which runs through Western politics. Aristotle argued that the polis allowed free men to take decisions, for the good of the citizens and not for the private advantage of the powerful.8 Hegel distinguishes between the public authority of the state as distinct from the relationships that prevail in civil society.9 This view is widely shared in pluralist political science that since power is a type of influence, a power holder may owe his power to his wealth, ability, reputation or any favourable position with regard to any value.10 Elite theory argues that the basis for assessing political power lies in the assessment of the degree in which particular groups can produce policy outcomes which are in their interests. Pluralist approaches reject the idea that an explanation can be based on the argument of the policy outcome with the interests of a certain group or class. Rather they argue the need to establish that a group consciously wants a particular policy outcome and take successful measures to secure it.11 Just as important as the plurality of resources, pluralist approaches stress the ability to transform the potential of those resources into the actual exercise of power. It’s not enough for a leader to be popular; he must have strategies to exercise his influence. In this sense power is not something that individuals and groups do; rather it is something gained through the deployment of political resources in order to achieve objectives.12 Power in pluralist analysis, is not just a property given or denied on the basis of social or economic position. The link between these and political power is weakened by the fact that strong political resources can coexist with weak political influence through the influence of inappropriate strategies. Like elite theory, pluralist theory doesn’t assume that those in formal positions of authority are necessarily those with political power. Those without policy making authority may be highly influential, and vice-versa. Where elitists differ from pluralist approach is that they argue that the influence of outside powers of government is limited to those exercised by specific economic and social classes. Pluralists stress that the types of pressures on government come from a wider array of different types of interest. Whilst they cannot suggest that there is a perfect distribution of power in government decision making, pluralists argue that more groups are involved in decision making than elitists, who claim that a particular class or group has a monopoly of influence.13 A study in 1980 showed the style of policy making in the UK. When drafting legislation based upon engineering reports, the government consulted over 500 groups, 16 of which were deemed to be influential.14 There is now a clear distribution between the two strands of modern elite theory. Mainstream elitism refers mainly to the interaction and function of ruling and strategic elites, and though it differs in emphasis from earlier theories, the normative assumptions are not that different from classical elitist like Pareto. The second strand of elite theory is neo-elitism, and is highly critical of both mainstream elitism and pluralism, which it regards as a revision of democratic theory.15 Its main issue with pluralism is over the community power debate, which had implications for the definition of power. There are many criticisms of pluralism who object to its normative implications. ‘Elitist ideals can logically contrast with facts without being invalidated by empirical research which does not in any obvious way call for its general revision’.16 It is argued that pluralists ignore the ‘face of power’ which contains the scope of decision-making to safe issues. The main weakness of the pluralist approach to power is that it is a description instead of an analysis of power relationships. This has been recognised because, if true, the elitist idea of the importance of non-observable influences and constraints from one group would have important repercussions for the way that western political systems are characterised.17 Elite theory is still opposed to class analysis at several levels, arguing the interests and power of elites are not based on economic factors. Elitism lends itself to a concentration on organisational identification of power. These differences in orientation separate elitism and pluralism, rather than the argument over the distribution of power. Power is not central to elite analysis; it is given in a certain way.18 The main criticism of elitism is that it assumes what it should be proving – the distribution of power. The other major similarity between the two theories is the idea of democratic elitism. This suggests that modification of democratic theory accepts that most citizens do not take part in politics. It argues that a number of elites who are forced to compete for power through public support, as is the case with party politics. The most influential democratic elitists were Schumpeter and Dahl, who argued that elites could exist whilst democracy was in place. They also stress that elites do exist but are in control of different policy areas. Schumpeter stated that the key to democracy was the existence of the mechanism which forces elites to compete for support and that the majority of citizens aren’t capable of taking part in governing.19 Dahl analysed these ideas forming the argument that politics is a ployarchy, essentially meaning rule by a number of elites. This reworking of pluralism into pluralist elitism is the synthesis of the two theories. References 1 A.Cox, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaf, 1985) P107 2 P.Norris, Do Capitalists Rule (Oxford: Robertson, 1982) P194 3 P.Bachrach, Theory of Democratic Elitism (Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1967) P64 4 A.Cox, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaft, 1985) P79 5 R.Dahl, Critique of the Ruling Elite model (New York: Macmillan, 1958) P463 6 A.Birch, Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy (London: Routledge, 1993) P6 7 A.Cox, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaft, 1985) P85 8 Aristotle, The Politics (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972) P271 9 G.Hegel, Philosophy of Right (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968) P78 10 N.Polsby, Community Power and Political Theory (London: Penguin, 1961) P96 11 A.Cox, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaft, 1985) P116 12 F.Castles, Decisions, Organisation and Society (Middlesex: Penguin, 1971) P83 13 A.Cox, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaft, 1985) P114 14 J.Richardson, Governing Under Pressure (Oxford: Robertson, 1979) P126 15 A.Cox, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaft, 1985) P89 16 P.Bachrach, Theory of Democratic Elitism (Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1967) P122 17 A.Cox, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaft, 1985) P121 18 R.Dahl, Critique of the Ruling Elite model (New York: Macmillan, 1958) P254 19 P.Bachrach, Theory of Democratic Elitism (Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1967) P78 Bibliography Aristotle, The Politics (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972) Bachrach.P, Theory of Democratic Elitism (Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1967) Birch.A, Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy (London: Routledge, 1993) Castles.F, Decisions, Organisation and Society (Middlesex: Penguin, 1971) Cox.A, Power in Capitalist Societies (Brighton; Wheatsheaft, 1985) Dahl.R, Critique of the Ruling Elite model (New York: Macmillan, 1958) Hegel.G, Philosophy of Right (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968) Norris.P, Do Capitalists Rule (Oxford: Robertson, 1982) Polsby.N, Community Power and Political Theory (London: Penguin, 1961) Richardson.J, Governing Under Pressure (Oxford: Robertson, 1979)

Is There a Real Difference Between a Neurosis and a Psychosis Essay

Is There a Real Difference Between a Neurosis and a Psychosis A major part of clinical psychology is the diagnoses and treatment of mental disorders. This can often be difficult and controversial due to the fact that many of the disorders can be confused with others; there aren’t always clear guidelines in which to follow. An example of this confusion can be seen in the disorders Neurosis and Psychosis. Neither neurosis nor psychoses appear as major categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). The main reason for this is that both categories were fairly broad and included a number of mental disorders with quite dissimilar symptoms. Consequently, mental health professionals did not always agree on the diagnosis for a particular patient. Neurosis is a functional (Psychogenic) disorder consisting of a symptom or symptoms caused, though usually unknown to the patient, by a mental disorder. The four commonest are Anxiety State, Reactive Depression, Hysteria and Obsessive-Compulsive Neurosis. We all know what it is to feel anxious. Anxiety becomes abnormal when it is out of all proportion to the cause, or when it continues long after the cause has been removed. Patients with other mental illnesses often feel anxious from time to time, but the term anxiety neurosis is used to describe the illness in which anxiety is the main feature and the patient feels anxious all the time. Reactive Depression is a form of depression where the cause is known i.e. marriage break-up or bereavement. Reactive depression can be classed as a neurosis as it is an exaggeration of the normal expected response to such situations. In medical language the word Hysteria is used to mean that a symptom is beyond the patients control. If I have to take an examination tomorrow and to get out of it I ring up and say that I cannot attend because I am going to the dentist, I am malingering. I am quite deliberately telling a lie to get out of taking the examination. But if, on the morning of the examination, I wake up with a raging toothache although there is nothing wrong with my tooth, this is hysteria. There is nothing wrong, but the pain is genuine. I am quite truly incapable of sitting the examination. The symptom is out of my conscious control and has become hysterical. Hysterical symptoms always serve to get us out of som... ...ers, neurosis and psychosis, may appear small but they can help in the diagnoses and treatment of patients. It can be very difficult to treat a patient when the cause of their illness is unknown or when the illness itself is difficult to understand. It is for this reason that mental health professionals need to categorise mental disorders as clearly and concisely as possible. The DSM-III dropped the entries of neurosis and psychosis and split them down into subdivisions to try to enable better diagnosis but there is still confusion as to the differences between neurosis and psychosis. There is not only a difference between the two but also a difference in each individual case. Different things effect people in different ways and many people although share the same illness have completely different symptoms. Every case should be looked at individually and treated as such. Instead of looking for the best treatment for neurosis, it would be better to look for the best treatment for an individual. References Introduction to psychology - Atkinson - Hilgard - 1983 The science of mind and behaviour - Gross - 1999 The oxford companion to the mind - Gregory - 1987

Politics of Muscle :: essays research papers

â€Å"The Politics of Muscle† by Gloria Steinem is an essay arguing the difference in strength between men and women. Steinem starts her essay by stating how she grew up in a generation where women didn’t participate in a lot, if any, sport activities. She goes on to say that she believes this is the reason why women of her generation believe that it’s not what the female body does, but how it looks. Steinem feels that women always seemed to be owned in some degree as the means of reproduction. She believes that women are made to feel ashamed of their strength and that â€Å"only when women rebel against patriarchal standards does female muscle become more accepted.† (pg 372)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think that Steinem’s intended audience is primarily for all women. I feel she wrote this because she feels strongly about how the power of women is viewed versus the power of how men are viewed. I think her primary purpose is to speak to women and to get them to realize how much of an impact increasing our physical strength could have on our everyday lives. Steinem wants to let it be known that women are not objects and that having muscles and strength can in fact be feminine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I agree with the author that society does view women as the weaker sex. I also believe that it is true that some of the more athletic woman today are not always viewed as being as beautiful as the skinny models in the magazines. However, I don’t agree with her thoughts regarding women being possessions and how she thinks women’s bodies are symbols of men’s status. That could very well be true in other cultures, as she does state in her essay that there are many cultural differences. But for myself, growing up in the environment that I did, that is not something that I had ever really heard about or was witness to.

A Feminist Reading of Cheever’s The Five-Forty-Eight Essay -- Cheever

A Feminist Reading of The Five-Forty-Eight The short story "The Five-Forty-Eight" by John Cheever concerns the issue of a woman scorned by the inhumane treatment she has received by men, most notably that of Blake, whose oppression serves as the turning point in her life. This generalization is often the focus of a feminist criticism. Feminists believe that women should have equal rights as men, and they seek to "correct or supplement what they regard as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective with a feminist consciousness" (Meyer 2014). In this short story, using a feminist consciousness to read the text helps to understand the reasoning behind Miss Dent's need to defeat the idea that males dominate over women. Miss Dent, who has been trodden on for so long, finally takes action against Blake who represents all of the men in her life who have mistreated her. Miss Dent is an insecure woman who has been abused and mistreated her whole life, especially by Blake. The literary critic Patrick Meanor says that "the icy and detached Mr. Blake has absolutely no natural feelings for others, especially for pathetic, wounded souls such as Miss Dent, a name that symbolizes her damaged emotional condition" (92) Critics characterize Blake as the lowest of men because of the inhumane way he treats women. The worst example of Blake's maltreatment of Miss Dent is the scene in which the two sleep together in Miss Dent's apartment. Miss Dent leaves to put something more comfortable on while Blake urges her on because "that was, after all, what he had come for" (81). Blake purposely accompanies Miss Dent into her home just to have sex with her. Under the impression that Blake has a genuine interest in her, Miss Dent allows Blak... ...like before when Miss Dent had no self-esteem or confidence, now she has some control over her life and is a stronger person for it. In "The Five-Forty-Eight," Miss Dent has prevailed in her attempt to set right the wrongs done to her and other women by men like Blake. Through a feminist's view, women in history have been considered inferior to men. Blake assumes that because he is a man, he has the right to abuse women and take advantage of them. Miss Dent does not let herself become another victim, rather she successfully takes control of her life. Works Cited Cheever, John. "The Five-Forty-Eight" An Introduction to Fiction (7th edition), eds. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, Longman, 1999 Meanor, Patrick. John Cheever Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1995. Meyer, Liz. Feminist Consciousness and Feminist Research. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983.

Frankenstein :: essays research papers

Mary Shelly’s Romantic novel Frankenstein was a momentous accomplishment in the area of writing. Not only was the author only twenty-one when Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus was published in 1818, but the author was a woman. She became a very profitable author even though she only wrote one book, Frankenstein, which is said to be the first science-fiction novel. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of the novel, can be seen as a man who is mostly good, or a man who is mostly evil. Victor Frankenstein was a man who was passionately and sincerely in love with science and the quest for knowledge, a man who had one deep aspiration, and a man who got in over his head.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because Victor Frankenstein was so zealous about science and what it could do, and because he was so entranced by the thought of creating human life, he eventually does finds the secret of life and artificially ‘births’ the Creature. His plunge into the maniac-like state that consumed him was slow, and gradual, each day he became more and more distant from society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because Frankenstein spent years of planning and hoping to find the secret of life, he never thought that he actually might be frightened when he saw the creature for the first time. But, this is exactly what happened. Even though he knew what he was trying to do, when it happened, and he actually saw the creature standing there in front of him--he was terrified. So, acting on impulse, and fearing he might get hurt from this monstrous creature, he ran away from it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Frankenstein was sure that the Creature killed William, he still didn’t tell anyone because he knew it would be no use; no one would ever believe him. He knew that his admitting to creating the monster would be to no avail and thought that no good could come out of it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The biggest support for Frankenstein being mostly good is illustrated in the novel when he decides to not finish making the female companion to the Creature. He was being extremely selfish throughout the book until this point, but this time, he actually thought about someone else besides himself.

Exegesis of Isaiah 7:14-16

History of the Old Testament Exegesis of Isaiah 7:14-16 Historical Context of Isaiah 7:14-16 The book of Isaiah is a vast collection of many works by both Isaiah and other anonymous writers. Although the entire book is dated from the post-exilic period, different sections of the book were written at various times. In fact, the organization of the book isn’t ordered chronologically, but rather by combining separate literary works and booklets (Hastings 424).According to Robert Alter and Frank Kemode of Harvard University Press, the book of Isaiah is broken down into three general sections: Isaiah (or Proto-Isaiah), Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah. (Alter 165). Editor and biblical scholar James Hastings noted, â€Å"the book of Isaiah is the result of a long and complex literary history† (425). Since the book was not all written at the same time or by a single author, each sentence seems to come with it’s own fascinating history, with varying contexts lying between each line.Beginning with Proto-Isaiah, chapters 1-39 are thought to have been greatly written by Isaiah, while consisting of â€Å"oracles and eschatology† (Alter 165). Beginning the early period of Isaiah’s ministry at 3:1-15, Isaiah describes the â€Å"social integration of Jerusalem† (Hastings 426). Without divulging too greatly into the historical context of chapter 7 quite yet, Proto-Isaiah addresses the period of the collapse of the northern kingdom before the Assyrians.It reveals Yahweh’s coming judgment towards Assyria for its â€Å"pride and refusal to recognize that it is the instrument of Yahweh’s purpose,† while predicting the â€Å"overthrow of the Assyrian invader† (Hastings 426). Moving on to Deutero-Isaiah, the prophecies in chapters 40-55 are thought to have been composed by an anonymous prophet who lived among the Judean exiles during the time of Babylonian captivity (Alter 174). This prophet responds to the major e vents that had previously taken place. Having over exerted their power and resources, the Assyrian empire collapsed.Proceeding Assyrian’s weakening, the Babylonian empire took control (Alter 176). As Robert Alter states, â€Å"just as Jerusalem is the focus and personification of the whole Judean community, so the Babylonian capital represents the entire enemy nation† (176). Since Babylon is the enemy of the Judeans, much of Deutero-Isaiah speaks of freedom from the oppressing empire. Cyrus the Great, father of the Persian Empire, is portrayed as â€Å"destined by Yahweh to redeem Israel, and to execute judgment upon Babylon† (Hastings 197).Throughout the book, the author tries to give a renewed hope to the Hebrew exiles, while giving the glory of their prophesied redemption to Yahweh. Lastly, Trito-Isaiah is believed to be the product of the writings from a number of authors. From chapters 56-66, this last section of Isaiah is filled with poetry and narratives of the return of the exiled Jews. As predicted, Cyrus the Great defeated Babylon’s king, Nabonidus, and conquered Babylon. Upon Babylon’s surrender to Cyrus’ general, Gobyras, in October 539 B. C. , Cyrus the Great took charge.According to Cyrus, he entered the country with little opposition, claiming to have been â€Å"chosen by Marduk to be his restorer† (Hastings 197). Marduk was the god that Nabonidus had abandoned in order to focus his worship to Sin, the moon-god. In view of that, Cyrus makes it a point to bring the god back. Nonetheless, Cyrus is pictured as â€Å"the friend of Yahweh and Yahweh’s anointed† (Hastings 197). As the new ruler, Cyrus released the Jews from their bondage and gave them his consent to â€Å"return to Palestine and rebuild the Temple† (Hastings 197).The historical background of Trito-Isaiah established, the major themes of this portion of Isaiah include repentance, justice and the path of the righteous (Alter 182). Literary Context of Isaiah 7:14-16 Continuing from the historical background of Proto-Isaiah, Isaiah 7 describes Isaiah’s prophetic warnings to Ahaz, the king of Judah around 732 BC. Prior to Isaiah’s warnings, Israel and Aram tried to attack Judah, to no avail. Following the attack, at 7:3 God sends Isaiah to give a message to Ahaz to seek God or else lose God’s hand of protection.Unfortunately, Ahaz does not comply, and instead buys the help of the Assyrians and even sacrifices his own son to the gods in hopes of protecting Jerusalem (Buttrick 215). However, if Ahaz wanted David’s dynasty to remain, he had to be in obedience to God, as Isaiah 7:9 claims. To his detriment, Ahaz is not willing to engage in faith, a major component of the â€Å"historical emergence of prophecy† in those times (Buttrick 216). God even tells Ahaz to ask for whatever kind of sign that he wishes to prove God’s ability to deliver Judah, but Ahaz refu ses.Although the state of affairs was the same as the preceding verses, the passages 10 and 13 suggest a change in the time and audience. Verse 13 uses the plural when Isaiah is relaying God’s message to Ahaz, implying that the discussion took place with an audience, rather than solely speaking to Ahaz. In verse 10, â€Å"again the Lord spoke to Ahaz† indicates a conversation that occurred at a later point in time (Strong 31). So it is possible that the events did not all occur with the same audience and at the same time.An interesting detail, at 7:13 Isaiah uses the phrase â€Å"my God† when speaking to Ahaz, referencing the fact that Ahaz no longer serves the Lord (Buttrick 218). Looking now to the verses immediately proceeding 7:14-16, God’s passion for His people is revealed. At 7:18-19, Alter writes, â€Å"Invading troops give way to swarms of horseflies and bumblebees that ‘shall come, and shall rest all of them in desolate valleys†¦Ã¢â‚ ¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  (Alter 173). This verse reveals Isaiah’s use of poetry to describe prophecies. Also, Isaiah uses metaphors to describe Israel’s destruction by plagues and swords (Alter 173).Isaiah understands that God’s judgment is out of a desire to bring Israel to nothing, so that they would finally look to God. Isaiah portrays God’s ultimate desire for the country’s purification, not for the destruction of the people (Rice 366). At verses 21-22, God’s heart for Israel’s redemption is portrayed through the promise of an abundance of curds and honey (Rice 364). Interestingly, it’s thought that Isaiah may not have written verses 21-25, because the language is so common and plain, whereas Isaiah usually uses such poetic language.Scholars propose, â€Å"these passages represent a disciples recollection of his message rather than his own words† (Buttrick 222). Examples such as these continue to point to the thesis that Isaiah i s in fact the result of multiple authors. Commentary on Isaiah 7:14-16 Isaiah 7:14 â€Å"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. † (RSV) This verse contains many important pieces that all require the context of the situation. George Buttrick makes an interesting comment in noting that â€Å"therefore normally introduces a threat† (218).Following God’s reproach towards Ahaz at 7:13, such a threat is to be expected. Here, Yahweh’s anger stems from Ahaz’ direct refusal of God’s wishes at 7:12. Since Ahaz doesn’t accept God’s offer of a sign for immediate deliverance, God gives Ahaz a sign by his own initiative. The sign, given at 7:14, is to come in the form of a maiden’s son, with the name Immanuel, meaning â€Å"God is with us† (Buttrick 218). The word for â€Å"sign† here is also the same word that is used for th e miraculous, and thus implies that God’s â€Å"saving presence† will come through the child, a symbol of hope (Buttrick 218).Although the maiden has often been referred to as a virgin throughout evangelical history, the original Hebrew text actually translates â€Å"young woman† (Alexander 112), or â€Å"young woman of marriageable age, possibly a virgin† (Buttrick 218). Also, the verse changes tenses, saying, â€Å"the young woman is with child and shall bear a son† (Alexander 112). This is significant because the actual woman who is to give birth may have been a woman whom was pregnant at the time, while the words may in fact be directed to a specific young lady.The answer remains unknown to this day. Isaiah 7:15 â€Å"He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. † (RVS) In this verse, the curds and the honey refers to the most prized foods available to the â€Å"nomadic wanderers, but not the fo od of Ahaz’ court† (Buttrick 220). The child must be weaned before he is able to eat the curds and honey, and thus this portion refers to the period of the child’s beginning stages of development. The context in which these words are being prophesied is â€Å"one of judgment† (Rice 368).In light of this, many scholars believe that the child eating curds and honey means that the child â€Å"will experience want and adversity† so that he will be able to know and refrain from sin and decide to live righteously (Rice 368). It seems as though Isaiah is painting a picture for Ahaz of the way of the righteous, in response to Ahaz’ direct refusal of good and his choice towards evil at 7:12. To add to this point, verses 15 and 16 may have been reversed at some point in history, since 7:15 seems to have the same threatening theme as in 7:17 (Buttrick 220). Isaiah 7:16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land befor e whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. † (RVS) Verse 16 seems to flow as a continuation of the word of hope and deliverance as seen at 7:14. As discussed earlier in this exegesis, prophesies of the days of freedom are also seen at 7:21-22, with promises of abundance and joy. The fact that the child will know how to â€Å"refuse the evil and choose the good† (RVS, 7:16) implies that there is a right and a wrong that the child will learn how to distinguish between (Rice 368).Apart from the ethical decisions, 7:16 may also be referring to the number of years that it may take the child to learn his likes and dislikes, usually about three years (Buttrick 220). When the child is finally weaned, and is almost to the age in which he is beginning to make his own decisions, the enemies of Judah will be no more (Rice 368). As seen at 7:1, the two kings Rezin and Pekah were the enemies of Judah at that time. Therefore, the verse refers to the destruction of their powe r (Rice 368). Summary of Isaiah 7:14-16Overall, this entire passage directs its attention to the sign that Yahweh is to send to Ahaz. It goes into a poetic description of the path in which that sign, Immanuel, will come into this world and the decisions between right and wrong that he will face. Although he will face many trials, he will continue to choose good over evil. As a child, Immanuel is also a symbol of hope; adding to this, his name means â€Å"God is with us,† which shines a light on the deliverance of the exiles (Alexander 112). This last verse brings a revelation of the Hebrew deliverance from the enemies of Judah, the two kings Rezin and Pekah.Although addressing judgment and trials, the passage breathes in the promise of deliverance and exhales a spirit of hope for Judah. Bibliography Alexander, Neil M. â€Å"Isaiah 7:1-25. † The Sign of Immanuel. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001. 110-113. Print. Vol. 6 of The New Interpreter’s Bible, Ed. Clifford E. Baldridge. 12. 1994-2001. Buttrick, George Arthur. â€Å"Isaiah. † Isaiah. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1956. 215-223. Print. Vol. 5 of The Interpreter’s Bible. Ed. Nolan B Harmon. 12 vols. 1952-1957. Hastings, James. â€Å"Isaiah. † Dictionary of the Bible. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1963. Isaiah. † The Literary Guide to the Bible. Ed. Robert Alter and Frank Kermode. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987. 165-183. Print. The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: Revised Standard Version. Ed. Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. Print. Rice, Gene. â€Å"The Interpretation Of Isaiah 7:15-17. † Journal Of Biblical Literature 96. 3 (1977): 363. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 May 2012. Strong, James. â€Å"Ahaz. † The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988. Print.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is a new multidisciplinary science interfering with many research areas and aspects. This technology deals with so small particles ranges from 1 to 100 nm (Birla et al., 2009; Husseiny et al., 2015). Nanoparticles of some metals like Au, Ag, Pt and Cu have paid more attention because of their biotechnological benefits (Rai and Duran, 2011). Research revealed the multiapplication of nanoparticle due to their unique properties in electronics, medicine, agriculture, pharmaceutic and environment (Nanda and Majeed, 2014; Dasgupta et al., 2015). Metal nanoparticles emerged as an alternative variety of antibacterial agents against strains of high resistance to the classical antibiotics (Naseem and Farrukh, 2015). Nanoparticles were used as antiviral agents (Gaikwad et al., 2013), effective antibacterial (Singh et al., 2013), cancer cells and antitumor (Daenen et al., 2014). Many researches have been directed to apply the nanoparticles of metals as anthelmintic (Garga and Chandrab, 2012), antifungal (Kim et al., 2012), antiprotozoal (Said et al., 2012), , acaricidal (Marimuthu et al., 2013) and larvicidal (Muthukumaran et al., 2015). Nanoparticles have many chemical and physical characteristics that differ from the metallic particles. Specific characteristics of nanoparticles such as their optical, physicochemical, mechanical properties make them crucial in many applications. Therefore, nanoparticles could be the key factor for the future technologies. Scientific as well as public associations are paying their attention for nanoparticles technology as a good investment source. Nanoparticles could be produced via physical, chemical or biological methods (Haider and Kang, 2015; Ebrahiminezhad et al., 2017). Both chemical and physical methods use reducing agents such as sodium borohydride, sodium citrate and alcohols (Rai and Duran, 2011). However, using of microorganisms in synthesis of nanoparticles represents another great achievement because of the economic and ease production (Shelar and Chavan, 2014; Patel et al., 2015). Research revealed that biological methods is an inexpensive and eco-friendly way for synthesis of nanoparticles. This method used biological agents including bacteria, fungi, yeast and plants (Mourato et al., 2011). Recently, emerging such microorganisms as eco-friendly nano-factories to manufacture inorganic nanoparticles was attractive (Lee et al., 2004; Lengke et al., 2007). Fungi were mentioned as excellent candidates for metal nanoparticle synthesis because they contain many of enzymes that induce the production (Sastry et al., 2003). It was assumed that the mechanism involved in nanoparticles production by fungi was due to cell wall sugars that could reduce the metal ions (Mukherjee et al., 2002) and because they have the high cell wall binding capacity, metal uptake and secrete more amounts of proteins lead to the higher productivity of nanoparticles (Vahabi et al., 2011). Fungi have some advantages over the other microorganisms regarding the synthesis of NPs, because fungal mycelia are able to resist pressure, high temperature and easy storage in the laboratory (Kiran et al., 2016). There are many of metals for biosynthesis (NPs) such as copper, zinc, iron, iron trichloride, lead carbonate, gold and silver (Siddiqi and Husen, 2016). In addition, silver NPs could be synthesized by fungi either intracellularly or extracellularly but the extracellular biosynthesis downstream process much easier and showed more activities against many pathogens (Ahmad et al., 2003). Among the active fungi that were reported to produce nanoparticles; Rhizopous oryzae produced nanoparticles intracellularly of gold (Das et al., 2012), Verticillium sp extracellularly peodcued gold and silver nanoparticles (Soni and Prakash, 2014) in the size range of 20–51 nm. However, F. oxysporum produced nanoparticles of silver of 5–15 nm and 8-14 nm in diameter extracellularly (Ahmad et al., 2003; Senapati et al., 2005). Many other fungi were approved for their productivity of nanoparticles of different metals either extracellularly or intracellularly including: Phoma sp. (Chen et al., 2003), the endophytic fungus Colletotrichum sp. (Shankar et al., 2003), Aspergillus fumigatus (Kuber and D'Souza, 2006) , Fusarium acuminatum (Ingle et al., 2008) , Trichoderma asperellum (Mukherjee et al., 2008), F. semitectum (Sawle et al., 2008), Phoma glomerate (Birla et al. 2009), F. solani (Ingle et al., 2009) , plant pathogenic fungi Aspergillus niger (Gade et al., 2008; Jaidev and Narasimha, 2010), Aspergillus flavus (Vigneshwaran et al., 2007; Jain et al., 2011) , Paecilomyces lilacinus (Devi and Joshi, 2012), endophytic fungus Pencillium sp. (Singh et al., 2013), Aspergillus foetidus (Roy and Das, 2014), Rhizopus stolonifer (AbdelRahim et al., 2017), Penicillium Oxalicum (Bhattacharjee et al., 2017) and Trichoderma atroviride (Saravanakumar and Wang, 2018). Many recent reports have shown that production of nanoparticles by fungi are could be affected by various condition of temperature, biomass weight, time and pH ( Balakumaran et al., 2016; Liang et al., 2017; Othman et al., 2017). Husseiny et al. (2015) reported that most important factors that were affecting the biosynthesis of AgNPs were the temperature, pH, time, the concentration of AgNO3 and amount biomass. Narayanan and Sakthivel (2010) approved that incubation at 27 0C for 72 h with 7 pH and 10 g of the fungal biomass and 1mM concentration of AgNPs were considered the optimum conditions for production of AgNPs from AgNO3 by fungi. Researches showed some variations in the characteristics of the biosynthesized AgNPs by different fungal species. These variations could be due to the source of fungal isolates or strains and types of medium (Devi and Joshi, 2012; Roy and Das, 2014). When Alam et al. (2017) compared the different types of media, they found Czapex dox broth was a good medium to produce enough mycelial biomass to synthesize AgNPs. This because this medium contains essential carbon and nitrogen source along with other vital macro and micronutrients such as magnesium, sodium, calcium, potassium, iron and zinc which are vital for fungal growth.Nowadays, application of AgNPs confirmed their effectiveness in treatment of cancer, bone implant, anti-inflammatory and their biocidal activity against many bacteria and pathogens (Husseiny et al., 2015; Majeed et al., 2016). The antibacterial properties of AgNPs are due to the oxidation and liberation of Ag+ ions into the environment that makes it an ideal biocidal agent (Sivakumar et al., 2015). It is expected that the large surface area to volume ratio as well as high fraction of the surface atoms of the nanoparticles increase their antimicrobial activity as compared with bulk silver metal (Joy and Johnson, 2015). Moreover, the small size of the nanoparticles facilitates their penetration inside the cell. Additionally, excellent antibacterial properties exhibited by AgNPs are due to their well-developed surface which provides maximum contact with the environment (Mitiku and Yilma, 2017). Recent research approved the antibacterial activity of the silver nanoparticles against many bacteria especially those having the capability to cause severe disease for the human such as Salmonella enterica, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococci and Pseudomonas sp (Devi and Joshi, 2012; Shelar and Chavan, 2014; Muhsin and Hachim, 2016; Madakka et al., 2018; Saravanakumar and Wang, 2018). However, shape, dimension, and the exterior charge as well as the concentration of the AgNPs are important factors that affect the antimicrobial activity the nanoparticles against the tested bacteria (Madakka et al., 2018). Devi and Joshi (2012) approved the antibacterial activity of AgNPs comparing with erythromycin, methicillin, chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin agents Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Salmonella enterica and Enterococcus faecalis. They showed that the diameter of inhibition zones obtained by the silver-nanoparticles, with 5-50 nm in diameter, were more than those obtained by the antibiotics. Shelar and Chavan, (2014) showed that Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus sp were inhibited by silver nanoparticles with diameter of 17-32 nm in very close pattern to the standard antibiotic streptomycin. Muhsin and Hachim (2016) reported the best concentration of silver nanoparticles with diameter 8-90 nm that showed strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus streptomycin was 100 Â µl/ ml. Based on the above-mentioned information, we assume that fungi as bio-factories for the biogenic synthesis of the silver nanoparticles are very interesting during eco-friendly and safe technology, also for future application as antimicrobial agents. Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is a new multidisciplinary science interfering with many research areas and aspects. This technology deals with so small particles ranges from 1 to 100 nm (Birla et al., 2009; Husseiny et al., 2015). Nanoparticles of some metals like Au, Ag, Pt and Cu have paid more attention because of their biotechnological benefits (Rai and Duran, 2011). Research revealed the multiapplication of nanoparticle due to their unique properties in electronics, medicine, agriculture, pharmaceutic and environment (Nanda and Majeed, 2014; Dasgupta et al., 2015). Metal nanoparticles emerged as an alternative variety of antibacterial agents against strains of high resistance to the classical antibiotics (Naseem and Farrukh, 2015). Nanoparticles were used as antiviral agents (Gaikwad et al., 2013), effective antibacterial (Singh et al., 2013), cancer cells and antitumor (Daenen et al., 2014). Many researches have been directed to apply the nanoparticles of metals as anthelmintic (Garga and Chandrab, 2012), antifungal (Kim et al., 2012), antiprotozoal (Said et al., 2012), , acaricidal (Marimuthu et al., 2013) and larvicidal (Muthukumaran et al., 2015). Nanoparticles have many chemical and physical characteristics that differ from the metallic particles. Specific characteristics of nanoparticles such as their optical, physicochemical, mechanical properties make them crucial in many applications. Therefore, nanoparticles could be the key factor for the future technologies. Scientific as well as public associations are paying their attention for nanoparticles technology as a good investment source. Nanoparticles could be produced via physical, chemical or biological methods (Haider and Kang, 2015; Ebrahiminezhad et al., 2017). Both chemical and physical methods use reducing agents such as sodium borohydride, sodium citrate and alcohols (Rai and Duran, 2011). However, using of microorganisms in synthesis of nanoparticles represents another great achievement because of the economic and ease production (Shelar and Chavan, 2014; Patel et al., 2015). Research revealed that biological methods is an inexpensive and eco-friendly way for synthesis of nanoparticles. This method used biological agents including bacteria, fungi, yeast and plants (Mourato et al., 2011). Recently, emerging such microorganisms as eco-friendly nano-factories to manufacture inorganic nanoparticles was attractive (Lee et al., 2004; Lengke et al., 2007). Fungi were mentioned as excellent candidates for metal nanoparticle synthesis because they contain many of enzymes that induce the production (Sastry et al., 2003). It was assumed that the mechanism involved in nanoparticles production by fungi was due to cell wall sugars that could reduce the metal ions (Mukherjee et al., 2002) and because they have the high cell wall binding capacity, metal uptake and secrete more amounts of proteins lead to the higher productivity of nanoparticles (Vahabi et al., 2011). Fungi have some advantages over the other microorganisms regarding the synthesis of NPs, because fungal mycelia are able to resist pressure, high temperature and easy storage in the laboratory (Kiran et al., 2016). There are many of metals for biosynthesis (NPs) such as copper, zinc, iron, iron trichloride, lead carbonate, gold and silver (Siddiqi and Husen, 2016). In addition, silver NPs could be synthesized by fungi either intracellularly or extracellularly but the extracellular biosynthesis downstream process much easier and showed more activities against many pathogens (Ahmad et al., 2003). Among the active fungi that were reported to produce nanoparticles; Rhizopous oryzae produced nanoparticles intracellularly of gold (Das et al., 2012), Verticillium sp extracellularly peodcued gold and silver nanoparticles (Soni and Prakash, 2014) in the size range of 20–51 nm. However, F. oxysporum produced nanoparticles of silver of 5–15 nm and 8-14 nm in diameter extracellularly (Ahmad et al., 2003; Senapati et al., 2005). Many other fungi were approved for their productivity of nanoparticles of different metals either extracellularly or intracellularly including: Phoma sp. (Chen et al., 2003), the endophytic fungus Colletotrichum sp. (Shankar et al., 2003), Aspergillus fumigatus (Kuber and D'Souza, 2006) , Fusarium acuminatum (Ingle et al., 2008) , Trichoderma asperellum (Mukherjee et al., 2008), F. semitectum (Sawle et al., 2008), Phoma glomerate (Birla et al. 2009), F. solani (Ingle et al., 2009) , plant pathogenic fungi Aspergillus niger (Gade et al., 2008; Jaidev and Narasimha, 2010), Aspergillus flavus (Vigneshwaran et al., 2007; Jain et al., 2011) , Paecilomyces lilacinus (Devi and Joshi, 2012), endophytic fungus Pencillium sp. (Singh et al., 2013), Aspergillus foetidus (Roy and Das, 2014), Rhizopus stolonifer (AbdelRahim et al., 2017), Penicillium Oxalicum (Bhattacharjee et al., 2017) and Trichoderma atroviride (Saravanakumar and Wang, 2018). Many recent reports have shown that production of nanoparticles by fungi are could be affected by various condition of temperature, biomass weight, time and pH ( Balakumaran et al., 2016; Liang et al., 2017; Othman et al., 2017). Husseiny et al. (2015) reported that most important factors that were affecting the biosynthesis of AgNPs were the temperature, pH, time, the concentration of AgNO3 and amount biomass. Narayanan and Sakthivel (2010) approved that incubation at 27 0C for 72 h with 7 pH and 10 g of the fungal biomass and 1mM concentration of AgNPs were considered the optimum conditions for production of AgNPs from AgNO3 by fungi. Researches showed some variations in the characteristics of the biosynthesized AgNPs by different fungal species. These variations could be due to the source of fungal isolates or strains and types of medium (Devi and Joshi, 2012; Roy and Das, 2014). When Alam et al. (2017) compared the different types of media, they found Czapex dox broth was a good medium to produce enough mycelial biomass to synthesize AgNPs. This because this medium contains essential carbon and nitrogen source along with other vital macro and micronutrients such as magnesium, sodium, calcium, potassium, iron and zinc which are vital for fungal growth.Nowadays, application of AgNPs confirmed their effectiveness in treatment of cancer, bone implant, anti-inflammatory and their biocidal activity against many bacteria and pathogens (Husseiny et al., 2015; Majeed et al., 2016). The antibacterial properties of AgNPs are due to the oxidation and liberation of Ag+ ions into the environment that makes it an ideal biocidal agent (Sivakumar et al., 2015). It is expected that the large surface area to volume ratio as well as high fraction of the surface atoms of the nanoparticles increase their antimicrobial activity as compared with bulk silver metal (Joy and Johnson, 2015). Moreover, the small size of the nanoparticles facilitates their penetration inside the cell. Additionally, excellent antibacterial properties exhibited by AgNPs are due to their well-developed surface which provides maximum contact with the environment (Mitiku and Yilma, 2017). Recent research approved the antibacterial activity of the silver nanoparticles against many bacteria especially those having the capability to cause severe disease for the human such as Salmonella enterica, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococci and Pseudomonas sp (Devi and Joshi, 2012; Shelar and Chavan, 2014; Muhsin and Hachim, 2016; Madakka et al., 2018; Saravanakumar and Wang, 2018). However, shape, dimension, and the exterior charge as well as the concentration of the AgNPs are important factors that affect the antimicrobial activity the nanoparticles against the tested bacteria (Madakka et al., 2018). Devi and Joshi (2012) approved the antibacterial activity of AgNPs comparing with erythromycin, methicillin, chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin agents Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Salmonella enterica and Enterococcus faecalis. They showed that the diameter of inhibition zones obtained by the silver-nanoparticles, with 5-50 nm in diameter, were more than those obtained by the antibiotics. Shelar and Chavan, (2014) showed that Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus sp were inhibited by silver nanoparticles with diameter of 17-32 nm in very close pattern to the standard antibiotic streptomycin. Muhsin and Hachim (2016) reported the best concentration of silver nanoparticles with diameter 8-90 nm that showed strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus streptomycin was 100 Â µl/ ml. Based on the above-mentioned information, we assume that fungi as bio-factories for the biogenic synthesis of the silver nanoparticles are very interesting during eco-friendly and safe technology, also for future application as antimicrobial agents.