Compare and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different Essay

Compare and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different sources of haemapoietic stem cells in transplantation - Essay Example Stem cell transplantation can be defined as a process by which stem cells from the patient or a donors bone marrow are removed and re-infused into the patient to produce healthy blood cells (Australian Academy of Science, 2001). Stem cell transplants may be allogeneic, syngeneic or autologous. The most common sources for such transplants are bone marrow, blood and umbilical cord or placental stem cells (Gross & Johnson, 1998. ) Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a procedure wherein the bone marrow, which has been destroyed subsequent to chemotherapy or radiation, is replaced with healthy bone marrow. Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) involves replacing blood-forming cells destroyed by cancer treatment with immature blood cells (stem cells), which helps the bone marrow to recover and produce healthy blood cells as before (NCI, nd). Transplantation may be of three types (Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, 2005): a. Autologous transplants, wherein patients have their own healthy bone marrow cells removed and stored till the time of transplant. Later, chemotherapy, and radiation in some cases, is administered to destroy any remaining diseased cells. b. Syngeneic transplants, wherein patients receive stem cells donated by their identical twin (monozygotic twin). In this case, in addition to HLA, all other genetic loci are also matched (Carella et al, 2001.). Although the development of GVHD can be avoided, the risk of relapse is greater in patients with leukaemia. This is due to the lack of GVL effect (Yarbro, Frogge & Goodman, 2005.) c. Allogeneic transplants, where patients receive stem cells donated by their brother, sister or parent (related allogeneic transplant) or an unrelated donor (unrelated allogeneic transplant). In order to find a potential donor, Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) testing has to be performed. The sources for

Rebuttal - Why Marijuana should be Legal in the US Essay

Rebuttal - Why Marijuana should be Legal in the US - Essay Example a striking difference can be seen as the results of the poll in 2011 put forward the fact that 50 percent of the Americans wanted marijuana to be legalized now (Carey 2011). The legalization of marijuana has sparked many debates as many benefits of this legalization have been put forward and demands for the revision of the legislation with regard to marijuana has been demanded. The Huffington Post reported the stand of the White House on the issue of the legalization of marijuana. The White House declared the fact that marijuana was a drug which carried many disadvantages and they could not legalize the drug as it would bring much harm to the society. The White House indicated the fact that the government was spending much on research with regard to marijuana and they did not find any strong research that upheld the benefits of this drug. It was further claimed that marijuana resulted in health issues which included â€Å"addiction, respiratory disease, and cognitive impairment.† It was also stated that legalizing of marijuana would not result in any benefit for the community and would rather cause harm to the society (Graves 2011). The benefits of marijuana have been upheld by many groups who consider that legalization of marijuana would result in many positive effects. The use of marijuana in medicine has been one of the most important benefits of the drug. The California Medical Association upheld this stand and put forward the fact that marijuana should be made legal. The Association indicated the fact that advantages of this legalization were much higher than the disadvantages. They also upheld the fact that marijuana was helpful in the relief of pain and thus it should be made legal and regulations should be imposed on drug distribution rather than putting a ban on it (York 2011). The President of Columbia also put forward the fact that the legalization of marijuana had many advantages and he explained that the drug should be made legal throughout the

The Role of IMF in providing assistanse to countries to overcome their Assignment

The Role of IMF in providing assistanse to countries to overcome their economic problems - Assignment Example The study aims to explain the procedure based on which IMF contributes towards the development of economic conditions of several countries. Also main functions of the IMF is under consideration. IMF is an international organisation that has been established in the year 1944. The organisation is headquartered in Washington D.C., United States. The organisation has been a significant consideration for developing the global financial condition. After the establishment of IMF, the condition of world economy has dramatically changed. To operate the global financial development, IMF has introduced few improvements in its policies for managing the needs in terms of balance of payment. IMF has been developed with the aim of managing macroeconomic factors and to implement structural policies for every poor, rich and middle-income member nations. In this context, the mission of the organisation has been to monitor and manage economic trend that prevails in the global economy The IMF provides necessary policies, advice and financing to member countries of the organization. IMF is an international organisation that has been dealing with global financial or money market. The function of IMF has been helpful in supporting the member countries of IMF. It enables the availability of resources and develops a fund including general resources for low-income countries. IMF has made a complete contribution towards the development of the global economy. IMF has achieved certain success in providing financial support to the member countries.

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 4

Research Paper Example Several organizations, especially human rights bodies, have worked on this problem. Their results were quite similar with my research, because they reflected creation of more opportunities and involvement of various relevant authorities towards the cause (Cohen 24). Women empowerment remains a major factor in community development. Since 1990, girls and women have made significant steps, but they cannot yet been sufficiently empowered since they have to fully gain gender equity. In this research, I have briefly reviewed some of the methods used to estimate and examine gender inequality, which is the main factor slowing down women empowerment. These methods I have reviewed can be incorporated in providing a critique of existing measures pertaining to women empowerment, which includes the first global gender indices which was launched in 1995. The Human Development Report – the Gender-related Development Index and the Gender Empowerment Measure – These indices are unique, because they include major issues which contribute to women empowerment like attainment of education and participation in economic and political affairs (Cohen 30). In this report, I have briefly mentioned how this data represents an important advance on existing global measures of women empowerment. The measures of the barriers for women increase awareness of the prevailing problems, which allow monitoring of progress towards women empowerment objectives, and help keep governments answerable. In this light, the Gender Empowerment Measure is designed to make known the magnitude to which the realization of a country’s women empowerment contribution potential is curtailed by gender inequality, and presents practical foundations for policy analysis and advocacy efforts. One can also compare these results with those of other indices, for example gender inequality indices, where you can find major

IT Department BTEC Essay Example for Free

IT Department BTEC Essay Describe the various types of threats to organisations, systems and data P1 * Unauthorised access This category covers internal and external threats. Internal threats are things such as: Magic Disks A recovery or backup disk that has been modded to include viruses or key loggers. Man in the middle attacks People extracting sensitive and confidential information whilst posing to be a customer, or a legitimate company. Implanting Key loggers Applications designed to record key strokes and send them back to the hacker. External threats are this such as; Viruses Rouge applications designed to damage or make a system vunerable Trojans Applications designed to infiltrate a system often by posing to be a harmless file or embedded into another file. Piggybacking A term given to people who use someone elses internet connection without authorisation. This is often undertaken by logging onto an unsecured network without permission. Phishing Attempting to fool a user into believing you are a legitimate service attempting to gain sensitive information. Â  Damage to or destruction of systems or information. Damage to systems can occur when devices fail such as hard drives failing or natural disasters occurring in the workplace that could result in damaged or destroyed places. Such as: 1. Natural Disasters: This refers to what happens when data is lost as a result of natural disasters such as earth-quakes, floods, tsunamis, terrorists, fires and such. 2. Malicious Damage: This covers data that is lost, damaged, or stolen as a result of a hacker of some sort. A hacker can implant a virus onto a system in order to damage the system or simply steal data such as credit card data. 3. Technical Failure: Technical Failure covers when devices fail abruptly such a servers going down, power supply failing, hard-drives crashing ect. 4. Human Errors: is when someone makes a mistake which results in data being lost. Incidents such as people accidentally deleting files and pulling plugs and such. 5. Theft: Theft occurs when criminals gain access to an office building or other work environment and physically steal hardware and other entities that have a significant impact on the company (such as data). Â  Information security Information security refers to keeping sensitive data safe and confidential. An organisation would need to keep data complete, precise and up-to-date. Data such as bank details, blood types, addresses and other such information needs to be kept secure and confidential. Â  Threats related to e-commerce There are various security threats related to E-commerce. As websites that sell goods online rely solely on the availability and accessibility of an online store, they need to ensure the website is secure and not vulnerable to hackers. For example; Denial of Service attacks could prevent potential customers from purchasing goods and thus forth lose sales. Another example is website defacement which would also repel potential customers from buying online. There is also a threat of hackers implementing the man in the middle technique on behalf of particular online retailers which fools customers in believing the hacker is a legitimate worker of the website, this method could result in the hacker exploiting the customer and thus gaining the website a bad reputation. Â  Counterfeit goods Counterfeit goods effect creators, directors and artists as they cause a direct loss to potential income. Downloading counterfeit software, movies and music could result In a fine or lawsuit. Counterfeit goods are becoming increasingly popular as the ease of ripping DVDs, Music and Software makes it easier to access. Counterfeit goods may cause loss of business for companies. The loss of business then results in businesses having to raise prices to make up for loss of profit. Â  Organisational impact Security threats can cause loss or alteration of essential documents that the an organisation may need to function correctly. Loss of business followed by loss of income can also occur, this ultimately could result in bad reputation from potential customers. Systems going down could result in companies being unable to contact suppliers and customers. Circumstances of 4 security related threats on organisations p2 Phishing -This is the process of gaining information from someone by pretending to be a legitimate worker for a company and retrieving information for legitimate reasons. Phishing could result in customer details being leaked, distributed, and exploited. This could badly reflect on the company and lose the company business and income. Denial of Service Denial of Service is a process that involves a hacker overloading a server which results in the server being forced to shut down. This could result in loss of potential customers and thus profit. Piggybacking Piggybacking is the process of using a company internet connection without having authorisation to use it. This can severely effect bandwidth and damage company productivity. Piggybacking could result in systems lagging and becoming slow, this would result in workers being unable to do there job efficiently and at an optimised pace. There is also a threat posed by people using a companies network to browse illegal content to which the company would have to take responsibility. Man in the middle attack This is the process of being directly involved in communicating with both parties, claming to be one another. The outcome is both parties believe they are speaking to eachother, but they are actually talking to someone else. This method results in the man in the middle acquiring sensitive information such as credit card details from either party. This could result in the middle man leaking sensitive customer information such as customer addresses and more importantly; bank details. This could then result in the company getting a bad reputation or being taken to court for breaching data protection. The man in the middle could also waste company time and as a result; money. Countermeasures Implemented to reduce risk of damage to systems p3 p4 Countermeasures Vermason could implement to protect physical systems p3: CCTV This would work as both a visual deterrent to prevent thieves and vandals breaking into a building and causing damage or stealing systems and would also enable the company to keep an eye on potentially rouge employees that may steal data or embed viruses into systems. Sheilding Network Cables and Wirless Communications Data travelling via electro-magnetic or radio transmissions can be vulnerable to being remotely monitored because the copper data cable can be analysed to discover what data is travelling along the line. Fibre optic is the safest variation of network cabling and cables can be shielded to prevent data being tapped into. This would be a great countermeasure to prevent sensitive data from being leaked or exploited. Intrusion Detection Systems Systems such as proximity alarms can prevent burglars breaking into a building and can be set-up to call the police upon break-in. This works as both a deterrent; because warning potential burglars of alarms would prevent them from breaking in. And also as a countermeasure to attempt to catch anyone with malicious intent. Countermeasures Vermason could implement to protect network security p4: Backups Backups are an essential countermeasure in offices. If there was an electrical fire or other natural disaster that could result in loss of data, this would insure that all essential data such as databases the company requires to undertake work related tasks are still there aswell as contact, supplier and customer information so that they do not need to be re-acquired. Passwords Passworded systems can be implemented to secure individual workers within the company, it firstly provides an element of data security for each individual (eg; sensitive information that may be kept on a user account) and also holds each user responsible for there own actions on the computer under there own user account. More importantly; passwords ensure that only legitimate employees have access to important company files and other such potentially confidential information. Firewalls A firewall would prevent unauthorised access from outside the network. It does this by scanning data packets coming onto the computer and ensuring that they are safe, it also is responsible for actively preventing viruss such as Trojans being downloaded from the internet and onto the network computers. Installing a firewall would prevent hackers from accessing the network and stealing data or causing damage.

The Music Industry Essay Example for Free

The Music Industry Essay In this essay I will be discussing the four main areas of the music industry; I hope to gain knowledge about them and how they connect to one another so I can better myself overall as a musician. Record Labels: Record Labels are brands that are responsible for marketing the music recordings and music videos of bands/artists; there are two types of record labels, major and independent. There are only 3 major record labels left which are Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Group, a record label is classed major when it has more than 5% market share. Major Record Labels There are many pros to signing to a major record label and the most obvious and perhaps most important one is that these big companies have a lot of money, this means they will be spending more money promoting your record, which means a higher chance of sales and popularity. Having more cash available also means they will invest a lot in touring, recording and music videos which will all benefit your career in a band or as a solo artist. Although the pros of signing a major record deal sounds incredibly rewarding, there is a few downsides which may cause a band/artist to be put off. Firstly, signing to a major record company won’t always last as long as the artist wants it to; if your major label is paying a lot of money to promote you they will not keep you signed if you are not selling records to return the output of money back into their pockets. A lot of the time they will sign a lot of acts just to see what ones are popular and will make money, resulting in the unpopular acts being dropped. Furthermore, things like artist unfriendly deals which leave the artist earning a lot less money than the label and not having full creative control of material are all disadvantages which could leave an artist or band seeking a better deal from in an independent label. 1 Independent Record Labels An independent record label is a label not associated with the big three major labels, a lot of artists start their career on independent labels. One pro of an independent label is that they love your music; this means they will be working harder with you, this also means you will have close working  relationships with the label due to smaller staff and a smaller roster which means you can contact your label easier and ask them questions. Also independent labels have artist friendly deals, you will have more creative control and independent labels are unlikely to contract you to multi album deals. Independent labels also have a few cons and the main one being money, which was the main pro of a major label. With less money available this will mean you won’t have large recording budgets, huge promotion deals and things like tour support, you will have to support yourself financially which is why a lot of artists would prefer a major record deal. Along with a shortage of money, other cons of indie labels include size which means less purchasing power and also disorganisation. 2 Overall I believe the best type of record label depends on preference, if an artist is seeking fame and fortune a major label deal would be best for them as more money would be available to them and they would be promoted and better known. If an artist felt strongly about the music they wrote and wanted to have full creative control an independent label would be best for them. How do I get signed? If you want to get signed to a record label you can start by sending in your demo to the AR department and then things can advance from there if they like what they hear. Record labels have separate department that help find and sign artists which is AR, they help find artists by listening to demos, going to gigs and watching recordings of bands to find talent, they would contact the artist and tell them how they would develop them as an artist. Furthermore, they find the right songs for the artist, make sure they work with the right producer and find the right studio; AR are also the department that handles contract negotiations. As an AR person you must understand what music is current and what can become popular, this is an important job and you must have a good ear as this person bridges the gap between record labels and artists and can be the person responsible for signing the next big thing. If you want to get signed to a record label you can start by sending in your demo to th e AR department and then things can advance from there if they like what they hear. i What can record labels offer you? Recording studios are also another thing that comes with a signing a record  deal, perks of a recording studio includes top of the range equipment and rooms with excellent acoustics to give your band a better sound when recording, you will also have a well-trained sound engineer to mix and produce your song, however these can be expensive and leave you with less money for things like touring. I believe recording your music in a studio will also give it a better sound which means it will also be more likely to sell. Record labels will also help you distribute your material, Retail is selling your music by physical sales or through the internet, you can sell songs and albums for digital download over the internet on multiple platforms such as iTunes or amazon, once a song is bought a percentage goes to the retailer and the rest to the artist and label. Selling your music on CD is distributed slightly different, labels will discuss with the retailer how many copies they want to order and once an amount has been agreed the cd’s will be shipped then sold. Overall I believe selling your music for digital purchase is better as internet sales are becoming very popular as people can download songs straight to their phones, also you make less of a loss if your songs don’t sell on iTunes or amazon etc. as you haven’t had to pay for CD printing.ii Music Publishing: A music publisher or music publishing company is in charge of making sure songwriters and composers receive their royalty payments when their compositions are used commercially.3 They will also help distribute and promote music that is created, license songs to record companies and copyright songs and compositions, their job is to promote and protect songs and compositions. Finding songwriters and composers in a music publishing company is also handled by AR, songwriters and composers can be found on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites; furthermore there are traditional methods like going to gigs to find songwriters and composers. 4 Promotion One of the most important jobs to a music publisher is promoting songs, this means getting the songs to be used in ways that earn money. They can talk to music supervisors to get songs played in films, TV shows and advertisements which can bring in a lot of money due to synchronisation rights and royalties. 5 Publishers will have a network of contacts that they can  promote to and then negotiate a license with. They can also make deals with musicians that want to use songs their clients have written/composes. It is very important that a music publisher or music publishing company promotes well because getting your music heard and recognised can be the forefront to your success. Copyright management Copyright means protecting material and allowing composers to be paid for their work, if something is copyrighted it means the creators of the material are in charge of it and can decide who uses their work and what circumstances it is used in. In a song the musical work and lyrics are both protected, to copyright something it has to be original and not copied; it must be recorded on paper or on CD. It is important a music publisher copyrights their songwriters/composers material otherwise it can be copied by other people and they will not be able to prosecute in court without copyright. 6 Performing rights Performing rights are the right to perform songs in a public place; it is part of copyright law and means the composer/songwriter and publisher will be paid, the royalties would be split 50/50. Performance rights mean a group who are not copyright holders are performing a piece of music publicly, performances are considered public if they are in a public place such as a nightclub, restaurant or at a concert. This is another reason why it is important for a music publishing company to copyright their client’s music, so they can claim royalties and money can be made from their material. Live performance: Live performance includes things like gigs and festivals, I will be discussing some of the roles that make a live performance and how they work. Promoting a Live Performance The main thing that completes a live performance is people, without people turning up to your live performance you will fail to create an atmosphere and most importantly not make any money back from the high costs of renting a venue hiring staff etc. So to get people to come along to your event/performance you need to promote. Promoting techniques you can use  include printing off posters and posting them everywhere you can, ask small shops if you can put them in the windows or even stick them to lampposts. However you need a good eye catching poster otherwise it will go unnoticed. Other ways to promote include promoting your event on social networking like Facebook and Twitter, you can create an event and invite as many people as you like; people are likely to see this as a lot of people have their phones on them all the time and will receive a notification when invited7. Online and physical ways of promoting can both be effective when done right, but if you want a large amount of people to notice your event and consider coming you need to do both online and physical promotion. Setting up a live performance To set up for a live performance you need to start by gathering some equipment. It is advisable you go and take a look at the venue a few weeks before the show day so you can see what equipment needs to be brought along, things to look out for include seeing if the venue has a PA, if not you may want to hire or invest in one; if you are hosting the event at your own venue it is worth buying your own PA to save money in the long term. Other things include staging space, make sure there is ample floor space for the performers to stand and you may want to bring a stage/drum riser if there aren’t any there already. Lighting can also be important in bringing atmosphere to a performance. Finally, you will at least a handful of staff on the night such as security, stagehands and a sound engineer. 8When hosting an event you may want to choose for more expensive equipment whilst saving money on staff, good equipment will improve sound and experience meaning people will want to come aga in; but you can get away with hiring people for not much at all as people are happy to get into a free show and help. Health and safety Health and safety precautions at a live performance are incredibly important, start by making sure there is a person in charge of first aid as this is also the law; people are likely to get hurt in a crowd of people by tripping up or bumping into people. Secondly, when sorting and setting up electrical equipment you need to make sure wires are not across the stage in the air as this could cause a trip hazard for performers and also make sure there are no trip hazards in the crowd standing space also. Another precaution to take is making sure staging is secured properly; if heavy staging equipment is not put together correctly accidents could happen causing big injuries which could mean you not being able to host events again. A final thing to take into consideration is noise level, when hosting a live event you are granted a license with rules of decibel level and if you exceed this level you would not be granted another license so another live performance would not be possible. I believe taking all of these health and safety precautions is fundamental to looking after everyone at a venue and will mean things can run smoothly without any inconvenience. 9 Tour and event management An event manger means you will be in charge of a number of jobs, firstly you’ll need to find your venue that is suitable to your event; and then you need to book your acts. After you have sorted this you need to check health and safety is okay and then make sure the night runs smoothly. An event manager is an important role in making sure a live performance goes to plan, the audience may not notice the hard work of an event manager but if it wasn’t for them there would be no show. A tour manager is slightly different; they are in charge of booking venues as well as hotels and what crews are in charge of health and safety, security etc. I believe that tour and event management plays a huge part to live performance and makes things tick, without tour and event managers everything would be unorganised and would not go smoothly. Front of house and Backstage Starting with front of house, this includes a wide range of jobs such as door staff; these can be security or people that accept tickets. People at food stalls or bars are also included, these people are important as they can keep the audience refreshed with drinks and food. Front of house staff can be important as they are what the audience see so they need to be calm and relaxed so things run according to plan and not to distress anyone at the venue. Backstage staff covers a few more roles, they include the sound engineer who controls the levels and quality of the band’s sound to put on a good sounding performance for the crowd, secondly there are instrument technicians for drums, bass, guitar so if any instruments fail in any way they are there to fix it or provide a new instrument e.g. backup  guitar/bass. Other roles include a lighting technician to give the performance visual effect and also a pyro-technician who is in charge of any fireworks or fire during the performance. Backstage managers will make sure acts are ready to go on stage at the correct time; roadies are in charge of moving and packing equipment away for the end of the set or for the next act. Backstage staffs are just as important as the acts themselves, this job needs to be done effectively and communication is key otherwise things could fall apart very quickly. Performance rights When hosting a live performance you need to make sure you are licensed to play music, you must have the correct copyright licenses, having these is a legal requirement. PRS collects royalties for songwriters, publishers and composers and PPL collects royalties for performers and musicians. You also need public liability insurance, and if any DJ’s are performing they will need a ProDub licence; this is needed for when a DJ is transferring music from a vinyl, CD etc. to a digital format. If they do not have this license you may face fines or legal prosecution. Artist management Business and Tour managers Business managers are in charge of all the money to do with the artist, they are usually accountants that have experience with musicians, day to day managers can also take care of finances but they usually have a lot more things to do so it is helpful to have a business manager for this. A tour manager takes care of booking venues, hotels, flights and things like selecting a tour bus etc. Tour managers are important because they get the artist/band from one place to another and make sure things run smoothly, a good tour manager needs to be organised so the band makes it on time to gigs, interviews and recordings. Having managers can be very helpful to an artist; however they will need to be paid so it’s important to decide what mangers you definitely need. 10 Artist and managers rights In the music industry artist and managers rights must be abided by, otherwise you could be brought to court; artist rights include being paid their royalties due to copyright, these are usually songs played on the radio/television etc. Manager’s rights are slightly different they include  being paid fairly and that all contract terms are kept to, if they aren’t it means the manager can terminate the contract at any time. I believe it is very important managers and artists rights are abided by because you may end up in court if contract terms are breached. Sponsorship Sponsorship does not always mean getting free stuff from the company that is sponsoring you, it means when two businesses come together to benefit from the association of one another. Sponsorship deals can be gained by the artist’s manager, it can mean money is offered to an artist and in the return the artist will wear, promote the brand. This is a very good way for an artist to earn income; it also makes artists/bands noticed. Endorsement is slightly different as it means artists can use the companies gear, this is good as it opens the company to a lot of fans and allows the artist to use top of the range equipment. I think sponsorship deals are good as they benefit both parties and can allow a lot of income to the artist and company. Merchandise Merchandise can include clothing, CDs and stickers. The merchandise should include a creative logo that goes with the name of the band, stickers are useful as they can be stuck anywhere and promote your band. Merchandise can be sold after shows and also online which is useful if people cannot get to them at a show, selling merchandise is a great way to make money as people will pay high prices to own a t shirt with their favourite bands name and logo on it. It’s also a good promotion technique, if people are walking the streets with your band name on their t shirt soon your bands name will become familiar to people and they will tempted to listen to your music. However, you need to make sure your designs are effective and not offensive because bad merchandise may put people off of your music. Merchandising is a very popular and important way of earning money and getting your band noticed, I believe it is a very good way to help an artist/band’s success. In this essay I have talked about and explained the four areas of the music industry, I have gained knowledge which will benefit my career as a musician, with this knowledge I now have an understanding about various careers in the music industry also.

The Life of Ethan and Zeena Today

The Life of Ethan and Zeena Today If Ethan and Zeena lived in todays modern world their lives would be different because gender roles, social customs, and divorce customs are different from the nineteenth century. Reasons for Isolation during the nineteenth century Environmental factors Technology Life in the nineteenth century Womens roles Marriage responsibilities Education Work Mens roles Marriage responsibilities Education Work Divorce Social customs rates Life in Todays World Womens Roles Mens Roles Divorce Social customs Zeenas nineteenth century life vs. her modern life Married life Financial situation Education Social life Ethans nineteenth century life vs. his modern life Married life Financial situation Education Social life Zeenas and Ethans Lives compared to Todays Modern Age In Edith Whartons Ethan Frome, Ethan and Zeena suffer because of the social expectancy during the nineteenth century. People who lived in rural areas during the nineteenth century were very isolated and had little interaction with neighbors. Life during the nineteenth century was based on social status and customs. Marriage was believed to be a womens main purpose in life. Women had no choice, but to seek marriage because women had little opportunities to work and were expected to live from a husbands income. If Ethan and Zeena lived in todays modern world their lives would be different because gender roles, social customs, and divorce customs are different from the nineteenth century. Isolation played a major factor in the characters lives during the nineteenth century. Isolation was very frequent in rural areas. People who lived in rural areas had little knowledge of social interaction. One reason for isolation in rural communities was population decline (Frome 126). Population had decreased because people moved to larger cities were more jobs and better technology was offered. Farmers who decided to stay in their farms with their families, lived in smaller, emptier communities (Frome 126). People ended up very isolated because the environment was lonely with very few residents. People were not able to interact because the isolation in the environment was very depressing. Married couples spent most of the time with each other in isolated farms. Life was very depressing for people who lived in rural communities. Secondly, technology was one of the causes for isolation in rural New England. Ethan Frome states: Both the telephone and automobile would greatly reduce feelings of isolation once they came to rural areas; people would be able to converse with neighbors much more easily and travel to nearby towns. However, it took a long time for these inventions to reach even middle-class homes in isolated areas such as the one in Ethan Frome. In fact, phone and automobiles would not come to many farm families until the mid-1910s, after the time of the novel.(128) People were very isolated in rural New England because they did not have many luxuries we have today like the telephone, cars, and computers. Life during the nineteenth century was very oppressing for men and women. Gender roles were very precise during that era. According to Elizabeth Ammons, women were not allowed to vote during the Ethan Frome era (n.pag.). Women faced discrimination during the nineteenth century because men were considered the authority of the household. Women depended on men for income, food, and shelter (Frome126).Women roles during the nineteenth century were very different from todays modern world. Women had to deal with many hard situations. For example, A wifes responsibilities included a comfortable home, performing household chores, and bearing and caring for children. She was expected to remain chaste, modest and frugal in household expenses and to abstain from conduct that reflected badly on her home or her husbands good name (Frome 126). Women were treated like animals because they were not allowed to have a decent human life. Women did not have the opportunity in making decisions. Life for women was very sad because women had no rights on their persona. Women had a very hard role in life because they were expected to follow the gender roles that society imposed. Education is another factor that affected womens lives during the nineteenth century. Women rarely had an education and if they did they were not allowed to work (Frome126). If women did not have an education there was no way they could make a living without a man. Women felt obligated to their husbands because they had no way of earning an income. Womens only education included housewife duties, which were the only things they knew how to do. Mens roles were very significant in rural New England. Men had big responsibilities because It was the duty of husbands like Ethan Frome to provide their families with the necessities of life, to treat their wives with courtesy, and to behave responsibly in financial affairs (Frome126). The mans main purpose was to take care of his wife economically. Men knew that a woman could not live by herself during that era; there was no way she could survive by herself. Men felt obligated to his wife because society imposed it. Many men feared of violating social norms because they treated social norms as laws. Men thought if they violated societal rules they were breaking the law. It is known that men were the ones who usually had an education and if they did not, they usually worked outside of the home like in Ethans case. Men had more opportunities of receiving an education than women. Many critics say that during the Ethan Frome era, divorce was rare and socially criticized. Many couples who did not love each other felt forced to live with one another because of societal rules. Many couples during the Ethan Frome era did not divorce because divorces became permissible after that era. Life in todays world is very different from the nineteenth century. Today womens roles are not like back then. In todays world women have the same rights as men. There are many women that decide living in singlehood. Many women live better lives in singlehood because some women are not wife like. Women do not depend on men for a living. Womens roles in todays era do include housewife duties but not all women work as housewives. Many women today are the ones who provide the family financially and some men do the duty of a housewife. There are also women who are single mothers that provide for their children by themselves. Many women in todays world decide to receive an education and end up receiving high salaried jobs. Today, there are laws that prohibit job discrimination because of gender, race, or color. Many women today have better work positions than males. In todays modern world women are admired for working outside of home because they also perform the duty of a housewife. Mens roles are similar and different from the early nineteenth century. Some still feel obligated to provide for their families financially, and others do not. In todays modern world men do not feel obligated to stay with a person they do not love. Men do not have the same responsibilities like in Ethans case. Men know that a woman can sustain herself without him. Mens marriage responsibilities include working and providing family with love and necessities. Education for men is still viewed the same like in the nineteenth century. Many men attend school to pursuit a degree. Men in todays world are offered different types of jobs. People without an education can also have a decent living. Divorce is not seen rare in todays world. Divorces occur almost every day. Women do not feel obligated to stay married because they do not depend on a mans income for a living. Many couples divorce after a couple of months or even days. Divorce is not socially criticized like in the early nineteenth century. People think of divorce as something natural that occurs every day. Divorce rates keep on rising because some people marry too early, without having nurtured their relationship. Some people today do not take a marriage as something serious that lasts for life. Zeenas life would be different if she lived in todays modern world. Zeenas life would be different because she seems to be the type of woman that lives in singlehood. Zeena does not seem to be a good marriage partner. Zeena did not comply with a womens responsibility during the nineteenth century. According to Helen Killoran, Zeena only causes Ethan problems by complaining about her health and spending money on medicines (n.pag.). A woman was not supposed to cause her husband any financial problems like Zeena did to Ethan. Zeena believes she does not have to do house hold chores because it is Ethans duty to pay her back for all the caring she did for his parents (Travis n. pag.). Zeena would be better off alone in todays world because she only ruins her partners life by having a negative attitude. Kathy A. Fedorko describes Zeena as an adult incapable of showing or receiving love (57). In todays modern world divorced women can survive without a male partner, Zeena does not need to be stuck with Ethan. Most likely Zeena would be in better health and financially stable. Zeena has good nursing skills which would give her good income in todays world. Zeena would not have economic, social, or matriarchal problems. People today interact with one another all the time. Zeenas social isolation would not be a problem because technology in todays world has been modernized. Ethans life during the nineteenth century is very terrifying. R.B. Hovey states that, Sex among the Ethan Frome people was hardly casual; divorce if not unthinkable, was most unlikely proceeding (n. pag.). It is evident that Ethan did not have sex with his wife because she was always in bed complaining about her health. Ethan suffered in his marriage because Zeena gave him no love or intimacy. Ethan has many matriarchal responsibilities that prevent him from finding happiness with the woman he loves. Ethan feels financially obligated to Zeena because of gender differences and social norms. Ethan knows Zeena depends on him financially, therefore he cannot abandon her. Another obstacle for Ethan is his inability to break social customs. Ethan would not care of breaking social customs in todays world. Lionel Trilling believes Ethan is trapped when he must choose between his habituated duty to his wife and his duty and inclination to the girl he loves (45). Ethans life would have more me aning if he lived in todays modern world. Ethan would not feel forced to live with a woman he does not love. Ethan would have the opportunity of meeting someone who gives him passion and tranquility. Ethan never has tranquility with Zeena because she always finds a way to make his life miserable. Ethan feels socially obligated toward Zeena. Another reason for Ethans miserable marriage is his silence. Ethan is always silent and never expresses his feeling to Zeena. Ethans financial status would also be different in todays world because Ethan would have a degree in engineering, which was one of his dreams. Ethans social life would be better because, life is not isolated like in the nineteenth century. It seems clear that the cause of Ethans isolation is the environment. Ethans house is described as being one of those lonely New England farmhouses that make the landscape seem even lonelier (Wharton 8). The houses in rural New England describe the lives of the citizens. People today interact with one another every day. Ethan always dreamed of living in a big city with big libraries, he could have fulfilled his dreams in todays world. Life during the nineteenth century was very hard because of isolation, gender roles, and responsibilities. Ethan and Zeena would be stable financially and socially because life today is extremely different from the nineteenth century. Ethan and Zeenas marriage was deteriorated because of the environment and social customs during their lifetime. People today must feel lucky to have all the luxuries such as cars and telephones that did not exist during Ethans life.