“Examine the reasons for changes in the patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years.” Essay Example for Free

â€Å"Examine the reasons for changes in the patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years.† Essay The patterns of marriage, divorce and cohabitation over the past 40 years has varied quite significantly. In 1972, the highest ever number of couples (480,000) since the Second World War got married. Now, obviously there is a reason for this. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), this was due to the baby boom generation of the 1950s reaching marriageable age and these people choosing to marry at a younger age compared with previous generations. However, after this period, the number of marriages in England and Wales then went into decline. Most recently, marriages reached an all-time low in 2005 when only 244,710 couples got married. Some people would say that it reached so low because people are rejecting marriage and are no longer bothered about it. But in fact, statistics reveal that many people are actually delaying marriage. It is said that most people will marry at some point in their lives, but people are deciding to marry later in life, most likely after a period of cohabitation. A reason for this is probably because couples want to â€Å"Test the water† before they make any commitments. Evidence to support the â€Å"marrying later in life† view is that the average age for first-time bridges in 2003 was 29 years and for all grooms 31 years, compared with 22 for women and 24 for men in 1971. In particular women may want to delay marriage so they can advance their career prospects. As well as a decline in the total number of marriages, there is also a decline in marriage rates (the number of people marrying per 1000 of the population aged 16 and over). In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but this had declined to 10.3 by 2004. The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Once again, even though there is a decline, British Social Attitude Surveys indicate that most people, whether single, divorced or cohabitating, still see marriage as a desirable life-goal, and therefore will most likely will get married at some point in the future, particularly if they are having children, because they believe that this is best done in the context of marriage. Another change in the patterns of marriage is that two fifths of all marriages are remarriages, in which one or both partners have been divorced. These people are obviously committed to the institution of marriage despite their previous negative experience of it. The reason for this trend could possibly because their first marriages were empty-shell marriages. This is where there is no love or intimacy between them, but the marriage persists for the sake of the children until they are old enough. They then might have wanted to start a new life, including a re-marriage. Despite the decrease in the overall number of people marrying, married couples are still the main type of partnership for men and women in the UK. In 2005, seven in ten families were headed by a married couple. In terms of Divorce – the legal ending of a marriage, this has increased rapidly since 1969 due to a piece of legislation that granted divorce on the basis of â€Å"irretrievable breakdown† – the Divorce Reform Act of 1969. In addition, since 1984, couples have been able to petition for divorce after the first anniversary of their marriage. This law made the Divorce rate shoot high because it generally made it easier and cheaper to end marriages. In addition, people were finally able to legally to end all connections, as previously when divorce was either too expensive or difficult to obtain, separation was very common, which was when a couple decided to live away from each other. To go into more detail of the trend of increased divorces, in 1993, the number of divorces peaked at 180,000. By 2000, this figure had fallen to 154,000, although the years 2001 – 2004 have seen a gradual rise to 167,100. There are now nearly half as many divorces as marriages and, if present trends continue, about 40% of current marriages will end in divorce. An acceptable reason for this increasing trend of divorce is that it is no longer associated with stigma and shame. Britain’s culture is based upon Christian religion, and Christians believe that marriage is for life (‘till death do us part’). However, over years, changes in attitudes and secularisation have emerged, and the view that divorce can lead to greater happiness for the individual is more acceptable. A third reason which could explain the increasing divorce rates is down to women wanting to improve educational and career opportunities. In 1870, the Education Act passed by Gladstone’s government meant that every child between the ages of five and fifteen had the opportunity for elementary education. Not only did this produce a large literate generation of people, but it also improved the girls reading and writing ability, which previously was much lower than boys. Now, women have their own stable careers with a good wage, and thus do not have to be unhappily married because they are financially dependent on their husband. Feminists note that women’s expectations of marriage have radically changed, compared with previous generations. In the 1990s, most divorce petitions were put forward by women. This may support Thornes and Collard’s (1979) view that women expect far more from marriage than men and, in particular, that they value friendship and emotional gratification more than then do. If husbands fail to love up to these expectations, women may feel the need to look elsewhere. This would also support the fact that, on average, the number of divorce proceedings started by women is about 70%. Finally, functionalist sociologists argue that high divorce rates are evidence that marriage is increasingly valued and that people are demanding higher standards from their partners. They believe that couples are no longer prepared to put up with unhappy, empty-shell marriages, as people want emotional and sexual compatibility and equality, as well as companionship. It is said that some are even willing to go through a number of partners to achieve these goals, and if they marry every time they meet a new partner, then obviously they are going to contribute a lot more to the rising divorce rates. The final area of the diverse family is cohabitation. The basic trend of cohabitation is that it is on the increase and has been for the last decade. The proportion of non-married people cohabiting has risen sharply in the last 20 years from 11% of men and 13% of women in 1986 to 24% and 25% respectively. In 2007, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested that cohabiting couples are the fastest growing family type in the UK. In fact, around 2.2 million families are cohabiting couples with or without children. This family type has grown by 65% since 1997, and really, the numbers are likely to be higher than this because the ONS data did not include same-sex couples living together. In addition, the ONS data suggested that a third of teenagers in 2007 were destined to cohabit rather than marry, compared with one in ten of their grandparents. As we gathered that the general trend is on the increase, it’s good to know the reasons why. One of the first reasons, which I mentioned earlier on, is that people like to cohabit to â€Å"test the water.† During this period, they will assess whether they (the couple) are compatible with each other and whether they will be able to live with each other before making any sort of commitments. After all, cohabitation on average lasts for 5 years, which then 60% of cohabitees will then marry. Another reason for the said trend is that there are a significant number of people who live together whilst waiting for a divorce. For example, in 2005, 23% of cohabiting men were separated from a pervious partner whilst 36% were divorced. So although a person may be married, they may have separated and moved into another house to live with a person they have met. They will then be counted as a cohabitee. A third reason for the increased rate of cohabitation could be because people are put off the cost of marriage. According to Wedding Guide UK, the average cost of a traditional wedding in the UK is around  £11,000. In addition to the price, some people are also put off because of the religious ceremony of marriage. This is because overtime we have become a more secular society. Both of these factors to some people will refrain them from marrying, because in their eyes they see it as long as they are with each other in a happy and loving relationship, they don’t need a ring or a piece of paper with their names on it.

The United States vs. Mexico Essay -- essays papers

The United States vs. Mexico After an eleven-year war to free itself from Spanish colonial control, Mexico had won but in a sense lost greatly. In 1821, she had to begin the long struggle to rebuild an economic, social, and political stability for the huge mass it now controlled. This area included present day Mexico and what is now known as Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California and part of Colorado. â€Å"The new republic became submerged in a â€Å"system of institutionalized disorder† that propelled it â€Å"from crisis to crisis.† Consequently; the process of state- building in nineteenth-century Mexico remained incomplete when the United States confronted the young republic with war in 1846.† ( Santoni,p.1) The growing United States colonial elite, in a race for land had developed an expansionist fever, which grew them greedy for land. â€Å"For expansion was so rationionalized that it seemed at the outset a right, and soon, long before the famous phrase itself coined, a manifest destiny†(Weinberg pg.12). They had killed/ drove millions of native from their lands as a result of this fever. As was a apparent with the actions of Henry Harrison years before the war, â€Å" his tactics were simple; get them drunk and promise the chiefs annuities if they signed† in his heart Harrison believed in the concept that another age would describe as â€Å"Manifest Destiny† (Leckie pg.153) This phrase to which â€Å"mural ideology was the partner of self- interest in the intimate alli...

Isolation of Casein From Milk

In this experiment, casein was isolated from milk by means of isoelectric precipitation. A percent yield of 5% was obtained by the group.IntroductionMilk is an opaque white or bluish-white liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals, serving for the nourishment of their young. This liquid, as secreted by cows, goats or certain other animals are used by humans as food and as a source of dairy products such as cheese and butter. Milk composition differs widely among species. Factors causing these variances include: the type of protein; the proportion of protein, fat, and sugar; the levels of various vitamins and minerals; and the size of the butterfat globules, and the strength of the curd. On average, cow milk contains 3.4% protein, 3.6% fat, and 4.6% lactose, 0.7% minerals and supplies 66 kcal of energy per 100 grams. Bovine milk normally contains 30-35 grams of protein per liter. Of which, 80% is arranged in casein micelles.Figure 1. Model of Casein SupramoleculeContaini ng a fairly high number of proline residues, which do not interact and no disulfide bridges, casein has, as a result, relatively minimal tertiary structure. It is comparatively hydrophobic, resulting to its poor solubility in water. Showing only limited resemblance with surfactant-type micellae in a sense that the hydrophilic parts reside at the surface and are spherical, casein is found in milk as a suspension of particles called â€Å"casein micelles.† On the other hand, the interior of a casein micelle is highly hydrated. The caseins in the micelles are held together by calcium ions and hydrophobic interactions.Casein’s isolelectric point is 4.6. It has a negative. The isoelectric point (pI) is the pH of a solution at which the net primary charge of a protein becomes zero. At a solution pH that is above the pI the surface of the protein is predominantly negatively charged and therefore like-charged molecules will exhibit repulsive forces. Likewise, at a solution pH that is below the pI, the surface of the protein is predominantly positively charged and repulsion between proteins occurs. However, at the pI the negative and positive charges cancel, repulsive electrostatic forces are reduced and the attraction forces predominate. The  attraction forces will cause aggregation and precipitation. The pI of most proteins is in the pH range of 4-6.Mineral acids, such as hydrochloric and sulfuric acid are used as precipitants. The greatest disadvantage to isoelectric point precipitation is the irreversible denaturation caused by the mineral acids. For this reason isoelectric point precipitation is most often used to precipitate contaminant proteins, rather than the target protein. The precipitation of casein during cheesemaking, or during production of sodium caseinate, is an isoelectric precipitation.tive charge in milk since milk’s pH is 6.6.1 Results and DiscssionCasein was isolated from milk by means of isoelectric precipitation. A percent yield of % was obtained by the group. Table 1 presents the data and results obtained from the experiment which includes: (1) the weight of powdered milk, (2) the initial pH, (3) the final pH, (4) the volume of the acetic acid used, (5) the weight of casein and (6) the percent yield. In order to compute for the percent yield, the weight of the isolated casein was divided by the weight of the powdered milk, and then multiplied by 100%.Table 1. Data and results of the experiment: Isolation of Casein from Milk. Before autoclaving, the isolate was a white-yellowish solid with smooth texture. After autoclaving, it turned into a brown solution with black precipitate. The filtrate was a yellowish solution. The general principle behind this experiment is that when casein is at its isoelectric point, it is generally at the pH where it is least soluble. As a result, casein precipitates at this pH. To explain further, casein is present in milk as calcium salt, calcium caseinate. It is a mixtur e of alpha, beta and kappa caseins to form a cluster called micelle. These micelles were responsible for the white opaque appearance of milk.The casein, as proteins, is made up of many hundreds of individual amino acids, each of which may have a positive or a negative charge, depending on the pH of the [milk] system. At some pH value, all the positive charges and all the negative charges on the [casein] protein will be in balance, so that the net charge on the protein will be zero. That pH value is known as the isoelectric point (IEP) of the protein and is generally the pH at which the protein is least soluble. For casein, the IEP is approximately 4.6 and it is the pH value at which acid casein is precipitated. In milk, which has a pH of about 6.6, the casein micelles have a net negative charge and are quite stable.During the addition of acid to milk, the negative charges on the outer surface of the micelle are neutralized (the phosphate groups are protonated), and the neutral prote in precipitates. The same principle applies when milk is fermented to curd. The lactic acid bacillus produces lactic acid as the major metabolic end-product of carbohydrate [lactose in milk] fermentation. The lactic acid production lowers the pH of milk to the IEP of casein. At this pH, casein precipitates.2. Experimental5g of powdered non-fat dry milk was dissolved in 20 mL warm distilled water in a 100-mL beaker. The solution was heated on a hot plate to 55 °C. The beaker was then removed from the hot plate. The initial pH of the milk solution was noted. A solution of 10% acetic acid was then added dropwise whole while being stirred by a stirring rod. The acid solution was continuously added until the pH reached 4.6. The volume of the acetic acid used was noted. The solution was left standing until a large amorphous mass was formed.The isolated casein was dried between filter papers. The casein was weighed and the percent yield was determined. The isolated casein was then divide d into two portions. One portion was used for acid/base hydrolysis. The other portion was stored in the refrigerator (to be characterized later using various chemical tests).

Emperors of Chinas Han Dynasty B.C. 202 to 220 A.D.

The Han Dynasty ruled China after the fall of the first imperial dynasty, the Qin in 206 B.C. The Han Dynastys founder, Liu Bang, was a commoner who lead a rebellion against the son of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of unified China whose political career was short-lived and full of contempt from his peers. For the next 400 years, civil unrest and war, internal familial conflicts, sudden deaths, mutinies, and natural succession would determine the rules that would lead the dynasty to great economic and military success over their long reign. However, Liu Xis ended the long reign of the Han Dynasty, giving way to the Three Kingdoms period of 220 to 280 A.D. Still, while it maintained power the Han Dynasty was hailed as a Golden Age in Chinese history — one of the finest of Chinese dynasties — leading to a long legacy of the Han people, who still comprise the majority of Chinese ethnicities reported today.   The First Han Emporers In the final days of the Qin, Liu Bang, a rebel leader against Qin Shi Huangdi beat his rival rebellion leader Xiang Yu in battle, resulting in his hegemon over the 18 kingdoms of imperial China that had pledged allegiance to each of the  combatants. Changan was chosen as the capital and Liu Bang, posthumously known as Han Gaozu, ruled until his death in 195 B.C. The rule passed to Bangs relative Liu Ying until he died a few years later in 188, passing in turn to Liu Gong (Han Shaodi) and quickly onto Liu Hong (Han Shaodi Hong). In 180, when Emporer Wendi took the throne, he declared that Chinas border should remain closed to maintain its growing power. Civic unrest resulted in the next emperor Han Wudi overturning that decision in 136 B.C., but a failed attack on the southern neighbor Xiongu  realm resulted in a several-year campaign to attempt to overthrow their biggest threat. Han Jingdi (157-141) and Han Wudi (141-87) continued this plight, taking over villages and converting them to agricultural centers and strongholds south of the border, eventually forcing the Xiongu out of the realm across the Gobi Desert. After Wudis reign, under the leadership of Han Zhaodi (87-74) and Han Xuandi (74-49), the Han forces continued to dominate the Xiongu, pushing them further west and claiming their land as a result. Turn of the Millenium During the reign of Han Yuandi (49-33), Han Chengdi (33-7), and Han Aidi (7-1 B.C.), Weng Zhengjun became the first Empress of China as a result of her male kin — though younger — taking the title of regent during her supposed reign. It wasnt until her nephew took the crown as Emporer Pingdi from 1 B.C. to A.D. 6 that she advocated her rule. Han Ruzi was appointed as emperor after Pingdis death in A.D. 6, however, due to the childs young age, he was appointed under the care of Wang Mang, who promised to relinquish control once Ruzi came of age to rule. This was not the case, instead and despite much civil protest, he established the Xin Dynasty after declaring his title was a Mandate of Heaven. In 3 A.D. and again in 11 A.D., a massive flood struck Wangs Xin armies along the Yellow River, decimating his troops. Displaced villagers joined rebel groups who revolted against Wang, resulting in his ultimate downfall in 23 wherein Geng Shidi (The Gengshi Emporer) tried to restore the Han power from 23 to 25 but was overtaken and killed by the same rebel group, the Red Eyebrow. His brother, Liu Xiu — later Guang Wudi — ascended the throne and was able to fully restore the Han Dynasty throughout the course of his reign from 25 to 57. Within two years, he had moved the capital to Luoyang and forced the Red Eyebrow to surrender and cease its rebellion. Over the next 10 years, he fought to extinguish other rebel warlords claiming the title of Emporer. The Last Han Century The reigns of Han Mingdi (57-75), Han Zhangdi (75-88), and Han Hedi (88-106) were rife with small battles between long-time rival nations hoping to claim India to the south and the Altai Mountains  to the north. Political and social turmoil haunted the rulership of Han Shangdi and his successor Han Andi died paranoid of eunuchs plots against him, leaving his wife to appoint their son the Marquess of Beixiang to the throne in 125 in hopes of maintaining their family lineage. However, those same eunuchs that his father feared ultimately led to his demise and Han Shundi was appointed the emperor that same year as Emporer Shun of Han, restoring the Han name to the dynastys leadership. Students of the University started a protest against Shundis eunuch court. These protests failed, resulting in Shundi being overthrown by his own court and the quick succession of Han Chongdi (144-145), Han Zhidi (145-146) and Han Huandi (146-168), who each tried to fight against their eunuch adversaries to no avail. It wasnt until Han Lingdi ascended the thrown in 168 that the Han Dynasty was truly on its way out. Emperor Ling spent most of his time roleplaying with his concubines instead of governing, leaving control of the dynasty to eunuchs Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang. Downfall of a Dynasty The final two emperors, brothers Shaodi  Ã¢â‚¬â€ the Prince of Hongnong — and Emperor Xian (formerly Liu Xie) led lives on the run from mutinous eunuch counsels. Shaodi only ruled one year in 189 before being asked to relinquish his throne to Emperor Xian, who ruled throughout the remainder of the Dynasty. In 196, Xian moved the capital to Xuchang at the behest of Cao Cao — the Yan Province governor — and a civil dispute broke out between three warring kingdoms vying for control over the young emperor. In the south Sun Quan ruled, while Liu Bei dominated western China and Cao Cao took over the north. When Cao Cao died in 220 and his son Cao Pi forced Xian to relinquish the title of emperor to him. This new emperor, Wen of Wei, officially abolished the Han Dynasty and its familys inheritance to rulership over China. With no army, no family, and no heirs, the former Emporer Xian died of old age and left China to a three-sided conflict between Cao Wei, Eastern Wu and Shu Han, a period known as the Three Kingdoms period.