Studies of Religion One Unit Hsc – Secularism Speech

What is secularism? Secularism is the belief that religion should not interfere with or be integrated into the public affairs of a society. Oxford dictionary defines â€Å"secular† as â€Å"concerned with the affairs of the world, not religious or spiritual† so in this sense all civil government is â€Å"secular†. The only civil governments that are not fully secular in this sense are Vatican City and some fundamentalist Moslem states. The governments of all the major countries in the world – including Australia, the USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, Italy, India, etc are all secular governments.There are multiple factors which have contributed to the decline of religion's relevance for the integration and legitimation of modern life. The increasing pluralism and materialism of society alongside society's increasing individualism and dissatisfaction with traditional religions are major reasons for secularisation. This trend is most evident in the significan t increase in the number of people responding â€Å"No religion† in the census alongside an overall decline in the Christian figures recorded in the census Interfaith Dialogue and growing secularism.Since World War II, Australia’s population has grown and become more diverse and Australians have become more secular in nature. Secularists believe that people are comfortable without the reference to God in their lives. There are a number of reasons for the increase in secularism in Australia; these include increasing pluralism i. e. the acceptance of all religions as equal; individualism and materialism – spirituality may be overlooked when power, looks, possessions and fame are offered instead. What Impact did Secularism have on the Religious landscape of Australia post 1945?The rise of secularism has led to both a drop in the numbers of people regularly attending religious service. In 1947 only 0. 3% of the population classified themselves as having â€Å"No Re ligion†. However, in 1971 the instruction â€Å"if no religion, write none† was introduced into the census. This saw a seven-fold increase from the previous census year in the percentage of persons stating they had no religion (0. 8% in 1966 to 6. 7% in 1971). Thus many people who would have previously fallen under the â€Å"Not Stated† category were now included. Since 1971 this percentage has progressively increased to about 16. 5% in 1996, with a dip to 15. % in 2001. The 2001 census figures reveal that Christianity is still the numerically largest religious tradition in Australia accounting for 68. 0% of the population. However, there has been a significant decline in the percentage of people affiliated with Christianity. Furthermore, of those claiming affiliation there has been a decline in the regular attendance of religious services. The ongoing decline in most Christian groups as a percentage of the population is due to increasing secularization as well a s other factors such as dissatisfaction with traditional religious movements, aging membership, and a lack of migrant intake.Effects of secularism †¢Loss of religious values. †¢Lack of religious church practice – civil marriages, non religious funerals, shopping malls (the new cathedrals) †¢Seeking alternative â€Å"religions† or â€Å"forms of spirituality†. †¢Social standing of clergy/church – trustworthiness †¢Political social action – Marxism, Green Movement etc. †¢Influence of scientific humanism, economic rationalism †¢Rise of New Age Religions which focus on personal satisfaction, wealth, self help groups, happiness, mind and spirit exhibitions, personal meditation, affirmation environmental â€Å"sit – ins†. These have all attained quasi religious status.

Conceptions of women and the foreigner Essay

In the ancient Greek life, women’s role was always considered to be quite insignificant as compared to the role of the Greek men. However, in most tragedies women were the major and integral characters who revealed some insights on the way the women happened to be treated and also thought in the entire society. Medea is maybe the most complex and fascinating character when we look closely to the Greek’s drama. She is an immense and an ultimate mixture of villain, heroine as well as the victim as displayed in the play. She was married to Jason who was a Greek man who she had decided to follow from the foreign land. Her love was deep and when Jason decided to leave her in order to marry Creon’s daughter she was extremely furious (Euripides1907, lines. 1-24). From there we see her getting involved in some acts of revenge. Her acts of murder are the ultimate start of revenge towards her children and her ex-husband. Despite all this catastrophes, Medea is a character to sympathize with. She decided to give up all that she had because of her love for Jason. She betrayed her family and murdered her brother, she left her home because of the love she had for Jason to a foreign land and she became a mother to please his husband yet she had no any desire to have children (Euripides, 1907,line,248). Even after Jason had known of all the sacrifices that Medea had had for him, he still had to leave her for a Greek princess. Medea’s love was quite immense and Jason’s betrayal ended up damaging her mind completely and revenge became the only comfort that she had in her power. She ended up killing the Greek princess using the cleverest chess that was available and her children. Though Medea is portrayed as one of the most frightening characters, it is crucial to compare her ethical concerns and the scheming shallow hollows of her ex husband. Medea accompanies her Antigone as the most defining heroines in the ancient Greek drama. She ended up defying her main role as the helpless and happy housewife and refutes to accept betrayal without revenging. Medea decided to abandon all the gender roles in the ancient society of Greek. She defied some perceptions of gender through portraying both female and male tendencies. She decided to detach herself from all the womanly emotions and acted in a way that the society did not see appropriate for women. In the ancient Greek, murder was an issue that was never associated with the women though Medea in the play committed a series of murder including her own children (Euripides, 1907, 207-213). It is therefore imperative to analyze at length the concepts of women and the foreigners in the Greek tragedies basing the rationale as portrayed by Medea. In the play, Medea is portrayed as a foreign witch. She is treated irrationally throughout the play by various people at divergent times. She then changes her whole character and finally triumphs over Jason. She is feasibly seen as the mortal woman and Aristotle’s hero figure as well as the goddess. Women’s rights have been neglected throughout the play and women have no voice. Medea changes all that in her revenge against Jason and her own children. Foreigners and women were loathed and had no any place in the society and were not supposed to have any powerful position. It is a play portraying chauvinism, women treated unfairly and their work portrayed as only meant to bear children. Though to an extent we see the evil deeds of Medea, we also have a glimpse on the reasons behind her deeds. She is a foreigner and to the Greeks she will always be a Barbarian. Her acts make it even hard for her as she gets hated more. Even other women treat her suspiciously. Medea is portrayed as a foreigner in her land and in her own home who has no any common feature with the Corinth women. All she had was Jason and the children. Before she got married she was viewed as a princess and later became an outcast. Women and foreigners in the Greek tragedy were portrayed as disenfranchised, slaves and were unrepresented. The acts of Medea have contradicted the view of the society that the women are the main givers of life and that the men end up taking it away. It is quite unacceptable because of the fact she is the mother to the children. Killing a member of the family was usually frowned upon in the ancient Greece like it is done today. Medea has portrayed extreme pride which is usually stereotyped as one of the characteristic of the male species. She decided to sacrifice all that she had even her reputation in order to restore her own reputation (Sophocles, Euripides & Aeschylus, 2004). It has always been a common belief that the major weakness in a woman is the children but in this case this is not so. Her pride has prevailed other maternal instincts. Medea aims to seek vengeance in the same intense force to rectify a situation just like a man would. A woman who is seeking for revenge usually challenges the societal views of women as passive and weak. Medea is dwelling on self pity until she contrives to a scheme that will avenge how much she has been hurt. Wallowing is usually a quality that is attributed to the women in the society. Medea was so sad with her life after her marriage to Jason ended that she only wanted to die. The common opinion in the society is that the women usually use trickery and deceit in order to achieve their main goals in life. Medea in this case is not an exception as she persuades Creon to permit her to stay at least one day in Corinth as she pretends that she is preparing for exile while in the actual sense she was just planning on how she will carry out the murder acts to her enemies as well as children (Euripides1907, pp. 198). Medea in the entire play has defied the stereotypes of both female and male characters. She has shown some immense emotions portrayed by both sexes. At times she acts as an ultimate man and others as a woman. The Greeks had an immense suspicion when it came to foreigners and always thought of all of them to be barbarians. With Medea, Euripides has confronted this prejudice issue by deciding to honor foreigners with some roles of a tragic heroine and making her one of the most intelligent character in the entire play. The playwright has also confirmed numerous Greek stereotypes of the foreigners through making Medea overly passionate, wild and vengeful. Medea is a very powerful and tragic heroine who gets to achieve successful vengeance and ends up escaping with impunity. In some scenarios, she is portrayed to be a submissive and weak who commits no any crime (Paul, 2006, pp. 1321-4853). Allan (2003, pp. 143) asserts that beneath Medea’s personality there lies a credible, coherent and an effective character who portrays an immense sense of justice and whose humiliation and revenge drive her to go for the revenge. He also notes that Medea’s actions and plans were affected by her main status as a foreigner and a woman and not as a mortal avenger. Euripides in his play is fascinated by the acts of women as well as the contradictions that do exist in the Greek understanding of the term gender. His treatment of the women is so sophisticated. Medea’s starting speech to the chorus is the most rational and eloquent statement on the injustices that befall the women species. He recognizes that the major position of the female and their style of subordination to men are coming from the social order that prevails in Greece. Medea is not really a role model as far as feminist is concerned. Euripides has portrayed the difficulties that women went through. He portrays an image of a real woman who has suffered and has been twisted by her suffering. It is not a story on women liberation but rather it is a war that exists between sexes. The other key is a major theme. Medea’s foreignness has been emphasized from the beginning. In the very first opening lines, the nurse reminds us that Medea is from an exotic and a distant land. The foreignness aspect is portrayed as barbaric, exotic, fearful and unknown. The issue of exile has also been portrayed in the play. Modern readers and audiences have a great difficulty when trying to conceive on the concept of exile and how much it was horrible for the Greeks. Homes and cities were considered as the major source of protection. Wandering with no friends and shelter was seen as a great fate which was much horrible than death itself. Medea just for the sake of husband made herself to be the exile. She goes away from home, have no friends or family who can offer protection to her. The theme of exile has been linked with women’s position. In emphasizing some of the circumstances in which women have to bear after marriage like leaving their homes and staying with strangers. Medea reminds us of the worst conditions in exile. Her position is a grave situation since she is already an exile in reality and portrays the fact that all women in reality are exiles. She is a foreigner thus to all the Greeks she will always remain a barbarian. In the play the issue of cleverness and cunning is also evident. These traits though they ought to be admired cause a lot of suffering to Medea. Her intellect, force and strength exceed her station of operation. Though the Greeks to an extent have some respect for her, they are seen treating her smugly just because she is a woman and a foreigner. She is surrounded by some people who are less resourceful and less intelligent than her. She is despised because of her own talents that ought to have won her praise. Since she is a foreigner she therefore behaves without morality and any restraint. In the chorus, we see how much Medea is pitied but also it reveals that women ought to endure. We see Medea entering and delivering a monologue on the sufferings that women go through. Though women are creatures that can feel and think, they have to endure some indignities in the society. Men are meant to bear arms but women are supposed to bear children (Medea 214-224, 2006, pp. 115). The theme of women and their position has been emphasized in the play. To just allege that Euripides was a great feminist can only be a major oversimplification and anachronism. What is factual is that Euripides is fascinated by the difficulties and women’s position. Through examining the treatment that women are accorded, Euripides has also revealed some of the injustices in the society. He is savvy of how art has been wrongly used in defaming the character of women and how smart it has been used in recognizing that most fables and myths of the Greeks male dominated orders through teaching women on how to accept as well as enjoy subjugation. Medea who is a woman and a foreigner has portrayed numerous specifics of the life of Greeks that are universal in today’s society. A woman when she gets married ought to leave her home in order to join her own family. Therefore she is portrayed as an outsider. Women are not meant to socialize freely as men, while men can roam wildly and indulge with other women. Medea has made herself as the main spokesman on the suffering of women thus has secured the secrecy and loyalty of the main chorus. Foreigners were people who were disliked in Greek. In the play we see how much King Aeetes’s hated the foreigners. â€Å"A great anger filled King Aeete’s heart as he listened. He did not like foreigners, any more than Greeks did, he wanted them to keep away from his country, and he himself said to himself, â€Å"if these strangers had not eaten at my table I would kill them† (Jimmison, 2009). The image of Medea and the barbarian king was irrational, magic, frightening and issues to do with some supernatural powers had no any place in the Greek mythology. As a foreigner, Medea only expected suffering since this myth was created in the Greek image of a Barbarian woman. Medea has shown numerous heroic qualities that were uncommon among the Greek women. She is even willing to kill her brother just to be with Jason. In Greek, women murdering acts were quite rare and this is something that was not supposed to happen at al. To some extent, Medea is reacting to the inferior status of injustice that women were accorded. Central to the entire plot, is Medea’s foreign origins and how they are really related to her main actions. Generally women in the play have been portrayed as creatures with very few rights. As far as men were concerned, women were only supposed to cook and clean, do some house chores and bear children. They had no imperative votes like the right to own property, vote or choose their own husbands and they had to be presented in any legal proceedings that were taking place. They were just like slaves. Though some of Medea’s actions were untypical of what a Greek woman was supposed to possess, to some extent she also had emotions and attitudes of a common woman. She speaks against some of the women’s rights and how they have no any choice to whom they decide to get married to and men can get rid of a woman in order to get whatever they wanted (Euripides, 1907,pp. 231-247). In the play we see Medea portraying some emotional attitudes of a woman and a mother. She says, â€Å"Poor heart, let them go, have pity upon the children (Euripides, 1907,pp, 1057). Also in the play women are portrayed as faithful. Medea talks of how she helped her ex husband during his quest of the Golden Fleece and even helped him to escape to an extent of killing his own brother for him (Euripides, 1907,pp. 476-483). The fact that she decided to betray her family just to be with Jason shows her sense of loyalty. Though women and foreigners were portrayed as minorities with no say, the play also shows that they were resourceful and clever. Instead of using physical force in accomplishing her plans of revenge, she went ahead to use her mind instead. She asserts, â€Å"it is best to †¦ make away with them with poison† (Euripides, 1907,pp384-385). She poisons Jason’s wife as well as the King of Corinth though she poisons them indirectly. Medea’s act of murder against her own children is because of her barbarian origins. The major reason why Jason decided to let go of Medea and marry a princess is in order for her to have a higher status and material wealth through getting married to the king’s daughter (Euripides, 1907,pp553-554). It is lucid hence to note that Jason had a belief that Medea’s foreign origins were a burden and a distracter to him since there was a stigma that was related to that. Medea’s foreign status is also a major burden to her. Once they got separated, she became an outsider and had no any place to go since barbarians were never highly thought in the Greek society. If Medea was not a foreigner, then it is possible that Jason would not have divorced her. Medea is a play that portrays the real ancient Greeks and their attitudes towards the foreigners and women. Women were supposed to be seen and not heard and thus Medea surprises the Greek society since she goes against the norms. Women were supposed to bear children and take care of their husbands. The women’s rights were less considered and there was no way women could equal men. The foreigners had no any right and were also treated unfairly. It is a play revealing some of the heroic acts of women and what they had to go to get noticed in the society. Works Cited Allan, William. Euripides: Medea. 2002. London: Duckworth, pp. 143 Euripides. Medea. 1907. USA: Oxford University Press. Euripides, Sophocles & Aeschlus. Five Great Greek tragedies. USA: Courier Dover publications. 2004. Jimmison. The idea of foreigner in Euripide’s and Seneca’s Medea. Retrieved 11, July, 2010

Part Time Jobs for Students Essay

There is much debate nowadays concerning students and part-time jobs, whether they are a good thing or bad. Part time jobs can take time away from schoolwork, true, but students who work 10 to 15 hours a week during the school year earn higher grades than students who don’t work at all. I strongly encourage students to seek out part-time employment. Part-time jobs for students are good because they teach time management, responsibility and set students up for the world of work. Part- time jobs for students helps teach young people good time management. Learning how to manage time in respect to keeping plans, school schedules and work schedules organized, and forcing them to follow a steady schedule and be places on time, with consequences in a way that no other experiences may teach them, is best taught by a part-time job. I personally have a part-time job; I work at a farm at 6am every weekend morning. Having a part-time job has taught me time management like nothing else has before. Forcing me to prioritize plans and extracurricular activities has turned out to be quite an asset, and helps me in my everyday life, as it will in my future. Along with time management, part-time jobs teach students responsibility. Responsibility is a very important trait which is taught by part-time jobs. Students with part-time jobs learn how to be responsible. Steve Jobs accredits his success in the world of work to his part-time job at McDonalds in his youth. Part-time jobs give students a duty and obligation to satisfactorily perform and complete tasks and take responsibility for their actions. Students will learn to better handle their time and money at a younger age when faced with the responsibility that part-time jobs provide and ask for. Unlike school, part-time jobs demand a sort of trial based idea; with school, students may get away with tardiness, or absences, while with jobs, students will be faced with docked pay, or perhaps even being fired- a much more grave, eye opening consequence than school provides- and teenagers learn to be responsible as a whole, thanks to this. This type of responsibility sets teenagers up for the world of work. As well as teaching time management and responsibility, part-time jobs set young adults up for the world of work. Most part-time jobs ask for little to no experience, are easy to obtain and add to your future rà ©sumà ©, for when you do apply for jobs that require previous experience, later on in your career. Part-time employment teaches  you skills and experience which you could learn nowhere else, such as: how to fill out an application, how to interview well, how to work responsibly, and how to get along with co-workers and superiors, as well as many other qualities that will set you apart from other applicants while applying to more important jobs, farther along in life. Part-time jobs are as essential to further you in your future career path, as watering a plant is for its growth. In conclusion, part-time jobs are highly suggested for students in high school, or University. Part-time jobs teach students many assets such as time management, responsibility, and sets young adults up for the world of work.

Sickle Cell Anemia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sickle Cell Anemia - Essay Example Each cell of a human body consists of a nucleus. All the genetic material required for the physical characteristics of a human being are present in the 23 chromosomes located inside the nucleus. A single unit of a DNA is called a gene. A gene provides us with the directions required for synthesizing a protein and these proteins are responsible for our traits. Each gene consists of a specific order of nucleotides and these nucleotides dictate the order of amino acids which in turn form chains and links to form proteins. These sequences of amino acids are very important because they are responsible for the shape, structure and characteristics of a protein. Any change in this sequence is called a mutation and the effects could be dreadful. Change in this sequence could cause the characteristics of a protein to change completely. Mutation is basically the spontaneous change in the structure of a gene or chromosome. There are many types of mutations and they could either be beneficial or harmful. This type of mutation is an example of a point mutation or a missense mutation, and is obviously extremely harmful, if the gene occurs in a homozygotic form. It occurs in the beta globin gene (HBB) which is present in the 11th chromosome. The HBB gene is responsible for normal blood production. The point mutation causes the beta hemoglobin molecule to convert the GAG codon into a GUG codon by transcription i.e. it encodes the amino acid valine rather than the seventh amino acid, glutamic acid. Valine is hydrophobic (water hating) causing the hemoglobin molecule to bend inwards, causing it to become sickle shaped. There are no other changes in the structure. The synthesis of any protein is a two-step process. Firstly the instructions in the gene, present in the DNA, are copied onto a messenger RNA (mRNA) with the help of RNA polymerase. The synthesis of the mRNA is a complex process. This stage is known as transcription. In this stage, the RNA polymerase breaks the bonds of the double helical molecule of DNA and with the help of base pairing, different RNA nucleotides are added one at a time. To understand the concept of base pairing, one needs to understand the structure of RNA first. Each RNA molecule consists of a nitrogenous base, sugar and a phosphate molecule. But unlike DNA, RNA is single stranded. During transcription, each DNA nucleotide is paired with a complimentary RNA nucleotide. The complimentary base pairs are as follows: Guanine with Cytosine Thymine(DNA) pairs with Adenine (RNA) Adenine (DNA) pairs with Uracil(RNA) One of the basic differences between DNA and RNA is of the nitrogenous bases. In place of Thymine, RNA contains Uracil. This method of base pairing ensures that the correct sequence of nucleotides, present in the DNA, is copied onto the mRNA chain. (Gary H. Perdew) These instructions consist of the sequence in which the amino acids should be linked together to form the protein. In this case, the new mRNA formed at the 11th c hromosome is encoded with the mutant code. Then the information on the mRNA bases is translated by the ribosomes so that they can place amino acids in the given order to form the protein that was coded for by the gene in this case, the beta s globin. Three nucleotides in an mRNA molecule are the code for one amino acid. This set of nucleotides is known as a codon. This sequence of codons is actually the code for the sequence of amino acids in a protein. Because of the point mutation the HBB gene

Compression Algorithms Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Compression Algorithms - Research Paper Example This process of size reduction of data is popularly known as compression of data, though it was formally known as source coding. Compression is important as it aids in cutting down the use of resources, like space of data storage or capacity of transmission. As compressed data should be decompressed in order to use, the extra processing computation or costs that arise from decompression, the situation differs far from free lunch. Algorithm compression is likely to be subjected to a trade off of time space complexity. For example, a video compression scheme needs a costly hardware to decompress the video with speed for it to be observed during the decompressing process. Opting for decompression of the video before watching may be of inconvenience or may need additional storage. Data compression design schemes entail tradeoffs amid various factors, inclusive of compression degree, distortion introduced and required computational resources to uncompress and compress the data. There are new options for traditional systems that sample fully then compress providing effective usage of resource based on compressed sensing principles. Compressed sensing methods circumvent the requirement for compression of data choosing from a selected basis. Origin The compression is either lossless or lossy. ... Compression is important as it aids in cutting down the use of resources, like space of data storage or capacity of transmission. Algorithm compression has played an important role in IT from the 1970s. During this time, internet was growing in its popularity and there was invention of Lempel-Ziv algorithms. The Lempel-Ziv algorithm unfortunately, has a stretched history in non-computing. The earliest invention of compression algorithms is the Morse code that took place in 1883. It involves the a compression of data entailing common letters found in English like t and e which are allocated Morse codes that are shorter. Later, when mainframe computers started taking hold in the year 1949, Robert Fano and Claude Shannon invented coding that was named Shannon-Fan. Their algorithm allocates codes to cipher in a specific data blocks based on likelihood of occurrence of the symbol. The probability being of one symbol occurring is indirectly proportional to the code length which results to a shorter means of representing data (Wolfram, 2002) After two years, David Huffman as he studied information theory shared a class with Fano Robert. Fano issued the class with the option of either taking final exam or writing a research paper. Huffman made for the research paper that was on the topic of working out on the most effective binary coding method. After a research carried out for months that proved not to be fruitful, Huffman almost gave up on the work to study for a final exam to cover for the paper. At that point is when Huffman got an epiphany, building a technique that was more efficient yet similar to the coding of Shannon-Fano. The major difference between Huffman and Shannon-Fano is in the later is there is a bottom-up built

Software Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Software - Essay Example Additionally, it is against the software piracy policy and rules those outline that a software licensing rules must be followed. In this scenario, there is a need to strictly follow these rules and regulations to avoid any legal actions. In addition, software piracy is about illegal copying a software application. It is recognized as an unethical activity that negatively affects all the users by driving up costs as well as minimizing funds for development and research of future software developments. Furthermore, it is a negative practice that is currently catching attention of software industry trade associations (National Academy of Engineering). The use of an unlicensed copy of a software application is totally illegal and unethical. In fact, it can increase the number of thefts thus this kind of activity should be neither tolerated nor practiced at TI. Consequently, how would we manage any other circumstances concerning potential misuses of a technology based assets? Can we ignore the illegal borrowing or change of a $200 for an application or other piece of system that is associated either to roommate or to fellows? Of course not (National Academy of Engineering; Shelly, Cashman and Vermaat). On the other hand, at the present, the majority of students believe that they are supporting and helping one another by sharing licensed software with other students. They believe that software costs are prohibitively high, and consider that, as students, they should not bear such extensive software costs. In this scenario, there are numerous solutions for the effective management of these issues. One of the primary solutions of such issue is the online websites where they can purchase such software at low cost by providing details of their institution and student enrollment. Another very good solution is that, institutions can as well establish their membership with the student welfare programs where

The reproductive system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The reproductive system - Essay Example The penis consists of three columns of erectile tissue wrapped in connective tissue covered with skin. The penis has a root, body (shaft), and glans penis. The corpus spongiosum expands at the distal end to form the glans penis. The urethra extends throughout the length of the corpus spongiosum and opens through the external urethral orifice at the tip of the glans penis. A loose fold of skin, called the prepuce, or foreskin, covers the penis (Young et al, 2000). The male sexual response includes erection and orgasm accompanied by ejaculation of semen. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) stimulates spermatogenesis; luteinizing hormone (LH) stimulates the production of testosterone; and testosterone stimulates the development of male secondary sex characteristics and spermatogenesis (Young et al, 2000). A womans reproductive cycles last from menarche to menopause. The female reproductive organs include the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina, accessory glands, and external genital organs. The organs of the female reproductive system create and maintain the female egg cells (ova). It transports the ova to be fertilized by sperm, provides a location for the developing fetus and moves the fetus out at the end of the development period as well as producing female sex hormones (Young et al, 2000). Ovaries, the primary female reproductive organs, are solid structures about the size and shape of an almond located in shallow depressions, ovarian fossae, one on each side of the uterus, in the lateral walls of the pelvic cavity (Young et al, 2000). Two uterine tubes, Fallopian tubes, are connected with each ovary. Once inside the Fallopian tube, the oocyte is moved along by the rhythmic beating of cilia on the epithelial lining and by peristaltic action of the smooth muscle in the wall of the tube. The passage through the Fallopian tube takes about seven days and because the oocyte is fertile for only 24 to 48