Monday, September 30, 2019

Participatory Notes Essay

Participatory Notes commonly know as P-Notes or PNs are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors (FII) to overseas investors, who wish to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India – SEBI. SEBI permitted foreign institutional investors to register and participate in the Indian stock market in 1992. Investing through P-Notes is very simple and hence very popular amongst foreign institutional investors. Contents 1 Working 2 Need 3 Participatory Notes Crisis of 2007 4 Trends in PN 5 References Working Participatory notes are instruments used for making investments in the stock markets. However, they are not used within the country. They are used outside India for making investments in shares listed in that country. That is why they are also called offshore derivative instruments. In the Indian context, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and their sub-accounts mostly use these instruments for facilitating the participation of their overseas clients, who are not interested in participating directly in the Indian stock market. For example, Indian-based brokerages buy India-based securities and then issue participatory notes to foreign investors. Any dividends or capital gains collected from the underlying securities go back to the investors. Need Anonymity: Any entity investing in participatory notes is not required to register with SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), whereas all FIIs have to compulsorily get registered. It enables large hedge funds to carry out their operations without disclosing their identity. Ease of Trading: Trading through participatory notes is easy because participatory notes are like contract notes transferable by endorsement and delivery. Tax Saving: Some of the entities route their investment through participatory notes to take advantage of the tax laws of certain preferred countries. Money Laundering: PNs are becoming a favourite with a host of Indian money launderers who use them to first take funds out of country through hawala and then get it back using PNs.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Influence to the Indian populace Essay

His influence to the Indian populace was so great that when he met an accident while filming the movie, Coolie, the whole nation prayed for his recovery. There was also a great number of Indians who donated blood for the actor. During the taping for the movie, Bachchan wanted a scene to be realistic so he suggested how the punch should be undertaken unfortunately, the acting got so intense that he ended up in pain. For several days, the doctors cannot find the source of Bachchan’s hurt, until one day, a doctor was able to detect a dark spot on his intestine. The dark spot was his undigested when the punch in his abdomen was made. After seventy-two hours of pain, the undigested food could have turned into poison (Mishra 142-143). His intestine was also ruptured as a result of his fall on the steel table after the punch administered by the stuntman (Chopra n. pag. ) The doctors opted for an immediate operation, however, while he was in the operating table, he lost signs of life. He was declared clinically dead until his wife, Jaya shouted that he saw him move his toe. After this remarkable statement of his wife, the doctors were able to revive him (Mishra 142-143). Throughout the period that he was in the hospital, his supporters speculated that the punch that he received was real and intentional—that it was meant to hurt him. However, no proof was established to back up the claim. After the recovery, Bachchan continued filming the movie to where he left off. He also thanked those who offered prayers for his recovery and the support that the entire nation devoted to him. To date, he is the only movie actor who received such sympathy. People from all walks of life showed all the support they can give and it was as if life in India stopped for Bachchan. Life only returned to its normal shape when it was declared that he is already safe (Mishra 142-143) Aside from acting, Bachchan also tried his luck in politics after he was swayed by his friend Rajiv Gandhi, whose mother was assassinated and won by sympathy vote. Bachchan was elected to a Parliamentary seat, however, this prestigious position did not prove beneficial to him as his name was included to a political controversy. Bachchan, his brother and Rajiv were accused with bribery. It was rumored that the Boffors company bribed Indian politicians to ensure that the government will buy tanks and other military equipment from them (Mishra 144). This hullabaloo seriously injured the name that Bachchan was able to established through time so he decided to quit politics two years after he first explored it. After his flop in the field of politics, Bachchan returned to his first love—film making. Bachchan is well loved by the Indians and his acting widely accepted, however, these love and acceptance were not enough to keep his star shining after the political controversy he faced. Mishra, however, points out that his breakdown in politics is not the direct cause of his collapse as a star. Just like the period when he started his sensational career as an actor, the people then were looking for variety, for something new to watch, the Indians also felt this way at some point when Bachchan was the king of the charts. The people were worn-out with the constant revenge and anger theme in his movies and were looking for something new—for a new approach in movies. This was the time when the need to revive Romanticism was felt. The revival of romance in the films brought back the idea of a character and once again motivation replaced generic predictability, something which Bachchan turned his back on (Mishra 138). For Bombay cinema to survive, the romantic twist had to return. And so, as Bachchan’s star waned, romance returned (Mishra 138). After his political stint and cinema flops, Bachchan shifted his attention to a new venture. He created a multi-faceted commercial enterprise known as the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited or ABCL. The company delved in production and distribution of films and other ventures that involved the movie industry. For sometime, the company enjoyed success in producing movies and even catered the Miss World pageant in India in 1996. However, in its latter years, it faced so many debts that it reached bankruptcy (Indiaoye). His failure both in the political and business worlds, prompted him to go back to where he established his name—the entertainment industry. At 55, he filmed his comeback movie, Mrityutada. It was not as successful as his previous movies but it was enough to sustain him in the entertainment field. Two years after his comeback film, he was named in a BBC poll as the Superstar of the Millennium. This title placed him in equal footing with Sir Lawrence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin and Marlon Brando. Aside from this, he is also the first Asian actor to be included in Madame Tassaud’s wax museum (hindi lyrix n. pag. ). According to Mishra, Bachchan’s success in his career is not only because of his talent in acting but also because of his skill in building his image outside the theater houses. The author suggests three stages in the life of Bachchan that moulded his image as an actor. First is his relationship with his leading ladies, particularly Rekha. Rekha, the daughter of the Hindi actor Ganeshan, is a tall and good looking woman who exhibited real acting talent. She was one of the few actors then who brought â€Å"real sense of character to the films†. She was suspected by journalists to have established a romantic relation with Bachchan and this suspected relationship was â€Å"extensively documented in the fanzines†. Mishra suggests that this added to the growth of the â€Å"quietly sanctioned counternarrative† by the actor himself. However, Bachchan imposed censorship when journalists began to pester him (Mishra 140). The affair of Rekha and Bachchan was better revealed in the movie Silsila (Continuity, 1981). In this movie the actors showed what they could not reveal in real life—depicting the love triangle that exists between Jaya, the wife; Bachchan, the husband; and Rekha, the mistress (Mishra 141).

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Positivist legal theory offers a coherant account of law as a system Essay

Positivist legal theory offers a coherant account of law as a system of legal rules. This allows legal questions to be categorically distinguished from question - Essay Example This allows clear distinguishing of matters of law from matters involving morality, where a higher divine mandate may be invoked. Questions involving morality may create disparities and difficulty in a precise application of the law, since individual and group moral beliefs may differ from place to place and may not allow for the uniform application of the law. However, by clearly specifying that the law and morality are separate questions, the positivist theory allows legal questions to be clearly distinguished from questions involving morality. The salient aspect of the positivist legal theory that was put forward by Hart, is that it offers a comprehensive set of rules, both direct rules as well as secondary meta rules that help to specify how the primary rules will operate. According to Austin, â€Å"a law may be defined as a rule laid down for the guidance of an intelligent being by an intelligent being having power over him.†3 Austin also supports Bentham’s views4 in that every legal norm needs to constitute a threat that is backed up by a sanction; therefore coercion is an essential feature of the law. However, when there is too much of rigid adherence to the rules, the scope for judicial interpretation may be seen to be limited. Therefore Hart fiercely opposes the predictive interpretation of law based upon its coercive aspect on the grounds that such interpretation â€Å"obscures the fact that, where rules exist, deviations from them are not merely grounds for prediction that hostile reactions will follow.... but are also a reason or justification for such reaction and for applying the sanctions.†5 The law viewed as a set of rules therefore also involves the social learning aspect, which Raz has emphasized, applying a test of behavioral guidance to determine that a person could have come to accept the rules without actually deciding to do so, or questioning the original justification for the

Friday, September 27, 2019

Starbucks - Business Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Starbucks - Business - Case Study Example The strategic business environment of Starbucks has been transformed in to a more complex and diverse phenomenon with its independent approach to managing an internationally diverse strategic operational environment. As the strategic analysis shows Starbucks has been highly affected by a variety of internal and external operational environmental influences. However its strategic environment as divided in to product and marketing strategy, competition strategy, growth strategy and financial strategy indicates that the organization has been faced with many constraints. Future of the company's sales strategy depends on the current market related outcomes as well as the strategic initiates being adopted at the organizational level. Predictably the company would be able to turn around in respect of costs and efficiency under the stewardship of Shultz (CEO at Starbucks) though how soon is not clear. In the first place the current economic downturn has forced the company to diversify its average portfolio of products, e.g. the launch of VIA Ready Brew and value meals. These product innovations would have a very good impact on the sales volumes for sure but how would they impact on the relative profitability of the company isn't known yet. Organizational success is determined by the internal strengths of the organization in which controlling, rationalizing and utilizing the available resources to achieve the maximum productivity and the associated organizational goals through competitive advantage are the predominant activities. Thus Starbucks has the highly calibrated capital, trained employees and networks in the form of strategic intelligence about markets, finances, operations, techniques and HR management. Its capacity building and enhancement strategies have known to be sound and its core competencies have been built around this formulaic strength-weakness determination paradigm. Despite this position of Starbucks as a pioneer of costly-to-copy resource development processes still there is competition coming from rivals who have been able to imitate the same product by reducing its cost and using advanced technology, e.g. online ordering related techniques.While many market analysts have pointed out the existenc e of a downturn related sales curve at Starbucks in the coming months, Shultz is determined to turn around its growth trajectory to hit some predetermined sales targets (Serwer, & Bonamici, 2004). According to analysts there is a very strong suggestion for product innovation accompanied by cost cutting efforts. The former has been happening thought then latter has yet to happen. Fast food chains have not given up on their own product diversification and innovation strategy. This is cited as one of the major challenges to Starbucks. McDonald's, Burger King and KFC have reinvented their standard formulas. 2.2 MarketingDespite these constraints in its organizational environment, Starbucks has successfully initiated some far reaching policy related outcomes. For instance Starbuck's product and marketing strategy have been oriented towards achieving a series of positive M&A related synergies including growth and competitive capabilities. Starbuck's competition strategy is basically related to its product and marketing strategies. Some of the products aren't sold on a mass scale at

Thursday, September 26, 2019

MID-TERM ASSIGNMENT Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MID-TERM ASSIGNMENT - Article Example Generally, Chase River is situated within a narrow valley that is steep-sided, restricting the development of meandering or braided river features. What is more, the vegetation found within the Park or the Park is dominated by a coniferous forest characterized by trees such as western hemlock, western red cedar and Douglas fir (McBeath, 2011). Primary native species comprise red huckleberry, Oregon grape, salal, a wide range of mosses and sword fern. The ecosystem has been influenced by human activities in the past. For instance, the demand for water led to establishment of protected areas such as middle lake and other water reservoirs. The existence of paper mills which prompted the plantation of softwood trees. The Park has been affected negatively by some form of human activities. For instance, there are human settlements especially alone the Upper Chase River. Not enough, the ecosystem was sometime back cleared to pave way for the creation of a dual carriage way which negatively affects the Parks

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Internets Impact on Location of Global Firms Assignment

Internets Impact on Location of Global Firms - Assignment Example The problem touches on key issues - globalisation and the Internet - that confront managements of several firms, challenging them to discover how to make the Internet a part of global strategy. What is globalisation and global strategy Micklethwait and Wooldridge (2000, p. xvi) called globalisation "the most important economic, political, and cultural phenomenon of our time" characterised by the "integration of the world economy, reshaping business and reordering the lives of individuals, creating social classes, different jobs, unimaginable wealth and, occasionally, wretched poverty." Stiglitz (2002, p. 9) defined global strategy as "the way firms cope with integration of countries and peoples of the world brought about by the enormous reduction of transportation and communication costs, and the breaking down of artificial barriers to the flow of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and people across borders." In other words, a global strategy is a set of objectives that help a firm deal with globalisation, e.g., what goods to sell to world markets, how to sell these goods, and how to transport these goods from where they are produced to where they are consumed. Globalisation affects firms that sell products like autos and appliances, and service firms in banking and retailing. Porter's Diamond Porter's Diamond refers to a framework (Porter, 1990) that a nation or economy can use to analyse and develop its competitive advantage, a concept he explains (Porter, 1985) as the added benefit that a firm's product or service has over that of its competitors so that customers buy from the firm instead of from its competitors. Porter (1985, p. 3) enumerates three basic types of competitive advantage: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. A firm attains the first through economies of scale and cost minimisation; the second through brand image, technology, product features, service and support quality; and the third by supplying a particular market or niche very well. Applied to nations, the diamond-shaped framework is a map - of what Porter calls Competitive National Advantage - which consists of four determinants that we describe and show in Figure 1: factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry (1990, p. 72). [Insert Figure 1 here] These determinants are broad attributes existing in a country that shape the environment in which local firms compete and that promote or impede the creation of competitive advantage. They indicate why a nation is globally successful in a particular industry. He cites examples of how competitive national advantage promoted the success of industry clusters in printing equipment in Germany, pharmaceuticals in Switzerland, home appliances in Italy, and robotics in Japan. Porter's thesis is that each country has a unique set of conditions that enable local firms to compete successfully in the global marketplace. Porter states that the diamond is a system (1990, p. 144), with each determinant affecting the others in a dynamic way, either building up or destroying the competitiveness of firms and affecting their ability to compete globally. Yip's Drivers Firms need to develop global strategies and implement

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Integrating the Least Developed Countries into the World Trading Essay

Integrating the Least Developed Countries into the World Trading System - Essay Example The European Community has developed numerous economic and trading layers through which the bloc manages and deals with the economic and trade affairs with other countries of the world. The European Union consists of 27 members (Jacoby 2004; Kelley 2004; Vachudova 2005). This expansion enables EU as a unitary actor to exercise considerable geo-regulatory and geo-economic power (Damro 2006; Young and Peterson 2006). The other instruments employed by the EU to enhance its influence beyond Europe borders include conditionality (Lister and Carbone 2006) and development aid (Holland 2008). The members of EU have developed an integrated policy including agriculture policy, common competition policy, and common external tariff policy. The members have also observed the uniform application of four basic components of freedom such as capital, movement of persons, goods, and services. The entire bloc has allowed the citizens of member countries to enjoy free cross-border mobility without using or facing any visa restrictions. The members also use Euro as a single currency to exchange goods and services. South Africa in 1999 (Dur 2007; Frennhoff-Larsen 2007; Sanabuja 2000; Szymanski and Smith 2005).The first generation association agreements in the period of 1970s observed the establishment of customs unions with the states of Malta and Cyprus. The European Economic Area (EEA) represents a single market of the European Union. The major function of EEA is to work as a free trade area along with maintaining its own distinct and separate tariff level. Free Trade Areas (FTA) are the regulatory framework underway between various developing and developed countries of the world. The FTAs with other countries including Slovenia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Lithuania and other central and eastern states have been concluded. In addition to that, the Mediterranean Partnerships encompass economic and trade relationships between various countries from the Middle East and other parts of the world. The focus is to increase and strengthen the economic ties and relationships. In this regard, Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) preferences are also another mechanism put in place to develop and maintain economic and trade relations with a number of developing countries. The framework of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is increased when the inclusion of the recent ‘Everything But Arms’ initiative took place in which economic and trade framework was further analyzed and developed a workable framework with the developing countries with an aim of strengthen economic and trade relationships. However, there are various experts who do not agree with the notion that EU trade policy extends the share of benefits that it has given to the EU farmers. And they also contend that one way or other, the EU trade policy works at the cost of the developing countries.  

Monday, September 23, 2019

Module 4 Case Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Module 4 Case - Assignment Example At the same time, skill-based pay structure has gained considerable popularity over the last decades, especially since 1987. However, most of the organizations are currently using market- based pay structure. Module 4 Case Assignment Pay is regarded as one of the key elements affecting management-employee relationship at the workplace. The level and distribution of pay along with benefits is believed to impose considerable impact on the efficiency of any organization and also on the morale as well as on the productivity of the workplace. It is thus, crucial for organizations to use appropriate pay systems that provide worth for money and compensate workers fairly for the work that they perform. In general, pay systems are the methods of paying people for their contribution that they make towards the organizations. It is essential that an ideal pay system is clear and simple to be followed, so that workers are satisfied with the pay system adopted by the organizations and are motivate d to perform their respective tasks with utmost dedication and commitment. With this concern, this paper intends to compare and contrast the two pay system namely skill-based pay structure and traditional job-based structure. Furthermore, this paper attempts to identify the most popular pay structure, which is currently being followed in today’s organizations (Acas, 2012). ... ills required to perform certain organizational tasks are identified and tests are developed to determine whether an individual has learned the skills involved in performing a particular task. On the contrary, in traditional job-based pay structure, pay is generally based on a job, wherein employees are eligible to receive compensation, even if they are not skilled in performing any task. However, skill-based pay structure does not necessarily exclude the idea of paying for individual performance, instead it involves evaluating individual performance for assessing employees’ skills towards particular tasks for which they are paid. Nonetheless, under skill-based pay structure, pay is determined by the mix and the depth of the skills that possess by an individual rather than a particular job assignment. At the same time, organizations applying skill-based pay structure are often encountered with difficulties, when they try to price skills in the marketplace as compared to tradit ional job-based pay structure. Moreover, under traditional job-based pay structure, employees’ pay changes with the alteration in the job, while in skill-based pay structure, employees’ pay does not alter regardless the change in the job position. At the same time, employees under job-based pay structure may frequently perceive inequalities in the pay system due to the way the jobs are defined and rated for pay purposes. On the other hand, once employees become accustomed with skill-based pay structure, most of the employees prefer it over traditional job-based pay structure. The element of seniority act as a crucial determinant in traditional job-based pay structure, while in skill-based pay structure, skills rather than seniority is considered to be the prime factor of determining the pay

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Dream Act and Illegal immigrant childrens citizenship Essay

Dream Act and Illegal immigrant childrens citizenship - Essay Example It is immigration reform bill that offers over 12 million illegal immigrants to become legalized U.S. citizen, in addition to heightened security on Mexico border, and introducing guest worker program to assist employers in working out low paying jobs. Despite the fact that, it is costly legislation, has direct negative impact on already worse employment market, challenge for balancing budget on not only state but also federal level, additional tax burden on Americans, work as invitation for future illegal immigrants, and threat to not only immigration law but to the rights of law abiding legalized U.S. citizens. It is immoral and unethical approach of illegal immigrant who seek U.S citizenship for themselves or their children born or grew up here, as its basic purpose was to protect slave children not illegal immigrant's children. The Dream Act President Obama with liberal Democratic Party leadership is determined to pass the Dream Act which will grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants (King, 2010).U.S. Senate blocked â€Å"the Dream Act† this December, the bill, if passed, would have allowed young children of illegal immigrants to attain a legalized citizenship of United States of America. These illegal immigrants came to America as children but their criminal record and other requirements are clear. Moreover, they have completed two years of military service or college education in America. The bill could not gather the support of required 60 senators to cross the filibuster which delayed it for one year with an uncertain future (Herszenhorn, 2010). Fundamental objections The implemented version of 14th Amendment’s interpretation encourages other nation’s citizens to enter United States jurisdiction and give birth. The legalized children access social services and support their parents to beco me legalized. Presence of legal immigrant as immediate relative shortens the otherwise lengthy process of immigration (Rau, 2010). Its results can be far-reaching as we can infer it from Pew Hispanic Centre’s study (qtd. in Rau,2010) which reports about 340,000 births to illegal immigrants in United States only in 2008.In most of the cases, parents were residing in America form one year or more. It is unethical rather criminal as Lillpop refers it, to use infants or â€Å"anchor babies† to avoid deportation or other punishment, such as, jailing. Moreover, it is immoral manipulation and use of not only newborns but U.S. constitution for illegal immigrants’ personal interest. It offers short cut to legalization and unjust for those who go through a longer process for attaining United States citizenship in a legal way. A common justification is the humanistic stance that wants to keep the families united. It is suspicious and needs reconsideration because illegal i mmigrant initially left their families in their homeland just to reside illegally on American land. Moreover, a criminal cannot be judged upon on the basis of whether he has a family or not. Illegal immigrants are not less of criminals because they invade another nation’s soil without their legal permission. Dream Act permits illegal immigrants to feed on law abiding taxpayers’ money for their law breaking act. Opponents attributed the Dream Act to be too broad in its interpretation and it would lead to give amnesty to illegal immigrants (Herszenhorn, 2010). Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama (qtd. in Herszenhorn, 2010) accuse Democrats of not only tolerating lawlessness but certain policies encourage it, he led the Dream Act’s opposition in Senate and highlighted the lack of efforts in improving the situation at borders to inhibit

Saturday, September 21, 2019

My Chosen Ethical Framework Essay Example for Free

My Chosen Ethical Framework Essay In the field of Human Services a worker is faced with ethical dilemmas on a everyday basis. In some cases,a client may want to make choices that may not be in their best interest. As Harry and Mahoney (1999) stated the paramount goal of human service workers is to enable people to live more satisfying,more autonomous,and more productive lives, through utilizing societys knowledge,resources,and technological innovations. However, this is not always an easy task. The NOHS preamble states â€Å"Characterized particularly by an appreciation of human beings in all of their diversity, human services offers assistance to its clients within the context of their community and environment. Human service professionals and educators uphold the integrity and ethics of the profession, partake in constructive criticism of the profession, promote client and community well-being, and enhance their own professional growth. (Ethical standards for, 1996) However, as we look closely at this preamble we can see that it may cause its own ethical dilemmas especially in the field of addiction. What choices does a addictive professional make when the community and environment that the client lives in is filled with drugs,violence, and crime. It is not unlikely, for an addict to seek help,having no support because family has lost all trust, being poor, vulnerable,and depressed. They may not see anyway out of an abusive relationship and may have even contemplated suicide. They may be a single parent or both partners are using with the child in the home. It is in these circumstances that they do not have the self determination to make the right decisions. While the client has the right to self determination, the counselor has a decision to make like suggesting hospitalization or if there is children living in the situation contacting D. S. S, which violates the clients confidentiality. According to W. D. Ross we are faced with conflicting Prima Facie duties, because of the harm one is doing to themselves or others, we now have a legal duty to report it and violate our clients confidentiality, privacy and intervene for their own safety or the child’s. Therefore Locus-Aggregative Utilitarianism theory,under Teleology could be the only solution for me, because I agree with the philosophy of â€Å"maximizing the greater good amongst greater amount of people†. By using this ethical framework I have now protected the client or the child by removing them from a harmful situation, protected myself and I have protected my agency from legalities. In fact, it is this theory in which I try to live by in my everyday life. I have been married for over 16 years and have 3 children. I always teach my children that their actions they take affects not only them but the community as well. The community may be in the house or in society. To always look for the greater good in everything they do. I have been known to take people into my home because it benefited them. Of course, things didnt always work out right but it still didnt stop me from doing the greater good,So I am definitely, Locus-Aggregative in which maximize the greater good amongst greater amount of people and I dont see me changing these values as I enter into the field of addiction. I would also state that I would follow by Act Utilitarianism because I believe it is important to violate my clients confidentiality in order to protect them,their child, the agency, and myself. While I may lose their trust, if they receive the help they need then then I have done the greater good. Therefore, the preamble to follow the teleology would be as follows â€Å" Human Services is to provide the most good with the least harm to the client and all those who have been affected by their disease, offer assistance to its clients within the context of their community and environment (NOSH) when there is the least harm† â€Å"Addiction professionals,licensed/certified treatment providers,recognize that the ability to do well is based on an underlying concern for the well-being of others. This concern emerges from recognition that we are all stakeholders in each others lives the well-being of each is intimately bound to the well-being of all; when the happiness of some is purchased by the unhappiness of others, the stage is set for the misery of all. Addiction professionals must act in such a way that they would have no embarrassment if their behavior became a matter of public knowledge and would have no difficulty defending their actions before any competent authority.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Mind Control The Media Aims To Influence People Media Essay

Mind Control The Media Aims To Influence People Media Essay In our era, almost all advertisement and information tools contain images. Since most images appeal to our emotions rather than to our reasoning, they can hide the truth and divert our attention by arousing our feelings towards a certain cause. They can manipulate the public opinion, mold our attitudes and transform our vision of reality. They are teaching us how to be, more than our own parents and teachers do: they tell us how to observe and instruct our vision in what a flaw is and whats normal (Bordo 2006). Because they require less effort and concentration, the idea that reside behind the images is easily transmitted to our thoughts. Thus, they permit an instantaneous acquisition of divulged information, dissuade others and confuse their perception of what is right and wrong. And since nearly everyone rely on the media to inform them, it can easily mislead us. By simply switching on the television, an endless collection of images is set before your eyes and glide through your neurons to implant a standardization of what true beauty is (Lemayian, 2005). Nowadays, body image is becoming very important in our society, and it is particularly amplified by the media. How to interpret your body 101 is becoming a global requirement (Bordo, 2006). Furthermore, among the many methods used by the media to transform the image into an ideal one, the most common is the edited photo. On the billboards publicity and press, retouched photos are almost everywhere, imposed by a company that makes the body image an ultimate reference. With software such as Photoshop, body image can be completely changed. The commercial of the Dove Evolution video translates well these practices. Dove Evolution is a one minute clip directed by Tim Piper where we see an ordinary woman accompanied by a makeup artist sitting on a chair. A fixed plane then comes closer to her face and film the process of her transformation. This womans hair and make up are done, and her picture is retouched digitally. Then the background turns into a billboard ad where the face of this woman that was made perfect, catches the eye of many group of girls passing by. Most of the time, the image of beauty promoted by womens magazines is that of the thinness and youth. Similarly, cinema and television are promoters of unattainable beauty. For instance, many actresses are obliged to loose weight in order for them to be allowed to participate in the film. Moreover, in the movie The Devil Wears Prada which is directed by David Frankel, the star Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, a talented writer who has recently graduated, was admitted as a co-assistant in one of the most superb fashion magazine firm, and was compelled to loose a lot of weight. In addition, the other co-assistant (Emily Blunt) was dieting because she was supposed to accompany the editor of the magazine (Meryl Streep) to a fashion show in Paris. And after being complemented on her thin looking figure by the new co-assistant (Anne Hathaway), she claims that the effective diet that got her into this skinny looking figure is to eat nothing at all, but a tiny chunk of cheese only if she felt li ke she was going to faint. Therefore, the audio-visual media is constantly imposing the compulsion of being thin which could cause several health problems (such as anorexia and bulimia) for the brain-washed girls during their pursue of the perfect body. For instance, three years after the media was introduced in Fiji, 11 percent of the girls were forcing themselves to vomit in order to stay thin (Bordo, 2006). Conversely, media can also lead to obesity. And that is because advertising is constantly promoting unhealthy consumption, and encouraging food products that are not recommended in a balanced diet. A company named Ofcom carried out a research in 2004 into television commercials concluding that they have a reasonable direct influence on childrens choice of food (Boyce 2006). Additionally to the fast food, most of the ads market for drinks that are very minimal in nutrients such as coffee, soda and energy drinks, and snacks that are very high in saturated fat and carbohydrates, but very low in proteins and vitamins (such as chips and chocolates). Moreover, the ABC health news states that, according to a research concerning the adolescents of age ranging from 12 to 17, the obesity was growing by 2% for each hour of TV watching. In addition, Kuribyashi et al., 2001 conducted a study in which the types of food that are commercialized were compared during two period of time: between the ph ase of peak viewing by children and the phase of peak viewing by adults. It was learned that there were more food advertisements screening throughout the morning childrens program with increased recurrence and larger consumption of the total program duration than food commercials shown during prime-time adult programs in the evening (Kuribyashi et al., 2001). This demonstrates how the televised media is exploiting the minds of young innocent children who can be easily manipulated by attracting images of any product. For instance, the Great School organization declares that the food and beverage industry spends more than ten billion dollars targeting children and youth through television advertisements, special promotions and attractive packaging. Not surprisingly, the Kaiser institution in Calif, reported through a research from Europe and the U.S., that the childrens obesity was significantly reduced when the duration spent on television was decreased, since they will become more e ngaged in physical activities and less exposed to the scheming food commercials. The media also aims to influence people in order to make them behave and react in a given direction. We can therefore say that the media is commanding our opinions in order to pilot our way of life; an aspect of stereotyping is employed in the media. Additionally, the use of stereotypes facilitates the goal of the producers because it allows the audience to easily remember and identify a certain character in the motion picture industry. The facet of media stereotyping is also reflected on our lifestyles. For example, in a movie or a series, a family is often represented by a father, a mother, two children and a dog. The mother cleans, takes care of the children and makes sure that the dinner is prepared when the father comes back from work. Stereotypes are used in cartoons as well, such as the amiable grandfather of Pinocchio, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella, and Dexter who is a smart kid featured as a nerd with no social life. All these characters represent, among many others, t he familiar stereotypes assimilated by the children. Moreover, by shaping hostile stereotypes, the media can help maintain or develop the rejection of a social group by another. For instance, William Drummond, an academic journalist professor in the University of California at Berkeley and co-author of a current study on the situation of the African-American male in California states that the negative stereotype that many people have of African-American men is caused to a significant degree by the media: broadcasting media convey the lead in relating young African-American males with aggressiveness, lawlessness and violence. The most widespread stereotype about African-American men is that they engage in drug abuse in disproportionate numbers. In the report, Drummond reported statistics from a U.S. Justice Department survey that show only 6 percent of African-Americans had used cocaine in their lifetime, and that the great majority of respondents 65.5 percent had used it fewer than 11 times. Among white respondents, 10.6 percent had used cocaine in their lifetimes, with 62.3 percent of those respondents saying they had used it fewer than 11 times. Conclusively, the media possess a certain type of control over our minds; they play an imperative role in the public opinion. Its ubiquity and diversity therefore affects the entire population, and is fostered by globalization in todays society. The danger is that we are in a society that is governed by images and economy: the information is increasingly being diffused under the hidden purpose of financial profit and not for the simple function to share and inform. The information is then manipulated to become more prejudiced, and ends up by losing all its meaning. Therefore, it is crucial to try to withdraw ourselves from the subjective impact that is implanted in the media, and think about its veracity before considering it. In order to fight against the self-control by the media, the audio-visual apparatus should be utilized to broadcast and elucidate the deceits and hazards that are promoted by media.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Rescuing the Everglades Essays -- Geology

Rescuing the Everglades INTRODUCTION The Everglades, commonly referred to as the "River of Grass," is the largest remaining sub-tropical wilderness in the lower 48 states. It contains both fresh and saltwater areas, open Everglades prairies, pine rocklands, tropical hardwood forests, offshore coral reefs, and mangrove forests. The broad spectrum of wildlife living in the Everglades includes aquatic birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, of which fifty-six species are endangered or threatened. Twenty-two of these species reside in two National Parks, four National Wildlife Refuges, and one National Marine Sanctuary which draw 1.6 million visitors every year.... Previously, it was thought, islands of land could be preserved forever by simply drawing national park boundaries. Today, it is clear that this is untrue. National parks are not islands. They are greatly impacted by what happens outside their boundaries. The Everglades is "a Park in Danger." Water management, water quality, non-native species, loss of species, and explosive regional population growth all present challenges for the Everglades; however, there are attempts being made to save the Everglades against these apparent dangers. Return to Top WATER MANAGEMENT Water management is one of the most critical environmental issues facing the Florida Everglades at this point in time. The everglades watershed originates in the central Florida Kissimmee River basin north of Lake Okeechobee. Summer thunderstorms would flood this region, the big lake, and extensive areas of everglades marsh. This created a shallow, wide river which flowed slowly south through the everglades to the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. The summer rains would then give way to a ... ... water pollution cleanup in the Everglades, and Amendment 6, establishing an Everglades Trust Fund. However, there are numerous things that you, as an individual, can do to help the Everglades along with the rest of nature. First and foremost, you must try to conserve water, by methods as easy as turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth or taking shorter showers. Second, use soap instead of detergents since using soaps with low phosphates and nitrates will keep the water table cleaner. Protecting the Everglades is as easy as spreading the word. Tell friends about the concerns you may have, tell them what they can do to help. Contact environmentally active organizations for more information. Be sure to keep these environmental issues in mind when voting, and go ahead and make your concerns known to your legislature. Try your hardest to make a difference! Rescuing the Everglades Essays -- Geology Rescuing the Everglades INTRODUCTION The Everglades, commonly referred to as the "River of Grass," is the largest remaining sub-tropical wilderness in the lower 48 states. It contains both fresh and saltwater areas, open Everglades prairies, pine rocklands, tropical hardwood forests, offshore coral reefs, and mangrove forests. The broad spectrum of wildlife living in the Everglades includes aquatic birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, of which fifty-six species are endangered or threatened. Twenty-two of these species reside in two National Parks, four National Wildlife Refuges, and one National Marine Sanctuary which draw 1.6 million visitors every year.... Previously, it was thought, islands of land could be preserved forever by simply drawing national park boundaries. Today, it is clear that this is untrue. National parks are not islands. They are greatly impacted by what happens outside their boundaries. The Everglades is "a Park in Danger." Water management, water quality, non-native species, loss of species, and explosive regional population growth all present challenges for the Everglades; however, there are attempts being made to save the Everglades against these apparent dangers. Return to Top WATER MANAGEMENT Water management is one of the most critical environmental issues facing the Florida Everglades at this point in time. The everglades watershed originates in the central Florida Kissimmee River basin north of Lake Okeechobee. Summer thunderstorms would flood this region, the big lake, and extensive areas of everglades marsh. This created a shallow, wide river which flowed slowly south through the everglades to the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. The summer rains would then give way to a ... ... water pollution cleanup in the Everglades, and Amendment 6, establishing an Everglades Trust Fund. However, there are numerous things that you, as an individual, can do to help the Everglades along with the rest of nature. First and foremost, you must try to conserve water, by methods as easy as turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth or taking shorter showers. Second, use soap instead of detergents since using soaps with low phosphates and nitrates will keep the water table cleaner. Protecting the Everglades is as easy as spreading the word. Tell friends about the concerns you may have, tell them what they can do to help. Contact environmentally active organizations for more information. Be sure to keep these environmental issues in mind when voting, and go ahead and make your concerns known to your legislature. Try your hardest to make a difference!

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Comparing the Theme of Technology Versus Nature in Frankenstein and Neu

Technology Versus Nature in Shelley’s Frankenstein and Gibson’s Neuromancer      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At first glance, a comparison of Shelley’s Frankenstein and Gibson’s Neuromancer could seem rather irrelevant having in mind that these two works are separated by more than a century. During this lapse of time, humanity has witnessed profound changes at a breath-taking speed. The partly Gothic and partly Romantic world of Mary Shelley is quite different from the reality Gibson predicts. We could not say, however, that there are no links between the two. Shelley's work could be viewed as the apprehension of the new-born fear in regard to technical invention and Gibson's work as the divination of the consequences of technological development and sophistication. In both cases the essence of human nature has barely changed. It is what lies behind the destructive human strife for more, more at any price that has led to the despondent conclusions of both works.    Indispensable to understanding the complexity of the problem of technology, in both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and William Gibson's Neuromancer, is the historical context in which the two were written. Whereas Frankenstein was written in a period of dramatic change - that of the Industrial revolution, in Neuromancer, Gibson echoes the opinion of economists who believe that we are currently experiencing the beginning of a profound economic revolution, due to the breakthroughs in information and communication technology, and which some believe is equal in magnitude to the industrial revolution. The second leitmotif of my research is that of nature in reference to technology. Here I describe the relation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to technology and some of the crucial issues co... ... Stephen. York Notes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Longman York Press, 1992. Bloom, Harold and Golding, William. Modern Critical Views on Mary Shelley. Edited with an introduction by Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1985. Forester, Tom. The Information Technology Revolution. Edited and introduced by Tom Forester. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985. Borgmann, Albert. Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. A Philosophical Inquiry. The University of Chicago Press, 1984. Leebaert, Derek. Technology 2001. The Future of Computing and Communications. Edited by Derek Leebaert. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Third printing, 1991. Michie, Donald and Johnston, Rory. The Knowledge Machine. Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Man. William Morrow and Company, Inc., NY., 1985.            

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

An Analysis of Andrew Sullivans Let Gays Marry :: Let Gays Marry Andrew Sullivan

"Let Gays Marry" is an article written by Andrew Sullivan arguing that homosexuals should be given the right to be legally married in the United States. In this essay, Sullivan argues that homosexuals have just as much right to marry as heterosexual couples. Sullivan argues that throughout US history that the definition of marriage has been altered several times to accommodate changing times, and that it is time to recognize gay's right to marry. Throughout the article, Sullivan uses several sources to back up his argument, but also makes several comments to weaken his argument. To add to Sullivan?s credibility, he is an editor of The New Republic, which was established in 1914 with a mission to provide its readers with an intelligent, stimulating and rigorous examination of American politics, foreign policy and culture, the author of several books, including Virtually Normal: An Argument about Homosexuality, as well as having been published in several news magazines including Newsweek. Sullivan?s article is an inductive argument directed at persuading and perhaps even educating all people on why gay marriage should be allowed in the United States. Throughout the essay, Sullivan uses multiple techniques, including Pathos, Ethos, Logos, and even Mythos to squarely support his argument, all of which help to aid in the credibility of the topic. Sullivan?s argument, while generally successful, has some weak points. The argument is generally written in a very relaxed manner, which may or may not discredit the argument. People looking to argue against Sullivan?s article may view the relaxed format as a sign of lack of knowledge or support of the argument. On the other hand, being composed in accessible language readily understood by the general population, and not perceived as accessibly intellectual may help this argument appeal to a broader population. Having been published in Newsweek Magazine on June 3, 1996, Sullivan?s article seems to be credible. Newsweek is a credible news source, and generally publishes credible materials. Despite having been published in Newsweek, this argument is biased when in the first sentence Sullivan identifies himself as a homosexual. ?For the first time in Supreme Court history, gay men and women were seen not as some powerful lobby trying to subvert America, but as the people we truly are?? When Sullivan uses the term we, he is identifying that he himself is a homosexual, and therefore I must assume that he is arguing from a homosexual point of view, and not an unbiased point of view.

Outsourcing Customer Service Essay

Outsourcing Customer Service Executive Summary The choice to outsource company’s relations with their customers is a choice many businesses are making. With the costs of labor more than a quarter of the rate an average customer service representative makes in the United States (U. S. ), large companies are making the choice to offshore some, or the entire company’s customers service departments to other countries. To many of these companies, the benefits are out weighing the issues relating to outsourcing in general. Breaches of security and customer satisfaction are some of the problems businesses are facing when making the choice to offshore. Are cutting costs more beneficial than customers losing faith in the products of the company? Outsourcing Customer Service Outsourcing is a business practice that is used around the world. This paper will describe the business case for a company to outsource some of its operations, and the risks that are weighed when choosing to outsource. What impacts those decisions have on the company and its customers will also be discussed. A Background on Outsourcing Outsourcing customer service overseas involves hiring another company abroad to take over either some or the entire customer support department. Outsourcing has become a growing trend today. Many large American, European, and British corporations are eager to cut costs by off shoring customer service jobs to foreign firms for significantly lesser wages. Why Outsourcing? Some of the objectives a company will accomplish by outsourcing jobs to foreign firms are cost savings, having 24 hour customer service, and a centralized service center. Each of these points does however come at a price, and will sometimes outweigh the benefits. Saving money has been the greatest reason companies have chosen to send the majority of their customer service departments to other countries. The thought of cheap labor is enticing to many businesses when making the choice to off shore. The average call center graduate, usually holding a bachelor’s degree (BA) earns 3,000 rupees a week, which is the equivalent of 67 U. S. dollars (Aspden, 2006). To facilitate the need to off shore, construction of office space is taking 10 months to complete instead of the normal 18 months in Bangalore, India. Each month over 40 companies make the decision to outsource Information Technology (IT), back-office and customer service departments to India, and other countries. To fight the onslaught of new business, India has setup second tier cities to handle the overflow of demand and establish call centers such as Pune, Kolkata, and Jaipur, just to name a few. These cities in India are growing quickly to accommodate the need for outsourcing, while slowly loosing the foothold on the market due to the increases in pay. With other countries such as China, Hungary, and the Philippines competing for lower wage work, India may loose almost half it’s market share by 2007 (Aspden, 2006). However, companies are finding out that there are hidden costs involved with the outsourcing of customer service. A growing trend of customer dissatisfaction is causing major corporations to reconsider the outsourcing of its services. In a recent survey of pension policy holders in the United Kingdom (U. K. ) it was found that 75% would leave their current provider if they experienced bad customer service (Pfeffer, 2006). Mega corporations such as Dell, Capitol One, and JP Morgan all made an attempt to outsource customer service and all reversed course. Evidence is mounting that good customer service is pivotal in a company’s retention of customers. A 2005 Gartner study predicted that 60% of organizations that outsource customer-facing processes will see significant numbers of frustrated customers switching to competitors (Pfeffer, 2006). Even call centers in the United Kingdom (U. K. ) have reverted calls back to their own soil due to customer complaints, with the majority of those companies vowing to keep call centers in the U. K. (Kivlehan, 2005). The corporate mentality towards outsourcing is far understated as companies see the business case for the moves, assuming that customers do not pay attention to dialect and local customs. After years of wondering what all those fiber-optic cables laid around the earth at massive expense in the late 1990s would ever be good for, we finally have an answer: They are good for enabling call-center workers in Bangalore or Delhi to sound as if they are next door to everyone. Broadband’s killer app, it turns out, is India (Fox, 2003). Risk Management

Monday, September 16, 2019

Can society fully control individuals?

Although society sets a myriad of rules and regulations that ostensibly circumscribes your actions, it is our choice whether or not to conform to these rules. Convincing examples to demonstrates this founds are found in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Galileo’s choices of defying norms in the field of science. Nora’s decision to leave Torvald and seek her independence in the play A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen explicitly demonstrates that, regardless of what society dictates, choices are always present ot the individual. Nora was one of many women who suffered from the male supremacy during the Victorian Era. Her husband, Torvald, would call her demeaning names such as â€Å"squirrel† and â€Å"pet† and expects her to obey every command because society dictates that she should. However, Nora defied her â€Å"social norms† and left Torvald to achieve her independence: an act considered to be unthinkable at the time. Thus demonstrates that decisions are contingent upon individuals, not society. Another example which shows that our choices area solely determined by ourselves is that of Atticus and his decision to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus, who lives in a town inhabited by a racist, white community, decided to do what he thinks is right and defended a black man named Tom Robinson, who was spurious accused of raping a white girl. Despite Atticus’s cognizance of the vicious calumny that he will be subjected to by society, he nevertheless made the decision which he considered is right and defended Tom Robinson. This further shows that decision are purely based on the individual. In addition, the fact that decisions of the individual can never be fully controlled by society is shown in the field of science, particularly through Galileo’s choice of having a heliocentric view on the universe. Galileo was a scientist who, after adequate research into the field, maintained that, contrary to what the church and Aristotle believed, the sun is in the center of the universe. At the time, society strongly believed that the earth is the center of the universe and considered every other scientist who said otherwise to be mocking religion and thus deserving punishment. Because of his theory, Galileo was convicted of heresy and consequently sentence to home imprisonment. Surely, it was Galileo’s decision to voice his theory which, rather interestingly, happened to be correct all along! The aforementioned examples are just three a vast number of people who decided to go against society wishes. If anything, these people exemplify the human nature of exploring the unknown, of thinking critical outside the box and of seeking dreams regardless of the perils and obstacles on the way, these are the people who make progress possible; without such individuals, society would be a collection of robots that operate based on norms and that would never be able to think, speak or act out anything that does not fit this â€Å"norm†. Quite simply, it is these people that liberated the oppressed and illuminated the path of knowledge.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Hot Wire Laboratory

THE UNIVERISTY OF MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL, AEROSPACE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING LABORATORY REPORT INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT VORTEX SHEDDING FROM A CYLINDER & DATA ACQUISITION NAME:MANISH PITROLA STUDENT ID:75050320 COURSE:MEng MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DUE DATE:27TH NOVEMBER 2012 1) What are the main advantages and disadvantages of using a hotwire to measure flow velocities?There are many advantages and disadvantages of using a hotwire to measure flow velocities, one of the main advantages is the hotwire produces a continuous analogue output of the velocity at a particular point, and hence information about the velocity can be obtained for any specific time. Another advantage of using a hotwire anemometer is the ability to follow fluctuating velocities to a high accuracy. Also another advantage of using a hotwire anemometer is the sensor is able to relate the voltage and the velocity using hotwire theory. However even though hotwire anemometer is an adequate tool to obtain data it has its drawbacks. Read this  Respiratory ActivityOne disadvantage of using a hotwire is that it has to be calibrated due to the theory not coinciding with actual data and the hotwire can only obtain the magnitude of the flow and not the direction. Another disadvantage of using a hotwire is the unsystematic effects that occur such as contamination and probe vibration. Some systematic effects that affect the data are the ambient temperatures and eddy shedding from the wire. One of the main disadvantages of using a hotwire is the output depends on both velocity and temperature, so when the temperature of a fluid increases the measured velocity obtained are too low and adjustment is required. ) Why is setting the correct sampling rate important in digital data acquisition? What experimental parameters or requirements can be used to establish the optimum sampling rate? What may happen if the wrong sampling rate is used? Using the correct sampling rate is important because if the incorrect sampling rate i s used some aliasing effects may occur, presenting insufficient data where important data is ignored if the sampling rate is below the optimum, and if the sampling rate is above the optimum more accurate data is obtained which carries the same trend as the optimum with few distortion which are not required.This can cause inadequacy of the data, where recording is not frequent enough or too frequent. The optimum sampling rate can be established using the Nyquist theory which states that the maximum measures frequency is half the sampling frequency, however the bandwidth of the signal needs to considered, the rule for obtaining the sampling frequency of any probe must be at least 2. 5 times greater than the maximum frequency present. 3) Show how the sampling rate was determined for this experiment.What was the sampling rate? For a flow around a cylinder an empirical relation between the vortex shedding frequency and Reynolds number (Re) is used to find the sampling rate. The relations hip below is used to find the frequency in the flow where the Strouhal number is 0. 2, diameter (d) is 15mm and the free stream velocity (U0) is 10m/s. St=fdU0=0. 1981-19. 7Re? 0. 2 Then by simple algebraic rearranging the frequency is found to be 133. 3Hz. Therefore the maximum frequency experienced is 2f = 2*133. 3 = 266. 6Hz.To obtain the optimum sampling frequency we simply by using Nyquist theory multiply the maximum frequency by 2. 5 providing an optimum sampling rate of 666. 5Hz. The values for the sampling rate were taken as 330Hz, 660Hz and 1320Hz for experimental purposes to study the over and under sampling of data. 4) In the experiment the hotwire was calibrated in terms of velocity vs (E-E0)2. Plot out the calibrations for U = B((E-E0)2)n and the various polynomials. Compare the different lines. Which is the best to use? Figure [ 1 ] Figure [ 2 ] Figure [ 3 ]Figure [ 4 ] From the above graphs is can be seen that the best calibration to use is the cubic calibration (figu re 2) as this fits the actual velocity line more accurately. 5) If the velocity higher than the ones calibrated foer was measured, which calibration is likely to give the best extrapolated data? Figure [ 5 ] Figure [ 6 ] Figure [ 7 ] Figure [ 8 ] From the above graphs it can be seen that the worse extrapolated data is found using the quartic calibration and the best extrapolated data can be found using the linear calibration of A([V-Vo]^2)^n.Also higher order polynomial extrapolation can produce invalid values and as a result the error will magnify as high order of polynomials are used, so therefore the linear relationship is recommended. 6) In a fast Fourier transform (FFT) the data in the time domain is converted to the equivalent data in the frequency domain. The original data can therefore be considered as the sum of a series of sine waves of regularly spaced frequencies, with different magnitudes and phases. How is the frequency interval in the FFT determined? How can the frequ ency interval in an FFT be reduced?What impact could this have on an experiment? The frequency interval can be obtained by dividing the sampling rate by the number of samples used. For 660Hz the number of samples is 1024, so therefore the frequency interval is 660/1024 = 0. 6445. The frequency intervals can be reduced by increasing the number of samples used; this is advantageous as it gives a more accurate representation of the original signal. 7) Considering the FFT data, what can be done in an experiment to isolate genuine signals from random fluctuations in the data? Give an example of this in graphical form.Figure [ 9 ] Figure [ 10 ] From figure 9 it can be seen that the peak is unobtainable as the data is very noisy which could be due to disturbances. However this can be overcome by averaging the FFT which allows us to easily identify peaks which can be seen from figure 10. 8) In this experiment, why are 2 frequency peaks seen on the FFT when the hotwire is near the centre lin e? 2 frequency peaks can be seen on the FFT at the centreline due to the 2 vortices induced by the cylinder but as you move away from the centre line only one of the vortices is predominant.The two peaks occur at 129Hz and 250Hz. 9) With increasing distance from the centreline, how does the FFT distribution change? Include graphs to illustrate this for various locations across the wake. From the below figures it can be seen that as you move away from the centre line the peaks in the FFT distribution disappear. Figure [ 11 ] Figure [ 12 ] Figure [ 13 ] Figure [ 14 ] Figure [ 15 ] Figure [ 16 ] 10) Plot the probability distribution histograms of velocity for various positions across the wake.What does the histogram show and how can the variation in the histograms be explained in terms of the properties of the flow? Figure [ 17 ] Figure [ 18 ] Figure [ 19 ] Figure [ 20 ] Figure [ 21 ] Figure [ 22 ] By comparing the above probability distribution figures it can be seen that with distanc e away from the centreline the flow velocity develops a more uniform velocity. It can be seen that within the 40mm distance away from the centreline, the probability distribution of the velocity produces wide distribution of velocities; this is due to the various velocities inside the wake and turbulence.For distance more than 40mm away the probability distribution of velocity becomes more uniform, which implies the vortices play no role in affecting the flow at these distances away from the centreline. It can also be seen that the flow speed at these distances increases as the flow diverges and accelerates around the cylinder. 11) Plot a graph showing the variation of mean velocity, RMS velocity and turbulence intensity with distance across the wake. What physical phenomena in the flow are causing the distribution to be the shape they are?What do the results say about the size of the wake compared to the size of the cylinder? Figure [ 23 ] Figure [ 24 ] Figure [ 25 ] The vortices i n the flow cause turbulence to occur behind the cylinder which causes the distributions to change. It can be seen from figure 23 that the velocity changes instantaneously as you move away from the centreline, it can also be observed that from 45mm away and more the velocity start to become more uniform and fluctuate around the free stream velocity. From figure 25 and 25 from 45mm and onwards the RMS and RTI decrease.From the above graphs it can be deduced that the size of the wake is 45mm from the centreline or a total width of 90mm, which is 6 times the diameter of the cylinder. 12) What are the major sources of error likely to be in this experiment? Try and give a numerical estimate to the possible error(s) in the data. Some of the likely sources of error that may occur during this experiment are the calibration process as the hotwire was only calibrated at the centreline and as the hotwire was lowered using screw mechanism which it not totally accurate, there was no calibration o f the at the new position.Another source of error can be due to pressure fluctuations, and due to the velocity being measured using the pressure differences, these fluctuation can cause the velocity to vary. Another source of error could be the assumption of the flow being 2-d as turbulence is a 3-d. To calculate the error, I used the measured velocity table and the theoretical linear calibration velocity. Taking the average error, the percentage error in the experimental data was 5. 8%. Within a range Can not measure supersonic velocities Hot Wire Laboratory THE UNIVERISTY OF MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL, AEROSPACE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING LABORATORY REPORT INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT VORTEX SHEDDING FROM A CYLINDER & DATA ACQUISITION NAME:MANISH PITROLA STUDENT ID:75050320 COURSE:MEng MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DUE DATE:27TH NOVEMBER 2012 1) What are the main advantages and disadvantages of using a hotwire to measure flow velocities?There are many advantages and disadvantages of using a hotwire to measure flow velocities, one of the main advantages is the hotwire produces a continuous analogue output of the velocity at a particular point, and hence information about the velocity can be obtained for any specific time. Another advantage of using a hotwire anemometer is the ability to follow fluctuating velocities to a high accuracy. Also another advantage of using a hotwire anemometer is the sensor is able to relate the voltage and the velocity using hotwire theory. However even though hotwire anemometer is an adequate tool to obtain data it has its drawbacks. Read this  Respiratory ActivityOne disadvantage of using a hotwire is that it has to be calibrated due to the theory not coinciding with actual data and the hotwire can only obtain the magnitude of the flow and not the direction. Another disadvantage of using a hotwire is the unsystematic effects that occur such as contamination and probe vibration. Some systematic effects that affect the data are the ambient temperatures and eddy shedding from the wire. One of the main disadvantages of using a hotwire is the output depends on both velocity and temperature, so when the temperature of a fluid increases the measured velocity obtained are too low and adjustment is required. ) Why is setting the correct sampling rate important in digital data acquisition? What experimental parameters or requirements can be used to establish the optimum sampling rate? What may happen if the wrong sampling rate is used? Using the correct sampling rate is important because if the incorrect sampling rate i s used some aliasing effects may occur, presenting insufficient data where important data is ignored if the sampling rate is below the optimum, and if the sampling rate is above the optimum more accurate data is obtained which carries the same trend as the optimum with few distortion which are not required.This can cause inadequacy of the data, where recording is not frequent enough or too frequent. The optimum sampling rate can be established using the Nyquist theory which states that the maximum measures frequency is half the sampling frequency, however the bandwidth of the signal needs to considered, the rule for obtaining the sampling frequency of any probe must be at least 2. 5 times greater than the maximum frequency present. 3) Show how the sampling rate was determined for this experiment.What was the sampling rate? For a flow around a cylinder an empirical relation between the vortex shedding frequency and Reynolds number (Re) is used to find the sampling rate. The relations hip below is used to find the frequency in the flow where the Strouhal number is 0. 2, diameter (d) is 15mm and the free stream velocity (U0) is 10m/s. St=fdU0=0. 1981-19. 7Re? 0. 2 Then by simple algebraic rearranging the frequency is found to be 133. 3Hz. Therefore the maximum frequency experienced is 2f = 2*133. 3 = 266. 6Hz.To obtain the optimum sampling frequency we simply by using Nyquist theory multiply the maximum frequency by 2. 5 providing an optimum sampling rate of 666. 5Hz. The values for the sampling rate were taken as 330Hz, 660Hz and 1320Hz for experimental purposes to study the over and under sampling of data. 4) In the experiment the hotwire was calibrated in terms of velocity vs (E-E0)2. Plot out the calibrations for U = B((E-E0)2)n and the various polynomials. Compare the different lines. Which is the best to use? Figure [ 1 ] Figure [ 2 ] Figure [ 3 ]Figure [ 4 ] From the above graphs is can be seen that the best calibration to use is the cubic calibration (figu re 2) as this fits the actual velocity line more accurately. 5) If the velocity higher than the ones calibrated foer was measured, which calibration is likely to give the best extrapolated data? Figure [ 5 ] Figure [ 6 ] Figure [ 7 ] Figure [ 8 ] From the above graphs it can be seen that the worse extrapolated data is found using the quartic calibration and the best extrapolated data can be found using the linear calibration of A([V-Vo]^2)^n.Also higher order polynomial extrapolation can produce invalid values and as a result the error will magnify as high order of polynomials are used, so therefore the linear relationship is recommended. 6) In a fast Fourier transform (FFT) the data in the time domain is converted to the equivalent data in the frequency domain. The original data can therefore be considered as the sum of a series of sine waves of regularly spaced frequencies, with different magnitudes and phases. How is the frequency interval in the FFT determined? How can the frequ ency interval in an FFT be reduced?What impact could this have on an experiment? The frequency interval can be obtained by dividing the sampling rate by the number of samples used. For 660Hz the number of samples is 1024, so therefore the frequency interval is 660/1024 = 0. 6445. The frequency intervals can be reduced by increasing the number of samples used; this is advantageous as it gives a more accurate representation of the original signal. 7) Considering the FFT data, what can be done in an experiment to isolate genuine signals from random fluctuations in the data? Give an example of this in graphical form.Figure [ 9 ] Figure [ 10 ] From figure 9 it can be seen that the peak is unobtainable as the data is very noisy which could be due to disturbances. However this can be overcome by averaging the FFT which allows us to easily identify peaks which can be seen from figure 10. 8) In this experiment, why are 2 frequency peaks seen on the FFT when the hotwire is near the centre lin e? 2 frequency peaks can be seen on the FFT at the centreline due to the 2 vortices induced by the cylinder but as you move away from the centre line only one of the vortices is predominant.The two peaks occur at 129Hz and 250Hz. 9) With increasing distance from the centreline, how does the FFT distribution change? Include graphs to illustrate this for various locations across the wake. From the below figures it can be seen that as you move away from the centre line the peaks in the FFT distribution disappear. Figure [ 11 ] Figure [ 12 ] Figure [ 13 ] Figure [ 14 ] Figure [ 15 ] Figure [ 16 ] 10) Plot the probability distribution histograms of velocity for various positions across the wake.What does the histogram show and how can the variation in the histograms be explained in terms of the properties of the flow? Figure [ 17 ] Figure [ 18 ] Figure [ 19 ] Figure [ 20 ] Figure [ 21 ] Figure [ 22 ] By comparing the above probability distribution figures it can be seen that with distanc e away from the centreline the flow velocity develops a more uniform velocity. It can be seen that within the 40mm distance away from the centreline, the probability distribution of the velocity produces wide distribution of velocities; this is due to the various velocities inside the wake and turbulence.For distance more than 40mm away the probability distribution of velocity becomes more uniform, which implies the vortices play no role in affecting the flow at these distances away from the centreline. It can also be seen that the flow speed at these distances increases as the flow diverges and accelerates around the cylinder. 11) Plot a graph showing the variation of mean velocity, RMS velocity and turbulence intensity with distance across the wake. What physical phenomena in the flow are causing the distribution to be the shape they are?What do the results say about the size of the wake compared to the size of the cylinder? Figure [ 23 ] Figure [ 24 ] Figure [ 25 ] The vortices i n the flow cause turbulence to occur behind the cylinder which causes the distributions to change. It can be seen from figure 23 that the velocity changes instantaneously as you move away from the centreline, it can also be observed that from 45mm away and more the velocity start to become more uniform and fluctuate around the free stream velocity. From figure 25 and 25 from 45mm and onwards the RMS and RTI decrease.From the above graphs it can be deduced that the size of the wake is 45mm from the centreline or a total width of 90mm, which is 6 times the diameter of the cylinder. 12) What are the major sources of error likely to be in this experiment? Try and give a numerical estimate to the possible error(s) in the data. Some of the likely sources of error that may occur during this experiment are the calibration process as the hotwire was only calibrated at the centreline and as the hotwire was lowered using screw mechanism which it not totally accurate, there was no calibration o f the at the new position.Another source of error can be due to pressure fluctuations, and due to the velocity being measured using the pressure differences, these fluctuation can cause the velocity to vary. Another source of error could be the assumption of the flow being 2-d as turbulence is a 3-d. To calculate the error, I used the measured velocity table and the theoretical linear calibration velocity. Taking the average error, the percentage error in the experimental data was 5. 8%. Within a range Can not measure supersonic velocities

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Laptops in the Classroom Essay

Today’s technological advances are ever-changing our world, making life â€Å"easier† and more convenient. Tasks that once may have taken hours of notes, reading and organizing the many pages of documents, can now literally be accomplished in minutes with today’s portable computers. Most would agree that in our learning institutions laptops have become an essential tool in the success of students. Where this agreement usually ends is on the question of the use of laptops while in the classroom. On the one hand some would argue that the use of laptops allow students to research information on the fly, and to take notes, having them neatly organized and even saved to a central database to make them easily accessible by any internet connected computer at any location. On the other hand, some say laptops lead to unnecessary interruptions and disturb the instructors and students alike. My own view is that laptops disrupt the class in many ways and should not be allowed in the classrooms during instruction. First of all, while in class or lecture, the constant clicking of the keys can prevent the instructor from being heard, especially when there is more than one or two keyboards clicking away. Also, the brief seconds that your mind lends to focus on the operation of computing could possibly the moment that a student misses key information. And there is a disadvantage to not giving your undivided attention to an instructor’s lesson, on a larger scale this becomes an obstacle for  McLemore 2 effective learning. As noted in an article, Laptops in Class: A Professional Virus by Maureen A. Howard: Our brains just aren’t designed to do multiple tasks simultaneously and do them well. Admittedly, I can agree that laptops provide many advantages for students including consolidating and organizing multiple subjects. But as I stated before, the operation of laptops in class can be a distraction, and at which point does that distraction become too much to be allowed? Having laptops in class brings up the issue of browsing the internet, playing games, communicating, or the great many other things that one could do, other than following along with the class instruction. Furthermore there is a potential for theft and damage to students property, which could also lead to students arguing and possible physical altercations. All of which impede the progress of learning in the classroom environment. In addition, one should also consider that the traditional method of taking notes by hand and later transferring those notes to a laptop also gives the student the opportunity to go over that information once again. This process helps students commit the information into long term memory. In conclusion, I believe that the negative aspect of using personal laptops in the classroom environment far outweighs the positive reasons to have them, and thus laptops should not be allowed in the classroom during instruction.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Discuss in DETAIL six Cognitive distortions Essay

Discuss in DETAIL six Cognitive distortions - Essay Example Due to such a perception, an individual may end up having a self perception that may be distorted or completely untrue. A third distortion is magnification or minimization which occurs when an individual ignores the positive and over thinks about the negatives or ignores the negative and only thinks about the positives in himself or herself. Personalization is a fourth kind of distortion occurs when an individual connects an unrelated event to his/her state and believes that it is connected to him/her. For example: an individual may believe that the death of a loved one was caused by them. The fifth kind of cognitive distortion is All-or-nothing thinking which takes place when an individual is of the idea that events should happen as he/she may want it to be or they have completely failed. Selective abstractions take place when an individual chooses a certain part of an event to prove that he she was experiencing depression at that

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Servant Leader Formation Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Servant Leader Formation Paper - Essay Example The spirit of leadership rises from the leader letting others achieve and improve their capabilities and goals. Servant leadership starts as a feeling before it develops into a leadership attribute (Blanchard, 2001, Pg 352). A servant leader seeks to serve rather than control. Needless to say that their primary goals are more inclined towards human life enhancement. The focus on the less privileged in the society moves the role of a servant leader form an organization but to the society as a whole. Certain imperative characteristics that define and distinguish a servant leader are as stated below. These need to be necessarily communicated to the current and the future servant leaders of the organization to mould future servant leaders. Inculcating and allowing each of the group members to learn the attributes listed below goes a long way in becoming a servant leader. Empathy - The first quality for any strong leader is to stay empathetic. By empathy we mean the ability of a leader to put him, in the shoes of others, to act, react and understand the emotions and actions of his peers or his subordinates. A servant leader works to understand and empathize with others. The ability of a leader to accept people as they are and not reject them as people, though their performance or actions may not be fully accepted is an important attribute to make them a servant leader. Listening - Communication has always been an important attribute for a leader. This is even so true for a servant leader. The ability of a servant leader to inculcate patience and listen to issues and problems of peer and others within the organization plays a vital role in defining his or her success. Servant leaders naturally identify and try to resolve the problems of the group. Their ability to listen to what is being said and not said allows them to stay in touch with the inner self of their peer and assist them in guiding and reacting to their group's problems. Foresight - Foresight is an important characteristic of a servant leader. Servant leaders not only learn from lessons of their past but also from others. Their ability to foresee and link the future to the present allows them to take decisions that have a positive impact on the group and the organization. Their ability to foresee is a consequence of both experience and intuitive mind set. Commitment to group - One of the remarkable characteristics of servant leaders is their ability to look through people beyond their contribution at work or in social life. Being strongly committed to the cause of the group and helping the group work towards achieving it allows the servant leader to reach the personal, professional life of their group. This commitment to a large extent defines an individual as a servant leader. Compromise between individual comfort and group comfort - A servant leader serves the group. In many situations, the chances are that the thoughts of the group may be entirely different from that of the servant leader. Having said so, the servant leader needs to necessarily develop the attitude to compromise on his or her personal comfort or the ultimate goal or benefit of the group. Making dream to reality - An analysis of the servant le

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

How doest the internet affect the teen age generations Research Paper

How doest the internet affect the teen age generations - Research Paper Example (Christensen and Livingston, 2003 p.786) communication and socialization technologies such as chat rooms, instant messaging, text messaging as well as personal webs and social web sites has provided the teenagers to reach to diverse sources of opportunity and knowledge (Wakefield and Rice, 2008, p.21). This is a positive impact and has changed the mode of communication and socializing among the teenagers as they seek opportunities and knowledge with the least time and cost. However, these opportunities have come with their challenges. While we embrace the new technology and its impact on the communication and socialization arena, it is important for the concerned agencies and learning institution to provide guidance to the teenagers. This is because the new technology has not only come with lots of benefits to the youths, but it has also been accompanied by other negative impacts. This is because the technology is free and there is no screening of information so that the right inform ation is passed to the right person at the right time. The teenagers have therefore accessed certain information that are not meant to them at this age and hence has influenced their social behavior, moral behavior, and personality, emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual development (Wakefield and Rice, 2008, p.1). ... It has resulted to the teenager’s preference to socialize and communicate online rather than communicate in person. According to Christensen and Livingston (2003 p.787), affordable internet technology has increased the level of interaction through facebook or twitter rather than communication and interaction within the public social places, institutions or just along the streets. The advancement in mobile phone internet technology has made it very simple for the individuals to interact at any time and place. Availability of facebook mobile has even increased the rate at which the teenagers socialize online and hence it is possible to learn from the other person in the shortest time possible. However, this development and increasing communication and socialization have resulted into the development of individuals who lack personality. Interaction on the internet has resulted into the teens growing but lack important social skills and hence may not communicate effectively with t heir peers (Wakefield and Rice, 2008 p.2). Development of social skills is however very important at this stage of development. Since teenagers mainly consist of adolescents and emerging adulthood, it is important to note that they are undergoing cognitive development which is vital for their social well being. Personality development is vital at this stage since because it would influence the individuals in the future. However, social sites like MySpace and facebook does not provide the opportunity for the individuals to face social challenges while interacting hence it is difficult for the teenagers to develop the socializing skills that are important for healthy interaction with their peers (Christensen and Livingston, 2003 p.788). Close communication

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions - Essay Example However this evolution came with a struggle that was marked by numerous constitutional crises. Perhaps the most important early constitutional crisis that dealt with this issue revolved around the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. These laws, which dealt censorship in the press, immigration, treason, and related punishments, were established by national government and endorsed by a majority of the states as a means of securing the national safety and welfare during its time of early development, but they were believed by several key founding fathers – notably Thomas Jefferson and James Madison – to be unconstitutional. In response to the laws, Jefferson penned the Kentucky Resolution and Madison the Virginia Resolution – both documents that mapped out a protest against the national laws which eventually fed into those later constitutional fights. In this brief paper, the arguments Jefferson and Madison put forward will be compared and contrasted. Both Jefferson and Madison relied on a theory of a national compact in the establishment of the US Constitution which argued that the states were the true representatives of the people and that they had endorsed the national constitution, but only so far as it went in carrying out its limited powers enumerated in the Constitution. Madison (1798) wrote that the Virginia Assembly viewed the national government’s role â€Å"as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting the compact.† He argued that that the states had a â€Å"right† and in fact were â€Å"duty bound† to â€Å"interpose† when the national government overstepped its role and sought powers that the states believed were beyond the limits of its authority. Jefferson (1799) agreed, claiming that if the national government were the sole authority regarding the limits of its authority it would lead to the dissolution of the states and a

Monday, September 9, 2019

Population Growth and Its Effect on Global Warming Research Paper

Population Growth and Its Effect on Global Warming - Research Paper Example , this brief essay will attempt to briefly analyze this monolithic problem in terms of the exponential growth in human population that has been evidenced over the past 200 years. Furthermore, a determination will be sought to be made with regards to the question of whether human action or natural causes best explain the climate fluctuations that planet earth has recently been chronicling. Lastly, as a function of the previous points of discussion and analysis, the author will attempt to proscribe a reasonable and performable set of steps and solutions which both the scientific community and the world at large could and should seek to employ as a function of ameliorating the stress on planet earth and the issues at hand. Furthermore, as a means of bringing such an understanding about, the analysis will also rely upon relevant scientific publications on the topic as well as verifiable statistics and charts concerning overall levels of climate change and corresponding increases in CO2 e missions by humans over the past several decades. However, noting the global climate change is an issue is not, in and of itself sufficient. As such, the analysis will also consider the rapidly increasing demand that fossil fuels have been projected to assume over the next several decades and posit a potential alternative to further environmental degredation at the hands of seemingly ever expanding human populations. Firstly, there is the point of view that strongly believes that the swings in climate change are the direct result of the presence of high amounts of human CO2 in the atmosphere that is causing a greenhouse effect on the planet and thereby causing world temperatures to rise. Prima fascia of this argument is the belief that human CO2 emissions are responsible for the changes to the global climate. It follows therefore that those which ascribe to this point of view are the most vehement that drastic and immediate changes to the manner in which human beings interact

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Features of Service Operations Management Essay

Features of Service Operations Management - Essay Example Businesses can opt to stay in current markets, move on to new domestic markets or venture out to new foreign markets. Depending upon the markets and strategic tie-ups, the enterprises then have to decide whether to continue with existing products or develop new ones. Organizations prepare strategies for long term survival and consistent growth. Operational management encompasses the contribution of all concerned stakeholders in order to achieve the objectives. Now organizations are supposed to have multiple objectives, monetary as well as non-monetary. They are supposed to have flexibility to meet changing external and internal demands. This paper is an effort to study the role of operational management, how the operational strategies keep changing as the organisation grows and how operational management strategies can addresses the speed to market of new products and services and the responsiveness to the demands of customers. The operations system of an organisation is essentially the part that produces the organisations' products. In some organisations the product happen to be physical goods (like TV refrigerator, soft-drinks etc), while in others it is service (insurance, health care, travel, tourism, hotel etc.). The products and services belong to various categories and fields, but all such diverse organisations have one thing in common within their operations systems, that is, the conversion process (Everett E Adam et al, 1995). There are some inputs into the process and after the conversion process, there are some outputs. The quality of these outputs depends upon the how the organisation manages its operations. Traditionally, a conversion process that includes manufacturing (or production) yields a tangible output, while a conversion process that includes service yields an intangible output. But in today's business there is no such dividing line, because the horizon of 'services' has been widened. At times, both of them are interdependent and appear to be overlapping in nature. Manufacturing organisation requires the services like transportation, communication, promotion etc. to procure the supply of materials, manager the supply and distribution channels, be in touch with the customers and suppliers, plan marketing communication strategies, manage the financial accounts of the company etc. Similarly many services organisations depend upon the manufacturing sector for the business. Services too are undergoing a transformation from the traditional concept of a service transaction to one of an experience (A. Fitzsimmons, Mona J. Fitzsimmons, 2005). For the operations management the general goal is to create some kind of value-added product or service, so that the outputs are worth more to consumers than just the sum of the individual inputs. Services oriented businesses now try to do the value addition by way of providing a valuable experience while dealing with them. For exam ple the retail showrooms like Tesco, Asda, Woolworth, Wal-Mart etc. all take pride in the fact that they provide their customers a big operating space, whole range of products and a wonderful shopping experience. From a humble beginning these stores have grown up owing to sound strategic moves and operational management. It was in the year 1919 that Jack Cohen founded Tesco, when he began to sell surplus groceries from a stall in the East End of London (Tesco, 2006). In those days his

Saturday, September 7, 2019

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

Experience - Essay Example They are caught either by the nets specifically designed for their hunt or sometimes harmed by the nets used for normal fishing. â€Å"More than 58000 blue sharks were killed accidently when 32 fishing boats embarked on an excursion to capture squid in Japan in the late 1980’s† (Killing of sharks, n.d.). The very valuable shark fin soup is generated by extracting the fins of sharks when alive; and they are left to gradual death by dumping into water. The increasing demand for shark fin soup has led to the mounting level of shark hunt in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. According to WildAid director Peter Knights, fishermen in all countries experience the decline of sharks in number and in size (Shark fin soup). Human-shark encounter has become one of the important subjects for several movies across the world. Unfortunately many of these films have depicted humans as shark preys. For instance, the Hollywood movie the â€Å"Deep Blue Sea† is a fulltime thriller ba sed on shark human encounter. Obviously, the films of such sorts have a negative impact on the human approach to sharks. Some of the books like â€Å"Shocking shark stories† which describe human encounters with sharks have well influence on intimidating people that eventually compel them to hate this species.

Free

Freeway Congestion Essay The economy of a country may be determined by several factors . the growth of country’s wealth is coupled to factors such as the people population, availability of natural resources, their proper usage and general environmental management. During early time of our fore father, people enjoyed better environment due to low populations of all sort things. Peoples’ population was low and many of them lived in remote areas. Occupational space was never an issue to think of, as there was plenty of land available for any particular use. They preferred rural areas as most of them were gatherers and pastoralists. While others were substance farmers and hunters, they had the freedom to use select the site to carry out any activity of their wish anywhere. Land ownership was generally belonging to the community but not an individual as it is nowadays. The present system of individual land ownership has brought a lot of discrepancies in the distribution of people populations, infrastructure and other community amenities of paramount importance. Due to above reason different kinds of congestion has resulted leading to stresses and tensions in today’s global world. This has leads me to think of economic urban areas in term traffic congestions. (Schrank and Lomas, 2002) The interdependence between transportation and land use has long before been recognized m. Land use strongly affects transportation patterns, and the properties of the transportation network strongly affect the land use. This is well understood in a homocentric city with only commuting travel of the central business district. Most cities have become increasingly polycentric and job locations increasingly dispersed. (Anas and Small, 1980) It is also evident that noncom muting trips have become increasing important with the choice of residential location less strongly tied to workplace location. So these changes in land use are likely to continue to affect traffic volumes and patterns even more so. It is certain that the problem of traffic jams is so often to a point of describing it as a curse of the modern life. It is obvious that people must interact with one another through social life and that they have to travel long distances for purposes of business transactions. Motor vehicle transportation is one of the common methods used all over the world. Many major cities are fed and connected to each other by means of roads . so roads makes a very useful means of communication. People and cargo transport is a usual activity. Although this has proved very valuable to many developing and developed countries, it has also turned out to be one of the most embarrassing ways of travel and cargo transportation means. This is exactly due to traffic congestion in major towns and cities; which are also over burdened with all other types of congestions. Traffic congestion result out to be a miserable waste of time . Traffic congestion is the build up of traffic preventing efficient movement . it is one of the most significant problems faced in modern cities today. The products of this are other major problems such as air pollution, noise pollution, visual pollution, parking problems, destruction houses and increased risks of vehicle accidents. (Schrank and Lomas, 2002) It is not unreasonable to call up severe visions of traffic jam by the year 2050 with angry motorists hooting their horns, distressed not to be even later in picking children from school or making critical appointments in the developed countries. Many people living in developed countries continues to buy more vehicles, hence household vehicle ownership rates continue to rise evenly (Hu and Young 1994). The trend of continuous increase in incomes and falling costs of car operation, vehicle miles traveled per licensed driver continue their seemingly inexorable rise. Several transportation institutes have reported alarming increases in the traffic congestion in metropolitan areas over the last two decades (schrank and Lomas, 2002). The average number of hour that most people have suffered in a traffic jam is seven. At the same time, the travel hours to work have been increasing too, nonetheless dramatically. However, there are equal countertrends, such as rising of urban street surfaces and traffic management which includes the synchronization of traffic light, improved urban freeways and highways being added and expanded, production of new automobiles with advanced technologies not forgetting the increasing proportion of urban travel from one suburban location to another. The above trend is being offset or balances out due to increase in travel under severe congestion conditions. (Schrank and Lomas, 2002) The traffic congestion situation looks to a forgotten or a blind eye sight in most experts and this raises a weak presumption that the new improvement being under taken are leading to traffics moving more faster than twenty years ago. The fact remains that the future holds worse urban traffic congestions hence there is great need to find ways of alleviating urban traffic congestions. This can be thought in many ways as a cost that is voluntarily incurred in order to enjoy the higher incomes, amenities, increasing variety of consumer goods, enlarged scope for social interaction, and generally more stimulating and vibrant lifestyles the living in cities provides. Due to fully inefficient economy of many countries, which entails among other thing the efficient pricing and provision of transportation, traffic congestion is of paramount importance than the increase the price of any other commodity competitive in the market. Urbane economy should therefore in any way be ignored, but people should be focused out the failure to charge drivers for the external congestions they impose. Several traffic controls have been put in place for which some have worked well in some countries while other are void. Land use controls on a macro scale have been practiced in Northern Europe; this has proved very effectively in reducing the overall travel and congestion . it is noted that land use control on micro scale being practiced in the U. S where by residential are separated from non residential land uses, encourages car travel while mixing land uses at local level. (Schrank and Lomas, 2002) Another method that can be applied to the reduction of traffic congestion is the application of mass transportation mostly by focusing on cars. Many personal cars within the cities carry individual drivers with all the other seats remaining empty. this is quite uneconomical because of fuel consumption and the space utilization on the roads (Mohring, 1972). there is need to explore basic economic principles of mass transit that are likely effective in lowering transit cost function and traffic jams. This is one major factors leading congestion because people have valued comfort more than time and cost. Economists should come up with ways that consider vehicle size, comfort, acceleration of buses and subway cars, the length of subway trains and station platforms, the service frequency and density of buses and subway trains, procedures to mitigate bus grouping, expedite passenger entry and exit reducing the external marginal congestions imposed by buses on cars, and repair and maintenance rolling stock together with the design of fare collection systems. Pedestrian are nevertheless left out as they really cause and act as obstacle during road crossing. it is very important to accord the due respect to pedestrian at the zebra crossing . but such crossing areas bring inconveniencies to drivers hence causing jams. Traffic congestion will be alleviated if pedestrians and travelers’ walkways would be provided with fly over instead of zebra crossing. Thus pedestrian –car congestion should be given anew design and construction. Many developed countries suffer from traffic congestion due to restriction of shopping hours. such policies restring shopping periods should be ban to allow more shopping time and reduce congestion this may seem less conceivable as result oriented of target but many people take one shopping trip rather than having separate shopping trip. Liberalized shopping has desirable outcomes. (Schrank and Lomas, 2002) Considering that often accidents do occur, they are not only costly to the direct damage but also for the non recurrent congestion they induce. The involvement of engineers on the construction of roads is necessary to include economists. An Example of work done by Newbery (1988) gives valuable contribution of freeway and high way design ,construction, and maintenance, if sound cost- benefit analysis were practiced in all aspects of urban road engineering, substantial cost saving would be achieved . Urban transport economists make valuable contributions through analyze of sound cost benefit by state and local government. In conclusion, traffic congestion is a major concern in modern society . it affects our environment with environmental pollutions through the emission of fumes. People are put at risk from the danger of excessive vehicles which results from increased car ownership and commuting to fat residential places. Generally the solution to traffic problems is by widening the roads, creation of bypasses in the inner ring roads and outer ring roads . creation of more motorways and bus lanes to provide more space. Another way of improving the means is banning personal vehicles through imposing heavy levies on fuels and import duty. This can also be incorporated by banning cars from the central business districts and overcharging those with special cases on parking places. Reference: Abbott, J. (1990): the key role for public transport funding boost in Stockholm’s road pricing plans. Urban transport International Anas, A, and Small, K. (1998): Urban spatial structure: journal of economic literature Dupree, H. (1987): Urban transportation: New town solution. Organization for Economic co-operation and development, (1973): Effect of traffic and roads on the environment in urban areas: Paris Kanemoto, Y. (1980): theories of urban externalities. Amsterdam.